Manuel Oliveira
Tristan Henderson
ABSTRACT
The Internet has provided a network infrastructure with global connectivity for the games industry to develop and deploy online games. However, unlike the document interface paradigm of the World Wide Web (WWW), these online games have more stringent requirements that are not fulfilled by the Internet's best effort service model.A key characteristic of online games is the possibility of having multiple participants share the same experience. Consequently, the volatile nature of the Internet can affect the enjoyment of all, or at the very least a few, of the users. To ameliorate the impact caused by network problems that may arise during game play, game developers have adopted adaptation techniques in the design and implementation of online games. However, little is known of how the user perceives these mechanisms.This paper presents the results of a questionnaire targeted at the online gaming community to provide insight into what users really think of the Internet and its impact on their playing experience. One of the main results is to demonstrate that the existing mechanisms fail to maintain the utility of the game at all times, leading to frustration on the part of the users. In spite of this, users are not willing to pay for any service guarantees.
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