The Community Network Game
The Community Network Game
CNG
D7.4.2: Project Presentation
® CNG Consortium Confidential 2010-2013
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Presentation Overview
• Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs)
• Need for online collaboration
• Enhancing in-game experience:
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
– User Generated Content (UGC)
– In-game collaboration
• CNG’s vision and goals
• CNG’s innovative technologies:
– In-game Graphic Insertion Technology (IGIT)
– Enhanced peer-to-peer delivery of UGC
• Benefits from CNG
• Project’s Consortium
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Need for Online Collaboration
• Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs): multiplayer video
games capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players
simultaneously:
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
– World of Warcraft, Lineage, Lord of the Rings
– Roma Victor (RedBedlam, UK), Entropia Universe (Mindark, SE),
OGame (Gameforge, DE), Age of Conan (Funcom, NO)
• MMOGs allow:
– a large number of online players to interact and communicate in virtual
environments simultaneously on the internet
– formulation of active communities among MMOG players
– exchange of User Generated Content (UGC)
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Growth of MMOG Market
• MMOG: successful market growth
– more than 21 million active subscriptions
– annual revenue over $3 billion by 2015 (ResearchAndMarkets.com, 2010)
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
(Source MMOData.net, 2009)
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User Generated Content
• User Generated Content (UGC)
refers to various types of
media content:
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
– publicly available
– produced by end-users
• Examples of UGC are:
–
–
–
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graphics, 3D, music, video
instant messaging
voice and video chat
game specific information
(e.g. top scores, reviewing, polling)
– etc...
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Enhancing In-Game Experience
• Network already occupied by MMOG server-client data
• UGC traffic manipulation as a real challenge
– Peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay for the distribution of UGC
– new sophisticated techniques for P2P UGC streaming that are
“friendly” to the MMOG client-server traffic
• In-game Graphic Insertion Technology (IGIT) to allow the
addition of new engaging community services
– without need to change the game code
– without adding new processing or network loads to the MMOGs’
central servers
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• CNG to research and develop:
What is CNG’s Goal?
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• Enhance the capacity of MMOGs to support users in the
collaborative development and sharing of UGC
• Enable MMOGs to encompass new UGC tools and
support new business models
• Exploitation of the proposed IGIT and P2P technologies
in the online PC games market
• Integration with external communities (e.g., Facebook
and Twitter)
What is Innovative in CNG?
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• An architecture for sharing UGC via P2P without
interrupting the MMOG server-client data flow
• Use of IGIT on users’ local devices
• Use of P2P traffic for UGC Video/Graphical application
functionality
• Development of new business models that capitalise on
CNGs’ innovative approach
IGIT Overview
• IGIT can replace and insert content in the game:
– in real time
– without the need to change the game’s code in client or server
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• IGIT includes:
– in-game spot identification methods
– in-game asset replacement and asset insertion
– in-frame web browser for hosting Web 2.0 applications
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IGIT Examples
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
[1] The original game
resolution was modified to
enable an additional frame to
hold in-frame objects.
[2] MSN messenger window.
[3] Web browser.
[4] Another web browser
window.
[5] MMOG chat to enable
cooperation among users.
[6] In-game 3D UGC.
[7] Video chat between
casual friends or cooperative
players.
IGIT Technology
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
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Enhanced P2P Delivery
• Overlays for P2P User Generated Streaming Diffusion
• Organising the diffusion is an NP-hard problem
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
– unlikely to obtain optimal solution in reasonable time
– other approximation schemes exhibit good performance
• P2P traffic friendly towards MMOG
– fair sharing of resources in a multi-threaded system
– use of congestion control mechanisms
– definition of Areas of Interest
• Efficient transmission of UGC over a P2P overlay
– error control methods with incremental redundancy
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CNG System Architecture
• The generic MMOG architecture is not modified
• Sandbox is added at the client side
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
– responsible for modifying the game environment
• CNG Server added for the monitoring of the P2P UGC
communication
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act as tracker of the system
common point of communication for P2P overlay
user registration and authentication
organization of the P2P exchanges
storage of information
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CNG System Architecture
MMOG Servers
CNG Server
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
CDN Server
CDN Server
www
P2P (UGC)
Game Content&Data
Client
Client
Client
Game Data
CNG Content
Game Content
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Benefits to the End-Users
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• Increased communication and interaction among MMOG
players
• Customised MMOGs according to users’ preferences
• Development of new community building tools
– collaborative creation and display of audio-visual
material
– in-game P2P file-sharing of documents and objects
– in-game voting, reviewing and polling
Benefits to the End-Users
Project ICT–248175
® CNG Consortium Confidential 2010-2013
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• CNG will enable the development of richer media user
generated content:
– collaborative
– intuitive
– enjoyable
– shareable
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Benefits to the Industry (1/2)
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
For developers and operators:
• new community building tools without needing to
redesign or recode current game offerings
• enrich user experience in their content
• bring ‘communities’ into the content
• lower network costs
• benefit from new income streams
• control how commercial and UGC content are displayed
• create positive-associations with brand values
• target rich media communications within the CNG client
and the MMOGs
Benefits to the Industry (2/2)
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
For advertisers:
• create positive-associations with brand values
• target rich media communications within the CNG client
and the MMOGs
Benefits to the EU
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• Boost the already growing EU game industry
• EU-based games development companies to gain
competitive advantage from better network efficiencies
• Leading the way in new methods to engage with in-game
advertising
• Creating a new market sector of 3rd party community tool
providers for MMOGs and online games generally
Partners List
Exent Technologies Ltd.
IL
Research Academic Computer Technology Institute GR
FR
De Montfort University
UK
Kaltura Ltd.
IL
RedBedlam
UK
European Game Developers Federation
SE
i2 media research limited
UK
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
Institut Telecom
7th Framework Programme
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D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
• The CNG project is funded under the Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) priority of the FP7
• FP7: European Union's Seventh Framework Programme
for Research and Technological Development
• CNG project is a small or medium-scale focus research
project (STREP)
• CNG project started on 1st February 2010
• It will be completed in 30 months
Contact Information
Project Co-ordinator: Mr. Alex Shani
D7.1.2 : CNG Project Presentation
Exent Technologies Ltd.
25 Bazel Street
PO Box 2645, Petach-Tikva
49125, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel.: +972 747 133 135
ashani@exent.com
http://www.cng-project.eu
Project ICT–248175
® CNG Consortium Confidential 2010-2013
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