Banishing Patch-Cables from LAN Parties

Abstract. Although playing real-time multi-player games online over the Internet became more and more popular in the past few years, people still enjoy meeting for so-called “LAN Parties” because of higher social interaction. As the number of participants increases, the deployment of the required infrastructure (i.e. the LAN) however gets more and more bothersome. With the current availability of computers featuring WLAN support, substituting the LAN by an infrastructureless ad-hoc network seems a long awaited and time-saving step. This paper investigates how the wireless environment, its scarce bandwidth and the strong requirements of multi-player games regarding packet latencies constrain the number of a WLAN party’s participants.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: KIVS
• Authors: Peter Baumung
• Keywords: KIVS 2009, Multi-player Games, Real-time Multi-player Games, WLAN Party Participants