Network game traffic modelling

Abstract

A significant share of today's Internet traffic is generated by network gaming. This kind of traffic is interesting in regard to it's market potential as well as to it's real time requirements on the network. For the consideration of game traffic in network dimensioning, traffic models are required that allow to generate a characteristic load for analytical or simulative performance evaluation of networks. In this paper we evaluate the fast action multiplayer game ,,Counter Strike" from a 36 hour LAN party measurement and present traffic models for client and server. The paper concludes with remarks on the use of game traffic models in simulations and on QoS metrics for an adequate evaluation of simulation results.