Scalable Reputation Management for P2P MMOGs

Networked virtual environments (VEs) such as Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) have become very popular in recent years. However, existing client-server architectures suffer from resource constrains when the number of concurrent users increases. Research on peer-to-peer virtual environments (P2P-VEs) thus tries to create more scalable and affordable VEs via the resource sharing of mutually cooperating clients. However, P2P approaches face the problem of client misbehavior where clients may not properly process the game rules. Without the monitoring and control from servers, the misbehavior could negatively affect a game’s normal operations. In this paper, we present REPS, a distributed reputation management system for P2P-based MMOGs that allows trustworthy clients be identified. Based on the mutual rating and reputation query among users, REPS provides a scalable and reliable reputation mechanism that helps users to estimate the trustworthiness of others, so that subsequent grouping, trading, or superpeer selection decisions are made more reliably.