Integrating Distributed Interactive Simulations with the Project Darkstar Open-Source Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) Middleware

Recently, a great deal of attention has been given to the use of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGS) for both gaming and military applications. The revenue generated by MMOGs and the effect that they have on the network infrastructure has resulted in significantly more developmental resources being applied to commercial MMOG technology than for military distributed virtual (DVE) development. All DVEs share a common set of characteristics, and additional requirements exist for the interoperability of military DVEs. It is possible to exploit these similarities to take advantage of developments in the supporting technologies of commercial MMOGs. Specific capabilities of interest include scalability for large numbers of players, capacity for large amounts of network traffic, portability across operating systems, and adaptability to connect diverse codebases, network protocols, and data formats. Project Darkstar is a Sun Labs research project, which has developed an open-source middleware for MMOGs. This thesis has produced and tests a MMOG server, which interconnects heterogeneous simulators in a DVE using the Project Darkstar middleware and locally developed network gateways. The performance of the system and the character of the network traffic it generates are analyzed. Initial test results warrant further development and eventual deployment.