A microcell oriented load balancing model for collaborative virtual environments

Abstract

In this paper, we present a microcell oriented load balancing mechanism in the context of a hybrid MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) architecture. The objective of the proposed approach is to define a fair load balancing model for peer-to-peer MMOGs and virtual environments that minimizes peer-to-peer distortions in the overlays. In the case of an overloaded server, the proposed approach identifies appropriate microcell(s) that reduces overlay maintenance cost and minimizes inter-server communications. The load is relieved by devolving these microcells to the other less loaded servers. The model is justified through extensive simulation.