Tutorial 5: A Hands-On Introduction to Networked Virtual Environments

Abstract

Networked virtual environments enable us to grow from using single-player machines to interacting across distances with players on other machines. Building a networked virtual environment is a significant software development effort, but we are getting to the point where we can build some systems routinely. This course provides an overview of the current state-ofthe-art with respect to networked virtual environments, where the hard research work is yet to be done and a hands-on introduction to the NPSNET-V. NPSNET-V is a research effort intended to investigate dynamically extensible, large-scale virtual environments. It is a follow-up to the successful NPSNET-IV project and builds on the lessons learned in that effort. The NPSNET-V effort includes research in support for the dynamic loading of simulation components across the network, the dynamic modification of object behaviors and protocols, scalability in numbers of world clients and overall world size, persistence, and graphics standard agnosticism.