Game Server Attribute Locking for Consistent Virtual World Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems fail to consider the effect of updating a single game state attribute on other attributes in online games, leading to inconsistencies in the virtual world presentation to players, as they do not lock related game state attributes during command execution.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a game server with a space module, command reception module, attribute locking module, and command execution module that locks related game state attributes when a player's command affects a first game state attribute, ensuring consistency by determining and locking affected attributes before and after command execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional systems update a single game state attribute without locking related attributes, then the update process is simple and fast, but the virtual world presentation becomes inconsistent to different players
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by identifying and locking related game state attributes before executing the command that modifies the primary attribute. This ensures that when the attribute update occurs, all dependent attributes are already locked and will be updated consistently, preventing the inconsistency problem where different players see different virtual world states.
Solution Approach 2:
The attribute locking mechanism acts as an intermediary between command execution and game state updates. By introducing locks on related attributes, the system mediates the update process to ensure atomicity and consistency across multiple attributes, preventing partial updates that would cause virtual world inconsistency.
2Reliability
If the system locks related game state attributes during command execution, then virtual world consistency is maintained, but the command execution time increases due to additional locking operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the attribute locking process by identifying only the specific related attributes that need to be locked, rather than locking all attributes universally. This selective approach minimizes the number of locking operations required, reducing the time overhead while still maintaining consistency for the affected game state attributes.
3Ease of operation
If conventional systems do not lock related attributes, then the system operation is simple, but related attributes may become desynchronized from the primary attribute
Solution Approach 1:
By performing the preliminary action of locking related attributes before executing the primary attribute update, the system maintains simplicity in the update operation itself while ensuring that dependent attributes remain synchronized. The locking mechanism is transparent and automated, requiring no additional operational complexity from users.
Data Source
AI summary
A game server may maintain a game state for an online game. The game state may represent a plurality of game state attributes and attribute values of a virtual world in which an online game takes place. One or more game state attributes may be related to another game state attribute, whereby changing a value for a first game state attribute may affect the values available to a second game state attribute. A command entered by a first player may affect a first game state attributes (and, accordingly, one or more other game state attributes). To ensure consistency in the way that the virtual world of the online game is presented to other players, one or more related game state attributes may be locked along with the first game state attribute when executing the first command.