NetEffect: A network architecture for large-scale multi-user virtual worlds

Abstract

We describe NetEffect, a highly-scalable architecture for developing, supporting and managing large, media-rich, 3D virtual worlds used by several thousand geographically dispersed users using low-end computers (PCs) and modems. NetEffect partitions a whole virtual world into communities, allocates these communities among a set of servers, and migrates clients from one server to another as clients move through the communities. It devotes special attention to minimizing the network traffic, in particular, the traffic that must go through servers. HistoryCity, a virtual world for children, has been developed on NetEffect and is currently being beta-tested for deployment in Singapore.