Characterizing multiparty voice communication for multiplayer games

Over the last few years, the number of game players using voice communication to talk to each other while playing games has increased dramatically. In fact, many modern games and game consoles have added voice support instead of expecting third-party companies to provide this technology. Unlike traditional voiceover-IP technology, where most conversations are between two people, voice communication in games often has 5 or more people talking together as they play. We present the first measurement study on the characteristics of multiparty voice communications. Over a 3 month period, we measured over 7,000 sessions on an active multi-party voice communication server to quantify the characteristics of communication generated by game players, including overall server traffic, group sizes, sessions characteristics, and speaking (and silence) durations. Categories and Subject Descriptors I.6.5 [Simulation and Modeling]: Model Development General Terms Measurement, Design Keywords Voice Com...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: SIGMETRICS
• Authors: Gabor Papp, Chris GauthierDickey
• Keywords: Game Players, Hardware, Multi-party Voice Communication, SIGMETRICS 2008, Voice Communication