Plug-replaceable consistency maintenance for multiplayer games

Consistency maintenance of replicated data in multiplayer games is a challenging issue due to the performance constraints of real-time interactive applications. We present an approach which separates game logic from consistency maintenance code through the use of reusable, plug-replaceable concurrency control and consistency maintenance (CCCM) modules. Using plug-replaceable consistency maintenance strategies also permits rapid comparisons of multiple approaches, which facilitates experimentation. We conduct a case study to illustrate how multiple consistency maintenance strategies can be applied without changing the original game code.