2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

view, the client is relatively simple compared to the server. Security wise, the client is the most easily 

compromised part of the chain, and should never be trusted for game crucial calculations. 

It is also worth noting that the client/server model can be very expensive to maintain, both for the cost 

of the hardware required, and the continual upkeep. Stand alone games with their "ship  

em and 

forget  

em" style require much less overhead. 

b) 

Peer to peer 

In peer to peer architecture

3233

, we have a set of equal nodes connected by a network. Since no node 

is more important than the others, they must all be connected to each other. There is no intermediary 

and each node broadcasts (or multicasts when possible) its messages to every node in the network. 

Peer to peer means that communications go directly from the sending user to the receiving user(s) 

without going through a central server. Peer to peer is widely used for some types of multi player 

computer games such as first person shooters, as it is easy to realize and to expand from a single 

player game. However, it does not scale up easily due to the lack of hierarchical structure. It is useful 

when the number of participants is small or they already communicate in a LAN environment. 

32

 S. Singhal, M. Zyda. 

Networked Virtual Environments   Design and Implementation.

 Addison Wesley, 

1999 

33

 J. Smed, T. Kaukoranta, H. Hakonen. 

Aspects of Networking in Multiplayer Computer Games

. In Virtual 

Reality Annual International Symposium, 2001. 

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