Measurement and analysis of World of Warcraft in mobile WiMAX networks

Abstract

Online games have been played mainly over wired networks due to high speed links and capable desktop computers. The advances in mobile devices and ever increasing wireless link bandwidth motivate us to study whether players can enjoy online gaming over broadband wireless networks such as mobile WiMAX networks. In this paper we carry out theWorld of Warcraft (WoW) measurements via the mobile WiMAX networks and analysis the performance. We focus on two aspects: (1) application level packet dynamics such as RTT and jitter; (2) WiMAX link level statistics such as wireless link quality and handovers. We measure various scenarios for comprehensive analysis of WoW traffic and WiMAX link-layer characteristics. Finally we discuss how to improve the service quality of WiMAX online gaming.