The Ex-Gaussian distribution as a model of first-person shooter game traffic

Abstract

In much of the literature the extreme distribution has been used to model first-person shooter (FPS) game packet length distributions. In this paper we show that a skewed mixture distribution, the Ex-Gaussian, is also suitable for modelling the packet payload lengths for two-player games of seven popular FPS games in the server-to-client direction. Also there is a plausible physical justification for the choice of a mixture distribution as a suitable model. The Ex-Gaussian distribution has properties that can be exploited to synthesise the server-to-client packet payload length distributions for larger numbers of players using measurements taken from game trials with a small number of players. We have also outlined a computationally simple technique that can be used to synthesise FPS game server-to-client packet payload length distributions for N-players from measurements from two-player games. This technique is useful for building realistic traffic models for FPS game traffic that can be used in simulation studies.