Influences of Network Delay on Quality of Experience for Soft Objects in Networked Real-Time Game with Haptic Sense

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the influences of network delay on QoE (Quality of Experience) such as the operability of haptic interface device and the fairness between players for soft objects in a networked real-time game subjectively and objectively. We handle a networked balloon bursting game in which two players burst balloons (i.e., soft objects) in a 3D virtual space by using haptic interface devices, and the players compete for the number of burst balloons. As a result, we find that the operability depends on the network delay from the local terminal to the other terminal, and the fairness is mainly dependent on the difference in network delay between the players’ terminals. We confirm that there exists a trade-off relationship between the operability and the fairness. We also see that the contribution of the fairness is larger than that of the operability to the comprehensive quality (i.e., the weighted sum of the operability and fairness). Assessment results further show that the output timing of terminals should be adjusted to the terminal which has the latest output timing to maintain the fairness when the difference in network delay between the terminals is large. In this way, the comprehensive quality at each terminal can be maintained as high as possible.