Consistency and fairness in real-time distributed virtual environments: Paradigms and relationships

Distributed real-time virtual environments entail a well-known set of trade-offs resulting in a lack of state consistency across simulation nodes. This lack of consistency gives rise to a number of challenges that must be addressed by system designers to ensure users remain engaged and satisfied. This paper surveys several approaches to defining, measuring, and controlling the consistency of simulation state data and relates them to the concepts of fairness and fitness for purpose. The interplay between consistency and fairness, in relation to fitness for purpose, must be carefully considered by system engineers to ensure appropriate design trade-offs.