Online Multiplayer Game using WCF

Question

Do you think WCF provides the necessary plumbing out-of-the-box to support an online, multiplayer gaming experience? Particularly, a real-time environment ala WoW, Ultima Online, etc. Why or why or not?

The most important considerations will likely be:

1. Are the included bindings adequate for such a secenario?

2. Barring any physical server requirements, would the included bindings meet the performance requirements?

Just looking for your thoughts on the matter!

Thanks

Answer 1

Do you think WCF provides the necessary plumbing out-of-the-box to support an online, multiplayer gaming experience? Why or why or not?

No, not out-of-box. Almost all online gaming uses UDP instead of TCP. This article explains why quite nicely, particularly, take a look at the section "Why you should never use TCP to network a multiplayer game". WCF doesn't use UDP out of the box, so you would have to implement a custom transport.

Are the included bindings adequate for such a secenario?

Yes, the bindings may be adequate, but the transport is not.

Barring any physical server requirements, would the included bindings meet the performance requirements?

The only way to know for sure would be to test it.