Patent ID: 7801957

Claim:
A method of providing a fair exchanging of messages to players in a distributed multi-player game, the distributed multi-player game using a game server configured for generating update messages for the players and receiving action messages from the players, the method comprising the steps of: propagating a plurality of update messages generated by the game server, wherein the update messages are intended for a player; receiving an action message generated by the player, wherein the action message comprises a plurality of reaction times associated with the respective plurality of update messages intended for the player, wherein, for each of the update messages, the associated reaction time is indicative of a time difference between a reception of the update message at the player and transmission of the action message by the player; and queuing the action message for processing by the game server, wherein the action message is queued using the reaction times included within the action message, wherein queuing the action message for processing by the game server comprises: for each of the reaction times included in the action message: identifying an update message with which the reaction time is associated; identifying a queue associated with the identified update message with which the reaction time is associated; and queuing the action message within the identified queue using the reaction time.