Comparison of predictive contract mechanisms from an information theory perspective

Abstract

Inconsistency arises across a Distributed Virtual Environment due to network latency induced by state changes communications. Predictive Contract Mechanisms (PCMs) combat this problem through reducing the amount of messages transmitted in return for perceptually tolerable inconsistency. To date there are no methods to quantify the efficiency of PCMs in communicating this reduced state information. This article presents an approach derived from concepts in information theory for a deeper understanding of PCMs. Through a comparison of representative PCMs, the worked analysis illustrates interesting aspects of PCMs operation and demonstrates how they can be interpreted as a form of lossy information compression.