Online Games
Policy
In 2009, in response to a number of requests, the University relaxed its position on online gaming. We released a new policy that allowed popular games to be played over the University's network as long as they could be enabled without compromising the stability, security or capacity of the network for academic purposes and without consuming significant quantities of staff time. By early 2010, we had enabled the most requested games and students were able to play these from their ESOL connection. In some cases this was not straightforward and a great deal of time was spent resolving issues with individual scenarios and running several workshops where students were given face-to-face support to get connected. Due to the many strategic University IT initiatives which require our significant support, it became impossible to sustain that level of time commitment to the support of online games. The changes we had already made to enable gaming are still in place and we believe they allow the most popular games to be played by the majority of students. We apologise to the small number of students whose requests have not been satisfied.
World of Warcraft
The required ports for World of Warcraft are open on the firewall. There is an issue with the traffic shaper not identifying the traffic correctly. A number of patches are available for the device and plans are in place to apply these. The implementation of the patches is not a trivial exercise and careful planning is needed, so as not to break all internet traffic flows. It is envisaged that the patches will be applied in late November and that this will remedy the current issues. Once agreement has been reached when the patches can be applied, the website will be updated accordingly.
Steam
There has been an update in how Steam traffic is classified, the change allows a small amount of traffic to flow to the numerous Steam servers. This will allow the game to get established and thus associated with the correct network traffic profile. This should allow the game to work. All the required ports are open and you have the widest possible range of games servers. The patch has taken a considerable amount of time, and effort to develop. (2nd December 2009).
Anarchy Online
The issues with Anarchy Online are now resolved (28th May 2009).
Xbox
Support for the Xbox is not within the scope of the games policy. The Xbox requires manual registration on the campus network and thus requires a great deal of staffing resource to support. With these considerations in mind, CIS cannot support the use of games consoles
Puzzle Pirates
Puzzle Pirates has now been enabled (29th May 2009).
Entropia Universe
At present this game cannot be allowed through the firewall due to a lack of network traffic identification signatures. If signatures become available then the situation will be reviewed.
Battlefield2
In order to enable this game, there is a need to establish precise endpoints. As yet the exact endpoint not clear.
Lord of the Rings
During the last games surgery this game was enabled (16/11/09).
Runescape
Enabled 16/11/09
DragonAge
Enabled 16/11/09
AION
Enabled 16/11/09
Tetris-Online
Enabled 16/11/09
QuakeLive
Enabled 16/11/09
Ticket to Ride
This service was enabled 16/11/09.
GameSpy
Enabled 16/11/09.