Ownership of networked objects

In ENGAGE, each networked object is assigned an owner. The owner makes changes to the networked object and communicates those changes over the network. All other users receive those updates and change their instance of the networked object to match.

By default, owners are assigned dynamically. If a user's instance of a networked object has different values to all other instances, then they're considered to be interacting with the object and they're assigned as the owner. For example, if a user picks up a cup, their instance of the cup will begin to move and they will be assigned as the owner of that networked object. All other users will then receive updates about where the owner moves the cup.

You can use AFX nodes to control the ownership of networked objects. However, you must exercise caution to ensure that ownership is assigned appropriately. In general, only assign ownership when you can identify which user will be the main interactor. For example, for a vehicle, you should assign ownership to the user that sits in the driving seat.

For information about network-related AFX nodes, see Network State Modules in the node dictionary.