The sixth generation (6G) of wireless technology is seen as one of the enablers of real-time fusion of the physical and digital realms, as in the Metaverse, eXtended reality (XR), or Digital Twin (DT). This would allow people to interact, work, and entertain themselves in an immersive social network of online 3D~virtual environments. From the viewpoint of communication and networking, this will represent an evolution of the game networking technology, designed to interconnect massive users in real-time online gaming environments. This article presents the basic principles of game networking and discusses their evolution towards meeting the requirements of the Metaverse and similar applications. Several open research challenges are provided, along with possible solutions.

翻译：第六代（6G）无线技术被视为实现物理世界与数字世界实时融合的关键使能技术之一，例如在元宇宙、扩展现实（XR）或数字孪生（DT）中。这将使人们能够在沉浸式社交网络中的在线3D虚拟环境中进行互动、工作和娱乐。从通信和网络的角度来看，这将代表游戏联网技术的演进——该技术旨在连接大规模用户以支持实时在线游戏环境。本文阐述了游戏联网的基本原理，并探讨了其如何演进以满足元宇宙及类似应用的需求。文中提出了若干开放研究挑战及其可能的解决方案。