Learn about how latency affects gaming and why it will always exist.
Episode #12-23 released on February 11, 2022
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First, Latency is described as the amount of time it takes for a packet to leave your connection, go to destination, and return a response. The type of connection, the number of nods, physical distance, and how it gets to destination and back all have an affect on latency.
Second, since most games are run through a server, we can expect an affect due to latency because all players will connect to a server. Meaning all the information from each player will be collected by the server, processed, and then returned. The processing of information does add to the latency. The main benefit of a server processing all the players, is that the server decides whose attack or shot came in first, relative to the position of each of the players.
Third, the way the server interacts with our computer, and the computer's performance will determine what we see, and maybe allow us to have an edge, but the server will somewhat still have control on what happens, ultimately.
Because of these points, with all the information relayed to and from the server, with players all over the world, it is possible for you to take a shot and miss, despite having everything lined up, simply because of the retained by the server at that given point in time. This issue only becomes worse as player numbers increase, or distance increases. If all players are of the same distance, with the same latency, and in the same geographic location, this becomes less of a problem.
But that being said, even if communication could travel at the speed of light, there will always be a delay, and there is always a chance, that the best headshot in history simply is ignored by the server, because what you see and what the server has on record do not match up entirely with all the other players.
And that is how latency affects gaming, and, also, why I prefer RPGs over online shooters, because of how infuriating it would be to me and you.
Host : Steve Smith | Music : | Editor : Steve Smith | Producer : Zed Axis Dot Net