The Rapid Evolution of Gaming and Video Technology

The Rapid Evolution of Gaming and Video Technology

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Gaming these days can be tough, especially with the constant strain that emerging gaming and video technology is placing upon our already over-taxed processors. A few years ago, having a high-end video card meant that you had very little lag, but with the advent of ultra-realistic 3d worlds housed in servers that may be hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, having good hardware is only a part of the picture…because everyone knows that connection is key when you’re worried about game ping.

Bad latency often gets gamers killed, and if they’re playing a game and they’re running a high-end character, a single death can mean days, if not weeks to make up for it. I shudder to think how many deaths in Diablo 2 Hardcore Mode are attributed to lag spikes.

As of late, I’ve begun using a game proxy for my online gaming needs. This enables me to maximize my connection potential, especially when I’m playing games such as World of Warcraft. Proxy-ing allows me to gain the extra low game ping that I desire, and in games like this, fractions of a second count – I may be only a tenth of a second quicker, but that may be all I need to be able to move my character out of range from a particularly deadly AoE spell, while those in my party may be just a shade slower…and deader, than me.

A good game proxy uses high priority encrypted data to give you quicker access to your game servers. When you’re using a regular connection, you have only one way to connect to a server; but by using a game proxy, you’re effectively using an SSH proxy to piggyback your data through different routes through, meaning you have various alternatives if one connection isn’t providing the low latency you need to perform.

Another plus of using a proxy is anonymity, as you’re not using your IP to directly connect with the server; which may not mean a lot to some people, but a lot to many others: there are quite a few big online games that will not allow players from certain countries to connect, or require a certain country’s IP to be allowed in.

Many gamers in countries that invoke Internet Censorship, who actively monitor all and block many connections, using game proxies allows them to skirt by these oppressive laws.

I used to spend a lot of money trying to buy the fastest cable, satellite, and broadband connections, only to find out that even with the best, for some reason, there were a few users on the servers I was playing on, even though their connection was inferior to mine, their latency was still much lower than what I was pulling. I learned how to lower ping through this guide. 

Though, knowing what I do now and understanding they work, I ain’t believe I didn’t invest in a game proxy from the beginning! I could have saved myself a lot of time and money, but I’ve always agreed with the old adage, ‘Better late than never.’