Ping (video games): Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 14:00, 18 May 2010

In multiplayer online video games, ping refers to the network latency between a player's computer (client), and either the game server or another client (i.e. peer). This could be reported quantitatively as an average time in milliseconds, or qualitatively as low ping or high ping. The latter usage is common among players of first-person shooter and real-time strategy games. Having a low ping is always desirable because lower latency provides smoother gameplay by allowing faster updates of game data.

Ping is often conflated with lag. One may "lag out" due to unacceptably high ping. Servers will often disconnect a client if the ping is too high and it poses a detriment to others' gameplay. Similarly, client software will often mandate disconnection if the ping is too high. A high ping does not cause lag; rather, a high ping value is the result of lag.

Rather than using the traditional ICMP echo request and reply packets to determine ping times, game programmers often instead build their own latency detection into existing game packets (usually based on the UDP protocol).

Some factors that might affect ping include: network protocol engineering, Internet connection speed, the quality of a user's Internet service provider and the configuration of firewalls. Ping is also affected by geographical location. For instance, if someone is in India, playing on a server located in the United States, the distance between the two is greater than it would be for players located within the US, and therefore it takes longer for data to be transmitted. However, the amount of packet-switching and network hardware in between the two computers is often more significant. For instance, wireless network interface cards must modulate digital signals into radio signals, which is often more costly than the time it takes an electrical signal to traverse a typical span of cable.

Cheating

In some games, users with a high ping unintentionally gain an unfair advantage, as in some implementations of the Quake III Arena network protocol and game engine. In these games, the player aided by the higher ping skips around, making it hard to judge where the character is exactly, and thus more elusive to target. For this reason, many servers automatically remove players with higher than average ping - with thresholds as low as 130 milliseconds.

In more modern multiplayer online video games implementations, the server keeps track of where the user's avatar is, so having a high latency will usually be the user's peril.

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 {{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}
-In [[multiplayer game|multiplayer online video games]], '''ping''' refers to the network [[latency (engineering)|latency]] between a player's computer, called a ''[[client (computing)|client]]'', and the game ''[[server (computing)|server]]'' (or another client). This could be reported quantitatively as an averaged time in [[second|milliseconds]], or qualitatively as ''low ping'' or ''high ping''. This usage is common with players of a variety of [[first-person shooter]] and [[real-time strategy]] games. Having a low ping is always desirable because lower latency provides smoother [[gameplay]] by allowing faster updates of game data.
+In [[multiplayer game|multiplayer online video games]], '''ping''' refers to the network [[latency (engineering)|latency]] between a player's computer (''[[client (computing)|client]]''), and either the game ''[[server (computing)|server]]'' or another client (i.e. peer). This could be reported quantitatively as an average time in [[second|milliseconds]], or qualitatively as ''low ping'' or ''high ping''. The latter usage is common among players of [[first-person shooter]] and [[real-time strategy]] games. Having a low ping is always desirable because lower latency provides smoother [[gameplay]] by allowing faster updates of game data.
-In this sense, ping is conflated with [[lag]] – one may "lag out" due to unacceptably high ping. Servers will often  disconnect a client if the connection is too bad and it poses a detriment to others' gameplay; or, clients will often mandate disconnection if their ping is too high and they can infer their user is not going to have an enjoyable experience because of network complications.
+Ping is often conflated with [[lag]]. One may "lag out" due to unacceptably high ping. Servers will often disconnect a client if the ping is too high and it poses a detriment to others' gameplay. Similarly, client software will often mandate disconnection if the ping is too high. A high ping does not cause lag; rather, a high ping value is the result of lag.
-However, this doesn't mean that a high ping causes lag. The high ping is the result of the lag. In theory, there can be more reasons of having a high ping (for example, you are transmitting data over a very, very long distance), but most servers of commercial games are associating a high ping with network lag directly.
-The method used by the [[game programmer]]s to determine ping times will often not use the traditional [[Internet Control Message Protocol|ICMP]] echo request and reply [[packet (information technology)|packet]]s, but instead piggyback the functionality onto existing game data packets (often using [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]]).
+Rather than using the traditional [[Internet Control Message Protocol|ICMP]] echo request and reply [[packet (information technology)|packet]]s to determine ping times, [[game programmer]]s often instead build their own latency detection into existing game packets (usually based on the [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]] protocol).
-Some factors that might affect one's ping include: [[protocol (computing)|network protocol]] engineering, internet [[throughput|connection speed]], quality of the internet service provider and the configuration of [[Firewall (computing)|firewall]]s. Ping is also affected by geographical locations. For instance if someone is in India playing a server from the United States, the distance between the two are farther and it takes a longer time for the data to be sent to China. The amount of packet-switching and network hardware in between the two hosts is often more significant. For instance, [[wireless network interface cards]] must modulate digital signals into [[radio waves|radio signals]], which is often more costly than the time it takes an electrical signal to traverse a reasonable span of cable.
+Some factors that might affect ping include: [[protocol (computing)|network protocol]] engineering, Internet [[throughput|connection speed]], the quality of a user's Internet service provider and the configuration of [[Firewall (computing)|firewall]]s. Ping is also affected by geographical location. For instance, if someone is in India, playing on a server located in the United States, the distance between the two is greater than it would be for players located within the US, and therefore it takes longer for data to be transmitted. However, the amount of packet-switching and network hardware in between the two computers is often more significant. For instance, [[wireless network interface cards]] must modulate digital signals into [[radio waves|radio signals]], which is often more costly than the time it takes an electrical signal to traverse a typical span of cable.
 ==Cheating==
-In some cases, games seem to give unfair advantage to high-ping users, as in some implementations of the ''[[Quake III Arena]]'' [[protocol (computing)|network protocol]] and [[game engine]]. In these games, the player aided by the higher ping skips around, making it hard to judge where the character is exactly, and thus more elusive to target. For this reason, many servers automatically remove players with higher than average ping - with thresholds going as low as 130 milliseconds.
+In some games, users with a high ping unintentionally gain an unfair advantage, as in some implementations of the ''[[Quake III Arena]]'' [[protocol (computing)|network protocol]] and [[game engine]]. In these games, the player aided by the higher ping skips around, making it hard to judge where the character is exactly, and thus more elusive to target. For this reason, many servers automatically remove players with higher than average ping - with thresholds as low as 130 milliseconds.
 In more modern [[multiplayer video game|multiplayer online video games]] implementations, the server keeps track of where the user's [[avatar (computing)|avatar]] is, so having a high latency will usually be the user's peril.

Revision as of 14:00, 18 May 2010

Cheating

See also