You know games that support this where there is a central gaming server where people can connect to that hosts games which lessens the lag as opposed to a tcp/ip game. Well, I have always wondered how a gaming server works. Take a game like Need For Speed 5 for example. EA has a service called EA Racing (closes Jan. 8th). How does the gaming server host all of the games for something like that or another game for example? Any ideas would be appreciated.

It doesn't reduce lag, every one has the same.

well, if u think about it in aspect that if everyone connects to a central game server, if one person lags, it doesnt really affect the others. but if u have a tcp/ip game, if the host lags, it can really mess with everyone's play.

its late, im going to bed

I was just trying to get this guy to set me and my Tactical Ops clan up a game server. The only thing is that it pings really bad due to his network packet loss. I was wondering if anyone knew how to prevent this. He is on an OC3 connection, so I am sure it is not due to speed issues.

Packet losses and bad lag times involve more than just the server you're connecting too, it also involves the route the packet has to take to travel between your computer and theirs. If you're in the US and the game server is in Russia, it has to travel pretty far and make a lot of hops to get there, more chance for packet losses and long lag times. Really has nothing to do with the server in Russia, nor what connection it is on.

I would suggest running a traceroute in addition to a ping on that server and see how many hops the packet is taking. Also, the traceroute will show you if there are any hops that are poor in between.

sometimes when clients (people connecting to a server) have a braodband connection they can actually have their download/upload spped set too high for the server. This can take away valuable bandwidth from clients that have a slow connection speed.

Just a thought...