Only as fast as the slowest?

ID:154063
 
Jul 4 2002, 4:05 am
Well, a while back, I remember a debate (more like an argument) that a fellow BYONDer and I got into. He claimed that no matter what, the game can only run as fast as the slowest modem connected. No, not quite. With client-to-server, if a client's modem lags, doesn't mean a thing, except their character will stand still a few second until they recieve, process, and update the character screen/panels/etc.. He said he learned this from playing software made by Blizzard games (Starcraft, Warcraft, Diablo, etc.), and I attempted to explain that peer-to-peer was quite different, because each player will run his or her own copy of the game, which will be updated whenever another player sends data of a new movement or such.

Who is right?

I believe I got pagerbanned shortly thereafter, or something. Oh well, it was actually a decent game.


Polatrite
Jul 4 2002, 6:22 am
This sort of thinking runs rampant through FPS games, which definitely are not peer-to-peer. Of course, contrary thinking also runs rampant through these gaming communities that holds that faster connections cause lag (the theory apparently being that these connections "hog" the server's available bandwidth, leaving even less available for modem users).

Of course, even if there is a slight performance hit, in these games it definitely does not run "as fast as the slowest modem connected"; otherwise there wouldn't be such a huge disparity between the performance dial-up users get compared to high-bandwidth connections, playing off of the same server. What most people refer to as "modem lag" is, in fact, some prissy little wuss having their ping "spike" from 50 to 55 or even 60 and causing them to throw a fit.
Jul 4 2002, 1:14 pm
In response to Leftley
Ahh, I remember the days of playing Infantry. I'd get the littlest ping spike and *POOF* --- I was out of the game, lol