how people on opposite sides of the earth can play video games together seemlessly when these games require split second actions
In: 4913
Usually you don’t actually. Most games try to get you to play with people near you geographically. Usually works out since people you know and are awake are typically near you
Short answer: they can’t, long answer: as developers we cheat to make it look like everything is happening at the same time when actually that’s not what is going on. For example you see a player on your screen and shoot scoring a direct hit. However, the other player in a different country saw something else: they noticed you and quickly dodged behind a wall. The server then gets two notifications “I shot the player at this time” and “I hid behind a wall at this time”. It’s up to the server to the arbitrate which ones of those things happened.
I worked on netcode architecture that was heavily influenced by this great Overwatch talk. It’s not ELI5, but has some great examples, like this one:
https://youtu.be/zrIY0eIyqmI?t=2439
Usually you don’t actually. Most games try to get you to play with people near you geographically. Usually works out since people you know and are awake are typically near you
Short answer: they can’t, long answer: as developers we cheat to make it look like everything is happening at the same time when actually that’s not what is going on. For example you see a player on your screen and shoot scoring a direct hit. However, the other player in a different country saw something else: they noticed you and quickly dodged behind a wall. The server then gets two notifications “I shot the player at this time” and “I hid behind a wall at this time”. It’s up to the server to the arbitrate which ones of those things happened.
I worked on netcode architecture that was heavily influenced by this great Overwatch talk. It’s not ELI5, but has some great examples, like this one:
https://youtu.be/zrIY0eIyqmI?t=2439
Uhh.. they can’t. There’s a reason that games that actually rely on split second reaction times don’t work well at long distance. Even across the United States it can get unbearable because of the ping. Tactical shooters like VALORANT or Counter Strike or Siege REALLY suffer from high ping and people will 100% complain and notice that it feels a little bit off.
Uhh.. they can’t. There’s a reason that games that actually rely on split second reaction times don’t work well at long distance. Even across the United States it can get unbearable because of the ping. Tactical shooters like VALORANT or Counter Strike or Siege REALLY suffer from high ping and people will 100% complain and notice that it feels a little bit off.
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You generally don’t play with people “on the other side of the earth”.
Not in anything that requires sub 100ms reaction time.
You generally don’t play with people “on the other side of the earth”.
Not in anything that requires sub 100ms reaction time.
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