Tips to hide and prevent network latency in real-time multiplayer for fair gameplay and better player experience
Chris Hong, CEO & Chief Developer @ ChosmoUniverse, 13.Jan.2024
Alright, you started playing the game on your mobile phone while on the bus home from work. You're participating in a party play that you and your guild friends have planned for a long time. However, today, the mobile network connection on the bus seems unusually bad! The network speed is either slow, constantly freezing, slipping, or flickering. Your friends keep complaining, and you start to get annoyed. Since it's difficult to play the game normally, you eventually end the game and call your friend, saying, "I won't play this game again!"
Nowadays, physical network issues are not common, but sometimes, even minor differences can be strongly felt. In urgent situations or critical moments, our brains and senses become more sensitive, making us notice even small discrepancies and getting frustrated if those differences ruin our gameplay. In fact, many things can happen in a fleeting moment, and that moment's difference can bring about significant changes.
Why do we divide football matches into halves, switching sides for each team? Of course, there might be various reasons, but one reason I know is to give both teams a fair chance.
In reality, it's impossible for every situation to be completely identical or fair. Nevertheless, we try to create the fairest conditions possible within the established rules of the game. Even if it's not perfect, there's a level where everyone agrees it's fair enough, and efforts from those operating the game should ensure that this level is maintained.
In theory, electric signals on the internet move at the speed of light. However, in reality, electrical signals passing through wires are slightly slower than light. Still, we can calculate it at the speed of light. In this case, light can travel about 300,000 km in one second, so it takes around 133.33 ms to orbit the Earth, which is about 40,000 km. Communicating with the opposite side of the Earth in a straight line would take roughly half of that, about 66.67 ms.
Considering that popular modern monitors and smartphone screens support around 60 Hz to 120 Hz, and high-spec games can even support frame rates of 144 FPS or higher, the speed at which electricity travels to the opposite side of the Earth might seem relatively slow. If you are using a high-performance 144 Hz monitor and the game is running at an average of 144 FPS, the data transmitted over the network could result in a minimum delay of 8-9 frames, making all the frames in between appear as if they are frozen. In the end, you might wonder if you've spent money meaninglessly.
