6 Worst Things About Online Gaming

by Reggie Fells

1. The. F$#*%^@(^@(*&&#;$@*^&$(*!*)!#&. Lag

Call_of_Duty_4_Beautiful_Lag_by_Krausser666

This assignment called for five negative factors about online gaming. Just five. And I almost did just that, with plans to make this a short and sweet article before I type up a massive piece about... well, I won't spoil it. But... I just couldn't post this article in good conscience without mentioning the. Number. ONE. Flaw.

Any Call of Duty player can read the above image and realize that the unfamiliar language means "Connection Interrupted." This is the game-ender, the screen that signifies your progress for the game (be it bad or good), is preparing to get wiped, and that you can expect a trip to the lobby screen shortly - King Lag is going to smite your puny game, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Lag exists due to inconsistencies between consoles/PCs during the course of online gaming - this is unavoidable, as all of the consoles, regardless of which is the host, are independent of each other, and thus, the host server or console is never going to be able to have them all flawlessly, immediately communicate with each other. Although usually, lag can be measured in nearly imperceptible times of millionths of seconds, there's the all-to-familiar sensation of longer times as well, which result in no hit markers, incorrect aim, and "mystery" deaths for FPS players. In the sports side of things, there's the odd play call, the incorrect communication, or even something as bad as looking at a screen signalling the beginning of a play - only to be taken to a screen of your opponent scoring an uncontested goal, basket, or touchdown ten seconds later.

The previous five factors on this list have some form of control, but lag: nope. You are entirely dependent on your connection, and thus, your enjoyment (and possibly, sanity) is entirely dependent on how your insignificant system manages to communicate with the host or server.

But don't worry: newer PCs, the XBOX One, and PlayStation 4 will fix that, with their new game engines. Right?

 
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Contributor

I'm a technologically savvy Sony Gamer born in the epic city of New Orleans, currently pursuing a degree in Mass Communications in South Carolina. When not losing hours of my life with a controller in my hand, I'm probably losing hours of my life typing endless words into a keyboard, my attempt at this thing called "technology journalism". Hi there.