Mooclan
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- Aug 19, 2012
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Please note that this Feature Suggestion may not be for those who don't understand the terms involved. Proxy servers, ping, latency, packets, region, servers, etc.
If you don't understand what's going on, then please do not leave a negative comment for that sole reason. If you don't know what the heck you're reading, then either get someone knowledgeable to explain it to you, Google it, or leave this page.
I don't want negative feedback just because people don't understand the subject or the way that I explained it.
I'm only human, and I'm not an expert on this subject myself, but I believe that I have a sufficient understanding of the topic - enough to create this Feature Suggestion. I apologize if there's any confusion as to what I tried to explain. There's a comment section for a reason!
Ping.
It's a big thing, to many people. As in... a large number.
To others, it's a major factor, as in something that gives them a competitive edge.
After living in South Florida for my entire MCSG/MCG career thus far, I can totally sympathize with people who have high ping, but still want to play the game in a competitive way. I used to do that.
So, let's get cracking. The title says "PING EQUALIZER. 'NUFF SAID."
But what does that actually mean?
Here you go:
This "Ping Equalizer" is a system where there are multiple proxy servers that lead to a single main server.
The individual proxies are located around the specified region - for example, North America. There could be one proxy in Arizona, one proxy in Washington (State), and another one in Virginia or wherever the Canadian servers were previously located.
Players would log into the region, (ex: us.mcgamer.net) and automatically be connected to the nearest proxy. If they lived in South California, for example, they'd be connected to the Arizona-based proxy.
Then, those proxy servers ("sub-regions") would all connect to a single location (for that overall region). The main server.
From here, there's two options:
Option A: The main server is located alongside one of the existing "proxy" servers. That "proxy" server would actually be the main server, but with a built-in system that delays the data by a certain pre-determined amount of milliseconds, in order to compensate for the delay in receiving data from the other proxies in the region.
Any proxy that is closer to the main server than another proxy could have, yet again, a pre-determined delay in order to make up for the imbalance.
Option B: The main server is located in a place that is a roughly equal distance to all of the proxy servers. This would be a stand-alone server that no one (except for the proxy servers themselves, or devs/admins) directly connects to.
Each proxy server would connect to the main server. Due to the near-equal distance, this would make it so that neither sub-region has a distinct advantage over another.
Due to this system, there would not be any proxy (or "sub-region") that has an advantage over another, such as how West-coasters currently have a slight advantage over East-coasters due to their lower ping.
Although this system would make things slightly more fair, there would still be differences in ping due to the distance between the individual computers and proxy. However, this would be much less significant when compared to the previous cross-country gaps.
Another type of "Ping Equalizer" system is one where the server determines each player's ping/connection speed, and adds a small delay to the connection to the players with the lowest ping (fastest speed)
This would, as a result, make it so that players with lower ping have less of an "unfair advantage" over the players with a greater distance for their packets to travel.
This is an alternate version of the system that was said to be used by DotA 1 in competitive games.
http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=75107 (as well as other sources)
Why this is necessary and/or highly beneficial:
With the removal of the Canadian region, East Coast players no longer have a region that they can connect to with less lag. As a South Floridian myself, I would actually get nearly identical ping to both the US and CA regions, with neither of them being particularly good options. Having, say, four or five proxies within the US region (and, of course, a suitable amount of proxies within other regions such as EU) would balance things out quite significantly.
For competitive players, having an equal playing field is crucial. Although people who have lower ping absolutely relish and enjoy their advantage, there are many potentially skillful players who aren't able to reach their maximum potential simply because they live farther away. This has always been an issue, and will continue to be a problem unless resolved through something such as a ping equalizer.
Almost all major esports hold their highest-level games on a very tight, minimal-lag system such as LAN. Why? Because they want the playing field to be as even as possible.
One notable reason that South Korea is known for their competitive gaming scene is because almost all of their servers are close to the players. With a dense population, they generally have much lower, more balanced ping, and so skilled players are able to achieve new heights there.
There are many more merits to a ping equalizer. Even if none of my suggested ideas are used or viable, I strongly recommend that the Developers look into something that will serve a similar function - to level the playing field.
If you're trying to nurture both a competitive scene and a young teen/kid-friendly video game server, then you need to make it fair and balanced.
If you don't understand what's going on, then please do not leave a negative comment for that sole reason. If you don't know what the heck you're reading, then either get someone knowledgeable to explain it to you, Google it, or leave this page.
I don't want negative feedback just because people don't understand the subject or the way that I explained it.
I'm only human, and I'm not an expert on this subject myself, but I believe that I have a sufficient understanding of the topic - enough to create this Feature Suggestion. I apologize if there's any confusion as to what I tried to explain. There's a comment section for a reason!
Ping.
It's a big thing, to many people. As in... a large number.
To others, it's a major factor, as in something that gives them a competitive edge.
After living in South Florida for my entire MCSG/MCG career thus far, I can totally sympathize with people who have high ping, but still want to play the game in a competitive way. I used to do that.
So, let's get cracking. The title says "PING EQUALIZER. 'NUFF SAID."
But what does that actually mean?
Here you go:
This "Ping Equalizer" is a system where there are multiple proxy servers that lead to a single main server.
The individual proxies are located around the specified region - for example, North America. There could be one proxy in Arizona, one proxy in Washington (State), and another one in Virginia or wherever the Canadian servers were previously located.
Players would log into the region, (ex: us.mcgamer.net) and automatically be connected to the nearest proxy. If they lived in South California, for example, they'd be connected to the Arizona-based proxy.
Then, those proxy servers ("sub-regions") would all connect to a single location (for that overall region). The main server.
From here, there's two options:
Option A: The main server is located alongside one of the existing "proxy" servers. That "proxy" server would actually be the main server, but with a built-in system that delays the data by a certain pre-determined amount of milliseconds, in order to compensate for the delay in receiving data from the other proxies in the region.
Any proxy that is closer to the main server than another proxy could have, yet again, a pre-determined delay in order to make up for the imbalance.
Option B: The main server is located in a place that is a roughly equal distance to all of the proxy servers. This would be a stand-alone server that no one (except for the proxy servers themselves, or devs/admins) directly connects to.
Each proxy server would connect to the main server. Due to the near-equal distance, this would make it so that neither sub-region has a distinct advantage over another.
Due to this system, there would not be any proxy (or "sub-region") that has an advantage over another, such as how West-coasters currently have a slight advantage over East-coasters due to their lower ping.
Although this system would make things slightly more fair, there would still be differences in ping due to the distance between the individual computers and proxy. However, this would be much less significant when compared to the previous cross-country gaps.
Another type of "Ping Equalizer" system is one where the server determines each player's ping/connection speed, and adds a small delay to the connection to the players with the lowest ping (fastest speed)
This would, as a result, make it so that players with lower ping have less of an "unfair advantage" over the players with a greater distance for their packets to travel.
This is an alternate version of the system that was said to be used by DotA 1 in competitive games.
http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=75107 (as well as other sources)
Why this is necessary and/or highly beneficial:
With the removal of the Canadian region, East Coast players no longer have a region that they can connect to with less lag. As a South Floridian myself, I would actually get nearly identical ping to both the US and CA regions, with neither of them being particularly good options. Having, say, four or five proxies within the US region (and, of course, a suitable amount of proxies within other regions such as EU) would balance things out quite significantly.
For competitive players, having an equal playing field is crucial. Although people who have lower ping absolutely relish and enjoy their advantage, there are many potentially skillful players who aren't able to reach their maximum potential simply because they live farther away. This has always been an issue, and will continue to be a problem unless resolved through something such as a ping equalizer.
Almost all major esports hold their highest-level games on a very tight, minimal-lag system such as LAN. Why? Because they want the playing field to be as even as possible.
One notable reason that South Korea is known for their competitive gaming scene is because almost all of their servers are close to the players. With a dense population, they generally have much lower, more balanced ping, and so skilled players are able to achieve new heights there.
There are many more merits to a ping equalizer. Even if none of my suggested ideas are used or viable, I strongly recommend that the Developers look into something that will serve a similar function - to level the playing field.
If you're trying to nurture both a competitive scene and a young teen/kid-friendly video game server, then you need to make it fair and balanced.
