Gaming has quickly become one of the largest entertainment mediums in the modern world. This multi-billion dollar industry has seen a gradual shift from a single-player focus to a stronger emphasis on shared gaming and multiplayer experiences. While in the past, games predominantly were known as single-player mediums, nowadays, gaming is rather dominated by an ever-growing multiplayer industry, focusing on online microtransactions and cosmetic sales to drive up sales. For better or worse, the games themselves are mostly dependent on the servers of their original developers or publishers in order to provide this multiplayer experience.
Now, while the majority of gamers are fine with the conditions of the games as hosted by the publishers or developers, there are certain scenarios that persuade gamers to pursue their own means of hosting a multiplayer game. This has led to many different services popping around that allow these gamers to host their games on their own terms. One such service is Game VPS. But what is it, and how does it work?
What is Gaming VPS?
A VPS on its own is a virtual machine that acts as a private server. This private server, with its allocated resources, can then be customised to fulfill a variety of different purposes. A gaming VPS uses these resources to host a multiplayer session gaming server. Using VPS as a gaming server is not much different than using a standard server, with the difference that it allows the host greater responsibility in customisation and personalisation. In theory, a stable VPS would act as a standard server. It will send and receive the data transmitted by different players and act as a coordinator to ensure that the gameplay remains consistent for all the participants. VPS has the further advantage of being much cheaper in comparison with dedicated gaming servers, which can be quite expensive. You are also at liberty to choose the location of the server to ensure a good quality of latency in order to facilitate smooth gameplay. If you and your friends live in the EU, your best option may be a VPS in Europe.
Benefits of having VPS for gaming?
There are a number of key advantages of using a VPS instead of a dedicated gaming server. First is the fact that dedicated resources on normal servers provide a lot of secondary features that cost a lot of money. With a VPS for gaming, you are in charge of exactly what features you want to onboard, and therefore you will save a good chunk of money on unwanted features. The second key advantage is the fact that a lot of older games that no longer have active support from the developers can be brought back to life using these gaming VPS servers. The third major advantage of using a VPS is the fact that the server admin or host has complete control over the rules of the server and can customise it to their heart’s desire. This allows the host to offer unique gameplay experiences using add-ons and gaming mods that would otherwise be quite hard to implement on an official server. Last but not least, we have security. As a VPS provider has to ensure top-notch security for their entire infrastructure, game server VPS services also benefit from advanced security countermeasures by default.
What to consider choosing a game VPS server?
Now, let’s say you have decided that for whatever reason, be it wanting to play an old and no longer supported game or the fact that you want to customise your game, you’ve decided to go for a VPS. What do you need to consider in order to get the right Gaming VPS provider?
Location
The location of the hosted game VPS is quite important. As the host of your own gaming server, you would want location variety in the VPS provider in question. The main reason for this is due to the fact that the server’s location is one of the primary factors in determining the latency of different players. Especially if you are going to run a server with multiple people from around the world, then it becomes even more important to have access to multiple different locations in order to find the right option and ensure everyone has a decent connection and latency. If you live in Europe and you’re new to VPS in general, Cloudzy’s cheap Europe VPS server can be a good first step to learning the ropes and making the jump to the more advanced infrastructure later!
Uptime
It’s no fun having your intense multiplayer game constantly interrupted by server downtimes and maintenance operations. So a good general rule of thumb is to ensure that the VPS provider you’re considering has a high uptime rate. Generally, you would want an uptime rate of 95% and above. With 99% being considered the gold standard. The amount of uptime a VPS provider has is directly correlated to the overall quality of other aspects of their service. So look for providers with an established reputation in uptime and quality connection.
Support
VPS can be inherently tough to understand and set up. When VPS is geared towards running in conjunction with a game, this complexity is amped all the way up and can make even people well-versed in server configuration rather confused. This is why you are probably going to need a VPS provider with the best possible customer support to help you through setting up the server and subsequently take care of all the errors that may occur due to incompatibility and other sources. It is highly recommended that you go for a VPS provider with 24/7 support if you want to run a gaming server.
DDoS protection
Independent gaming servers that are not part of the official publisher’s apparatus are commonly targeted by DDoS attacks. These attackers then hold the server’s owner to ransom and make them pay money in exchange for letting the server go. Minecraft servers, for example, are a rather common victim of such malicious online behavior. In order to make sure that your gaming VPS host does not meet the same fate, it’s important that you go for a VPS provider that can maintain tight anti-DDoS measures.
Does DNS affect gaming experience
Moving a little off-topic, we have the pressing matter of DNS and how it impacts your gaming experience. Your DNS address directly correlates to the quality of your connection with certain servers. Some DNS addresses work better with certain servers. Therefore it is important for you to also configure your DNS setup in order to ensure a smooth and seamless online gaming experience on your gaming VPS. The subject of DNS addresses is rather lengthy and complex, especially when it comes to gaming. So instead of getting into all the details here, I recommend you check cloudzy’s article on the best DNS server for gaming. Sometimes, your DNS configuration is just as important as your VPS provider.
Wrap up
VPS is incredibly flexible, and one of the main areas where it shines brightest is when it acts as a gaming server host. Still, it needs certain precautions and considerations in order to make it work efficiently and to ensure a smooth gaming experience. So choose your Gaming VPS provider with care.
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