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posted May 28, 2024 by Robert Bobocea
To connect to the internet and to have an online connection is vital to surfing the internet. The word that can be used to describe this connection with the server is called ping. The word “ping” is called ping because it acts like an echo from the computer to the server. This picture can help illustrate this idea.
Ping can also be measured by the amount of time it takes for a packet (a ping) to reach the server and back. The unit of ping is time and these connections happen very fast so they are measured in milliseconds (ms). An average ping is around 100 ms. Because the number that is being measured is time, the lower this number is, the better the connection to the server is. The importance of ping is quite significant and especially in a highly competitive stage in video games. In some games the matter of difference in ping can give you the upper hand against your opponent. An article says that “If you have high ping in Fortnite, this can cause delay and your enemy can easily kill you.” This can not only be seen in Fortnite but in every game where there is play versus PvP involved.
I have had my fair share of encounters and experiences with high ping and low ping. For example when I have played GTA V I have noticed that sometimes the game doesn’t behave how it is supposed to. Sometimes I am driving and the car kind of snaps back to where it was. Or a shot completely doesn’t register. This is because of bad ping and packet loss. To understand packet loss you first need to understand that the host or computer sends a packet of information from the client (how the game is seen from the host or your computer) to the server (how the game sees your client along with everyone else's). Packet loss can be imagined like a game of telephone where some words are altered along the way to the end. When the car snaps back or shots don’t register, it means the packets that updated my car position or the shot were lost. This can be called lag which is a term that is thrown around but the true meaning of the word is not known. Ping can affect everyone at any given time and the amount of people that know what ping does is far less than it should be because ping's significance cannot be underestimated.
The effect of ping can be seen in this video