Game Server

From Website Hosting Wiki

Game servers are remote or local run servers that are used by gamers to play multiplayer games which are also called MMOG or massively multi online game. These are games that you find online that are played but hundreds, thousands, millions and even billions of people around the world at the same time. These games have taken the gaming world to a whole new level simply because they can link people around the globe to the same game and these people can latterly play alongside each other from their own computers. The games are played over the internet through a game server connection. Game server providers lease dedicated game servers to gaming clans who usually need more than one server to handle the amount of players they have because their online game membership is large and good games grow in membership numbers daily which means they need to be able to have the space to host new members all the time. All of the clan members contribute to the monthly rental fee which is usually done by charging a monthly subscription fee and the server provider will often web based tools to the gamers so they can control and configure the individual servers and modify the games that are part of the package.

Game servers come in two classifications: listen servers and dedicated servers. Listen servers allow the gaming client to act as both host of the game and participant in the game. Unfortunately, when the client terminates the game for the evening, the server also terminates the game and everyone is forced to sign off. These types of servers are also usually run on LANs instead of internet connections and there are low numbers of players.

Dedicated servers run separately from the client on dedicated hardware in a data center. This is the preferred method of hosting PC based multiplayer games since the games have a membership that is usually quite large, many of these games have membership levels into the millions of subscribers. The software company that produces the game is usually the host of the dedicated server and this allows them to control and update the game content on a regular basis. Because the playing environment and player count is so large, the servers used are actually configured in clusters.

So the next time you log onto your favorite online game you will know exactly what is happening behind the scenes that provides you with the game you love.