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Topic on PCGamingWiki talk:Editing guide/Network

This is a permanent link to a single version of this post. This version is from 06:56, 13 November 2020. You can see the differences from the previous version, or view other versions on the post history page.

... Yeah... We've had multiple discussions regarding the current connection types and their phrasing over the last few years due to their issues, as there's multiple ones.

The core of the problem with that whole section is that it convolutes multiple different related but not identical subject matters into a single table:

  • Matchmaking - This has to do with how a multiplayer game is found or setup.
  • Peer-to-peer - This has to do with the networking topology used for ongoing games.
  • Dedicated - This both have to do with the network topology used for ongoing games as well as separate server software provided for the game.
  • Self-hosting - This has to do with both the network topology used for ongoing games (so called "listen servers") as well as 'manual game creation' options in the games themselves (which can use other network topologies).
    • This option technically touches upon 'matchmaking' and even 'peer-to-peer' as it's entirely possible that if matchmaking fails to find an appropriate match in progress it'll create a new one around the player.
  • Direct IP - This is merely a legacy connection model used before server browsers and later matchmaking became the norm. In terms of the "simplest" row, this one is the best.

Every time we discuss the matter we sorta fail to properly arrive to a good potential solution on how to properly separate and remove all ambiguity present in the problematic rows while both retaining rows appropriate for the 90s and early 00s as well as later games where many features were removed and new ones was introduced.

Here's a possible example I threw together just now of a possible reword of the whole thing:

  • Discoverability:
    • Matchmaking
    • Server browser
    • Direct IP (aka no discoverability -- require manual connection)
  • Hosting options:
  • Listen server (the player can create and host a game with their own machine acting as both the server and a player in said game)
  • Dedicated server (developers provide dedicated server software available for players to set up and use)

Miscellaneous:

  • Custom game (there's an option in the game for setting up a custom game)

The above example isn't perfect, but is a draft thrown together to attempt to separate and remove the ambiguity of the current rows, and treat them separately.

For example, "listen server" is a term from the 90s and early 00s where it was used in a solely client/server network topology, with the player acting as the listen server being a full on replacement of an otherwise dedicated server. However this form of hosting option is technically also applicable today in peer-to-peer topologies, where multiple listen servers peering with one another is supposedly able to removes disadvantages of the typical peer-to-peer topology. A combination of listen server + peer-to-peer would create what is apparently called listen-peer.

Got work, so this is as much as I've had time to write. Ciao~