With millions of gamers all over the world looking to win games and be the best, people are always looking for new ways to get an advantage and improve their experience. An increasingly common choice is the use of a VPN to find success in a variety of games.
A VPN (Virtual private network) essentially allows your computer to connect to another computer somewhere else in the world through a completely secure tunnel. There are several options for gaming VPNs (as AlwaysVPN explains here), so you have your fair share of choices.
But just how does a VPN improve your gaming experience? What things does it provide and/or help over simply using your traditional connection? With that in mind, let’s go over some reasons why utilizing a VPN like Surfshark could improve your gaming experience.
It Can Improve Ping and Reduce Latency
One of the primary reasons people will use VPNs is to improve their ping and reduce latency. This is essentially the time it takes for your gaming device to send (and then receive) data from the server. When playing an online game against other people around the world, ping is crucial.
If your ping is too high, you will experience lag and/or feel like you are a second behind your opponents, which can make gaming difficult. The way a VPN can assist is that it can put you in closer proximity to the game server, which should often reduce the amount of lag you are getting, though this won’t always be the case.
Where VPNs can really shine is if you play in an area far away from the servers of a particular game. In this case, you have no choice but to play with a ton of lag due to your distance from the servers, and a VPN can help level the playing field for those playing in remote areas.
They Can Provide a Safer Experience
Another reason VPNs can be a good idea is that they can provide a safer experience when gaming online. While many people who game online are nice and fair, others may be malicious. They may attempt to find and/or leak your IP address, and things like DDoS attacks are common in gaming.
These can cause you to lag uncontrollably and may even boot you offline and make it hard for your gaming experience to be anything but a negative one. A VPN can help by masking your IP address and encrypting your data to keep you safe when gaming or browsing online. If someone does start attempting to mess with you, it’s easy to simply use the VPN to evade the attempt and get to another server.
VPNs Can Get Around Content Restrictions or Blocked Games
In some areas, certain content within video games may be blocked. Some might be exclusive to a certain country, and this ranges from full games being blocked, to downloadable content or certain levels or features. This can be upsetting as you may not be getting everything out of a game that you wish you could.
A VPN can help you gain access to this restricted content, no matter where you are. Many VPNs can get past this geoblocking that is in place with ease. You can choose which server to play on, and will immediately get full access to the game as if you were physically located where your chosen server is.
In conclusion, we hope this article has been able to help you understand how you can improve your gaming experience with a VPN.