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##### Vol. 2, Issue 10
January 31, 2000

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Game Networking 101

An article by Jake Simpson

efore we begin this journey into the inner workings of networking in games, it's important to define some terms, and get some background on the Internet and how it works. This is of inestimable help later when trying to explain why certain things are done the way they are when coding for the net, plus, if you're anything like me, it's just plain interesting.

I'm going to go over some history of the Internet, with some simple examples of how it works, without getting too technical. This is not intended to be a programming reference document, more an enlightenment of what others are talking about when they talk about latency, pings, TCP/IP and so on. I will avoid those areas of the net that aren't directly related to games, since there is no reason to bore the pants of anyone more than is strictly necessary. This is not a 'how to' document, but more a FYI type of thing. There is nothing in this about making your home system better over the Internet, but more an explanation of why so many Internet games have networking troubles and where they come from. So let’s begin.

The Internet as everyone knows it came about from a much smaller network called ARPANET that the pentagon created a) because America was on a science kick in the 60's and wanted to get a head start in burgeoning industries and b) because the pentagon wanted to use and keep tabs on the expensive mainframes it was funding at places like MIT and UCLA without having to use multiple remote terminals.

To cut a long story short, the pentagon put out a contract to tender that would link multiple mainframes together, for use in real time. This would mean that one man at one terminal should be able to access multiple machines, share data and run programs on different systems.

From this contract, the concept of packet switching and routers was born. Now everyone bandies those words 'routers' and 'packet switching' around, but what do they actually mean? Well, first up, lets dissolve one common misconception. Many people use the phone system as an example when discussing the Internet. "It's like a phone system," they say, "You have an IP address, that’s like a telephone number." Well, not really. A better one would be to use the post office as an example. Imagine that when you send a file from one computer to another it's like sending a letter. It first goes to your post office where it is examined, and it's decided if it's intended for someone that has an address that post office serves. If it's not, then it's forwarded to another post office for examination again. Eventually it will arrive at a post office that says, "Oh, I know where the post office that this letter is intended for is located," and it's forwarded directly to the correct one, which then sends it on to the intended recipient.

Long winded, but you get the idea. Well, a router is effectively a post office. It sorts files that come in and decides what to do with them and where to send them. This is very different from the phone system where you end up with a direct link between you and who you are calling. With routers, there is no direct link. - Incidentally, there is a common myth that states that the original APRANET, and by default the Internet, was designed to withstand a nuclear war, so that if one machine was taken out, then others would still be able to communicate, since there was no one route that everyone depended on. Having researched this, there is no actual proof that this was ever an original requirement. It would be able to withstand losing a large portion of its connecting machines, but that would appear to be more of a side benefit than an original requirement.

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Credits: Illustration © 2000 Costas (Darkpath Images) and Andy, This article is © 2000 Jake Simpson. All other content is © 2000 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. So don't do it, or we'll give you really, really, bad lag.