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      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
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              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/cover2.10_sml.jpg" width="280" height="219" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 10<br>
                January 31, 2000<br>
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              <h5 align="right"><font color="#00025E"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> 
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              <div align="center"> 
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6">Game 
                  Networking 101</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">An 
                  article by <a href="mailto:jsimpson@ravensoft.com">Jake Simpson</a></font></p>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.38/">1.38: loonygames at E3!</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.37/">1.37: The ReRuns Issue</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.36/">1.36: Inside Raven Software</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.35/">1.35: Waking Graeme Devine</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.34/">1.34: Writing the Game</option>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.28/">1.28: Adventures in ASCII</option>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.26/">1.26: Two Programs...</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.25/">1.25: The Unreal Cliffy B!</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.24/">1.24: Gimme Your Money!</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.23/">1.23: Old Crusty Gamers</option>
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<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.13/">1.13: Blue and Levelord...</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.12/">1.12: When It's Done!</option>
<option value="http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.11/">1.11: Hangin' With John Romero!</option>
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              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><img src="../../images/letters_new/b.jpg" width="25" height="44" align="left"></i>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.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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&#146;s 
                begin.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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. </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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. &quot;It's like a phone 
                system,&quot; they say, &quot;You have an IP address, that&#146;s 
                like a telephone number.&quot; 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, &quot;Oh, I know where the post office 
                that this letter is intended for is located,&quot; and it's forwarded 
                directly to the correct one, which then sends it on to the intended 
                recipient. </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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. </font></p>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 2000 Costas (<a href="http://www.freespeech.org/darkpathimages/dpathmain.htm">Darkpath 
  Images</a>) and Andy, This article is &copy; 2000 Jake Simpson. All other content 
  is &copy; 2000 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. 
  So don't do it, or we'll give you really, really, bad lag.</font></i></p>
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