VPNs and Online Gaming: Protecting your data and reducing lag

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) service offers many benefits for regular web-surfing purposes. Everything from protecting your browsing habits to accessing international marketplaces and services, while maintaining security.

However, not many people will consider the use of a VPN when they're gaming online. Thinking it is a frivolous use of the internet, they may believe there's little point in even using a VPN in that way.

There are a lot more benefits to VPN-based gaming than you may think. Using one of the best VPN for iPhones across all of your devices can help more than just your privacy.

Hiding your IP

Starting with the most obvious reason of the list, a VPN is effective in masking your IP address.

You can still connect to game servers, as your traffic is tunneled to the VPN's servers before heading where it needs to go. However, because it passes through the VPN, the originating IP address is masked from view of anyone inspecting the packets.

The benefit of this is because there are people willing to do harm to others for their own needs.

If another player knows your IP address and has access to a bot network, for example, they could perform a distributed denial of service attack against you. This could make your connection unusable and, in competitive play, could end up kicking you from the server.

They may not stop there, and use the IP address to track you down and send threatening messages, or even post your details publicly online.

For Twitch streamers, a VPN is a must, since live streams make them a bigger target for attacks of their games and of the stream itself. If they have a sizable audience, it can make them even more of a target.

It may seem like overkill, but a VPN is still handy to keep you safe online while you're gaming.

Lag and Ping

While you may think that funneling a connection through a VPN could make things slower, it could end up making the connection better in some cases.

Ping refers to the time it takes for a packet of data to go from one computer to another, often measured in milliseconds. For gaming, which relies on small packets rather than large downloads, ping can be more important than total overall bandwidth.

Where a VPN comes in is that it could act as a major route on the information superhighway that is the internet. While your normal ISP-based route for your packets could take a congested or slow path to the destination, a VPN could help you bypass the slow bits.

If you're playing on far-away servers, such as those in a different continent to where you are, it could be better to use a VPN server. Using one that exits on that continent will reduce the number of hops required.

This isn't necessarily a guaranteed benefit, as it's entirely possible that your normal Internet connection could be fast enough in its own right. But, for those times when it's not doing great, it could give you a little boost.

Region blocking

Games tend to operate on a regional basis. Gamers from one region, such as North America, tend to be offered games that are against opponents from the same area.

In many cases, a game will give you the choice of which region you want to play with, and will give you games just for that area. Sometimes, that's not an option, and you're repeatedly paired with more local players.

If you want to play with people in a different region and the game doesn't give the option to do so, you could try and force the game to pair you with people elsewhere.

By connecting with a VPN, your current "country" could be different from reality. That may trick a game into thinking you should be playing with others in that VPN server's vicinity, ultimately changing your opponents.

This isn't just for affecting who you play with online. It can even affect what you can play in the first place.

For example, "gacha games" with loot box-style mechanics are becoming more popular in Western economies, but they're really popular in Japan. However, you're not going to be able to play some of them unless you are "in" Japan, which a VPN can arrange for you.

Sometimes, a game may only be available in some countries but not others through geo-restrictions. A VPN could help you secure that game in the first place.

ISP throttling

Gaming can be a bandwidth hog. Not only can game downloads measure in the gigabytes along with updates, but actually playing a game can sometimes consume a lot of bandwidth.

When you're using an ISP with traffic-monitoring policies intended to reduce congestion, that system could flag your gaming as a problem. If it's configured to clamp down on specific types of games, you could be hit by it without necessarily being the reason behind it.

A VPN can combat against traffic-monitoring systems, simply by preventing the system from seeing the packets of data in the first place. If it can't see the data, it cannot throttle the connection based on its defined policies.

A word of warning

While a VPN can have some uses for gamers, there is one area that they should be wary about. Depending on the game you're playing, there may be something in its terms of service that could ban the use of VPNs.

There are a few reasons why this could apply. A big one is that some countries have restricted the use of VPNs.

There may also be laws in place about specific content or games that must only be accessed by the country's citizens, or should not be accessible outside the country. For example, regional online gambling laws.

A more likely reason is to prevent players from cheating. Restricting VPN use could be a play to minimize users from getting around bans, or to stop abusive players from causing problems for others.

A VPN is entirely legal to use in most countries, and shouldn't impede your online activities. But sometimes, especially with a few high-profile games, they may be something the game companies actively discourage using.

If you're looking to sign up for a VPN service, there are early Black Friday VPN deals in effect right now that have dropped prices down to as low as $1.99 per month.