If you’re a gamer, you’re probably unsatisfied with the performance of many PC games. Although you might be a fan of them, you could do without a few things. Thankfully, you can achieve this if you decide to use a gaming server. Below, we’ll be discussing how beneficial it can be, along with its disadvantages. If you’re interested, be sure to keep reading.
The Pros of Using Your Own Gaming Server
First, let’s dive into the many benefits of using a gaming server:
You’re In Power
When playing a game, your performance is governed by the rules. Because of this, your gameplay is very restricted. With most PC games, especially the ones on Steam, you’re allowed to create your own server or use a third-party one. In this, you are in total control of what happens. This means the game’s restrictions are not in place.
As you can imagine, this makes for a very custom and free experience. For example, you can determine its rules and set up, as well as who is able to join.
Optimized Gaming
Moreover, the servers are made to be optimized. Whether you get a low-end gaming laptop like one from this list https://budgetreport.com/best-cheap-gaming-laptop/ or got a hold of a high-end MacBook, or even a more expensive gaming laptop from our Linux Laptops list, your computer’s specs don’t really matter on a custom server as it’s so optimized. As long as your computer is powerful enough to run the game at the recommended specs.
Who Are You Playing With?
As mentioned, you’re in complete control of the server so you can decide who you want to join you. This means you can kick as many people as you like. This is a great responsibility to have as how fun the match becomes is determined by the people playing.
If you were playing the game the usual way and not through your own server, you may be stuck with bad teammates, ruining your chances of success. Not just this, but they could be annoying to play with too. Now, you don’t have to compromise your gaming experience as you and your friends can rest easy.
Is The Game Lagging?
Everyone hates lag. Because of it, how well you play is compromised as the game will get stuck during the important parts. If you weren’t aware, lag is determined by users’ ping levels. It’s best to have a low ping as this provides the smoothest gameplay. Unfortunately, your teammates may have high ping levels, causing the server to slow down for you.
As you have full control of who enters and leaves, you can kick people off the server who you know have horrible ping levels. Such a scenario would work best for FPS games like Call of Duty, and many gamers have said so as well.
What Are You In The Mood For?
The server is designed to fit your needs. You may be happy with the game, but you know you could tweak a few things, making it much better. Fortunately, you can take such a leap with a gaming server’s aid. With it, you can bring your vision to life so that you and everyone else can enjoy gameplay that is to your taste.
For example, you can make your own Minecraft server and build a specific project by installing as many mods as you’d like.
Do You Have Any Problems?
You can build the server yourself or use someone else’s. If you want to experience a gaming server but don’t want to run it yourself, you’ll be happy with servers that major companies offer.
These companies are known to offer some great services to their users. You can expect speedy support and friendly personnel as they work to serve just a few. Along with the fact that everything is customized, this is a cherry on top.
What’s more, the companies offer thorough surveillance of the server. So you know everything is running as smoothly as possible.
The Cons Using Your Own Gaming Server
As we’ve run through the many pros of using a gaming server, let’s dive into some of its cons.
It’s Resource Extensive
If you’re planning on running the server yourself, you’re in for some hard work: the servers are quite resource-extensive. You’ll need to gather a lot of tools and know the requirements before you take the leap.
Unfortunately, this could take a lot of your time as it’s such a large project.
Not just this, but if you don’t get your data in check, the server will be compromised. For example, you may not have planned how many users you want the server to be accessible to, only allowing 2-3 people to get in when you would’ve liked more.
It’s Expensive
While on the topic of creating a gaming server of your own, it’s expensive to do so. This is because it needs constant maintenance. The maintenance should be done quite often, at least once a month. As you can imagine, this would take a lot of time and money.
What’s more, to keep the server running you will use up a lot of electricity. If you’re not looking forward to getting a high utility bill, don’t run a gaming server.
Some of this can be avoided by getting your own server from a game server provider.
You’ll Become Ruthless
When using a game server, you’re in full control. Because of this, you may become tyrannical and bar certain people from entering it. This is not the kind of impression you want people to have of you. Other players may notice how ruthless you are, forming a negative impression about you.
There’s No Security
If you’re a part of a new game server, you won’t like to hear that its security protocols are probably weak. This is as they’ve just started, so their security measures aren’t as tight as you’d like them to be.
If you’ve created the server yourself and didn’t do the proper homework, your server would practically be defenseless. This compromises the safety of everyone using it, which is a risk you might not want to take.
Conclusion
With that being said, it’s easy to see that there are many pros and cons of utilizing a server to play your favorite games. To summarize the above points:
The pros:
- You’re in power
- Less lag
- More customizability
- Control of who joins
- Third-party servers provide excellent service
The cons:
- You may become ruthless
- New game servers have a lack of security
- It’s expensive to run your own game server
- It’s resource extensive
