Do You Really Need a VPN to Play Games Online?
Gaming is a fun pastime activity for many of us. Some prefer to game on phones, while others enjoy building powerful setups and immersing themselves in the latest PC titles. Whatever your gaming preference is, you probably need an internet connection to play. Online safety is a popular topic, and gamers are not excluded from the discussion.
Online gaming might seem harmless, but you never know who you are playing against. Protecting yourself from cyber threats should be a priority. And this is where tools like the gaming VPNs come into play.
VPN can improve your gaming experience, increase your online safety, and help you gain access to geo-blocked titles. Let’s dive deeper into the topic of VPN for gaming and explore the various benefits that come with it.
Early Access to Geo-Restricted Content
Games are not always released worldwide at the same time, but there is a way around it. If you are eager to play a brand-new game, VPN can help you with that. For instance, if a particular game is released early in Japan, connecting to a VPN server in that country will give you access to the game.
Furthermore, gamers sometimes use VPN to connect to international servers. Some online titles might have servers for people in different parts of the world. European gamers cannot play on North American or Asian servers, and vice versa. But if you are eager to game with your friends from the other side of the globe, the best gaming VPN should have a server in their region.
Using Public Wi-Fi for Gaming
Public Wi-Fi is generally not recommended because hackers lurking on the same network could intercept and spy on your information. But sometimes, a public Wi-Fi network might be the only available one. Gamers on the move who want to check on their progress may safely do so if they have a tool like VPN to protect their information. They can use free Wi-Fi by connecting to the gaming VPN first.
When gaming on public Wi-Fi, your data will be safe thanks to the powerful encryption provided by the VPN service. As a result, you will be protected from man-in-the-middle and data interception.
Protection from Swatting
Even though it’s rare now, swatting was a problem in gaming circles a couple of years ago. If you like multiplayer games, you never know who you are playing against. Another player could become mad at you and track down your IP address. It could lead to you getting doxxed or worse – swatted.
Someone who got hold of your real IP could learn your location and call in an emergency, such as a bomb threat. A SWAT team might break down your front door in a matter of minutes because they have no way of knowing the call was a hoax. But swatting is no joke. One young man from Wichita, Kansas, was shot by an officer during the swatting incident.
Since VPN can help you hide your IP, it is an excellent tool to have on hand. No vengeful gamer will get your IP address and virtual location.
Preventing DDoS Attacks
Usually, distributed denial of service or DDoS attacks are used by experienced hackers to take down websites. However, it’s now a service anyone can buy on the dark web to launch a DDoS attack.
DDoS attacks include flooding a system so it would go offline. It’s mostly an attack against web servers, but individual users could also become targets. Again, gamers who enjoy playing with other users are in danger because someone could casually decide to launch a DDoS attack.
However, a gaming VPN will connect you to a remote server, and your IP address will become masked. If anyone tries to perform a DDoS attack, they’ll send overwhelming traffic to the VPN server instead of your device.
Less Lag
Some gamers can claim that a VPN can increase the lag and make a game run slower. It’s stressful for individuals who prefer multiplayer games where you need to react quickly. While it’s true that VPNs can decrease your internet speed, the change should be unnoticeable if you use a premium VPN service. Free VPNs usually are the culprits behind slow speeds and other VPN issues.
Sometimes a VPN can reduce the lag and improve your connection to the game server. It happens if you choose a VPN server closer to the game server. Ping will be insignificant, and you will notice less lagging. And if your ISP throttles your bandwidth during gaming, VPN can prevent that, and your favorite games will run smoother and faster than ever.
