First Person Shooter (Call of Duty) Gaming over VPN

[RikE 0]

I searched the forums and did not find a post regarding gaming over VPN.  If there already is a post on the subject, forgive me and provide a link, please.  I am experiencing some latency (lag) when playing “Call of Duty: Ghosts” multiplayer online game.

I am connecting to airvpn's (Kuma) server via a DD-WRT router and the connection is very stable.  I have an xbox 360 connected via Ethernet cable to the router with UPNP turned on (NAT open).  

On average my connection stats via VPN are: ping: 54, DL: 3.83 Mbps, UL: 0.60 Mbps. 

On average my connection stats without VPN are: ping: 14, DL: 6 Mbps, UL: 1.3 Mbps

 

1. Am I just being paranoid for wanting to hide my real IP address when playing online games on a console, or is there a real concern with vengeful players finding out my IP address?   I don’t know how another player would be able to get that info, but I have heard stories of players initiating denial of service (DOS) attacks and such on other players.
    
2. Are there any tricks or tips that you might be able to share that would improve my overall gaming experience over VPN? 
    
3. Hourly, the VPN connection re-authorizes, or whatever it is called.   I have the router set to only all connections through the VPN, to prevent IP leakage.  Would this cause lag spikes and/or loss of connection to the game host server?
    
4. What would be the best airvpn server for me to use for Call of Duty or other first person shooter games?  I live in southeast Alabama and I don’t have any idea where the game host servers are located for Call of Duty.  I have tried a couple different servers and the Kuma server seems to provide a fast and stable connection.  However, I still experience lag most of the time.

Thanks!

[pfSense_fan 181]

1. This all depends on a number of variables and in the end it is entirely an opinion

of anyone who answers. Some things to question are: What level of gaming are you at? Casual? Competitive? Professional (legit professional)?  There is always a chance for vengeful players (griefers), although legitimate "threats" are few and far between... UNLESS YOU ARE A LEGITIMATE PROFESSIONAL PLAYER. Professional players face a myriad of threats and grief from other players, but this stems from their names being publicly known. You then become targeted. People try to hack your network. People try to steal your identity whether it be gamer names or real life info. Social engineering is the biggest thing to fear in online gaming. Never give out your name to other gamers... EVER. not even just your first name. That's how social engineering starts.

 

You said you didn't now how people got the info, they get it because XBOX does not use dedicated servers. Games choose a "host" from the pool of players in the lobby. The rest of you are clients. With the proper knowledge, software and equipment, you can see the IP address of everyone in the lobby. You

 

The stories of the DOS attacks... well... they are real. At the same time they are highly unlikely unless you play at the utmost highest level where people will do anything to gain an advantage. I've been the victim of such an attack.

 

2. No... gaming through a VPN will always add latency. I tried it... it does not work well. Not for competitive gaming anyway. I game on the clear net, regardless of my experiences. I rely on a powerful firewall (pfSense) to protect me from any attacks.

 

3. For a few seconds, yes. Router processors are not equipped with encryption acceleration and thus are not very efficient at it.

 

4. Which ever server is closest to you that is stable for you. Latency matters in gaming.

[anonym 22]

 

I searched the forums and did not find a post regarding gaming over VPN.  If there already is a post on the subject, forgive me and provide a link, please.  I am experiencing some latency (lag) when playing “Call of Duty: Ghosts” multiplayer online game.

I am connecting to airvpn's (Kuma) server via a DD-WRT router and the connection is very stable.  I have an xbox 360 connected via Ethernet cable to the router with UPNP turned on (NAT open).  

On average my connection stats via VPN are: ping: 54, DL: 3.83 Mbps, UL: 0.60 Mbps. 

On average my connection stats without VPN are: ping: 14, DL: 6 Mbps, UL: 1.3 Mbps

 

1. Am I just being paranoid for wanting to hide my real IP address when playing online games on a console, or is there a real concern with vengeful players finding out my IP address?   I don’t know how another player would be able to get that info, but I have heard stories of players initiating denial of service (DOS) attacks and such on other players.

    

2. Are there any tricks or tips that you might be able to share that would improve my overall gaming experience over VPN? 

Use a pfSense machine with AES-NI support. It will improve the speed as opposed to running on a router.

 

1. Hourly, the VPN connection re-authorizes, or whatever it is called.   I have the router set to only all connections through the VPN, to prevent IP leakage.  Would this cause lag spikes and/or loss of connection to the game host server?

I'm not familiar with gaming. However, blocking IP leakage as you have done is a great step towards more privacy.

 

1. What would be the best airvpn server for me to use for Call of Duty or other first person shooter games?  I live in southeast Alabama and I don’t have any idea where the game host servers are located for Call of Duty.  I have tried a couple different servers and the Kuma server seems to provide a fast and stable connection.  However, I still experience lag most of the time.

You can check the Ping Matrix and Status page. Be sure to look at the latency (given in MS on the Status page). I'd recommend a server geographically close to you.

The closest server is Pollux.

Thanks!

You're very welcome. I hope this helps.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

I tried it... it does not work well

 

I tried it, too, it works quite well. Playing games like League of Legends over a VPN connection results in a 35 ms ping instead of 30 ms for me if played over the "naked" network.

 

It's all about server choice and the location of the user. You need to play a game with every AirVPN server you think will give you good results and determine which one will have the best ones. Of course this depends on the game server, too, which might be tricky. Using the same game server again and again will at least generate comparable results.

 

Did you try to connect using other ports? Because losing ~40% of your original download and ~ 60% of your original upload speed is not good enough..

[pfSense_fan 181]

 

I tried it... it does not work well

 

I tried it, too, it works quite well. Playing games like League of Legends over a VPN connection results in a 35 ms ping instead of 30 ms for me if played over the "naked" network.

 

 

As I said in the very next sentence:

 

"Not for competitive gaming anyway."

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

 

 

I tried it... it does not work well

 

I tried it, too, it works quite well. Playing games like League of Legends over a VPN connection results in a 35 ms ping instead of 30 ms for me if played over the "naked" network.

 

 

As I said in the very next sentence:

 

"Not for competitive gaming anyway."

 

Didn't understand what you mean. I still don't. I just posted what I experienced.

[Staff 9973]

 

 

As I said in the very next sentence:

 

"Not for competitive gaming anyway."

 

 

Hi!

 

If LoL is unplayable for competitive gaming with 35 ms packets latency then lol!

 

Kind regards

[dIecbasC 38]

LoL is a completely different experience to a twitch game like CoD. 

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

 

 

 

As I said in the very next sentence:

 

"Not for competitive gaming anyway."

 

 

Hi!

 

If LoL is unplayable for competitive gaming with 35 ms packets latency then lol!

 

Kind regards

 

Ooooh I've got it now, and I agree with Staff.

[Visentinel 13]

the way i done it is by connecting to the airvpn server closest to the game server.

 

if you are in australia and connect to a vpn server in europe to play on a game server in america you will add heaps of latency, but if you connect to a vpn server in us to play on a server in the adjacent state you wont add any latency at all. (for example any vpn server in manassas is very close to guildwars 2)

 

if your prepared to research and find the best vpn server for each game you play and server hop before you play each one then go for it. its a pain in the ass tho.

 

finally your comment about UPNP... 2 things

turn it off it is a major security risk with malware been able to open back doors into your network and it wont work over the VPN anyway.