The fast-emerging eSports industry is one of the best examples of the growing number of uses for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The huge tournament prize pools offered to the world’s best video gamers mean that security and connection speeds have to be at their very best.
That’s why the world’s leading eSports events utilise VPNs to guard against the threat of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which can overwhelm a gamer’s internet connection, causing it to grind to a frustrating halt.
Less-than-scrupulous eSports contestants have also been known to give their opponents a DDoS attack too, preventing them from being able to compete online in the leading eSports events. This is where some of the best free VPN download options can help.
VPNs safeguard the connection of eSports players from DDoS attacks as follows: When a VPN is active, the application is designed to mask your connection’s actual IP address. That’s because a VPN routes your internet connection via an alternative, shared IP address.
This not only makes it virtually impossible for cyber-hackers to plan a DDoS attack on your true IP address, but it can also make your address appear to be somewhere you are not, which can also be useful for security purposes.
One of the most high-profile examples of a DDoS attack on a major eSports competition came back in 2015. The International Dota 2 Championships were wholly affected, with a DDoS attack crippling the entire tournament for more than an hour before connectivity could be restored for gamers.
Some gamers also have difficulties logging into particular online games, particularly those that travel regularly around the world for eSports events. VPNs can assist those that may be ‘geo-blocked’. This means that access to an online game may be prohibited in the country you are in. Using a VPN can make it easy to gain access to games that would not otherwise be possible.
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It has also been known for eSports gamers to utilise a trusted VPN to improve their connection speeds. That’s because some internet service providers (ISPs) will ‘throttle’ a user’s web traffic to limit bandwidth, often without informing them. That’s where a VPN can come into its own.
Gamers that play online using a VPN service can stop their ISP from seeing the websites they visit. They will acknowledge that you are using a VPN, but that’s about it. Subsequently, ISPs cannot tell when you are gaming and accessing vast amounts of content that would ordinarily be throttled, resulting in far lower ping numbers.
In some instances, eGamers will let the tensions of live tournament gameplay get the better of them. They might curse, use unwarranted language or engage in harmful or aggressive conversations with competitors; we’re all human after all.
Gamers that have been unjustly banned from a game server can use a VPN to regain access and circumvent game administrators.
Typically, when a player is blocked from a game server, it is their IP address and user handle that is logged. By altering your virtual IP address you can come back as a new player and regain access to your favourite games.
