If you’re into competitive multiplayer gaming, then this article is for you.
Diving into the Warzone with COD, or getting into a heist with GTA is always fun until your ping starts to rise and your game starts to lag.
Or maybe you’re more into the squad vs squad actions of Valorant and CS:GO, but you can’t play with your overseas friends because of region lock.
Multiplayer games are amazing for some good old fashioned fun with your buddies, or for testing your skills in a global esports tournament. But online games come with its fair share of annoying limitations and issues that just limits your experience.
So, how to achieve the best possible experience from your favourite online multiplayer games? Use a VPN.
This article talks about how using a VPN will improve your online gaming or esports experience.
1. Say Goodbye to Bandwidth Throttling
No matter how fast your internet connection is, most internet service providers (ISPs) are known for slowing down your bandwidth when traffic increases on your network.
This is called bandwidth throttling, and it has caused many gamers to break their computer screens or keyboards. Imagine you’re in the perfect position to take a sniper shot that’ll win your squad the chicken dinner, but suddenly your FPS drops and the game starts to lag.
With a VPN, you’ll no longer have to experience these sudden drops in your internet speed. A VPN will hide your connection status from the ISP, so they won’t be able to throttle your connection speed.
2. No More Region Lock
With a VPN, you can connect to any server from any location. Some of the most popular esports games such as Valorant, CS GO, Apax Legends, and many more are region locked.
It means that players from different regions can’t play together. And you can’t also access global competitions that are outside your region. This really limits your online gaming experience.
However, a VPN lets you hide your regional location, and bypass this annoying feature. If you’re in Asia and want to play with North American players, just change your location in the VPN and start gaming. It’s that simple.
3. Reduce Lag and Ping Times
There’s nothing worse than heading into battle and seeing your aim all over the place, your screen shattering or your player not moving. Lags are by far the worst nightmare of any gamer.
In online multiplayer games, lags occur mainly due to long ping times. A ping time is basically the time it takes for your device to send a command, and the game server to receive it. So, it’s the time between you pressing the mouse button and the gun on your screen starting to shoot. The higher the ping time, the more lag you’ll experience.
The main reason for long ping times is the large physical distance between your local network server and the game server. Using a VPN, you can connect to a server near the game server to reduce your ping time and get rid of those annoying lags.
For example, if you see that the game you’re playing is using a server in Singapore, you can just change your location to Singapore using a VPN, and enjoy a lag-free gaming experience.
4. Protect Your Data and Privacy
The world of esports is very competitive, and it’s also a feeding ground for hackers. Online games offer the largest database of users from different locations, ages, and professions.
Most of the popular esports games are loaded with micro-transactions, where gamers use their financial details to purchase in-game items. Hackers tend to target such users to hack their networks and steal their personal data.
A VPN protects you against such events. Using a VPN, you’ll be able to hide your IP address and location, so any hacker won’t have easy access to your network and personal details.
5. Gain Early Access to Newly Released Games
Most of the new games nowadays don’t get released worldwide at first. It usually gets an early release at a specific region, before hitting that global release button.
It’s really disappointing to get all hyped up for a new game, only to find out that it’s not releasing in your location on the same day.
With a VPN, you can now enjoy any new release on the day it comes out, even if it’s not released in your location. Just change your VPN location to where the game is released, and start playing.
6. Buy Games For a Cheaper Price
Here’s a secret for you. Not all games are the same price in every country. In western regions such as North America, Australia, and Europe, games are usually sold at their full price.
However, in other regions such as South America and Africa, the same gamers are often sold at almost half the price.
Take Steam for example. Nearly every game on Steams Argentina store is almost 30-40% cheaper than its price in the US.
You can easily take advantage of this by using a VPN. Just change your VPNs location and refresh the website. You’ll see that your store location has changed, and so has most of the prices.
To Sum It Up
Using a VPN will definitely improve your online gaming or esports experience. It gives you the freedom and flexibility as a gamer to experience the game's best features without any restrictions.
Read What is a VPN? to learn more about its features and benefits.
