Online gaming lets players on separate devices share a session by exchanging gameplay information over a network. In a common client/server setup, each player’s game sends actions to a server; the server processes them and distributes updates, and each device renders the scene locally. Games can also use a player-hosted server or peer-to-peer connections, so the exact arrangement varies.
How does an online game connect players?
Each player runs a game client—the game software on their console, computer, or other device. To play together, the clients must join the same networked session and exchange information about actions and game state. A game may use a dedicated server, one player’s device as host, or direct connections among players.
In the common client/server pattern, the server maintains the authoritative version of gameplay: it decides what happened in the shared session. Unreal Engine’s networking documentation describes the server as holding “the one, true, authoritative game state.” Each client keeps a local representation of that state and draws the graphics and plays the sounds on the player’s device.
What happens when you make a move?
- You give an input. You press a control to move, fire, or perform another action. Your game client sends the relevant action or command over the network.
- The game processes it. In a client/server game, the server processes the action and updates its authoritative game state. For example, Unreal Engine’s documentation describes the server spawning a projectile and resolving its collision and damage.
- Updates go back to the players. The server sends relevant state changes to connected clients. Each client updates its local representation and renders the result, including visuals and sound.
- The exchange continues. Players keep acting, and the clients keep sending and receiving information. Because network updates take time or can be lost, a client’s view may temporarily differ from the server’s version.
In ordinary multiplayer networking, the game server generally sends gameplay state information, not a live stream of the game’s graphics. Each client renders the scene locally. Cloud gaming is a different delivery approach; Unreal documents Pixel Streaming separately from its ordinary networking model.
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What do matchmaking and lobbies do?
Matchmaking helps select or connect players for a session according to a game’s rules. A lobby is a place where players can gather before starting or joining a match. These features help people get together, but they are not necessarily the system that carries gameplay data between devices.
Steamworks explicitly distinguishes matchmaking and lobbies from gameplay networking: a game also needs a networking system, such as engine-provided networking, peer-to-peer connections, or game servers. Depending on the game and platform, services may also support invites, joining friends, session management, voice or text chat, and server allocation. The available features differ.
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How do game servers and peer-to-peer connections differ?
The main difference is which devices run the session and where authority over gameplay sits. No arrangement is universally best; the choice depends on the game’s needs and implementation.
| Arrangement | Who runs the session? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated server | A separate server runs the match without being a player’s game. | Unreal describes dedicated servers as often used for persistent, secure, or large-scale multiplayer. Steamworks recommends its game-server path for highly competitive games and persistent servers. These are platform recommendations, not rules for every game. |
| Listen server (player host) | One player’s device hosts the session and runs that player’s game. | This can be convenient for casual play, but the host may have an advantage and their device must handle server work as well as their own game. |
| Peer-to-peer | Players’ devices communicate with one another, sometimes using a relay. | Steamworks presents peer-to-peer as an option that can suit smaller groups. Fairness, reliability, security, and connection quality depend on the game’s design and implementation. |
Some games use a relay to forward traffic between participants. Steam says its Datagram Relay hides players’ IP addresses and can improve ping or connection quality in many cases. Microsoft describes relays in its own client-host guidance as a way to avoid IP leaks associated with traditional peer-to-peer implementations. These are implementation-specific benefits: not every game uses a relay, and a relay does not guarantee low latency or complete safety.
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Why does online gaming lag?
Lag is a broad term for a delay or interruption between what a player does and what the game displays or registers. Network information takes time to travel, and connections may deliver it inconsistently. While updates are in transit, a client is working from a local approximation; its view can briefly disagree with the server’s authoritative state.
Possible contributors include distance to the server, the route network traffic takes, congestion, local wireless conditions, server load, and the game’s networking design. Their relative impact varies, and the documentation cited here does not establish a universal acceptable ping or a single cause of lag. A relay may improve ping or connection quality in some implementations, but it is not a guaranteed fix.
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What should you take away?
- Online multiplayer works by exchanging gameplay information between separate devices over a network.
- In a common client/server game, the server processes gameplay and maintains the authoritative state; each client renders a local representation.
- Matchmaking and lobbies help players find and group up, while a separate networking system carries gameplay information.
- Dedicated servers, player-hosted sessions, and peer-to-peer connections are different ways to run multiplayer. Their trade-offs depend on the game.
- Network delay or unreliable delivery can make players’ views differ temporarily; no universal ping threshold or guaranteed lag fix is established here.
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