Gamers can’t settle for less, as inferior software can significantly impact your gaming ability. Pro gamers are part of an extremely competitive market, so they can’t afford to experience lags, overloaded servers, or online attacks. While pro gamers can help ensure they have the best playing quality by purchasing top-of-the-line software and computers, this software won’t make a difference to external influences. That’s why they use datacenter or cheap residential proxies like these to ensure the best gaming experience.
The Growth of Online Gaming
Online gaming was considered the hobby of people living in their mother’s basement. However, recent years have seen a significant shift in perspective regarding gaming. With gaming technology improving each year and new competitive events held worldwide, it’s become a sport millions are interested in.
With the recent pandemic, even more people flocked to games as a means of escape. However, they soon realized there’s so much more to playing games than simple entertainment. Games are a lifestyle for pro gamers and require a particular skill set you must cultivate over hours of playing games.
By the end of 2022, the online gaming sector’s value was $196 billion. It shows a CAGR growth rate of 9.9%. Furthermore, studies project that by 2026, this sector will have a value of $321 billion.
The Challenges that Come With It
However, with the increased interest in online gaming, pro gamers also became aware of the challenges. Some challenges have been there since the dawn of online gaming, like poor security features, lagging servers, and geo-blocks. Others have become more prevalent as the interest and value of games rose, like uneven pricing, increased chances of being hacked, and more.
Gamers often struggle with poor connection, not always due to the gamer’s internet. Poor connection and lagging servers can happen for a variety of reasons. The server can be crowded, which, similar to a DDoS attack, means it lags and struggles to connect. It can also be that outside factors influence the connection quality without the gamer being able to do anything.
Further, as the gaming industry becomes more valuable, hackers become interested in your gaming accounts. Accounts with high-level characters, exclusive skins, unique items, and more can sell for a lot. Often, hackers try to access your gaming account to lock you out and instead sell it to someone else.
Geoblocking also means that you might struggle to access specific games or pay more for a game than someone in another country would. Sometimes, games are released earlier in different countries, giving the gamers in that country an unfair advantage of longer playing times.
Overall, there are quite a few challenges pro and casual gamers must consider. Luckily, datacenter and cheap residential proxies can be the solution.
Types of Gaming Proxies
Proxies are intermediary servers that handle the online traffic on your behalf. Quite a few proxies exist, with datacenter and residential ones being the most common. Datacenter proxies are ones where the IP address originates from a datacenter. As these proxies don’t connect to an actual device or ISP, it often provides a faster connection. However, it depends on the type of datacenter proxy server you use.
Shared datacenter proxies can have slow connections as you share them with other users. However, dedicated ones have faster connections and give you more anonymity, as only you use them. Yet it’s not all smooth sailing, as it’s also easier for websites to detect that you’re using a proxy with these. This blocking means you might need to keep buying proxies.
Residential proxies have IP addresses supplied by ISP, which connect to home devices. As such, you have increased security and faster connections and look like an actual person connecting to the website or game. It means there’s less chance of being blocked. However, they can also be more expensive than datacenter proxies.
How Proxies are the Gaming Solution
Pro gamers use various types of proxies and enjoy the benefits of them. Below we look at the top four reasons they use proxies and why you should too.
Avoid Geoblocks
You can set the proxy location to any location you want. This location feature allows you to buy games at the best prices and get access to it even if it’s not been released yet in your country.
Shorter Connection Routes
You must connect to a game’s central server to play it, but the further away you are, the slower your connection. However, with proxies, it helps you connect faster to the server and creates a more stable connection. As such, it also helps prevent lagging.
Increased Security
Proxies hide your IP address, which means hackers have less chance of finding your account. It enhances your online security and helps protect your gameplay from external influences.
Play with Your Teammates
Have gaming buddies overseas? No problem! With proxies, it helps you set your location so you can all play on the same server. You can participate as a native of their country and complete your team missions together.
Up Your Gaming Experience
The best advantage of using datacenter or cheap residential proxies to game is that the four benefits we mentioned aren’t alone. Proxies are a significant help in accessing servers that aren’t crowded, gaining access to blocked games, or properly experiencing a top-quality match. Pro gamers have seen the benefit of using proxies for gaming, so consider using these tools to help up your gaming experience and play like a pro.