Lag
Encyclopedia : L : LA : LAG : Lag
- For other uses, see (disambiguation)}}}.
Within computing, Lag refers to the time taken for a packet of data from the sending application to the receiving application. This includes both transit time over the network, and computer processing time at both the source and destination computers.
Whilst in the strictest sense every packet experiences lag, the term lag is implied to refer to noticeable delays to the user caused as a result of extended or unexpected delay. As the time taken for a packet to travel from a server in Europe to a client nearby in the same region is likely to differ from a trip from Europe to the Americas or Asia, it is possible that two users may experience connections to the same server with a different extent of network lag.
Causes of delay
Lag may be traced to two main sources:- Inadequate network performance
- Inadequate processing power
Gaming
Lag, from "lag behind" and Warp, from "warping", are slang terms for slow Internet speeds or Internet latency; Lag is sometimes due to a server problem, but more frequently due to the connection between client and server. A slow or intermittent connection may often be referred to as laggy.Eg "[KoO]Neo101 lags like hell!!" and/or "[KoO]Neo101 has warp problems"
Lag Slang
A lagger or laggot (occasionally, High Ping Bait (HPB), High Ping Whiner (HPW), Lag Fag, Paper Modem or Panda Lagger) is someone who uses a relatively slow 56 kbit/s modem to connect to the Internet, then joins a multiplayer online game (usually a first-person shooter) and who therefore has a high ping time. In synchronous games, where all clients must know the exact game state, a single "lagger" will slow down the game for everyone, since the server has to wait for the client to get every communication packet. However, many online games use an asynchronous communication model, allowing the clients to continue even if they drop occasional packets. A high-pinger who does not inhibit the overall performance, just his own, is sometimes known as a High Ping Bait.It should also be noted that a few players using 56k modems intentionally disrupted their outbound data traffic in order to induce a "warp" effect. When this happens, their location in the game world is only intermittently updated, causing them to jump across the screen at unpredictable intervals and becoming impossible to hit. This was once a common form of cheating, hence the terms, Lag Cheater, and Lag Armor. This has largely been overcome in modern games by effectively reversing how the networking code functions. On old games, the target's computer informs the shooter whether or not he has been hit. This resulted in having to lead a target, a practice known as Lag Shooting. In modern games, the shooter's computer determines whether the shot has hit or not, and tells the target (What You See is What You Get). A player attempting this cheat now is only rendering himself High Ping Bait.
Low Ping Bastard or LPB is a phrase that originated during the time when Quake was a highly popular multiplayer online first-person shooter. The term came into common usage when broadband Internet connections first came into the reach of home users and were competing with people limited to a 56 kbit/s or slower modem connection. This term was so widely used because of the havoc wreaked upon the other users of these servers by the LPBs due to their overwhelming advantage in reaction time afforded by their connection.
Additionally, the term chop also denotes a laggy or lagged connection. This term was coined during the Quake series of first person shooters as a player could run a command to see a graphical output of their connection superimposed on the in-game screen. During times of poor connectivity, the graph would look like a saw-tooth or ocean waves; hence the term 'chop'. It also refers to the choppy movement a severe lagger sees in these games due to intermittent update of game data.
A 56ker or 56k demon is a slang term for a person using a 56 kb modem connection. These connections are considered to be slow compared to modern broadband connections and generally result in lewd complaints from other higher bandwidth participants in the game or channel. On many game servers, having such a connection is grounds for immediate banning, spawncamping, or teamkilling. This practice is commonly referred to as Smear the Queer.
Lagtard and fisher price comp also come into play when insulting a lagger.
Also the term ricking can be used when referring to lag. This term is mainly used in the Boston area.
Laggot is an insult in online games meaning "lagger" and "faggot". It is said to have originated in the online game, Survival Project, made by E-games.
Statistics
When there is correlation between random variables in stationary dependent processes, the difference separating these two random variables is called lag.See also
- Bandwidth - Measure of a connection's maximum speed.
- Ping - Tool for determining latency with regard to another system.
- Avalon - Movie by Mamoru Oshii, in which large parts of the portrayed society play an immense online virtual reality game, features lag as a phenomenon to which players react with bodily symptoms (convulsions, nausea).
External links
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