It’s the rise of social gaming that has revolutionized the industry today. Games like Fortnite and PUBG are doing record breaking business. Gaming competitions around the world are now offering prizes worth millions of dollars which is something that has never been seen before. The amount of money that is being flooded into the market is making it lucrative not just for game creators, players and other entities involved but unfortunately, also for hackers and cybercriminals.
This is where a gaming VPN starts to become relevant. However, cybercriminals are not the only reason why a VPN may be required for gaming. ISP throttling, bandwidth issues and geographic restrictions on content can hinder smooth gaming experiences. Collectively these factors make VPN usage imperative. Here we will discuss in detail the dangers that gaming without a VPN may have and what are the things that you need to look for when picking a good VPN.
The Gaming Industry
Gaming has grown into a field that is diverse and expanding. There are different platforms for which games are available with the same ones also being offered for multiple devices. PC, consoles, tablets and mobile all fall under the banner of compatible gadgets that games can be played on. Together, the gaming industry is now estimated to be worth $152 billion worldwide. This includes the games on all platforms including mobile, PC and Mac.
This is market estimate is based on the popularity of games in various regions across the globe. Different surveys put the figure in their own brackets but this amount is a good average between them. The industry is also expected to grow in the next two years with predictions stating it will be worth $180 billion by 2021. Manufacturers, independent organizers and other stakeholders are making huge investments in the arena contributing to its boom recently.
Why you need a gaming VPN?
The amount of money that the sector is seeing is enough to attract hackers like moths to a light source. Besides these elements, gamers face threats from within the community too. There are Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) targeting other player’s system to disable the system and cause the server to crash, hindering gameplay and potentially causing losses both in the game and financially as well. A VPN safeguards against all such threats.
Benefits of VPN to PubG and Fortnite players
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUND (PUBG) and Fortnite are two of the most popular games of the decade. Having millions of players around the world spending thousands of hours playing them, they are generating not just enormous interest but huge amounts of money too. A 16-year recently won the Fortnite championship walking away with $3 million in prize money. This is insane and attracts hackers to take advantage of the situation.
The source of all hacks is usually the IP address of players which by default is public. Other players and cybercriminals can easily figure this address out and use it to send malware or initiate phishing as well as DDoS attacks against the other person’s computer or device. With a PUBG VPN installed the IP address is masked eliminating the threat from hackers or other people. This can come in handy when you are immersed in the experience but want to keep your peace of mind.
Hiding IP addresses means that your real location is hidden from the game servers. As a result, you can connect to servers in other countries. Leading PUBG VPNs allow players to pick which country they want to connect to. Moreover, you are also hiding your location from the local ISP and potentially connecting to a server closer to the gaming location. This means that lesser pings are required and the game runs more seamlessly without lag.
Things to look for in a gaming VPN
The demand for gaming VPNs has risen significantly since players have realized that it works and is vital at the same time. Hundreds of options are now available in the market but unfortunately, they are not all as comprehensive as required and some don’t even provide the appropriate features that are necessary for effective gaming. Here are a few things that you should look out for in a good gaming VPN with the first being portforwarding.
- Portforwarding for gaming
Secure portforwarding can enhance the gaming experience and sometimes even becomes imperative. Portforwarding a technique used by VPNs to allow external devices access to computer service while using private network connections. The reason portforwarding is used is to keep unnecessary traffic away from the server. It also allows one IP address to be dedicated to external communications so that all others are accessible for internal activities.
There are several games that require portforwarding for gamers. Some of the leading VPNs on the market provide access to this feature from within the application itself. Ivacy, for instance, is a VPN that provides one of the top gaming proxy services and it allows effective portforwarding in a few simple steps. Portforwarding then, is another important characteristic to look for in a VPN that you are looking to buy for an amazing gaming experience.
- Other features
Although portforwarding is important, it is not the only thing that you need to look for in a gaming VPN. Other important features in this aspect include the number of servers that the service provides, logging policy and any hidden clauses in that policy, consistency of speeds, internet kill switch, split tunneling, customer ratings, prices, discounts and payment options that the VPN provides. All these may be general things but they contribute greatly towards a secure and hassle-free gaming experience.
Conclusion
Gaming VPNs are become vital to ensure safety of data and well being as well as financial resources while enjoying the experience with friends, colleagues or in a social competition. A credible VPN covers all aspects of security and internet freedom that are of importance to a gamer. This is why the popularity of these services has been growing over the last few years.
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