Peer to Peer Ping Host

[JoshCros2I{]

This new feature would test the quality of your own peer to peer network connection. After your network quality is graded, your pvp network will then be graded based on every individual player either in the lobby of a private game, or on your geofilter's "trust list". This grade would be given for how well your connection would be for THEM. (Maybe, you could somehow use the geofilter grid to show the distance between these trusted friends who allow you to reveal their location very vaguely, like google's "allow location" feature on the web. This is currently the only solution I have for analytically determining the quality of an off-server host between multiple different people) This can also work on client based hosting, as it's still integrated in COD and Halo. In theory, this could be a great way to help determine the best possible host, per say a competitive scrim. 

[Netduma Fraser]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

That's quite an interesting idea, utilizing it to find the best host for a scrim is really useful. Can you think of many other applications at all? 

[JoshCros2I{]

The only other application I could see useful off the top of my head would be to label a general location for your “trusted list” of friends. This would be more like, “East”, “Central”, “West”, and NOT an actual state, since that would be very insecure knowing that you know where they live! This would give every user a good idea on where a friend may live in proximity to you, without revealing their EXACT location. This could really help out when geofiltering states, as you wouldn’t want to choose a server on the East coast if you’re playing with a group of buddies more closer to the West. This would also help optimize a better client/peer to peer host, knowing an estimated distance from you-them. Also, maybe if you click on each individual friend on the list, as well as enable geofilter’s “ping assist”, then there would be some suggested areas to shade in on your map. (More optimized to where your friend is)

 

Although this is NOT doable now, I was also thinking of something that can expand this even further… Maybe in the far future, you could choose a multitude of friends (Maybe 3 or 4 tops) as well as select some game servers, (Again, up to 3 or 4…) and run a diagnostic that essentially grades each server by your lobby on an average of server quality and distance from you-them. This avg would be a decimal % rounded up to a letter grade, (Like you’re using in connection benchmark!) and will really analyze which servers are the best for playing with those specific people. Call this feature, “Server Optimization”. In relation to hosting in this thread, this would also help better determine who out of your party of four would host an online game on peer to peer. You would also be able to click on those friends on your “trust list” and it will show a history of servers evaluated and graded, so you’ll remember which servers were the best for your lobby. This idea is more “optimized” around specific people you play with, as we all know how varying servers can be… (Sometimes there will be a server that may be better for you in Boston, even though you live in Oregon and had thought a Washington server would be best.) The only thing holding this back would be to judge the quality of a game server, as that is out of your control. If this was somehow worked around though, you could “optimize” any server in a game. 

[Netduma Fraser]

Some really good ideas there, thanks a lot, I will pass this on to the team!

[JoshCros2I{]

Thanks so much! Btw thanks for the warm welcome too, didn't see it at first.

[JoshCros2I{]

Oh, and one more thing. (Sorry!) I just wanted to ask if it was theoretically possible to take a game server displayed on your geofilter map and use it for client hosting in private games. 

If so, then this could also be a great way to use geofiltering when deciding a server for a scrim. I know that there are a handful of games that already do this kind of thing, with dedicated servers that utilize a neutral connection for hosting offline lobbies, rather than relying on someone's peer to peer connection. This would essentially be what we would do here, running a private match off of a game server, rather than a player’s connection in the lobby. This would primarily be a feature for games that don’t already offer this type of service, making it an incentive to buy a Netduma or Netgear router if you don’t wanna play on someone’s “trash” host ever again! (I know this is a pretty common reason why some recreational/casual players don’t participate in custom game matches, and would rather play against each other on matchmaking servers. I have a group of friends that despise “customs”)

All in all, just a few suggestions for hosting “offline” games, since geofilter at its current state (No pun intended) is focused on online matchmaking. You’d have your peer to peer evaluation, (First idea) and then the above, “Server Host” (I’m really bad with names haha!) for private games as sort of another choice if peer to peer connections aren’t very good after the testing. (Even if the peer to peer testing results in good scores, it’s still really good to know how your pvp performs, and how it would influence others)

 Thanks for all of your consideration! 

[Netduma Fraser]

I don't think this would be possible as you're trying to use the server for an unintended purpose so they wouldn't be setup to host private games. If it was possible/intended then you'd be able to do it already. 

[JoshCros2I{]

Yeah that's a good point. Alright, thanks for the clarification.