ryanmercer wrote:
SomeJoe7777 wrote:
• P2P: Short for "peer to peer". In the generic sense, it means any communication between computers on the internet where the majority of the data traffic travels from one computer to the other directly, without going through any intervening application server. The most common use of the "P2P" vernacular, however, specifically refers to file transfer clients that are designed to to this. This includes programs like Napster, Limewire, Gnutella, and eDonkey.
• Torrent: Short for "BitTorrent". BitTorrent is a specific peer-to-peer protocol that's used for file transfers. It is unique in that it can gather different pieces of the file from multiple clients as opposed to just one. BitTorrent has replaced nearly all other P2P file transfer software.
By these definitions, the majority of internet-based games are NOT peer to peer. Most of them communicate through a central server or servers.
There are a few games where the majority of the traffic travels directly from one user to another. Technically these might be considered "peer to peer" in the generic sense, but they are not file transfer clients. Nor are they "torrents" by any stretch of the definition.
Furthermore, game traffic is not a gigantic amount of bandwidth. Most of the gaming forums all say that the average game uses around 50 MB per hour. Even playing 24/7 for a month, that's only 1/7th of the allowed bandwidth usage (250GB).
You do realize just about every MMORPG and every FPS distributes patches/updates/expansions via P2P, spceifiically bit torrent clients built into the game software, right?
Yes, however:
1. That is for the distribution of the patches/updates/expansions only. It does not have anything to do with the data that is transferred back and forth during game play.
2. The acquisition of the patch/update/expansion is automatic and built-in, thus the user does not launch a separate "P2P" file sharing software application.
3. The bandwidth used by the patches/updates/expansions is a constant, thus if the patch is 2 GB, that would count as 2 GB against the usage cap regardless of whether the patch was acquired via P2P or via a more classic download from a web site.
4. The bandwidth used during game play is still quite low, estimated by various sites at around 50 MB/hour. Even 24/7 usage totals only 1/7th of the monthly 250GB data cap.
5. If the size of the downloads, patches, expansions, and updates is approaching a point where you're worried about the data cap, doesn't that mean that you're spending more time acquiring the game software than you are actually playing the game? At some point you're supposed to actually play, correct? We aren't downloading games, updates, and expansions 24/7 are we?
