Thurak1
Psygod9
933
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Posted - 2014.08.18 15:54:00 -
[1] - Quote
Lag and latency are interchangeable terms.
Latency is a time interval between the stimulation and response, or, from a more general point of view, as a time delay between the cause and the effect of some physical change in the system being observed.[1][not in citation given ([[{{{talk page}}}|See discussion.]])] Latency is physically a consequence of the limited velocity with which any physical interaction can propagate. This velocity is always lower than or equal to the speed of light. Therefore every physical system that has spatial dimensions different from zero will experience some sort of latency, regardless of the nature of stimulation that it has been exposed to.
The precise definition of latency depends on the system being observed and the nature of stimulation. In communications, the lower limit of latency is determined by the medium being used for communications. In reliable two-way communication systems, latency limits the maximum rate that information can be transmitted, as there is often a limit on the amount of information that is "in-flight" at any one moment. In the field of humanGÇômachine interaction, perceptible latency has a strong effect on user satisfaction and usability.
In online gaming, lag is a noticeable delay between the action of players and the reaction of the server. Although lag may be caused by high latency, it may also occur due to insufficient processing power in the client and/or server.
The tolerance for lag depends heavily on the type of game. For instance, a strategy game or a turn-based game with a low pace may have a high threshold or even be mostly unaffected by high delays, whereas a twitch gameplay game such as a first-person shooter with a considerably higher pace may require significantly lower delay to be able to provide satisfying gameplay. But, the specific characteristics of the game matter. For example, fast chess is a turn-based game that is fast action and may not tolerate high lag. And, some twitch games can be designed such that only events that impact the outcome of the game introduce lag, allowing for fast local response most of the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latency_(engineering)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag |