Are VPNs used for lobby finessing ?
Or is it to get less lag online ?
I was trying to figure out how to get less lag while I was waiting for my fiber wifi to get here and one of the solutions was NordVPN or whatever . But then I see people on Tik Tok talking shit about people who use VPN ?
It is all about how you use it. The actual purpose of an actual VPN is to encrypt your network traffic. You can use VPN providers to mask your location which in theory would allow you to get matched in lobbies in different locations than where you actually are. The downside of this is you are going to add additional latency because at the end of the day your local machine is still in your home. A lot of people blow out of proportion the actual affect a VPN has on lobbies. At the end of the day you are still going against the same SBMM match making algorithm. You can use it to try and route to lobbies in areas with less players which could mean less high level players. But you are going to sacrifice ping. It could help reduce lag if your ISP has some sort of shit in its path. But neither of those are guaranteed.
Great insight. Thank you 
You’re welcome. Hope it helps.
Tremendously. Saved me 15$ a month with nordvpn subscription. I’m just trying to get the least amount of lag possible lol the fiber internet is working just fine. I’m just jealous of how ridiculously smooth it looks on other peoples streams . I got really good wifi and direct Ethernet connection and it’s a million times better but I get a good twitch every now and then
And just for the record, I have worked in IT for over 15 years (enterprise software dev), who also games for enjoyment. I’m not a networking expert, but I understand the technology behind it enough to provide an educated input on the subject. There are others who have a deeper knowledge of the underlying technology, but this should at least give you a starting point.
I just see a lot of comments on VPNs from people that dont really know what it is used for making claims that dont line up with reality based on my understanding. Providing this for full transparency.
There are better options for paid VPNs for much less money. Proton or PIA are good examples. VPNs should be used for “privacy” really. There are cheat options that call themselves VPNs from what I’ve heard, but they aren’t actual VPNs. I use proton for data privacy, but I usually don’t enable it when I’m gaming because I don’t want to add additional latency into my path. I’ve used it occasionally if I am seeing connectivity issues with my ISP to the game. But that is extremely rare.
This makes a lot of sense and answers alot of the confusion/mix up between the context of people talking about VPNs … any advice on what I can do on top of getting fiber internet direct Ethernet connection to make sure I have a less chance of running into lag ? I know it’s almost possible to get absolutely no lag due to having to take other peoples network in your lobby into consideration