Gaming VPN or game routing: what's the difference?

Both put a server between you and the game. They're built for different jobs, and that decides whether your ping goes down, stays the same or gets worse.

What a VPN does

A VPN sends all of your traffic through one server and makes websites see that server's address instead of yours. It's a privacy tool. The server is chosen for where it is or how busy it is, not for how well it's connected to a particular game.

For ping, that's a gamble. Your traffic now goes to the VPN server first and to the game from there. If that happens to be a better path than your provider's, ping drops. Usually it's a detour, and ping rises. Either way your browser, downloads and video calls take the same detour, and services you use may treat you as being somewhere else.

What game routing does

Game routing, which some companies call a gaming private network or GPN, is narrower on purpose:

• Only the game is routed. Traffic to the game's servers goes through the service. Everything else on your PC uses your normal connection, at full speed.
• The path is chosen by measurement. The service times the route through each of its servers to the game server you're actually playing on, and compares that with your direct route.
• It keeps measuring. Routes change during an evening. A path that was best at seven can be the slow one at nine.

When either one can lower your ping

Only when the detour is faster than the direct road. That sounds impossible, but internet providers choose paths by cost and business agreements, and the cheapest path is sometimes long or crowded. A service with well-connected servers near the game's data centres can then offer a quicker way round.

When your provider already has a short, uncongested path to the game, nothing beats it. Any server in between adds a little. An honest service tells you that instead of routing you anyway.

Neither can beat distance. If the game server is on another continent, the delay is mostly the length of the cable. See ping, jitter and packet loss for where that floor comes from.

Things to know before using either

• The game server sees the service's address, not yours. That's how routing works. Some games use your address to place you in a region, so use servers in the region you play in.
• Check the game's rules. Routing network traffic doesn't touch the game's files or memory, but publishers write their own terms.
• Be wary of fixed promises. "50% lower ping" can't be true for everyone. What you can gain depends on your provider, your location and the hour.

Where NoSpike fits

NoSpike is game routing, not a VPN. It routes only the traffic of the game you picked, through an encrypted tunnel to one of its own relays in Europe, and only when that measures better than your direct route. Your browsing never goes through it and websites see your own address.

Before it routes anything it shows you both numbers. If your own connection wins, the app says "Direct is fastest" and stays out of the way.