Hi all,
I really hope this is in the right spot, feel free to move it if not.
I am trying to cobble together my own average-Joe's understanding of how multiplayer games work and wanted to explain it back to an experienced community to see if I had the right end of the stick. Correct me where I am wrong:
When playing a multiplayer game you access a client, a piece of software on your machine that translates your control/input into information which is then sent via your network/internet to a central server. All players of the game do this, and the server continually collects all of their input. The server then runs all of the players input through the game and returns the outcome to the respective players (for example, player A swings a sword, player B gets in the way - the game installed on the server calculates that player B was in the wrong place and tells them they are dead, meanwhile telling player A that they have scored a hit etc....). This information travels back down the tube* to the respective player and is displayed in the game client (in the form of game action).
Now for my questions:
* I have been led to understand that the tube through which the information travels between the server and client (i.e. the internet connection) is referred to as a 'Socket'. Is this the case, if so, what is the significance of the socket - why do I hear it referred to so much in the context of multiplayer game design?
Is the port kind of like an address at the server end? I envisage it like the server having say 1000 different doors. The client needs to know which door to send information to in order to get the server to accept it properly. Does this work both ways (does the server need to access the correct port when sending back to the client?).
When a player hosts a multiplayer game, I assume that the computer they are playing from doubles as both the server and the client?
When looking at big console games (take something like GTA or Halo for example), are the consoles acting as servers in these instances or is that done by bigger servers - if so, where are they/who operates them? The game developers? The console developers?
When you get old defunct community run games, such as 90's titles etc... how are these run online? If I were to switch on a copy of Quake or something - who is running the server?
Presumably modern PCs are growing in their capabilities as servers as they evolve and as internet connections evolve - how would you summarise what their limitations are? Are we looking at a future where massive, graphics intensive MMOs with tons of players are hosted on laptops - are traditional servers days numbered?
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Sorry if this is basic stuff, but I really want to get a better understanding of how it all works.
Thanks for your patience!
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