One other networking point that needs to be brought up too (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Thursday, April 30, 2015, 16:43 (3277 days ago) @ Earendil

The truth of the matter is that online video games do their best to accommodate the average connection more than the best connection. It can be frustrating when you have a great connection because you'll experience other people's problems and "know" its not you, but the way the networking is setup provides a good experience for the majority of players instead of an experience that gives the players with the best connections a huge advantage (though an advantage does still exist to a certain degree).

I don't think it's your main point, but it sounds like you are saying that "accommodating" the average connection instead of the "best" one makes for a worse playing experience for the players with the "best" connection. Is that what you think? I'm trying to imagine how that could be.

Granted, the depth of my network knowledge is thin, but all of the ways I can think to improve the playing experience of the average connection would also improve the best connection, or at the least be transparent to those with the best connection.

I'm a total laymen here as well, but to the best of my knowledge it comes down to the decision to build systems that try to compensate for lag and other connection problems (in an attempt to "smooth over" the experience for everyone) rather than simply leaving players with sub-par internet in the cold.

For example, in a peer-to-peer system, the most efficient way to run the game is to give host to the player with the fastest and most stable internet connection. If Bungie were simply to leave it at that, the host would have a MAJOR advantage over any other players in the game, especially those with poor connections.

Now host advantage is obviously still a thing. However, Bungie (along with most developers who make competitive online games these days) put all kinds of predictive algorithms in place to try and negate host advantage (and laggy disadvantage) as much as possible.