Source: https://gameye.com/glossary/ --- title: "Glossary | Gameye" description: "Explore multiplayer infrastructure terminology, definitions, and related concepts used by game teams." --- # Multiplayer Infrastructure Glossary ## A ### Agones Agones is an open-source Kubernetes extension, originally built by Google and Ubisoft, that hosts and scales dedicated game servers — powerful, but you operate the cluster and embed its SDK. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/agones/) ### Alpha tests Alpha tests are the first round of game testing, run early in development to identify glitches, design problems, and technical issues. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/alpha-tests/) ### Anti cheat Anti-cheat software checks for wall hacks, aimbots, boosting, and even whether players are using scripts to cheat. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/anti-cheat/) ### Authoritative Server An authoritative server runs your game logic and determines match truth — no client can override it, making cheating structurally impossible. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/authoritative-server/) ### Auto scaling Auto scaling starts new game server instances as player load rises and releases them when demand drops — no manual intervention required. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/auto-scaling/) ## B ### Backend Your backend is everything that’s invisible to the player. It’s all the tools and services behind the scenes. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/backend/) ### Backfill Backfill adds new players to an ongoing match when others disconnect or drop out, keeping sessions full. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/backfill/) ### Bare-metal servers A bare-metal server is a physical machine which lives inside a data centre. It’s a place where you’ll host your games matches and sessions. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/bare-metal-servers/) ### Beats Beats is a family of lightweight Elastic Stack shippers that collect logs, metrics, and events from servers and forward them to Logstash or Elasticsearch. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/beats/) ### Beta tests A beta test is a pre-launch phase where real players test a near-finished game. A closed beta is invite-only for focused feedback; an open beta is public for scale and stress-testing. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/beta-tests/) ## C ### CCU (Concurrent Users) CCU (concurrent users) is the number of players connected to a game at once — the primary metric for sizing server infrastructure. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/ccu/) ### CDN A Content Delivery Network is a network that hosts the same content in multiple places to get it to the end user faster. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/cdn/) ### Client-server architecture Client-server architecture is where you have external machines that host your game’s server and players can connect to it. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/client-server-architecture/) ### Client-Side Prediction Client-side prediction applies player inputs locally without waiting for the server, so movement feels instant even on high-latency connections. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/client-side-prediction/) ### Cloud bursting Cloud bursting is when game server workloads automatically spill from dedicated bare metal into cloud providers during demand spikes. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/cloud-bursting/) ### Cloud servers Your cloud server is a virtual server. It runs in a cloud computing environment, and it's a place where you’ll host your games’ matches and sessions. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/cloud-servers/) ### Containerisation Containerisation packages your game server, dependencies, and config into a portable image that runs consistently across local, cloud, or bare-metal infra. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/containerisation/) ### Containers A container is a packaged, portable software unit. For game servers, it’s your entire server build — easy to deploy, replicate, and roll back. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/containers/) ### Continuous Integration Continuous integration is when you regularly merge changes to your code from multiple people into one version. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/continuous-integration/) ## D ### Data center A data center is a facility that houses servers used to store, process, and manage large volumes of data for applications and games. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/data-center/) ### Data packet A data packet is game data — position, inputs, events — sent across the network. Packet size and send rate directly affect latency and bandwidth use. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/data-packet/) ### DDoS A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDos) attack is where criminals attempt to overload your servers and cause them to crash. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/ddos/) ### Dedicated Server A dedicated server is a remote machine that runs your game logic independently of any player's client — the authoritative source of truth for every match. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/dedicated-server/) ### Dedicated server vs listen server A listen server runs on one player's machine, making that player both host and participant. A dedicated server runs on separate hardware where no player is the host. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/dedicated-vs-listen-server/) ### Deployment Deployment releases a game server build to live infrastructure — containerising it, pushing to a registry, and starting instances so players can connect. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/deployment/) ### Desync Desync (desynchronisation) is when the game state on a player's client diverges from the server's authoritative state, causing phantom hits, invisible players, or rubberbanding. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/desync/) ### Docker Docker is a specific piece of software that combines your game, libraries, and config files into a single container. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/docker/) ### Downtime Downtime is when a machine, or computer, crashes or is out of action. It’s rare, but can happen, especially during peak times. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/downtime/) ## E ### Edge Node An edge node is a server or machine positioned at the boundary of a network, closer to end users than a central data center — used to reduce latency by processing requests near the player. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/edge-node/) ### Egress fees Egress fees are charges cloud providers apply to data leaving their network. For multiplayer games, egress typically represents 40-60% of total infrastructure cost. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/egress-fees/) ### Elastic Stack The Elastic Stack (ELK) is an open-source suite for ingesting, storing, and visualizing operational data, built from Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana, and Beats. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/elastic-stack/) ### Elasticsearch Elasticsearch is a distributed search and analytics engine for indexing, storing, and querying game server logs, telemetry, and operational data at speed. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/elasticsearch/) ## F ### Failover Failover switches to a backup system when a primary server fails — keeping your game online for players without manual intervention from your team. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/failover/) ### Fleet management Fleet management is the process of provisioning, monitoring, scaling, and maintaining a pool of game servers across regions to meet player demand. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/fleet-management/) ### Flex metal servers Flex metal servers are basically bare-metal machines, but you can have them available in the same amount of time as cloud servers. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/flex-metal-servers/) ## G ### Game server hosting Game server hosting is the service of running dedicated game servers on managed infrastructure so studios don't have to provision, scale, or maintain their own hardware. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/game-server-hosting/) ### Game Server Orchestration Game server orchestration automates server management — session scheduling, scaling, placement, health monitoring, and failover via a single control layer. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/game-server-orchestration/) ## H ### Headless Server A headless server runs without graphics, display, or audio — only game logic and networking — making it far cheaper and faster to host at scale. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/headless-server/) ### Hitbox A hitbox is the invisible collision shape on a character that determines whether an attack or bullet registers as a hit. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/hitbox/) ### Host migration Host migration is the process of transferring a game session from one server to another mid-match, typically when the original host disconnects or fails. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/host-migration/) ## I ### Idle machines An idle machine is a provisioned server that's powered on and ready but not running a game session — on standby, waiting to be allocated. Idle capacity speeds up player starts but costs money while it waits. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/idle-machines/) ### Image (executable) A game server image is the packaged, executable version of your dedicated server code — built once, deployable to any container-compatible infrastructure. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/image-executable/) ### Infrastructure Game server infrastructure is the hardware and software that hosts dedicated servers and keeps multiplayer sessions running reliably at scale. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/infrastructure/) ### Infrastructure Automation Infrastructure automation provisions, configures, and scales servers using code — reducing human error and speeding up deployments without manual steps. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/infrastructure-automation/) ### Interpolation Interpolation smoothly renders other players between server updates so characters move fluidly rather than teleporting each tick. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/interpolation/) ## J ### Jitter Jitter is variation in latency over time — inconsistent packet arrival that breaks interpolation and makes games feel erratic. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/jitter/) ## K ### Kibana Kibana is the Elastic Stack's visualization layer — build dashboards, explore logs, and monitor game server metrics stored in Elasticsearch in real time. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/kibana/) ## L ### Lag Compensation Lag compensation rewinds server game state to the moment a player fired, judging shots fairly despite network delay. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/lag-compensation/) ### Latency Latency is how fast data is moving. How quickly does it get from point A to point B? (And it’s generally measured in milliseconds.) [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/latency/) ### Load Balancing Load balancing distributes player connections across servers so no single machine becomes a bottleneck — keeping your game responsive under heavy traffic. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/load-balancing/) ### Lobby A lobby is the pre-match space where players gather before a game session starts — between matchmaking and gameplay. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/lobby/) ### Logstash Logstash ingests logs and events from multiple sources, normalizes them, and forwards them to Elasticsearch for storage and analysis. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/logstash/) ## M ### Matchmaker A matchmaker groups players into sessions by running player data — location, skill, latency — through a set of rules to find the best possible match. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/matchmaker/) ### Microservice A microservice handles one function — matchmaking, auth, or session management — as an independently deployable component in a larger game backend. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/microservice/) ### MMR (Matchmaking Rating) MMR is the hidden score that matchmaking systems use to measure player ability and find balanced opponents. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/mmr/) ### Monitoring Monitoring tracks known metrics — CPU, memory, session counts, latency — and alerts on threshold breaches so teams catch problems before players notice. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/monitoring/) ### Multi-provider A multi-provider architecture distributes game servers across multiple independent infrastructure providers in each region, eliminating single-provider dependency. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/multi-provider/) ## N ### Netcode Netcode synchronises game state between players. Poor netcode causes lag, rubber-banding, and hit registration issues in multiplayer games. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/netcode/) ### Network Egress Network egress is what cloud providers charge for outbound data — the largest hidden infrastructure cost for game studios, and the most underestimated. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/network-egress/) ### Noisy neighbour The noisy neighbour problem occurs when one tenant on a shared cloud server consumes excessive CPU, memory, or I/O, degrading performance for other tenants on the same hardware. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/noisy-neighbour/) ## O ### Observability Observability is understanding your system's internal state from its outputs — logs, metrics, traces — answering not just that something failed, but why. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/observability/) ### Orchestrator An orchestrator automates game server lifecycle — starting sessions on demand, placing them in the optimal region, and shutting them down when matches end. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/orchestrator/) ## P ### Packet Loss Packet loss is when network data never arrives. Even 1-3% loss causes rubber-banding, missing inputs, and broken hit registration in games. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/packet-loss/) ### Peer-to-peer architecture Peer-to-peer designates one player as host; others connect to their machine. Client-server uses external machines to host game sessions for all players. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/peer-to-peer-architecture/) ### Ping Ping is a player's round-trip time to a game server in milliseconds. Lower is better — above 100ms feels noticeable in fast-paced games. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/ping/) ### Player concurrency Player concurrency is the number of players connected to game servers at the same time. It determines how much server capacity is needed at any given moment. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/player-concurrency/) ### Port mapping Port mapping connects a container's internal ports to external ports on the host machine, allowing players to connect to game servers running inside containers. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/port-mapping/) ## R ### Relay Server A relay server forwards traffic between players without game logic — it solves NAT traversal but does not make your game authoritative or cheat-resistant. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/relay-server/) ### Repo A code repository is the version-controlled store for your game's source and assets — track changes, manage branches, and trigger deploys from one place. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/repo/) ### Reserved capacity Reserved capacity is a committed block of compute resources at a discounted rate, used as a cost-efficient baseline for predictable game server workloads. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/reserved-capacity/) ### Resource profile A resource profile will figure out how many resources your game will take, and in turn, how much compute power a server needs to reserve to run your game. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/resource-profile/) ### Rollback Netcode Rollback netcode lets each client simulate inputs instantly, then roll back and resimulate when predictions are wrong. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/rollback-netcode/) ### Rubberbanding Rubberbanding is when a player's character appears to snap back to a previous position, caused by the server correcting the client's predicted state. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/rubberbanding/) ## S ### Sandbox Environment A sandbox is an isolated non-production environment for testing game server builds and integrations without affecting live players or production costs. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/sandbox-environment/) ### Scalability Scalability is infrastructure’s ability to handle rising player demand — more sessions, regions, and traffic — without degrading performance or manual ops. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/scalability/) ### Server Allocation Server allocation assigns a dedicated server to a match — the step between matchmaking and players connecting to a live session. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/server-allocation/) ### Server browser A server browser is an in-game UI that lets players manually browse a list of game servers and pick which one to join, instead of being placed automatically by matchmaking. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/server-browser/) ### Server Fleet A server fleet is the pool of game server instances — running or on standby — managed by an orchestration platform, scaling up and down with player demand. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/server-fleet/) ### Server Regions Server regions are geographic locations where game servers run. Placing servers near players is the most effective way to reduce multiplayer latency. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/server-regions/) ### Serverless Game Server A serverless game server spins up on demand and terminates when the session ends — pay only for active play time, with no idle servers sitting unused. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/serverless-game-server/) ### Session hosting Session hosting is when a server, or computer, runs your game’s matches. Each match, with a set group of people, is considered a session. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/session-hosting/) ### Session-based multiplayer Session-based multiplayer is a game architecture where matches have a defined start and end. A server is allocated when the match begins and released when it ends. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/session-based-multiplayer/) ### Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) Skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) groups players by measured ability so matches are competitive, not lopsided. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/skill-based-matchmaking/) ### SLA (Service Level Agreement) An SLA is a contractual guarantee of platform uptime and performance. Game server SLAs are usually expressed as a percentage of availability, such as 99.9%. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/sla/) ### Soft launch Soft launching is when you release your game to a specific market or a restricted audience, before your full launch. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/soft-launch/) ### Staging Staging is the final pre-launch environment where your game runs in production-like conditions to validate server builds before real players connect. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/staging/) ## T ### Tick rate Tick rate is how many times per second a game server updates the game state, measured in hertz (Hz). A 64-tick server updates 64 times a second; a 128-tick server, 128. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/tick-rate/) ## U ### UDP vs TCP UDP vs TCP for multiplayer games: TCP guarantees delivery and order; UDP trades reliability for speed. Most real-time games choose UDP. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/udp-vs-tcp/) ## V ### vCPU A vCPU (virtual CPU) is a unit of compute capacity representing one logical processor core. Game server hosting is typically priced per vCPU-hour. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/vcpu/) ### Vendor lock-in Vendor lock-in is the accumulated cost of leaving a hosting provider — the technical and commercial dependencies (SDKs in your binary, single-cloud infrastructure, egress fees, coupled matchmaking) that make switching game server hosts expensive, slow, or risky. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/vendor-lock-in/) ## W ### Warm pools Warm pools are pre-started containers held in reserve so game servers can be assigned to players instantly instead of cold-starting on demand. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/warm-pools/) ## Z ### Zero-SDK architecture Zero-SDK architecture is a game server hosting approach where no SDK, plugin, or code changes are required inside the game server binary. The platform manages everything externally. [Read more](https://gameye.com/glossary/zero-sdk/)