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.)
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Matchmaker
Your matchmaker decides which players to group up for a session. It grabs information from each player – where they are, how skilled they are, what their internet speed is – and then runs that through a set of rules to figure out the best possible match.
Different matchmakers offer different features
Each matchmaker is unique. They have their own tools and setup. One may offer a feature like ‘match accept’ which makes sure everybody readies up before starting the match. Whereas another may offer group support for players, so they can all join the same match together. Depending on what you need from a matchmaker, will affect which one you end up using.
You can build your own matchmaker
There are a bunch of different matchmaker tools out there. But you can build one yourself for your games – you’ll just need the time and right people.
A matchmaker can host sessions
Some matchmakers can host your sessions, and can be part of their overall package. But not every one does, and it may not be the package that’ll work for you. It depends on their pricing model, but also what regions they have servers in, what type of servers they use, etc.
Related Terms
Orchestrator
An orchestrator figures out where to host game sessions.
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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.
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Auto scaling
Auto scaling is making sure the game is available on more servers, in case there’s an influx in demand.
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