Why South Africa’s lack of local servers is actually a big deal

MyGaming recently reported on the news that Battlefield 1 will not be receiving local servers in South Africa.

We subsequently had dozens of comments complaining about the lack of servers and the promise of dropping Battlefield 1 from their wishlist.

But what difference do local dedicated servers actually make?

Because South Africa is so far from the rest of the world’s internet hubs, when we play games we are typically connecting to servers on other continents – usually Europe, North America and parts of Asia.

That means that no matter how fast your internet is, you will always face some form of latency, as game packets are literally sent halfway around the world.

Local servers nullify these high pings massively, making you overall experience much more enjoyable.

It also has other knock-on effects, it helps foster local communities and allows gaming to be taken more seriously as local eSports teams can compete on a level playing field.

It’s therefore important that we see servers brought in if we want to grow and be take seriously as a gaming community in South Africa.

Perhaps the worst part is that servers are relatively inexpensive to own and maintain, it just requires some effort on behalf of the developer.

Most die out due to a natural lack of activity, at which they are taken offline and can be replaced by another more popular title.

At the end of the day, we will buy games like Battlefield 1 because 150ms is still a playable experience – we just deserve a lot better.

Now Read: South Africa won’t be getting Battlefield 1 servers – here’s why