Lag and kicks are common diseases of the internet, and a particularly disturbing nuisance in all online games, including IGG games.

A--Causes for Lag

A-1 Structure of the Internet
Lag can be caused somewhere between your computer and the online service that you use, for example, an online game. Each and every cable, node, server, program, computer and internet provider in this network plays an important role. Just one problem at any of these points can slow down your connection significantly: a broken hardware component or an error in software, or something as simple as a digger that caused a broken cable. If your data package cannot reach its destination, it takes a different route through the net. Then it just takes a couple of milliseconds longer till it reaches its destination. In an online game though, where you are risking death if you cannot react to a threat instantly, a couple of milliseconds can quickly prove fatal.

A-2 Bandwidth
Another cause for lag is that everyone has only a certain amount of bandwidth to use. Picture your bandwidth as a pipe. Then picture all your internet traffic as the water running through the pipe. The more applications you are running, the more water is forced through the tube. Eventually you'll hit a point where the volume of the water exceeds the constraints of the pipe and traffic slows, becoming the eternal bane of power users everywhere - lag. Fortunately it will never break and flood your basement. Sometimes, you might even be sharing your internet connection, and your bandwidth, with a roommate or neighbor. If she/he decides that now is the time to download the complete works of William Shakespeare, then it will have to share space with your game. The more applications and people using the internet connection, the slower it will be.

A-3 Your Own Computer
Another form of lag is caused directly by your computer. For example, when you ask your computer to do too many things at once, your operating system defines which request gets the most processing power. So if you are running any other programs while playing the game, it could cause lag, depending on the program and your PC's processing power. Lag can also happen if your hardware is not strong enough for your programs, or your hardware drivers are not installed correctly.

Other common programs that can dramatically slow down your connection are firewalls or anti-virus software that are scanning your internet traffic.

A-4 Client Side Graphic Lag
There is another type of lag that our programmers call client side graphic lag. It appears when the game client on your PC gets overloaded. For instance, when you change maps, the client has to display many new creatures and items for the first time. The client then gets the graphics from your hard drive, and if that process is slow, you will experience this as lag, even though from the server side, everything seems fine.

B--Just for Kicks

B-1 Sporadic Kicks
If your data packages do not reach our game server anymore at all because of a complete block or disruption, the game client on your PC and our game server will notice this independently from one another and kick you out of the game.

B-2 Mass Kicks
If there is a problem close to our game servers, a problem at our data center for instance, many players will be affected by this at once. Our game server will then notice this and declare exceptional circumstances. That means that the server checks all connections again and immediately logs out all characters that cannot be reached anymore within a couple of seconds. That is called a mass kick. Mass kicks also occur when one of our game servers crashes. Then all characters on that game world are immediately logged out.

C--Concerning Warnings
Many of you wish for warnings when there are lag and kicks. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide them most of the time. We do not know in advance when somebody is launching an attack on our servers, or if a thunderstorm has affected a big internet provider in the United States, or a tsunami knocked out the internet to a whole region of Southeast Asia, as happened not long ago. In such situations, warnings will inevitably be too late. What's worse, we cannot tell you when it is safe to play again, either, because these things are often out of our control. We simply cannot know when a technical problem has been fixed, unless it is a technical problem with our own equipment. All we can do is try to minimize the negative effects to your gaming experience.

D--Ways to Determine the Type of Lag

D-1 Checks on Your End
When you experience lag, you should check if you can reach other websites first. If this takes longer than usual, or they are not available at all, you can assume that the problem is something on your end.

To rule out that the lag is caused by your computer, things you could check for are your firewall, to see if maybe the service you are trying to reach is blocked, or you can check via your task manager (for Windows PCs) which of your programs are running in the background and using up lots of processing power. Maybe a virus scanner is doing a scan and slowing your whole system down? Also check what the people around you are doing. Maybe your brother is downloading a huge file, while you are trying to play.

If you cannot identify the cause of the lag on your end, maybe it is connected to your provider. If you are using the same provider as your friend, for example, ask him if he is having any problems with his service.

D-2 IGG Network Report
We also recommend you use the following internet test to detemrine what the problems are.

Please follow the steps below if your character lags or stucks in the game and your mail box  will be receiving the reply about your issue in 2 working days. ( The TECH_DEPT can test whether some problem occured in IGG Server Room.)

Step1. Download and run the IGG Network Testing Tool

Step2. Fill in the IGG account, your e-mail and submit

Step3. Keep the ID number and supply to the GM on the Live Support

Lag and kicks are a huge nuisances in online games. We do understand that you are frustrated when you die in game because of a connection problem. Unfortunately though, as explained here, there is only so much that we can do and there is only so much that you can do. That does not make the problem any better, but we hope that this clears a few things up and gives you a deeper understanding of the problems and the solutions, if any, for them. 

Adapted from tibia nation