Those who take their gaming seriously need to have access to the fastest and most powerful equipment, and sometimes this can even include gaming servers. If you’ve been looking to improve your gaming experience, or want to host your own tournaments or games with friends, perhaps you’ve been considering the option of building your own gaming server at home.
Before you decide to go this route, there are some important factors to consider. Ultimately, you may end up deciding that you’re better off purchasing a dedicated server for gaming instead.
Why Do Gamers Host and Build Their Own Servers?
Many serious gamers will build servers to be used specifically for running certain online games. That way, they don’t need to share resources with other players over a public server and internet users in their homes. This, in turn, allows them to optimize their speed and reduce lag. Optimizing speed and reducing lag allows for a better gaming experience in titles like CS:GO or Apex Legends. But with some other games like Gary’s Mod, private servers allow for more customization of in game options.
Meanwhile, having an at-home gaming server gives users total control over their experience; rather than being bound by a third-party host’s restrictions and rules, gamers with personal servers enjoy limitless possibilities. This includes control over who else may access and play on the server.
Potential Drawbacks of Building a Gaming Server
There are certainly some advantages to having your own gaming server, but what about the possible drawbacks? It is important not to overlook these.
One of the biggest disadvantages many people run into when trying to start a gaming server is the cost. Not only will you spend a lot of money buying the equipment needed to run your server up-front, but you’ll also need to factor in ongoing maintenance costs for the hardware and PC that you will need to buy (which can add up quickly). Maintaining your server can also be extremely time-consuming with troubleshooting and updates, so you may actually have less time to enjoy your favorite games.
Security is another concern when you set up your own server. Unless you are familiar with how to build a secure server, you could end up with a myriad of security vulnerabilities that may put you at risk of a cyber-attack.
Setting Up a Dedicated Server with Steam
There are certainly some advantages to having your own gaming server, but what about the possible drawbacks? It is important not to overlook these.
Steam is a gaming platform used by most of the PC gaming community that hosts a large library worth of games. Not all games are allowed by developers to have dedicated servers, but there is a list of games with dedicated server support on steam. Check out this for step by step instructions for some of the games as well!
Why Dedicated Servers Are the Best Option
As you can see, there are many potential benefits and drawbacks of setting up your own gaming server. Rather than dealing with security concerns and high costs, you might consider purchasing a dedicated gaming server instead.
With a dedicated server for gaming, you’ll get to enjoy many of the same benefits of having your own server, with less sharing of resources, including reduced lag and greater control for an improved gaming experience. However, you’ll also be able to avoid the possible drawbacks like security and updates. Dedicated servers are affordable and fully customizable to suit your needs depending on the game and what you are trying to achieve. You also won’t have to worry about purchasing or maintaining any of the equipment in your home. Instead, your dedicated server host is almost like your own cloud server and handles this on your behalf from a third-party location. It really is the best of both worlds!
If you’re interested in setting up your own gaming server, ReliableSite has plenty of hosting options to suit your needs for games like minecraft, CSGO, and more. Contact us today to get started with your dedicated hosting plan or to find out more about how a dedicated gaming server can help you get more out of your gaming experience!