Gaming Proxy Services

[Llewen]

There are a number of gaming proxy services out there that purport to offer lower latency and more stable connections to game servers, particularly for MMO's and in this case specifically, Ultima Online. They have become increasingly popular in the past couple of years, especially with pvp'rs. Unfortunately, as is often the case, there has been some confusion as to whether they are legal or not, and initially I was informed by official sources at Mythic that they were not. And as usual this lead to a lot of players who don't care about such things having an advantage, while those who try to play clean have been at a disadvantage.

However, I have had another conversation with official sources at Mythic, and these services are in fact legal. Part of the initial concern was that the software you install with them might include some form of "speed hack", but this has been determined to not be the case, and what they are is either a proxy, or vpn service, that is intended to improve your routing to game servers. The software that is included with them will also tweak your network settings, for better or for worse.

So what is the low down on these services? I have tested a couple of the most popular, Lowerping and WTFast, and have talked to a number of people that use these services. For people who are connecting from a location that is physically remote from their shard server, or those who have unreliable internet service, these services can be a godsend. They can dramatically lower your latency, and be the difference between the game being playable or not.

However, for those who know a lot about networking, and have spent a lot of time tweaking their networking, and have reliable internet service from a reputable carrier, these services will probably not do much for you, and in fact may undo some of your favourite tweaks and end up making things worse for you, as was the case in my testing.

So why have I posted this? One of my goals in game is to make every part of the game, including pvp, as accessible to everyone as possible, and most especially those who are new to the game, or who are at some kind of technical disadvantage. One of the ways you do that is by making information that might improve their game play experience available. So that is what I am doing here. Feel free to add this to UO Guide, your website, or whatever. Nothing empowers a gamer like good information...

 

[Varrius]

Part of the initial concern was that the software you install with them might include some form of "speed hack"

Source? I guarantee you can't come up with one. Keep your trolling in game, please.

How long have I been telling you that lowerping is legal yet you called me a "hacker" and a "cheater" for using this program?
Me 1
You 0

 

[Llewen]

I'm not going to get into an argument with you over this, but when I first posted this thread it was moderated. That means it was hidden and no one could read it or respond to until the mods had verified that what I had posted was true. When I first asked about these services maybe a year ago, I was told by the same official source that they were illegal, as were the moderators of this forum, which was why they moderated this thread. So at the time I was harassing you for using those services they were, to the best of my knowledge, according to official sources, illegal.

They aren't considered illegal anymore, which was why I thought it was important to post this thread so that everyone would know they were legal, and the honest players would feel free to use the services as well. Because what I want more than anything in game is as level a playing field as possible, so that it is actual skill, not your willingness to ignore the TOS, that determines how well you do in the game.

 

[cazador]

The game is almost unplayable without it..you turn them off and back to freezing up, 5 second lag spikes, over casting spells that shouldn't over cast..ever since we hit the "cloud"..proxy servers have become necessary..sad to say

 

[Llewen]

Well thankfully it isn't as bad as it was when the servers were first switched to Amazon, but it still isn't as good as it was before. And I don't get into high end mage dueling, so my playstyle isn't as sensitive to minor latency hiccups.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Just chiming in here. Proxy services may be 'legal' to use with UO, but please beware. Remember that when using a service like this you are sending your internet connection via a third party connection that may or may not be able to be compromised. What does this mean? Account logins, passwords, paying bills online while connected, anything you pass via a proxy service is open to be captured. Not trying to say BLARGGH don't use it, just please be careful.

 

[The Zog historian]

Sending information is no different with a proxy service than through any other point on the Internet. If you're doing a regular Yahoo search, such information is not encrypted and can be "sniffed" by anyone. However, things like Yahoo Mail, any reputable commercial institution with customer logins, and even simple Google searches, use https for security. UO logins aren't done "in the clear." The information isn't impossible to crack, but not worthwhile since it could be anything, so the encryption is "good enough."

Stratics doesn't use https for logging in, as far as I know.

 

[kongomongo]

For vpns this is true, but through https proxies man in the middle attacks are possible

 

[cazador]

If they are that determined to get my UO pixel stuff..more power to them!

 

[Llewen]

The well established gaming proxies, like WTFast, Lowerping and others, have hundreds of thousands of clients, connecting to many different games through their services. They've been around for years as well. If they were betraying their clients' trust in any way, it would be clear by now, and they would no longer be in business. Believe me when I say this, you are far less safe using the official ICQ client, or simply browsing the web without concerns for security, than you are using these services. In fact, sadly enough, you are far more likely to be hacked and/or spied on by the American, UK, Russian and Chinese governments than you are to have your personal information, including game accounts and passwords, compromised by these services.

 

[Llewen]

I'm probably more cautious and aware of security issues than 99% of those who use the web, but I'm still perfectly aware that no matter what I do, nothing I do on the web is 100% secure, any more than shopping at your local grocery store is 100% secure. And just as you should be aware that no matter what you do these days, there's a good chance that someone could have a camera out, absolutely everything you do on the web can be traced and scrutinized.

 

[The Zog historian]

The well established gaming proxies, like WTFast, Lowerping and others, have hundreds of thousands of clients, connecting to many different games through their services. They've been around for years as well. If they were betraying their clients' trust in any way, it would be clear by now, and they would no longer be in business. Believe me when I say this, you are far less safe using the official ICQ client, or simply browsing the web without concerns for security, than you are using these services. In fact, sadly enough, you are far more likely to be hacked and/or spied on by the American, UK, Russian and Chinese governments than you are to have your personal information, including game accounts and passwords, compromised by these services.

And you are completely correct. Not to get into politics, but especially the first nation you named.

Man-in-the-middle has been around for years, yet banks and credit card companies still aren't compromised by it. It works only if the initial connection is not secure and therefore interceptable, allowing someone to insert himself in-between, like when Bismarck altered a telegram to provoke France into war.

 

[Mervyn]

I'm probably more cautious and aware of security issues than 99% of those who use the web, but I'm still perfectly aware that no matter what I do, nothing I do on the web is 100% secure, any more than shopping at your local grocery store is 100% secure. And just as you should be aware that no matter what you do these days, there's a good chance that someone could have a camera out, absolutely everything you do on the web can be traced and scrutinized.

This is a very Gibsonian response.

 

[Llewen]

This is a very Gibsonian response.

Which lead to research, and then my head exploded...

edit: Actually I'm fairly safe, I didn't understand 99% of what I read...

 

[Winter]

This is a very Gibsonian response.

Are you referring to Mel Gibson's response to the officer who arrested him for DUI?

 

[Llewen]

Are you referring to Mel Gibson's response to the officer who arrested him for DUI?

I assumed it had something to do with this - which would be why I didn't understand 99% of what I read, and my head exploded... And I certainly don't understand what either have to do with my response. But that's ok, I can smile and nod with the best of them...

http://pinterest.com/pin/238620480228865561/

 

[Winter]

I assumed it had something to do with this - which would be why I didn't understand 99% of what I read, and my head exploded... And I certainly don't understand what either have to do with my response. But that's ok, I can smile and nod with the best of them...

http://pinterest.com/pin/238620480228865561/

Errmmm... yes, I know what the original Mervyn's reference to the Gibson response refers to, but my sarcasm didn't come through. Mel Gibson's response was irrational behavior in response to authority. My reference was funnier.

 

[Mervyn]

I was actually referring to Steve Gibson of GRC, he does a great podcast on internet security called Security Now.

https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

 

[SlobberKnocker]

The well established gaming proxies, like WTFast, Lowerping and others, have hundreds of thousands of clients, connecting to many different games through their services. They've been around for years as well. If they were betraying their clients' trust in any way, it would be clear by now, and they would no longer be in business. Believe me when I say this, you are far less safe using the official ICQ client, or simply browsing the web without concerns for security, than you are using these services. In fact, sadly enough, you are far more likely to be hacked and/or spied on by the American, UK, Russian and Chinese governments than you are to have your personal information, including game accounts and passwords, compromised by these services.

well written sir. this quote in and of itself is deserving of its own thread on spiels and rants. over time it would surely be in the running for longest thread ever.

 

[Parnoc]

When you all are tired of wordfighting it might be nice if people that use these proxies in out of the way places wrote about their experiences to help those that might be able to use them. They are tremendously helpful when you are thousands of miles from the server.

 

[Deprave]

Your Ultima Online account has been suspended from the Ultima Online service for 72 hours for violating the Terms of Service and/or Rules of Conduct. Violation: Unapproved 3rd Party Program use Date/Time: xxxxxxxxxxx Shard: Atlantic Character: xxxxxxxxxxx Rules of Conduct: 23) You will not create, use, play on or provide any server emulator or other site where Ultima Online may be played, and you will not post, use or distribute any utilities, applications, emulators or other software tools related to Ultima Online that do not have the express written permission of Electronic Arts to be used with the Service. Information about approved software can be found here.



The hell is all this about?

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

The well established gaming proxies, like WTFast, Lowerping and others, have hundreds of thousands of clients, connecting to many different games through their services. They've been around for years as well. If they were betraying their clients' trust in any way, it would be clear by now, and they would no longer be in business. Believe me when I say this, you are far less safe using the official ICQ client, or simply browsing the web without concerns for security, than you are using these services. In fact, sadly enough, you are far more likely to be hacked and/or spied on by the American, UK, Russian and Chinese governments than you are to have your personal information, including game accounts and passwords, compromised by these services.

I am an American and my government looking at my phone or internet records in the interest of national security is not spying in any way, shape or form imo.

Stick to your networking facts and maybe keep your liberal paranoia to yourself instead of on the gaming forums maybe?

 

[Viper09]

Your Ultima Online account has been suspended from the Ultima Online service for 72 hours for violating the Terms of Service and/or Rules of Conduct. Violation: Unapproved 3rd Party Program use Date/Time: xxxxxxxxxxx Shard: Atlantic Character: xxxxxxxxxxx Rules of Conduct: 23) You will not create, use, play on or provide any server emulator or other site where Ultima Online may be played, and you will not post, use or distribute any utilities, applications, emulators or other software tools related to Ultima Online that do not have the express written permission of Electronic Arts to be used with the Service. Information about approved software can be found here.



The hell is all this about?

Sounds like you were caught using an illegal 3rd party program.

 

[SlobberKnocker]

a thread rezz....hmmm, fitting for halloween.

 

[Magdalene]

Halloween's over.