Does it suck to be an Indian gamer?

Hi guys,

We're looking for your thoughts on the gaming scene in India. Does India provide a favorable environment for gaming? Do you feel that gaming is too expensive a hobby? Do you struggle with your limited bandwidth to play online multi-player games? We need your input whether it sucks or rocks to be an Indian gamer. Just let your answers fly, the more opinionated your answers are the better.

Limited bandwidth, colourful politics some event managers do (Look at the trend in WCG over the years) during hosting, tournament giveaways. PC gaming was always expensive to begin with.

Back in the 90s, those who were in Kawabonka, Fragshack and Indian pro league always loved to participated for WCG, ESWC and those microsoft nationwide contests that were arranged back them. We all wanted to see atleast 1 Indian winning and going through, but I guess few people like ArunRullEeEz and older ATE members went through international eliminations, maybe once ArunRulezZz was in 10th place but I don't remember all that now.

We have many clans being sponsored unlike before. ATE, Roccat.ROG, DOD....list goes on. COD4 itself has a massive line of clans in India and DOTA has tonnes of lan gamers, so its not that bad as far as lan gamers go. The only good event manager I saw so far is Reinforcement. Even XtremeGaming has some records of not able to put up tournaments few days prior. Once can always blame the sponsors, but I doubt any good sponsors will back out unless they are not satisfied or if someone takes their word back.

First thing first, Digital Media Distribution is just another name of pathetic in INDIA.

Next, these ISP doesn't work upto the expectation even if you pay thousands every month.

Third, the interest on gaming in NCR's are more compared to other small cities, because of digital media distributions. That's the reason small cities are more notorious than NCR's with Piracy.

Fourth, there is a saying " WE, Indian's are obsessed about Mileage & also about saving money from every angle that's possible. We are also ready to sacrifice their area of interest, if we are about spend or get paid. "

Now its quite clear that we have several reasons for adopting Piracy. Its not only the case with Games or Some daily used Softwares, its with Movies & Audio Songs also.

O:T- Movies are costing 200 Bucks in Movie theatre, when released & then later Rs.35.00 in CD or DVD's, but we still buy road side DVD's with 4 movies labeled on it with bargained price of 40 bucks & enjoy.

Fifth, whether its PS2, PS3, X-Box or even PC, Original Games doesn't always comes cheap & we specially never spend that much on so called timepass.

Sixth, LAN Parties or BYOC are just in beginning stage only in India.

IMO may be these are the main above reasons, for which i can say

"It sucks to be a Indian Gamer"

Well as far as I can see it is a favourable environment.

Good collection of games, fast releases, stable internet connections [4mbps line by airtel used for online Dota and PS3's PSN], quality gaming cafe's like Zapak, Gamedrome etc, Latest hardware releases. Our country is not effected by war, natural calamity or great economic depression. A huge young population which is relatively better than the other nations in comparison.

On the downside, gaming is a very expensive hobby both monetary and health wise. Hence the adoption is restricted to the well to do families. For industries gaming scene in India doesn't look as viable as other nations and hence we don't have huge gaming fests etc which needs hefty sponsoring.
Piracy is another factor that is commonplace but that has less to do with our exclusive interests esp when you look up dubious game files on a swedish server with peers from nations including portugal, uk, etc etc means we are not alone.

I don't see any technical difficulties in gaming; it is on par with other nations on this regard. It has more to do with our social and economic state as of now.

It certainly rocks to be an Indian gamer.

Well i have an unlimited bandwidth connection but that just has speed good enough for browsing the web because downloading big files around 700 MBs takes around 4-5 Hrs. and i don't believe that kind of speed is good for online gaming. Now the plans with higher speeds cost too much (and i have seen it on all ISPs). May be it's not much for many people but many students who constitute a majority of gamers in India do not tend to pay big amounts for high speeds. There should be better quality broadband connections at cheaper rates.

Nor there are many events throughout the country which encourage gamers to test their skills and are hence restricted to playing with friends.

As Sarath metioned above it is an expensive hobby and is mostly restricted by the economic state.

What I have seen is little kids that beg for money on the railway stations, spend that money to play games at the nearby cafe. And you wouldn't believe how much skilled they are in CS... I once decided to have a round of MW deathmatch along with three other buddies of mine and one of these mentioned kids(they are probably 10-12, not more), and he ranked first! This really shows the impact of gaming in India in general.
Then again, the same copies of CS and COD-MW in the cafes are but pirated... so when it comes to playing the game, we rock, but in resources this country sucks. The politics, the system sucks, not us. Gaming is still considered as just a leisure activity to the point you shouldn't spend 999 bucks at all... it is much wiser to pirate it(personal experience as often being mocked by friends). A lot of things need to change and it is currently inhibited by the political as well as the narrow social mindset of the people(the majority of course).

Karl Marx gave the theory of dialectical materialism, which summed up in simple words says that a Base is required for the Superstructure to be built. The base in this context is affluence, once this requirement is met gaming will boom, as one of the members above rightly pointed out that we have a plethora of young people, so nothing should stop us. Gaming certainly isn't that great but we still have clans and the likes. A lot of guys in college game, I mean everybody in my college loves gaming but its a really hard decision to give up everything else and take up this profession.
I wouldn't say it sucks, but it ain't that great either.

I think a poll will make the process faster

The bandwidth and server latency are pathetic in India, plus most games today don't come with dedicated servers, and companies don't bother setting up dedicated servers in india, maybe in singapore, so at the end of the day, our condition is epic pathetic.

Yes, it definately sucks to be a gamer in tier II and lower cities, since it takes a lot of labour and time to find a shop/s that sell games other than "Vamipre killer" and the likes. The atmosphere is cheap, and piratefags flourish, and even people who genuinely want to buy original ("overpriced," acc. to piratefags) games have to travel to Delhi and the metros. Ask me, i live in Meerut. It is a constant pain to go to nehru place each time a new playable title appears.

^Yeah thats a big problem. We don't have dedicated servers since the game industry is so nacent here.

I have been playing OMRPGs on a massive scale for the past couple of years and I don't feel that we have bad ISPs. Its just that they are expensive. The best lines are actually provided by Reliance for their Zapak Gameplexes. Those are dedicated lines, or so I read, for low latency gaming.

so when it comes to playing the game, we rock, but in resources this country sucks.

Exactly. We have good gamers but not the dough to buy the systems.

Oh yeah whole ton of prolems me playing an mmorpg and we have something known as ratios where the number of kills vs deaths are counted, I had chars with 1500 kills and 0 death and 5000+ kills and zero death. Normally I would have continued playing on wifi (dont use 3G as it takes ages to load anything), but those MSEB basterds started load shedding and because of that I died while in a game

ruined my ratio because of load shedding, then all over again because I tried to play the game on 3G when the wifi was not working BIG MISTAKE. This is ignoring the occassional lag that crops up in the game, im using MTNL triband 1mbps, pauses for even a second or so is costly in the game as the action is so fast paced, and this is fortunately less frequent on my MTNL line but was very common when I was using cable LAN... apart from this I was prepared to schedule my day around the load shedding so that I wud be able to be in the game when the power was running.... but there is no notice given out to the housing societies about the timing of the load shedding, and even if you try to guess the timing, it is off by a as much as twenty minutes to half an hour every day, so there is no way to plan ahead and be safe, basically I find both the spectrum and any kind of internet I am able to get on my device unreliable for playing well on mmorpgs, at least for zerodeaths, and there is the load shedding issue on top of that if I could move to another country that gave me a rock steady internet connection I would right away... also apart from everything else there is the sheer distance... we are practically as far away from everywhere as possible... it sucks to have the worst pings in the game, go up to malasia or phillipines or go back up to greece or nl and those players have lower pings than you. You get to have the highest ping in the game just because of where in the world you are located.

Its both good and bad at the same time.

The Good:
1)Games do come to India. And thankfully most publishers release their games at a affordable price. Ofcourse, some money-whore publishers like Activation don't do their part but it doesn't matter much.
2)I'm sure PC game servers are crap but console servers are always there and the latency is good.
3)You can now buy games from DD services like steam through bank features like VCC.
4)We have a good number of sites that deal in games and offer good discount.

The Bad:
1)Piracy is a big hit here and it hits game industry.
2)Dedicated servers for PC are pathetic if not non-existant.
3)DD services are too pricy.

Dota has Indian servers I think and hence my PC experience has always been good. Friends playing CS (yes) also don't have any complains. Console has never lagged. Maybe that is why I am painting a pretty picture of everything.

Also I gamed on BSNL without any problems. I think the contention ratio must be really bad for your line to get screwed so often. I can call up airtel anytime if it goes below 4mbps or so I was told and I get 4.5mbps actually which is healthy for gaming. My friends are literally abusing their 2mbps airtel line by using 5 PCs for online gaming on it. No wonder they lag but 4 players play smooth which by itself is impressive considering theirs was the last slot in the apartment.
I think the problem lies mostly on the server side(game).

However gaming penetration is really low. Also most people think gaming is for kids. I cannot explain to them why I had to play "Heavy Rain" and "GoW3" when no one was around. Most are still stuck at Mario. But then even that is a game

Ok, I'll stop spamming this thread :))

Okay here is what my experience was when I was hooked to CS.

Playing from home was sad because my airtel connection use to give me 100+ping on Vstreet servers . Only people in metros got good pings and I use to hate it.

BSNL gave better pings but it always laggy. I mean it use to run fine after 2 am but then again it was poor.

Zapak was too expensive on daily basics plus buying gaming gear was hard back then , We did not had Letsbuy , Flipkart then . It was sad that time and exposure was not there .

I think Gaming cafes will be fail in small cities due to lack of spending . ISP's need to improve.

Let me tell you what sucks, the ISPs, the bandwidth speeds, the countless hours of downloading .mdl files, realizing that the modem just decided to go to sleep for a while leaving you in the middle of an epic clan match, crazy routing methods adopted by the ISPs and at last getting pings that are slower than my grandmother.

Internet bandwidth - low for online play
Game prices - high for a common Indian
Contests - low
Indian servers - too low
The worst part is that there is no encouragement. Parents think that its just a child's play and can't be a profession. You require high end pc to play games which again is unacceptable to everyone.

Yes it sucks to be an Indian gamer

T

It still in initial stage, has to develop a lot and stop the piracy and the DD serv sucks in India and not much pref is given to gaming here, i have been to 2 or 3 Tournaments and sometimes they play "politics" because no one cares

ISPs sucks in all fields(plans, service, quality). Other nations have much better bandwidth. MY friends in US hardly find anyone having below 2 mbps.

piracy is the main culprit in gaming industry. I even know people earning over a lakh a month saying "why spend rs. 300 while i can get the game in rs. 40." I found many people laugh at me when i say them i buy original games.

We need atleast 2 mbps connectons. I have a unlimited connection but downloading games via Steam is as painfull as a Game Developer sees his games being pirated.

Downloading a 15 Gb game takes a week!!!(256 kbps) and I cannot afford Internet more expensive than that.

Game prices - high for a common Indian

Absolutely. Although GTA 4 costed Rs.500 but come on if one buys a Digital copy it should cost way less than DVD price.

My ping is like 150s even for a server in Mumbai! BSNL needs drastic improvement and must lead by example

Pings/routing. End of.

Every ISP sucks.

If reliable high speed Internet was cheap, you'd see more servers popping up.

uh lol we dont need good bandwidth actually, games work on as low bandwidth as possible, the best engines still use far far below 512k what we need is a reliable up time more than bandwidth, which is where we totally fail, something or the other goes wrong with the connection at least 2-3 times a day no matter which one I have used, annnd so the power guys put the schedule in the papers... about a week after the load shedding started, and they dont stick to that schedule

^ to host you need.

People could start hosting from home if reliable speedy Internet was cheaper.

But with ADSL, uploads will always be crap.

The main problem is teh PING! Fix that and we will all be happy playing in non-Indian servers.

we have low resources .
A lot of problems are there like

slow internet , we cant play online games.

Electricity is also a problem , spoiling rigs with surges.
Companies are making online DRM.

there is no shop in my area which provides legit games. I have to go for online shops :cry:

when buying pc , shops don't have rigs we want.

Finally i say
It sucks but we won't give up , we are improving and someday will rocks.

Compared to the first world?Yes.
Putting in perspective all the other problems India has-no.It's pretty decent.

I'm not that much into online gaming. So, I'll share my views on how hard it is to be a gamer in india.

First off, the basic idea about video games in the society is "waste of time". A meaningless act which will require huge investment on a computer, and the monthly doses of electricity bill. Sadly, its not just parents that are with this attitude. But even the people of my age. Most of them still consider gaming as a childish and meaningless act. So, the problem starts with the perspective of the society about gaming and the weird look they will give you when we say.. 'I love games'.

If we do find people who are playing games, there is second problem. The number of gamers who know what they are playing. I will run into many people quite often who are still playing GTA: Vice City, Most Wanted.. not because they are good.. but because they don't know anything better than that. Yes.. these people do come under the category of 'Gamers'

Next.. the number of gamers who play the games without any sort of commitment to it. Even if they are playing games... they play those without even poking half of the stuff that is there in the game. And, if the game is giving a tough time.. use cheat codes or trainers. Their only game advisor is the 'cd vendor' who has a willy nilly knowledge about most of the stuff that is going on out there in gaming world.

Which brings to where I am. I, being labeled myself as 'hardcore gamer', and labeled by others as 'gaming maniac', 'kid who still plays video games', etc... is in a place where I gain no income per month.. except the occasional allowance from my mother. Which are not at all sufficient to buy a game for a month. For a game to be affordable to me.. I have to wait for an year, whilst the game is a day of downloading away from other sources. I am certainly not proud of what I'm doing, but I know it is the only way. That doesn't mean that I don't support devs. I buy the games which really made me feel better. This year.. I bought 5 games. Yes, distributors are indeed reducing the prices and are making the games affordable to many.. if not all. And that is a good sign.

Which brings to my thought, the availability of those games. I live in a 2nd grade city. Which is of 25 sq.kms area. The only shop that use to sell games here was plantM. But, they winded up the shop here a year ago, because of poor sales.most of the folks here will not bother to buy a game paying 1000 bucks. while the same is available for as low as 50rs. The gamers who are still buying the stuff from 'cd vendors' have a very meager idea about what the genuine games are. I actually heard from many of my friends that...

' Original games.. will run on any computer no need to worry about graphics card' , 'Original games have superior sound and video quality', 'Original games have more length(playtime)', etc.

If we show these people that they can buy Original Assassins Creed 2 for just 300 bucks. They will jump and buy. But... they lack any kind of knowledge on that side.

Why I am bragging about this is.. the only reason India is being neglected and often times been struck out from the equation is lack of sales.

But, digital distribution can over the risk of investment and gamble on sales figures. Which brings us to the next problem. Pathetic Internet speeds. I don't know what are the plans ISPs are providing out there in cities.. but in my town, the max I can get from any company is 1mpbs(with abysmal pings, connection consistency) even this is only provided by a single ISP. And the best part is I have to shell out ~1.5k for that.

After all these rants.. Let me point out what I want...

1. A gamestop like store in every city... with reasonable prices.

2. Decent Internet speeds. So that I can get my digital content quickly. Also.. to not get kicked out from a server for pathetic pings.

3. More guys in real life.. to talk and brag about games. Share their views etc.

4. And a day where people don't consider me as a toddler and an irresponsible person because I play video games.

All and all, it indeed sucks major time. But it has been worse once. Things are turning up a bit. Just a bit.

But gaming isn't the only thing that sucks in India, anyways.

1. A gamestop like store in every city... with reasonable prices.
I don't think even the so called developed nations have a store in every small city. We have a huge population and many cities. The economy doesn't sustain it. Plus with the online boom I don't think any place is out of reach

2. Decent Internet speeds. So that I can get my digital content quickly. Also.. to not get kicked out from a server for pathetic pings.
A 512kbps with 50-100pings is fine for gaming. The problem is on the server end not ours. I host about 50 games a week without problems.

3. More guys in real life.. to talk and brag about games. Share their views etc.
Luckily got friends for that. You just have to dig deeper. Have realised that most guys like to play but are not able to due to parental pressure, lack of monet etc and hide behind the veiled statements "you are still a kid" etc

4. And a day where people don't consider me as a toddler and an irresponsible person because I play video games.
It is irresponsible and toddler like to play video games So are animes. Just do what you love and stop caring about others. I guess this applies to a lot of things in life

BTW @vamsi : we had gamedrome in vizag. Since you know how big that city / megavillage is it soon ran out of business. But that was more because despite customers the ppl who ran it would not recharge and keep the money for themselves and let us play. No wonder sify backed out. There are many small cafe's even in small cities.

Is BSNL really that bad? I was contemplating shifting to it from my airtel conn. The only reason I didn't was because gaming is flawless on my present conn. and lets me overlook the FUP, overcharges etc.

BSNL PING = pathetic.

BSNL depends on place to place. In Gurgaon, it is much better than Airtel.

Sarath said:
I don't think even the so called developed nations have a store in every small city. We have a huge population and many cities. The economy doesn't sustain it. Plus with the online boom I don't think any place is out of reach

Yes. they do. If not gamestop.. then walmart, best buy,etc. There is a reason why games are localized in 9 different languages. Strong distribution points.

2.A 512kbps with 50-100pings is fine for gaming. The problem is on the server end not ours. I host about 50 games a week without problems.

Click to expand...

I'm talking about the time it takes to get a game digitally. And the stability of that connection. Also the price. Its not just you I'm talking about... I'm talking about 80% of india. 2nd grade towns.

3.Luckily got friends for that. You just have to dig deeper. Have realised that most guys like to play but are not able to due to parental pressure, lack of monet etc and hide behind the veiled statements "you are still a kid" etc

Click to expand...

Done that. No luck. Can hardly find a dude here who knows about the game he is playing.

4. And a day where people don't consider me as a toddler and an irresponsible person because I play video games.

Click to expand...

If it is some dude walking in the streets,we can do that. If parents are doing the same? Or if... some relative who visits home tells the same? It is hard to ignore and get on.

BTW @vamsi : we had gamedrome in vizag. Since you know how big that city / megavillage is it soon ran out of business. But that was more because despite customers the ppl who ran it would not recharge and keep the money for themselves and let us play. No wonder sify backed out. There are many small cafe's even in small cities.

Click to expand...

Vizag is the second biggest city in Andra. Tirupati comes 5th, I think. I guess you can figure out the rest.

Is BSNL really that bad? I was contemplating shifting to it from my airtel conn. The only reason I didn't was because gaming is flawless on my present conn. and lets me overlook the FUP, overcharges etc.

Click to expand...

The only unlimited connection that bsnl has here is 512kbps thing.

Sarath said:
The problem is on the server end not ours.

The problem is at the ISP's end for pathetic routing. I fail to understand why the heck I ping over 180ms to Delhi Airtel connections? Both MTNL and Airtel are at fault here.

The funniest part is, I ping 100ms to Hong Kong. Isn't that weird?

D

yes it sux.
i have seen many so called gamers in india, who
1.don't know any other game than gta vicecity,san andreas, nfs,fifa,ea cricket and who never knew there is something called lan or online multiplayer.
2. play cs or dota only. most of them don't own a legal copy of cs. 90% of indian gaming.
3. others(including f2p tf2 players)
i knew a guy from norway who said his net speed is 25mbps/8mbps & is an entry level plan and he is sad that steam doesnt use his full speed.

the only thing that actually hinders gaming in india is current Internet and availability of games.. cost of games imo is ok... it is at par with the other countries(sometimes even less) Indians just need to adapt to it(there are a LOT of foreigners too for whom $60 is a bit too much) I personally don't buy more than one game a month(sometimes maybe two).
And thats how its supposed to be if someone cannot afford more(i learnt this overtime).Just chuck the bad games. The general attitude in my friend circle is like " Have you played the new James Bond game?", and I reply,"Didn't that game get 5.0/10? I hear its pretty bad.." and he says,"Come on you're getting it for just(as said before^) Rs 50, whats the problem?" Before introduction to flipkart/nextworld , I too had to search the metropolitan malls for some new games and it was laborious.

But now the condition is improving. As you can see EA.com has "India" as an option under their list of countries with the prices given in Rupees(f**k bethesda

). A few more years and I think we will be able to get all the necessities(the country is in an unstable state atm). And now....
Slow Internet in India Comic | Indian comics about life and irritations.
(ok i too won't spam this thread no more) :))

D

bandwidth is really problem. not just for pings but to download content digitally.
i have to keep my pc running whole night(s) to let steam download my new games.

BSNL suck here . Airtel is best in Lko & Kanpur

vamsi_krishna said:
Done that. No luck. Can hardly find a dude here who knows about the game he is playing.

i'm dying to find such friend to whom i can discuss games but there is none like me in my area as well as in collage. All i find only know cs , igi , and nfs mw :cry:

Uhh Im talking about mobile mmorpgs thats what ive been playing most of late... one obvious point I skipped was that you cannot use the spectrum on your mobile phones the way it is supposed to be used, I get constant pingwells on my vodaphone line irrespective of whether or not I am using 3G or not... and playing while traveling in a train or bus is outright impossible, so I have to use wifi all the time.... However, Ive yet to meen a player who doesnt complain of some or the other kind of connection problem, (we have the lowest ping in the world, but its still massive everywhere else for pocket mmorpgs, usually in the 400-3000 range, yes, we play with 3000+ ping as well, ping doesnt matter in mmorpgs as much as it matters in something like CS or Quake) and this includes players from around the world, so I guess many of us are facing the same problems PS, Im also very glad to be an Indian gamer because there are not many Indains in my game, but every single one I have met is highly skilled, play very well, go beyond to help others out... and are usually near the highest possible level with really good gear

BLIZZARD said:
Diablo 3 will need a constant internet connection for single player campaign.

this kills .
I must play D3.
Searching for a cheap wireless connection which may flawlessly run it.

Parents won't allow landline connection for gaming.

For online gaming speed is not that important, but ping is, and also FUPs should be banned forever, with game patches reigning over 1GB(Rage), we need fully uncapped plans.

Agree with each and every statement of vamsi.
I came to college and I talked to nearly everyone in my class but all of them think that playing game is childish act. When I tell them how big is gaming industry they think I lie. They don't even beleive that game can come under mature rating. You can imagine the rest.

S

Of course it does. Let me bring another point of view. Gaming in India has never been given due recognition it deserves. Gamers have always been looked down upon as people who have an expensive hobby.
Unless the attitude of people changes, nothing is going to happen.

gaming is not very favourable here.

although PC games are much cheaper here, the PC components always cost a lot more here.

Only 2 days ago I was in Kuala Lumpur (returning to Kolkata from Christchurch), and a vaio laptop that costs almost 3000 Ringgit there costs Rs. 62990 here...
A GTX 580 will set you back by $500 in USA while it costs over 600 here.

Even developers dont release games on all platforms here. COD, Fallout, RAGE are prime examples. Even EA has hiked game prices by 50% now to almost Rs.1500 for the AAA titles.

Govt needs to reduce taxes on PC parts and manufacturers/developers have to stop ripping us off for the situation to improve.

Manufacturing software locally (happening for years on PC, recently on PS2 and soon on PS3) is what helps.

console users are screwed twice. Games cost more than other countries and consoles also cost more.

N

It doesn't totally suck to be an Indian gamer, but the expenditure's high, that's all.

S

NVIDIAGeek said:
It doesn't totally suck to be an Indian gamer, but the expenditure's high, that's all.

True true.

All complaining here don't want to pay for the services they are getting....Developers should get for what they produce.....Govt. should tax it because they allow it in our country.

Speeds.....I am pretty sure except for a very few games 512kbps connection with <100 ping is more than enough to play any game. It is pretty cheap.

Games people play.....Its their own choice....You cannot force people to learn dancing too.

Rig is costly everywhere...especially gaming rigs....You want something awesome and you dont want to pay for it.....again.

Buuhuu....Stop ur sadness.....India at present is pretty good for gaming....You can get nearly everything you want.....All is left on your part.....Earn more.....

......Be happy.

yeah..if you consider single player only..your points stand true.

Try Borderlands co-op or ACB multiplayer in 512 kbps with 100+ ping..will s*** big time.

masterkd said:
yeah..if you consider single player only..your points stand true.

Try Borderlands co-op or ACB multiplayer in 512 kbps with 100+ ping..will s*** big time.

Well borderlands LAN co op works locally, in kolkata, but I have not tried abroad, but no doubt it will suck.

satan007 said:
True true.

All complaining here don't want to pay for the services they are getting....Developers should get for what they produce.....Govt. should tax it because they allow it in our country.

Speeds.....I am pretty sure except for a very few games 512kbps connection with <100 ping is more than enough to play any game. It is pretty cheap.

Games people play.....Its their own choice....You cannot force people to learn dancing too.

Rig is costly everywhere...especially gaming rigs....You want something awesome and you dont want to pay for it.....again.

Buuhuu....Stop ur sadness.....India at present is pretty good for gaming....You can get nearly everything you want.....All is left on your part.....Earn more...........Be happy.

That's the point, you ever see the ping to servers abroad?

I'd do away with the hassles of a PC and get a console in an instant,if new games retail at PC prices.

Gaming is not at a very good state right now.

I have been playing AAA titles since the age of 6/7 lol and my gaming time has increased extensively over the past 4 years, when I got into geekdom. I have noticed that gaming really is looked down upon, even in rich families.

Ping to US/Canada even on 2Mbit is as high as 500-600, sometimes even 700.

To the UK 350 is common. Playable sub-200 only occurs in the mainland asia region and great sub-100 ping only inside India.

Uh support. We have to stay up at an ungodly hour for live support, or wait for long stretches when we are active to get replies, which is slow and not really of much help till its too late.

S

tkin said:
Well borderlands LAN co op works locally, in kolkata, but I have not tried abroad, but no doubt it will suck.

That's the point, you ever see the ping to servers abroad?

Sir, do u know what ping is?

Read about that and then you will change ur answer.

satan007 said:
Sir, do u know what ping is?

Read about that and then you will change ur answer.

I know what ping is, the problem is that ping is more easily understandable to people here than saying server latency, plus it takes less time and keystrokes to type "ping" than "latency", so I wrote ping, and everyone understood I think. I am a CSE 4th year student and been with digit for some time now, I've studied networking in the past and I know about all the jargons, its just that I choose not to use them here.

What I tried to say is, Ping or Latency to foreign servers is abysmal, or otherwise you own a connection which gives <100ms latency to us or uk servers, or even Singapore servers, in our case it ranges between 300-1000ms, so its the only issue we have, not the bandwidth, ever tried shooting someone in MP game only to see the bullet miss him by a hairs width? I had and I blame the latency.

I guess Ping is the time it takes for the server at the other end to respond?

I know what ping is, the problem is that ping is more easily understandable to people here than saying server latency, plus it takes less time and keystrokes to type "ping" than "latency", so I wrote ping, and everyone understood I think. I am a CSE 4th year student and been with digit for some time now, I've studied networking in the past and I know about all the jargons, its just that I choose not to use them here.

What I tried to say is, Ping or Latency to foreign servers is abysmal, or otherwise you own a connection which gives <100ms latency to us or uk servers, or even Singapore servers, in our case it ranges between 300-1000ms, so its the only issue we have, not the bandwidth, ever tried shooting someone in MP game only to see the bullet miss him by a hairs width? I had and I blame the latency.

+1 @tkin. bhalo. :))

This discussion is really going nowhere. So I guess all we need to do is EARN MONEY TO SUCH A HIGH LEVEL THAT IT OUTRUNS THE OBSTACLES OF THE SYSTEM. WILL DO! oops still in high school. :))

But still ping depends on the routing procedures of the ISPs,locations,etc so.... idk!

So is the conclusion only that online gaming sucks in our country? Especially on foreign servers?

What about offline games?

Sarath said:
So is the conclusion only that online gaming sucks in our country? Especially on foreign servers?

What about offline games?

Offline games are fine, price of computer products are a bit high but almost on par with european countries, all games are released(exception was Fallout 3/Nv due to cows named brahmins), so no issues there.

satan007 said:
Speeds.....I am pretty sure except for a very few games 512kbps connection with <100 ping is more than enough to play any game. It is pretty cheap.

Do you think we get < 100 ms ping?

Here's the ping I'm getting to Gurgaon BSNL. I'm using New Delhi MTNL. (Cities are only 30 km apart)

PING 59.94.96.1 (59.94.96.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 59.94.96.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=104 time=246.213 ms
64 bytes from 59.94.96.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=106 time=218.942 ms
64 bytes from 59.94.96.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=105 time=268.467 ms
64 bytes from 59.94.96.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=104 time=242.592 ms

Here's the ping I'm getting to my neighbour who has an Airtel connection.

PING 122.160.230.57 (122.160.230.57): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 122.160.230.57: icmp_seq=0 ttl=237 time=205.769 ms
64 bytes from 122.160.230.57: icmp_seq=1 ttl=237 time=205.368 ms
64 bytes from 122.160.230.57: icmp_seq=2 ttl=237 time=206.119 ms
64 bytes from 122.160.230.57: icmp_seq=3 ttl=237 time=205.273 ms

To a friend of mine using Airtel in Karnataka.

PING 122.178.244.247 (122.178.244.247): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 122.178.244.247: icmp_seq=0 ttl=44 time=317.444 ms
64 bytes from 122.178.244.247: icmp_seq=1 ttl=44 time=238.443 ms
64 bytes from 122.178.244.247: icmp_seq=2 ttl=44 time=262.535 ms
64 bytes from 122.178.244.247: icmp_seq=3 ttl=44 time=388.283 ms
64 bytes from 122.178.244.247: icmp_seq=4 ttl=44 time=309.173 ms

ANd here's my ping to a server in Hong Kong at which I used to play.

PING 203.215.243.1 (203.215.243.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 203.215.243.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=116.790 ms
64 bytes from 203.215.243.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=117.001 ms
64 bytes from 203.215.243.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=118.150 ms
64 bytes from 203.215.243.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=117.059 ms

Ping to a server in Singapore.

PING 203.208.248.10 (203.208.248.10): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 203.208.248.10: icmp_seq=0 ttl=109 time=104.601 ms
64 bytes from 203.208.248.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=109 time=109.134 ms
64 bytes from 203.208.248.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=109 time=101.980 ms
64 bytes from 203.208.248.10: icmp_seq=3 ttl=109 time=102.897 ms

Ping to a server in Japan.

PING 61.125.195.20 (61.125.195.20): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 61.125.195.20: icmp_seq=0 ttl=44 time=179.767 ms
64 bytes from 61.125.195.20: icmp_seq=1 ttl=44 time=180.552 ms
64 bytes from 61.125.195.20: icmp_seq=2 ttl=44 time=184.116 ms
64 bytes from 61.125.195.20: icmp_seq=3 ttl=44 time=193.835 ms
64 bytes from 61.125.195.20: icmp_seq=4 ttl=45 time=180.870 ms

And my pings to European servers are very good too. Mostly between 160 to 220ms.

Fact is routing between Indian ISPs is ****. In other countries within the same city you see single digit pings. You can't host servers from home in India.

And why should I be happy about 512kbps Internet? Heck, Pakistan gets 4mbps UL without any FUP for ~1000 INR. Now don't say that their demand is less + India has a huge demand and can't cope up. After all, India is a 10x economy. (I know I shouldn't be comparing this way, but Internet is very expensive here.)

For the note, 2 PNR = 1 INR.

Welcome to PTCL
DSL Home Packages, Micronet Broadband - DSL Service Providers - Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

^ Those are some weird pings. From bangalore I get 30-50 pings to my friends place some blocks away. Normal is around 100. rarely 140+ and ones on 3G and photon show up 200+ upto 350.

Garena client

Sarath said:
^ Those are some weird pings. From bangalore I get 30-50 pings to my friends place some blocks away. Normal is around 100. rarely 140+ and ones on 3G and photon show up 200+ upto 350.

Garena client

Try pinging to 59.94.96.1 and 59.178.191.254.

I expect Airtel in South India to be very good for pings to other countries. Over here, it's crap.

Routing takes the cheapest path, in India.

Faun said:
Routing takes the cheapest path, in India.

This.

ico said:
Try pinging to 59.94.96.1 and 59.178.191.254.

59.94.96.1 ~60ms
59.178.191.254 ~102ms

main problem is packet loss in between.

Sarath said:
^ Those are some weird pings. From bangalore I get 30-50 pings to my friends place some blocks away. Normal is around 100. rarely 140+ and ones on 3G and photon show up 200+ upto 350.

Note: I have MTNL and my neighbour has Airtel.

Within the same ISP and city, pings are okay.

To a friend of mine in Delhi and using MTNL.

PING 59.178.178.178 (59.178.178.178): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 59.178.178.178: icmp_seq=0 ttl=62 time=17.259 ms
64 bytes from 59.178.178.178: icmp_seq=1 ttl=62 time=23.240 ms
64 bytes from 59.178.178.178: icmp_seq=2 ttl=62 time=17.953 ms
64 bytes from 59.178.178.178: icmp_seq=3 ttl=62 time=18.279 ms
64 bytes from 59.178.178.178: icmp_seq=4 ttl=62 time=17.070 ms

Faun said:
59.94.96.1 ~60ms
59.178.191.254 ~102ms

main problem is packet loss in between.

60ms~ is good. That's a BSNL IP btw. I guess, you are using BSNL too. (at the moment)

The second one is MTNL Delhi.

@ico I am getting ~115 for all the IPs except the Japan one. There the pings are ~300ms.

Can you traceroute its (61.125.195.20) ?

here's mine going all the way through london

Hop IP Address Host Name Response Time
=== ========== ========= =============
1 192.168.1.1 0 ms
2 117.195.64.1 18 ms
3 218.248.164.74 25 ms
4 218.248.255.30 48 ms
5 59.163.206.45 59.163.206.45.static.chennai.vsnl.net.in 47 ms
6 172.31.16.173 45 ms
7 180.87.39.25 if-0-100.tcore2.MLV-Mumbai.as6453.net 46 ms
8 80.231.130.5 if-6-2.tcore1.L78-London.as6453.net 301 ms
9 80.231.130.10 Vlan704.icore1.LDN-London.as6453.net 302 ms
10 195.219.83.22 Vlan522.icore1.LDN-London.as6453.net 198 ms
11 129.250.5.40 ae-4.r23.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net 188 ms
12 129.250.5.35 as-0.r22.osakjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net 385 ms
13 129.250.3.221 ae-5.r24.tokyjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net 383 ms
14 61.213.160.242 po-1.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net 315 ms
15 61.213.161.6 xe-1-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net 313 ms
16 202.224.32.81 tkybi1.asahi-net.or.jp 318 ms
17 202.224.33.140 fnbnirb.asahi-net.or.jp 324 ms
18 203.189.61.3 fnbnif7.asahi-net.or.jp 330 ms
19 61.125.195.20 i195020.ppp.asahi-net.or.jp 331 ms
Trace complete

Faun said:
Can you traceroute its (61.125.195.20) ?

traceroute to 61.125.195.20 (61.125.195.20), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 2.915 ms 1.410 ms 2.572 ms
2 triband-del-59.178.191.254.bol.net.in (59.178.191.254) 13.699 ms 13.653 ms 14.473 ms
3 triband-del-59.179.0.59.bol.net.in (59.179.0.59) 33.878 ms 14.391 ms 13.369 ms
4 125.19.8.161 (125.19.8.161) 14.463 ms 13.360 ms 13.220 ms
5 182.79.255.14 (182.79.255.14) 101.066 ms 108.780 ms 99.018 ms
6 129.250.12.229 (129.250.12.229) 146.907 ms 145.957 ms 146.713 ms
7 ae-2.r20.sngpsi02.sg.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.142) 135.778 ms
ae-0.r02.sngpsi02.sg.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.248) 151.004 ms
ae-2.r20.sngpsi02.sg.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.142) 135.018 ms
8 as-1.r22.tokyjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.20) 188.326 ms
p64-6-1-2.r25.tokyjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.22) 204.221 ms
as-1.r22.tokyjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.20) 188.881 ms
9 po-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net (203.105.72.150) 196.142 ms
ae-3.r25.tokyjp01.jp.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.157) 189.008 ms
po-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net (203.105.72.150) 197.600 ms
10 po-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net (203.105.72.150) 196.679 ms
xe-1-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net (61.213.161.6) 185.026 ms *
11 tkybi1.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.32.81) 195.536 ms
xe-1-2.a14.tokyjp01.jp.ra.gin.ntt.net (61.213.161.6) 185.018 ms
tkybi1.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.32.81) 185.254 ms
12 tkybi1.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.32.81) 185.741 ms
fnbnirb.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.33.140) 189.165 ms
tkybi1.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.32.81) 184.514 ms
13 fnbnif7.asahi-net.or.jp (203.189.61.3) 191.491 ms
fnbnirb.asahi-net.or.jp (202.224.33.140) 204.163 ms
fnbnif7.asahi-net.or.jp (203.189.61.3) 189.856 ms
14 fnbnif7.asahi-net.or.jp (203.189.61.3) 190.326 ms
i195020.ppp.asahi-net.or.jp (61.125.195.20) 188.573 ms
fnbnif7.asahi-net.or.jp (203.189.61.3) 189.885 ms

ico said:
60ms~ is good. That's a BSNL IP btw. I guess, you are using BSNL too. (at the moment)

The second one is MTNL Delhi.

Yeah, BSNL 750UL

Previously pings were hovering around 253ms to google but right now ~105ms

ico said:
Try pinging to 59.94.96.1 and 59.178.191.254.

I expect Airtel in South India to be very good for pings to other countries. Over here, it's crap.

For me intra city pings look ok'ish for BSNL, that is in India pings are ok, in speedtest.net I get around 80ms ping to indian servers, but when pinging abroad it sucks big time.

*i.imgur.com/WOR80.jpg

When I traced japan ip it also went through london and giving ~500ms latency.

BSNL Home FN500, from old ip structure(59.xx.xx.xx).

I am getting a ping of ~35ms for google

pinging the same IPs that tkin did. I am living in tirupati, btw.

*i.imgur.com/ySoZ5.jpg

Faun said:
Yeah, BSNL 750UL

Previously pings were hovering around 253ms to google but right now ~105ms

Pings to google are around 55ms for me.

how do i measure pings to a certain website?

^
in command prompt, enter,

ping <website address>

vamsi_krishna said:
^
in command prompt, enter,

ping <website address>

okay.

.. thank u.

Yes it sucks,
In my City Mangalore all the cybers Have only players Playing CS & dota.And few ppl with gta san.Here,If you play any other game either they call you a kid or a noob.They Regard CS & dota THE WORLDS Best and Unbeatable game.I wish it changes in this part,And they start playin Some other lan game.
2)In My city,You dont get most of the games.
3)Maybe only 1000s Of people play games other than san,vc,fifa,cs,war3

S

If you talk about gaming at professional levels it really is a bad scene out there , these days professional tournaments are mainly held for Dota , CS 1.6 , Fifa and NFS series.

Of this games i follow cs 1.6 circuit largely because even i play a lot but in current WCG '11 India qualifiers one of the top teams in India did not participate at all because there was not a very big point winning it because the winner would not be sponsored to represent India and would have to pay out of their pocket to go to main draw and play.
For playing professionally you need to make sure your practise like for more than half a day and that too without any tension which is not possible as there are no sponsors no real income in gaming.
Unless this scene changes we wont have any improvement.

Digit as a magazine is read by many people out there so regular articles in such tech magazines may also help in bringing about awareness.

My connection is BSNL(750UL - 512kbps)

Pinging Digit – Thinkdigit Technology Guides | Technology News Reviews |Free Downloads | Video | Tech Support Forums Online in India [122.248.250.207] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=95ms TTL=52
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=52
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=95ms TTL=52
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=95ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 122.248.250.207:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 93ms, Maximum = 95ms, Average = 94ms

Pinging Google [74.125.236.84] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.125.236.84: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=57
Reply from 74.125.236.84: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=57
Reply from 74.125.236.84: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=57
Reply from 74.125.236.84: bytes=32 time=61ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 74.125.236.84:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 61ms, Maximum = 64ms, Average = 62ms

Pinging store.steampowered.com [63.228.223.104] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=298ms TTL=57
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=298ms TTL=57
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=296ms TTL=57
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=296ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 63.228.223.104:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 296ms, Maximum = 298ms, Average = 297ms

P

My Connection is Beam (2-10)mbps. 10 mbps limit upto 30gb download. Degrades to 2gb after 30gb limit.

C:\Users\prudhivi>ping 122.248.250.207

Pinging 122.248.250.207 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=50
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=50
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=50
Reply from 122.248.250.207: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=50

Ping statistics for 122.248.250.207:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 50ms, Maximum = 51ms, Average = 50ms

C:\Users\prudhivi>ping Google

Pinging Google [74.125.236.49] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.125.236.49: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.236.49: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.236.49: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=55
Reply from 74.125.236.49: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 74.125.236.49:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 27ms, Maximum = 28ms, Average = 27ms

C:\Users\prudhivi>ping store.steampowered.com

Pinging store.steampowered.com [63.228.223.104] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=258ms TTL=48
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=258ms TTL=48
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=258ms TTL=48
Reply from 63.228.223.104: bytes=32 time=258ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 63.228.223.104:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 258ms, Maximum = 258ms, Average = 258ms

oh hell yes, it does suck to be an indian gamer

1.games are too expensive in terms of console games(which cost 3500 bucks for a new game)
2.pc games come cheap (999rs for a new game) but nobody buys legit games courtesy of those pirate whores
3.the ISP's cheat us in terms of bandwith(ahem, my 3mbps connection works at 350 kbps average tho it downloads 1 gb files in 1 hour)
4.no actual support/repairing for consoles(they promise u to get a shiny new ps3 for a dead under-warranty ps3 but u never end up getting one)
5.people expect games to come for half the price of cheap mobile games and only play CS,NFS and GTA
6.people ridicule gaming saying gaming is for kids. play cricket.beta doctor engineer bano.wtf??

R

I think this is an very interesting question.. being an gamer in India you realize that most of time the experience level is very low as it should be better.. it has to improve!! :!:

S

Its always good for me, regarding the pings, used BSNL 2799 Plan until last month and using Reliance Freedom 999 plan right now.

I'm not buying any more games for my xbox360, just those kinect games now and then, prices just suck here.

hmm... dont think its a technical prolem at all, there are ways to go around this thing
Its our prolem only, we dont play games seriously after college, there is no peer pressure to play games here, like there is peer pressure to listen to a particular song or watch a movie
Ive started playing some games with groups of friends, but this invariably died down within 2-4 months, nothing like the way some digital gaming scenes growing consistently for years

My friend introduced me to a new cafe, it has a gaming mouse,keyboard,a good looking Cpu case with led lights, and a nice monitor..seeing all that i was impressed.sat on the pc..and i was i shocked....there was only Cs 1.6 and warcraft in it

. Why cant they move to other games?? in india

Alright lets face it, it sucks to be Indian gamer especially multiplayer because broadband in India sucks,the speeds are terrible,and plans too sucks,and worst of all we got our a****** kicked out of servers due to high pings.

so Broadband = :pullhair:

Doenst matter if it sucks here or not. Will keep playin.forevaer and ever..

ya it suks here.I mainly play strategy games like supreme commander 2,company of heroes(mainly this),c&c 3,4,etc.I own game in steam for which i have to plead my elder brother to buy cause i dont have a credit card.in many games they kik me out of lobby saying ur ping suks.but it seems i hardly lag any games under 450 ping,(i am using bsnl 512 kbps connection)

Indian Gaming Scenario has developed significantly in the past few years, mostly for the easy availability and affordable prices of proper hardware..Gaming isn't confined to Online Gaming, PC gaming as the number of consoles sold in India has been on a rise.

Piracy :
*Legit* availability of games is still an issue, though flipkart and nextworld have made it very easy and affordable for us to buy..As Vamsi said earlier, lack of information among potential gamers and the new gamers is a major cause for piracy..
The Price on most of the games isn't justified as we are just paying the Indian equivalent to the US cost, eg Steam and console games..I love the fact that PC games are priced as low as Rs300 in India and almost all games are priced below Rs1000...I used to indulge in extensive *downloading* of games earlier as I was unaware of the costs of legit games..I have now decided to play only those games which I can afford(bought 5 games recently

) and not download the games off torrent sites or the likes...I am in a fb group of 250 gamers(we play COD mostly) and off those only 20 and less have ever bought original games and only 4 or 5 have bought more than 5 games legally...Mind you that most of the members belong to affluent families and can easily afford 2-3 games a month...They don't because there is a cheaper alternative and there isn't a difference between the 2 versions, sans the MP part...

Console owners are continuously searching for ways to jailbreak, so that they can enjoy games at affordable prices...I feel for them, Rs2500 each for almost all games on an X360 or a PS3, Poor chaps

Lack of awareness and *that feeling* of doing something illegal and getting away with it are the 2 main causes of Piracy in our country....Having said that there is a growing Gaming population who are fighting against piracy, with their own li'l steps, thanks to places like tdf, erodov and techenclave... The fact that we are discussing this topic will definitely help most of the tdf members to be more aware of the Indian gaming scene and a li'l more responsible on their part...

A gamestop in every city isn't a feasible idea..This falls under the commercial aspect of gaming which is to an extent controlled by the government..They don't build proper roads in cities..It would be a shame to imagine they doing something for a *useless* activity like gaming...

Competitive Gaming and Management:
Almost all of the gamers, I know of, think of gaming as a leisure activity..The life span of a clan isn't much right now..Leaving a few players of top clans(ft5, EvoX, ATE, etc) almost all stop playing once they graduate or get a job..No one is interested in pursuing gaming extensively as a career..I am a member of a COD4 clan and have been to 2 editions of BYOC with my team..
BYOC, which is held twice every year, is a special tournament..3 days of Non-stop gaming, though the best part is meeting up with hundreds of fellow gamers and connecting over the one thing we like...It's no Dreamhacks but it's still something..The management(Xtreme Gaming) has received a lot of negative criticism lately..I too was disappointed with their arrangements but they are still the only major organizers in the country..We have new tournaments like Game Kshetra, IGC etc...The management needs to step up and innovate.

Online Gaming :
I am a victim of ISP harassment and there are millions along with me..The government thinks that it is sufficient to just BE CONNECTED to the internet..If only they knew that the definition of *Being Connected* has changed in the past 5 years..Earlier people would use the Internet only for mails and searches..Now it's all about bandwidth..with over lakhs of videos being added on the internet daily, we need something more than a "2mbps Broadband Plan"..the ISPs have switched from Dial-Up to Broadband but they are leagues behind the speed with which bandwidth usage is increasing...

I use BSNL's 750UL plan, earlier I would get a ping of 50-70ms on all Indian servers but since 2 weeks I get pings in the range of 300-400...I have been to the exchange a few times and called them almost everyday since then, but they didn't do ****..Even my bandwidth hasn't been doubled for the first 6GB as per the new plans..in my locality, only BSNL operates the Broadband system...Airtel which is abundantly available just 3kms from my home says "Sorry, We don't have laid the lines in your area"...Leaving aside my personal bad luck, the ISPs have failed to keep up with the world..The sad buffering in videos, pathetic downloading speeds and limited plans have all collaborated in keeping the Online gaming scene in chains and continue to halt the progress..The pings which a normal user gets in Indian servers is average to good. But we can't play in offshore servers as the ping goes for a toss..When we play against Sri lankan clans/ Singapore clans the ping ranges between 250-300 which is pathetic BUT think about the popular servers which are based in Europe, UK and US...Until we get good pings all over the world the Indian Gaming community will just expand in our own little bubble and players won't get the opportunity to socialize or play with our offshore counterparts...

Video gaming isn't encouraged by our parents..I haven't met a single person who claims that his/her parents understand the need of video games...India is a developing country and it is the case with all industries in India..Gaming is also a developing hobby/career/Activity..It will definitely improv for the better but, unless the ISPs, the distributors work hard and dramatically change their pace, it will take a lot of time...
Gaming can be highly addictive, DOTA, SKYRIM, etc, and thus it needs to be monitored as well..I have friends who play DOTA for 18-25hours at a stretch..one of my friend even left his job to get better at DOTA...But as with everything else there is a bad side to Gaming...

Gaming isn't something which needs approval of others or their acknowledgement, to indulge in..just like many don't approve of adventure sports or other *unpopular* activities...But it shouldn't be ignored or left to sustain on its own..We need support from all sides, mostly from the current lot of gamers..If the people who are passionate about gaming, right now, continue to do so in the future, we might see an IMPROVED version of Indian Gaming Scene....
Hoping for the best...and fvck you BSNL :X

R

actualy gaming in india is good as the prices of pc games are very low in india compared to that in us or uk.i got battlefield 3 for rs 1299 but in other countries it costs arnd $60 which is 3000rs so it doesnt suck to be an indian gamer.its just that indians think its not worth to spend even 1000rs on a gud game

R

and Isp are not cheating anyone wen they say 1mbps connection it means u wil get 100kB download speed.there is diffrence between kbps and KBps
1kB=8kb.

they are cheating in case of pings which is most imp factor...

Well i guess times r changing. Sponsers r coming 2 india n getting clans under their name Just its Slow as internet penetration is quite less here. Example the top clan of dota the roccat.rog clan of india has been sponsored by roccat(ya the top manufacturer of professional gaming hardware).So just times r steady Waiting n patience is the way to go N dont forget the gaming scene also on rise (byoc,wtf-events) n events alike.

C

Yes it sucks. First, there is on reliable broadband, second, there are hardly any game stores. And above all, most people (even my batchmates) tend to think gaming is for kids.

Currently I'm fighting with my dad to get a gtx 560.... And guess what happened when I asked the local shopkeeper for it... He never even heard about it!

Am i The Only one Who Dont Think so ?
(I Dont Think There Is Any Problem With Online PLaying)
I Have That normal 512kbps Plan !!!
And It Is Okay For Me, Not So Good , but Its Fine !!
I Can Play Multiplayer Easily !!
I Play Cod Black Ops Multiplayer So Easily !!

I occasionally come here to read this forum but today after reading this thread, I had to put down my rant too here in this thread. As few others said that PC gaming is expensive, I have to disagree because there is not much you can do about it. You have to buy the hardware to run the games, no other way. And talking about games, they are pretty cheap than what it costs in US. Flipkart offers games for even cheaper than Steam or Origin. Game developers invest a lot into making a game so our excuse of being comparatively poor than western countries where games are made or game companies already making enough money doesn't makes piracy right. I agree that not everyone is able to buy games with price tag of INR 700-2000 so the only way to get more sales in India is to reduce the price even further below. Although, I must admit that even I resort to pirating games sometimes when I get short on money but I buy them later on.

Taking about the shitty infrastructure of internet in India, this is the worst part that pisses me off. :cry:

Playing online, downloading patches and DLCs or hell, even streaming yt irritates the hell out of me. Even after paying 2-3k a month to the ISP, all we get is FUP and nightmarish latency.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\SAMSUNG>tracert 59.178.178.178

Tracing route to triband-del-59.178.178.178.bol.net.in [59.178.178.178]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 20 ms 12 ms 23 ms triband-del-59.178.191.254.bol.net.in [59.178.19
1.254]
3 23 ms 21 ms 21 ms triband-del-59.178.178.178.bol.net.in [59.178.17
8.178]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\SAMSUNG>

No it doesnt suck to be an indian gamer. Even with moderately high pings if one has skill he can pwn . although i agree that a lot of improvement is required in the broadband sector specially low pings, and low downtime and less chokes and losses. Then there is the issue of hosting gaming servers, if the hardware is not proper there is no use of playing.

Yes as one of the above pointed out the only way to reduce the cost of games further is not in your hands, because of the high duty and taxes on the media which is imported games are much more expensive in India. But pc games have become cheap because the licences for manufacturing have been given in india and that way we can produce the cds in india which leads to a very cheap game production cost. compared to original games for the ps3 and the xbox 360. The ps3 games are made in austria, there were some reports that sony might start making games in india that way they would become dirt cheap here.

as the cost of labour is high in austria and the number of games produced is also limited it pushes the prices higher

then there is the low availability of high end hardware, to be truthful it has improved a million times. I remember 4 years ago when the 8xxx nvidia series of gfx card was launched they were available in chennai / mumbai . in delhi very few people had them. I had to pay a 5k premium on a 8800gts fatal1ty edition to buy it in delhi and only smc international in nehru place stocked that card. Nowadays many vendors in delhi stock such stuff because there is an increase in demand and the concept is rising. In my times it was difficult to get performance parts because no one knew about them, others imported them from abroad.

Lets face the hard facts , most of us here are from middle segment or the richer middle segment families. And video gaming is addictive. Our parents want nothing but the best for our future. it is hard for most of us to understand this fact. but when you pass from school and you have no degree in hand and nowhere to go then you will wish you had studied. IT IS the hard fact that you have to study and to succeed in the competition you have to work. So i guess parents are not wrong in telling their children to study it is very important. You dont want to be working as a waiter in some cafe shop to earn a living and still play games...? playing games becomes secondary, once you start the real life, once you start living on your own you earn money.

Gaming is just a phase in life, like when you become a teenager the attraction / shyness in front of girls. if you are sensible after some years you will not be addicted to gaming. The sad problem in India is that there are not many career oppurtunities if you are a gamer. You have to work real hard and even then you will have a very low income, because of the less number of tournaments.

So gaming now and no job later, it is up to you to decide and act. I do not condone gaming , Hell what would i not give up for playing 16 hours a day . But i cant and i understand that so i manage as they say there is a time and place for everything.

To begin with, yes being an Indian gamer sucks. Now this is my opinion. I think its bad because most of the gamers here are teens or young adults. The money they are spending is not their but their parents's. Parents dont allow their children to spends 1-2k on single games. Hence piracy rules here. Piracy = less mp (on consoles atleast). Even if everyone was buying og games, the internet plans are simply pathetic. Only i know how many times inwas kicked out of a CoD4 game because my ping was too high.

Secondly hadware is a pain in the ass to find in this country. The situation is not so bad for people living in cities but for people like me who live in small cities/towns, its just pathetic. Shop keepers have no idea of what they're selling. When you ask them about the products they dont have, they'll just try to market the crap they have in store. Also worth pointing out is how expensive hardware is.

Another thing is that gaming is frowned upon by most people. Especially elders. I am thankful that i have a dad who is a gamer too. But i have seen my friends' situations. They are not allowed to upgrade their PCs, they are not allowed to buy consoles and some lost their internet connection because their parents found that they use it to play online games.

K

it sucks a lot as everyone told here..!!
first is that poor internet connectivity and we have no other options left and are bound to use costly broadband plans and 3g data packs...!! and unlike other countries we are given a limited usage and that too of very less bandwith...
Secondly there are no any game shops in smaller cities like varanasi(up) and other cities.. we are bound to make our way for online shops..
Thirdly power failure prob's sucks us and surges our components..!!!
So conclusion is:-there is no doubt that it sucks to be an gamer specially in developing countries..!!!

T

I don't think it sucks to be a gamer here in Idnia. The scene here is pretty much the same the entire world over. People in the US have to deal with high ISP rates as well.
The only major gripe I have is the availability of certain games. For ex. I wanted to get myself a copy of Anno 2070. However, every game shop I visited did not even know such a game existed. I tried around 4 stores then switched to Flipkart only to find it out of stock. I guess it still is out of stock. Also, Blizzard. It pisses me off to no extent that Blizzard never "officially" releases games here in India. Had to get my copies of WOW,SC2 & D3 from Playasia. Other than that, I guess our country is definitely stepping up as far as the games realm is concerned.