What Does DDOS Mean In Gaming? (Explained!)

In gaming, DDOS stands for distributed denial-of-service. This is a means of flooding a server with fake requests such that the server can’t handle the traffic and slows down or crashes. It’s a way of causing problems and issues for particular games by overloading the servers and preventing anyone from playing.

DDOS attacks are a big problem in virtually every corner of the internet.

They are very hard to robustly defend against, and if anyone has a grudge for any reason, they can use DDOS attacks with relative ease to shut down and disrupt servers.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What does DDOS stand for in gaming?

DDOS stands for distributed denial-of-service in gaming.

This means that, across an entire server, service is stopped or denied by an attacker.

The way this is done is by sending countless false requests to a web server, so many that the server cannot handle the simultaneous traffic.

This causes the server to crash, and everyone playing in the server at the moment to be booted out.

It can happen virtually anywhere on any online platform that employs web servers like this to run its services.

It can be more difficult in certain situations, and generally tends to be a bit easier on online game servers than elsewhere for a couple of reasons.

A lot of the time, attackers go after smaller servers, many of which make up the total online presence of a given game.

These smaller servers are far easier to flood with excessive requests so they shut down.

Even the biggest and most popular video games may make use of many smaller servers to run their games, and these are a big target for DDOS attackers.

Hackers generally use botnets, which are remotely controlled computers that, as a network, flood the targeted service with requests.

It can often be difficult to know when a DDOS attack is happening. In an online video game, a DDOS attack will most often just look as though the server has become very slow and crashed.

With traffic analytics, you can see the signs of a DDOS attack, such as high amounts of traffic from a single IP address.

A flood of traffic sharing a single trait, such as device type, web browser, or even the device type, could be a sign.

“What’s going on? Why is the game so slow?” “I think the server is being DDOSed” for example.

People often use “DDOSed” as a verb, both in the past and present tense.

Where does DDOS come from?

DDOSing has been around for a very long time.

It’s believed the first DDOS attack came in September of 1996, when Panix, one of the oldest ISPs in the world, was hit with a flood attack that brought their servers down for several days.

Similar attacks were showcased at events over the next few years so that PC owners could start thinking about how to defend against them.

It’s not clear who first referred to them as a DDOS attack.

Doubtless, though, that happened very shortly after the attacks themselves started happening.

They did come under one or two other names at times, though, such as the SYN flood attack.

Granted, the two attacks are not identical, but are very similar.

In any case, DDOS attacks began in the late 90s—so is it a crime to carry out a DDOS attack?

Is DDOSing a crime?

Yes, it is a crime to DDOS attack any web server of any kind.

Wherever you are in the world, DDOSing is a crime that can carry some very severe punishments.

It can come with huge fines, prison sentences, or even both.

Depending on the scale of the attack you carry out, DDOS attacks are taken very seriously by the authorities.

Many criminals also create what are called DDOS kits, which others can purchase and use to carry out DDOS attacks.

This, too, is an egregious crime, and is a felony offence in the U.S.

So, you don’t want to think about messing with these kinds of things.

They are bad for everyone involved, including those who carry out the attack.

The point of DDOS attacks is generally not to bring down anything permanently, but just to hurt a site by bringing them down for as long as possible.

This can have a massive effect on the revenue, say, of an online business.

Does a VPN protect you from DDOS attacks?

VPNs are certainly a great tool in avoiding DDOS attacks.

They hide or obscure your IP address, which makes it a lot harder for the attackers to locate your network.

When the hackers can’t target you, they can’t get access at all to the servers they need to bring down.

However, your VPN will only be good to you if you are the one running the server.

If you are not running the server, but just playing on one run by someone else, then the network will still be vulnerable to DDOS even if you are using a VPN.

DDOSing is a big problem for the gaming community at every level, then, as well as in virtually any other part of the internet.

It’s currently still very hard to defend against on a wide scale, leaving many gaming servers open to these kinds of attacks.

In the future, we can only hope that defenses against these attacks, as well as the consequences of carrying them out, become more robust and stringent.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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