User Blog:
Game Client Downloading Speed: Does It Matter?

I came upon a news item regarding a 5x improvement in a particular game client downloading. The announcement came from Zemi Interactive Inc., a South Korea-based developer and publisher of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). In particular, Zemi said that the client download performance of its free-to-play MMORPG, 4Story, has been upgraded by 500 percent.

According to the company, this is definitely thrilling news for those who feel burdened downloading the 1.2GB 4Story client. It noted that some countries have insufficient internet connection, making it difficult to download large files, which may take days to complete.

Well, I really don’t know about what others may think, but for me, I think it doesn’t matter whether I was able to download the game in days, in just hours, or even in just minutes. The most important things are that the game runs smoothly when I am playing it, or that there won’t be server disconnections whatsoever. As such, a lot of factors will now come into play—not just about the downloading speed of the game client.

But there could be two sides to this announcement. Let’s say I have a really good internet connection, but it is taking me ages to download the game. This announcement is good as I will be able to start playing the game sooner. However, even if the company has made improvements into its systems regarding downloading the game, BUT I have a really bad internet connection, then what’s the use? In fact, even if I had been patient enough to download the game, with my bad connection, I won’t get to enjoy it anyway.

Oh well, that’s just me. The news goes on to say that Zemi Interactive (the company) has significantly considered this issue for users’ satisfaction and took it as a mission reaching out to potential MMORPG lovers around the globe. It says this newly adopted system guarantees five to eight times faster downloading process. [However, it did point out:] “Performance may differ according to different countries. However, it surely will satisfy more potential fans of 4Story in the future.”