Due to the way Lichess is set up, there is only one server in France. This leads to players far from the server lagging in ultra and hyper.
Lag slows down the pace of games and makes it less fun for both laggers and nonlaggers. As a lagger myself, I have been searching for a way to improve my ping and I have found a way to significantly reduce the lag caused by distance in many cases. The solution is for Lichess to use peer to peer (p2p) connections instead of a standard server.
For those who do not understand what a p2p connection is, I will explain: Normally, moves are sent to the Lichess server and then sent to the other player (move played on your computer -> lag -> move reaches server -> lag -> move reaches opponent computer). This is not an optimal setup if the goal is to minimize lag, as what if both players are very close to each other but both far from the server? Time is wasted sending moves to the server when they could be just sent between the two players.
One solution to this is to use multiple servers spread around the world, but this is very expensive and complex to implement, so I doubt Lichess will ever do this.
Instead, Lichess should use p2p. When p2p is used the moves are sent directly from your computer to the opponent's computer, skipping the central server entirely. Now there is only a single source of lag (move played on your computer -> lag -> move reaches opponent computer) and your distance from Lichess does not matter at all. The players' ping will now only depend on the distance between them and not the distance between them and the server. This will greatly reduce lag in many cases.
Another benefit of this system is that both players will get the exact same ping and lag compensation, so no one will be able to complain about unfair lag.
I have created a website where you will be able to play ultrabullet with this p2p system. If you are interested in trying it out, send me a message and if you normally get 2-3 bars on Lichess this might be your opportunity to finally feel what a good connection is like.
Lag slows down the pace of games and makes it less fun for both laggers and nonlaggers. As a lagger myself, I have been searching for a way to improve my ping and I have found a way to significantly reduce the lag caused by distance in many cases. The solution is for Lichess to use peer to peer (p2p) connections instead of a standard server.
For those who do not understand what a p2p connection is, I will explain: Normally, moves are sent to the Lichess server and then sent to the other player (move played on your computer -> lag -> move reaches server -> lag -> move reaches opponent computer). This is not an optimal setup if the goal is to minimize lag, as what if both players are very close to each other but both far from the server? Time is wasted sending moves to the server when they could be just sent between the two players.
One solution to this is to use multiple servers spread around the world, but this is very expensive and complex to implement, so I doubt Lichess will ever do this.
Instead, Lichess should use p2p. When p2p is used the moves are sent directly from your computer to the opponent's computer, skipping the central server entirely. Now there is only a single source of lag (move played on your computer -> lag -> move reaches opponent computer) and your distance from Lichess does not matter at all. The players' ping will now only depend on the distance between them and not the distance between them and the server. This will greatly reduce lag in many cases.
Another benefit of this system is that both players will get the exact same ping and lag compensation, so no one will be able to complain about unfair lag.
I have created a website where you will be able to play ultrabullet with this p2p system. If you are interested in trying it out, send me a message and if you normally get 2-3 bars on Lichess this might be your opportunity to finally feel what a good connection is like.
