Access terms
Device, client and access terms explained
An online game is not one program. It is a launcher, a client, a set of downloaded assets on your device and a world held on someone else’s servers, and most of the frustration people report comes from mistaking one of those for another. The vocabulary below separates them.
Quick answer
The launcher signs you in and updates the client. The client draws the game on your device. The server holds the world and your progress. Anything you delete locally can be downloaded again; anything held on the server can only be reached through the account.
The terms, defined
- Client
- The program that renders the game and communicates with the servers. On desktop it is installed from a downloaded file; on phones and tablets it is an app obtained from the platform’s store.
- Launcher
- The program in front of the client. It authenticates the account, compares local files against the current version, downloads what is missing and then starts the client. A launcher that appears to hang is usually downloading.
- Patch
- An update to the client. Online games generally refuse connections from mismatched versions, so patching is not optional in the way a normal application update might be.
- Installer
- The file that places the launcher and client on a desktop machine. It should only ever be obtained from the publisher’s own site or an official store; installers offered elsewhere are a well-established route for unwanted software.
- Minimum specifications
- The hardware and operating system the publisher states are required. They describe whether the game will start, not whether it will run comfortably. Recommended specifications, where published, describe the latter.
- Storage requirement
- Disk space needed after installation, which grows with patches. The figure quoted at download is a starting point rather than a ceiling.
- Latency
- The round-trip delay between your device and the server, measured in milliseconds. For players in Australia connecting to servers hosted overseas, distance sets a floor that no local hardware upgrade can lower.
- Bandwidth and data
- Ongoing play generally uses modest data; initial downloads and large patches do not. On a metered or mobile connection, the patch is the part worth planning for.
- Cross-platform progress
- One account reaching the same progress from more than one device type. Where it is offered it is a property of the account, not the device, so it is set up at sign-in rather than at install.
- Platform store
- Apple’s or Google’s distribution channel. Installing through a store changes who handles updates, who bills purchases and which device-level parental controls apply.
- Background download
- Patch data fetched while the device is idle. Convenient, and a common explanation for data use that appears unrelated to time spent playing.
Desktop installs and app store installs are different arrangements
The same game delivered two ways produces two different sets of consequences, and the difference is administrative rather than technical.
| Desktop download | App store install | |
|---|---|---|
| Source of the files | The publisher’s site or a desktop platform | The device’s app store |
| Updates | Applied by the launcher | Applied by the store, often automatically |
| Purchases billed by | The publisher or its processor | The store |
| Refund request goes to | The publisher first | The store first |
| Parental controls | Operating system and in-game settings | Store-level restrictions plus device settings |
| Uninstalling removes | Local files only | Local files only |
The final row is the one worth repeating: on either route, removing the software leaves the account, its progress and any subscription exactly as they were.
Checking whether a device will run something
- Find the publisher’s current requirements. They live on the vendor’s own site and change with major updates, which makes any third-party copy of them — including one on this site — a snapshot rather than a source.
- Read your device’s actual specification rather than its model name: operating system version, memory, graphics hardware and free storage.
- Compare against the minimum, then the recommended. Meeting the minimum by a narrow margin generally means it starts and runs poorly.
- Account for the patch. Add headroom above the stated storage figure.
- Consider the connection. A stable connection matters more than a fast one for this category of game, and servers hosted overseas will always add latency for Australian players.
Why installs keep growing
An online game is not a fixed size. Each patch adds assets for new areas, items and events, and publishers rarely remove old ones, so the storage figure quoted on a download page describes the first install rather than the steady state. On a device that was close to full at the start, the game that ran last month can fail to patch this month, and the error message usually blames the patch rather than the disk.
Two habits keep this manageable. Check free storage before a large update rather than during one, and treat the game’s own folder as the place to reclaim space rather than deleting individual files inside it — a launcher that finds files missing normally downloads them again, which costs more data than the space saved was worth.
Connections, and what they actually change
Three different properties of a connection get conflated under the word “speed”, and only one of them matters much once a game is installed. Bandwidth decides how quickly the initial download and each patch arrive. Latency decides how promptly the server responds while you play, and for players in Australia connecting to servers hosted elsewhere, geography sets a floor no local equipment can lower. Stability — whether the connection drops briefly — is what produces the disconnections people remember, and a slower connection that never drops is a better experience than a fast one that does.
None of this is a reason to change an internet plan for a game. It is a reason to know which of the three is causing a problem before spending anything on it, because the remedies are different and two of the three are not for sale.
What to watch out for
- Installers from unofficial sources. Repackaged game installers are a long-standing delivery method for unwanted software. The Australian Cyber Security Centre publishes general guidance on software from untrusted sources.
- “Optimiser” and “booster” tools promising better performance in a specific game. Most do nothing useful, and some breach the game’s terms by modifying the client.
- Mobile data during a first install. A multi-gigabyte download on a metered plan is an expensive way to try something.
- Assuming an app account and a desktop account are the same. Where cross-platform progress is not offered, they are two accounts with two sets of progress.
When the game will not start
Most reported failures fall into a handful of causes, and they are quick to separate. A launcher stuck on a progress bar is usually still downloading; a client that opens and closes immediately usually has a graphics driver or permissions problem; an error at sign-in is an account matter rather than an installation one, and belongs in accounts and sign-up. Scheduled downtime looks like every one of these from the outside, which is why the publisher’s own status announcements are the first thing worth checking rather than the last.