Net Neutrality and Gaming: Things Can Get A Lot Worse

After last week's court decision striking downthe Federal Communication Commission's net neutrality rule, it is worth taking a moment to remember that a world without net neutrality—the principle that the company that connects you to the internet does not get to control what you do on the internet — is a world that is bad for everyone who does not own stock in major Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Any time things change so that ISPs are in a position to decide what succeeds and fails online, everyone else is going to lose.1P

That being said, a world without net neutrality is especially bad for gamers. P

Why? P

Because a huge part of gaming is about pushing the limits of what is technologically possible. Gamers use the internet in ways that seem "cutting edge" to many people, but that inevitably becomes mainstream a few years later. P

From the original MUDs to MMOs to Cloud Gaming, the gaming community has always been on the forefront of the technological adoption curve. Unfortunately, that strength can also become a weakness. Since game technology is so dependent on pushing boundaries, ISPs can impact gamers in ways that aren't necessarily immediately obvious to the non-gaming internet masses.