The Right Criteria for Game Server DDoS Protection
Choosing DDoS protection for game servers is different from choosing it for web services. Time-to-mitigation, latency impact, and protocol understanding matter differently.
Criterion 1: Time-to-Mitigate (TTM)
On-demand protection: 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Detection + rerouting takes time.
Always-on filtering: <100ms. No detection window, filtering was already active.
For game servers, on-demand means player disconnections during every attack. This is unacceptable for communities that value continuity.
Red flag: Provider emphasizes "industry-leading detection speed" instead of always-on filtering. Detection speed is irrelevant if the mitigation method still causes disruption.
Criterion 2: Latency Impact
On-demand: 0ms during normal operation, 10–40ms while rerouting (if an attack occurs)
Always-on inline filtering: <1ms. Hardware-based processing at wire speed.
Players perceive even 5–10ms of added latency. If your baseline is 20ms ping and filtering adds 15ms, players will complain.
Red flag: Provider doesn't specify latency impact or claims "indetectable" without hardware specifics.
Criterion 3: Protocol Understanding
Generic DDoS protection: Operates at Layer 3/4. Sees "traffic" but doesn't understand your application.
Protocol-specific filtering: Understands your game's handshake, valid packet rates, state machines.
Ask directly: "Do you have protocol-specific filters for [my game]?" If they say "we can adapt to any protocol," they don't have pre-built filters. That means either false positives or false negatives at scale.
Red flag: Provider treats all traffic the same. They can't differentiate between a legitimate Minecraft login and a login flood.
Criterion 4: Deployment Model
Reverse proxy (antidote DNS/IP change):
- Easy setup, works immediately
- Adds latency equal to proxy distance
- Hides your origin IP
IP transit with inline filtering:
- More complex, requires BGP or GRE
- Zero latency from filtering
- You keep your real IP
- Better for operators with their own IP ranges
Both are valid. The choice depends on your infrastructure maturity. Early-stage operators often choose reverse proxy. Established networks choose IP transit for better latency.
Red flag: Provider offers only reverse proxy for game servers. IP transit with proper filtering is the gold standard for performance-sensitive workloads.
Criterion 5: Transparency on Capacity
Ask:
- "What's your total filtering capacity?"
- "What happens when an attack exceeds capacity?"
- "Do you use blackholing as a primary mitigation?"
Good answers:
- "We have X Tbps of capacity at each PoP, deployed on Arista hardware. For attacks exceeding capacity, we blackhole source prefixes while legitimate traffic continues."
- "We've never had to blackhole a customer's IP during an attack."
Red flags:
- "We have industry-leading capacity" (unspecified)
- "Blackholing is our standard mitigation" (acceptable only for web infrastructure, not game servers)
Criterion 6: Customer Experience Signals
Look for:
- Technical documentation explaining their architecture
- Case studies from game hosting providers
- Transparent pricing
- Engineers available for technical discussion
Red flags:
- Only marketing material, no technical details
- References from web hosting companies, not game server operators
- Pricing hidden behind contact forms
- Sales team, no engineers available for technical questions
Criterion 7: Support During an Actual Attack
The best test of a provider is how they perform during a real attack.
Ask for references. Contact their existing game server customers and ask:
- "Have you been attacked since deploying their protection?"
- "Did players disconnect during the attack?"
- "How responsive was the support team?"
Real feedback from operators under fire is more valuable than any spec sheet.
Summary Checklist
- [ ] Always-on filtering, not on-demand
- [ ] Latency impact < 1ms (for inline) or clearly specified
- [ ] Protocol-specific filters for your game
- [ ] Clear capacity numbers and overflow strategy
- [ ] Deployment model matches your infrastructure
- [ ] References from game server operators
- [ ] Available technical support
Use these criteria to evaluate any provider. They're the difference between marketing and actual operational excellence.