How to Host game server on Internet?

[Chauncey]

Hello there, I have a desktop computer which is installed with Windows XP operating system. The desktop computer has Internet connection on it which is provided by Linksys WRT54G2 router. I regularly play games online, mostly Counter Strike but all the games lag. Hence I want to know How to Host game server on Internet so that I would be able to play with my friends. I tried to host the game but my friends were not able to connect to it using Direct IP option. I provided them the IP address of my computer but they were not able to connect. So if anybody knows how to host and connect to the game servers online, please share some information.

[supernoob]

To be able to host game server online you require a very good internet connection as there would be lot of transfer of data taking place. If the net connection is slow then the server will not be able to provide the resources to all the clients. Slower net connection means slower data transfer speed which in turn means laggy performance of the games for the clients which are connected to the server. Hence before hosting the server of the game online first check if the net connection which you are using is good enough to handle the traffic load. You can test the performance of the connection at Speedtest and Pingtest websites.

[Mario2]

The IP address of the computer on a local network is different from the IP of the computer on the Internet. The IP address which is given to the computer is only used on the Local area network and hence other users connected to the Internet will not be able to access your computer using this IP address. There is a protocol known as NAT (Network Address Translation) which translates the local IP address of the computer to Global IP address of the computer. To check the global IP address of the computer visit the "Whatsmyip". Once you know the global IP address, tell your friends to connect to the global IP address.

[robodude]

You can download and install the virtual Lan software's which are available on the Internet for free. By using this software you can create you own game server which will not lag when many clients are connected to you. The online performance of the game improves by using this software because these software's help the user to create a virtual local area network. All the computers using these software's are connected to the main server of the software which brings all the computers in one subnet. Hamachi is one of the software which can be used to create a virtual local area network and play games online.

[Mr. Boo Bear]

Instead of using Hamachi which requires configurations to be done, you can try using Garena client which does not require any configurations done by the user. Garena client is the leading software which is used by many gamers to play different games online. Download and install Garena on the computer and tell your friends also to install the software. Once the software is installed, create a user id and password and then connect to the Garena server. Once connected join the room which is created for the game and country from which you are playing. Start the game and then create the server. Tell your friends to join the same room and start the game. Now they will be able to see your game server in Lan tab of games.