Why does lag compensation exist at all? Can't players just aim for where the enemy is now?
At 80ms latency, the enemy moves ~1 meter ahead during your shot's round trip. If servers only tested hits against present-time positions, laggy players would have to aim into empty space to hit stationary enemies — making the game unplayable for anyone not on fiber. Lag compensation tests the hit against where the enemy WAS when you fired, giving everyone fair aim.
Answered in
Time-Travel Fairness: How Servers Rewind for Lag CompensationWhy lag compensation rewinds the game world to when a shot was fired, and why victims experience the cost.
Read the full analysisOther questions this article answers
- How does the server know what time the client fired the shot at?
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