Dealing with Router Configurations

Dealing with Router Configurations
So far in this chapter, we talk a bit about the services and hardware that you
need to get into online gaming using your wireless network. What we haven’t
covered yet — getting online and playing a game — will be either the easiest
or the hardest part of the equation. The difficulty of this task depends upon
two things:
The platform that you’re using: If you’re trying to get online with a PC
(whether it’s Windows-based or a Mac) . . . well, basically there’s nothing
special to worry about. You just need to get it connected to the Internet
as we describe in Chapter 9. For certain games, you might have to do a
few fancy things with your router, which we’ll discuss later in this chapter.
If you’re using a gaming console, you might have to adjust a few
things in your router to get your online connection working, but when
using a game console with many routers, you can just plug in your wireless
equipment and go, too.
What you’re trying to do: For many games, after you establish an
Internet connection, you’re ready to start playing. Some games, however,
will require you to make some adjustments to your router’s configuration.
If you’re planning on hosting the games on your PC (meaning
that your online friends will be remotely connecting to your PC), you’re
definitely going to have to do a bit of configuration.
Don’t sweat it, though. It’s usually not all that hard to get gaming set up, and
it’s getting easier every day. We say that it’s getting easier because the companies
that make wireless LAN equipment and home routers realize that
gaming is a growth industry for them. And they know that they can sell more
equipment if they can help people get devices like game consoles online.
You need to accomplish two things to get your online gaming — well, we
can’t think of a better term — online:
1. Get an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Your access point needs to recognize your gaming PC’s or console’s network
adapter and your console’s wireless Ethernet bridge, if you’ve got
one in your network configuration. If you’ve got WEP configured (see
Chapter 10), your game machine will need to provide the proper password.
And your router (whether it’s in the access point or it’s separate)
will need to provide an IP address to your gaming machine.
2. Get through your router’s firewall.
The previous step is really pretty easy. The step that’s going to take
some time is configuring the firewall feature of your router to allow
gaming programs to function properly.