What is the Internet Master Server?

[TheGangstarTY]

Hello all,

I've been looking at these posts pop up for the past couple of days and I can't seem to get my mind around what all of this is. I have a rough idea and I'm unsure whether it's correct so I don't want to join in with the discussions until I know what everyone's talking about.

So this Internet Master Server, let's call it "IMS" for short. Is it to do with the game servers (I'm guessing it is) or the website? It says "Server Browser" in brackets which is why I'm getting confused.

As I'm assuming it's to do with the game servers, I want to elaborate. I wondered what GameShare was at first and I'd assume it's where GameMaster, the replacement of GameSpy, came from. Is this IMS a replacement for GameMaster/GameSpy?

Also, will there be any servers getting shut down?

What will the effect on the game be, if any?

It doesn't seem like a major issue since nobody is panicking. However it's just really odd how quickly this has spiked up and it's going so fast I can't keep up.

I hope you're able to answer these questions, I will quote the answers to the questions once we have them and I will add more Q&As to the list if I continue to ask more, depending on how well I understand the answers or if they create new questions that need answering.

Thanks and have a great day!
- TheGangstarTY

PS: I hardly know much about networking, specifically why some of these questions may sound amateur coming from me.

[{PLA}gdh92]

The master server is the server that displays all the other servers in the server lobby. Without it the game servers would still be there but no one would be able to see them.

Like the game servers the master server has to be hosted by someone. That was originally gamespy then the gamemaster creator. He no longer wants to host it so led will but each time it moves the ip address everyone uses to connect (the gamemaster patch) has to be changed.

[Led]

GDH has it right.

Without one, we are back to LAN mode with tunngle.  If we are calm, it is just that we have been here before...

But it is a pretty big deal for those of us that play online multiplayer.