Whether traveling for business, holiday, or any other reason, we can miss the comforts we have at home. For many modern businessmen and women, gaming plays a big part in this – it’s become a primary hobby for many and those numbers are increasing, too. The only real problem is that gaming on the go isn’t as simple as just packing your stuff and leaving, even if you own a handheld. So, whether it’s your first time wanting to play games when traveling, or something you’d like to spend more time on, here are the big two issues to keep in mind.
Powering Up
One of the most common problems we see traveling gamers come across relates to differences in power sockets. The USA, Canada, and Mexico use type A and B, the two parallel pronged solutions you’ve no doubt introduced to the bottom of your foot at some point. Europe uses a similar configuration but with round prongs, as a type C, India uses type D, and so on.
The most common solution for this problem is the purchase of universal adaptors. The difficulty here is that, while these can make anything plug into anything, they generally leave manipulation of the current up to the power converters of the connected devices. For most users, this would be a phone, a handheld, or a laptop.
Usually, the external power charger cord will list the range of currents that it will accept. Anything within this range will be translated into a device-safe current. On the other hand, going over or below this limit can make a device function improperly, or even break it. Because of this, players traveling between countries should consider investigating proper power converters long before they leave. This goes doubly so if you’re using a work device to double as a gaming machine.
“Universal-AC-adapters_19v__23748” (CC BY 2.0) by Public Domain Photos
Distance Matters
The other potential difficulty to keep in mind is that connections and the availability of games and online communities differ enormously depending on physical location. As Americans, this is an issue that some of us take for granted, as we practically always have the largest player pools and set of opportunities from which to draw. Step into another country or even just another state, and we can face unforeseen complications.
Currency could play a role here if you plan to spend in-game. Take online casinos as an illustration. While you may have accounts with platforms in your own country, you no doubt make your deposits in your own currency. Whereas when you read about Wheelz Casino, for example, in Norway, you’ll see that their bonus systems operate in Norwegian krone (NOK). A 100% bonus match up to NOK 3000 could be a great deal, but it’s worth checking out the currency conversion before you commit.
Connection quality and account locking are the final part of this traveling gaming puzzle. For a start, if you go outside of a country, don’t expect to be able to play flawlessly with friends at home. Distance makes latency an insurmountable obstacle, and region locks can prohibit intercontinental play.
Account locking can be tricky, as it tends to operate as a safety feature to protect user accounts. If a service detects you’re playing from well outside your regular location, you can be prohibited from play unless you can prove it’s you. In this instance, we’d recommend two-factor authentication as a worthwhile pursuit.
“Verbindungen auf der Welt” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Christoph Scholz
Nothing good in life comes easy, and this is as true for playing games on the go as it is for anything else. That said, keep the above ideas in mind and you’ll be well on your way to a much smoother moving gaming experience. Just don’t be surprised to see that international competition can be tougher than you thought.
