The idea of playing between Earth and Mars has generated a lot of buzz recently, particularly after Elon Musk warned against gaming on Mars after playing Path of Exile 2 using the power of Starlink during a flight by plane. Musk, known for his space ventures and technological innovations, demonstrated the potential of Starlink's high-speed internet by playing in real time at 30,000 feet above sea level. This sparked curiosity about whether the game could one day expand to interplanetary distances. But although technology advances, there is one major obstacle that makes real-time gaming between Earth and Mars virtually impossible at the moment: the speed of light.
The latency problem
The challenge of gaming on planets comes down to one fundamental problem: communications latency. Even at its closest approach, Mars is approximately 54.6 million kilometers from Earth. Signals sent from Earth to Mars travel at the speed of light, about 300,000 kilometers per second. This means that a signal can take between 4 and 20 minutes to reach Mars, depending on the position of the planets.
For gaming, latency is crucial. In online games, actions, such as shooting or attacking, must be processed almost instantly for the experience to be smooth. A delay of just a few seconds can make games unplayable. Between Earth and Mars, this delay could be several minutes, making real-time multiplayer games impractical. A player on Earth could press a button, but the action wouldn't be recorded on Mars until a few minutes later, and vice versa.
Why Starlink can't fix the problem
Musk's Starlink satellite internet has revolutionized internet access on Earth, providing high-speed connections even in remote areas. However, this technology is designed for relatively short distances, between the Earth's surface and low Earth orbit. Although Starlink's performance at 30,000 feet is impressive, it is not equipped to handle the vast distances between Earth and Mars.
Even if a similar satellite network were established around Mars, the problem of signal delay would remain. No matter how fast the infrastructure is, it cannot overcome the fundamental problem of the time it takes for data to travel millions of miles.
Can we solve this problem?
While current technology makes real-time interplanetary gaming impossible, that doesn't mean it will always be out of reach. One area that could offer a solution in the future is quantum communication. This technology could theoretically enable near-instantaneous transfer of information, even over great distances. However, quantum communication is still in the early stages of development and would require years of research before it can be applied to space communication.
For now, the most likely scenario for interplanetary games would involve asynchronous interactions – where actions are stored and then executed when the signal finally reaches the other planet. This approach would allow players to interact with each other, but without needing immediate responses. It may not be the real-time gaming experience we're used to, but it could be a viable solution in the future.
The future of space gaming
Musk's plans to colonize Mars and SpaceX's advances in space travel could lay the groundwork for new types of gaming experiences in the future. Although real-time gaming between planets is still a long way off, the idea of playing in space, whether with local Martian players or through asynchronous systems, is something that could eventually become a reality.
For now, however, players must make do with the advanced internet connections available on Earth, with no immediate prospect of connecting with players on Mars. The dream of playing between planets is still in the distant future, but with advances in technology, it may not be as far away as we think.
So, do you think that advances in space travel and communications technology will eventually make interplanetary gaming possible, or is it just a distant dream for now?
