In online gaming, lag is a noticeable delay between the action of players and the reaction of the server in a video game. Although lag may be caused by high latency, it may also occur due to insufficient processing power either in the server (where it may process time based events) or in the client (screen-lag). Screen-Lag can also happen in single player games as well. The tolerance for lag depends heavily on the type of game. For instance, a strategy game or a turn-based game with a low pace may have a high threshold or even be mostly unaffected by high delays, whereas a twitch gameplay game such as a first-person shooter with a considerably higher pace may require significantly lower delay to be able to provide satisfying gameplay. However, the specific characteristics of the game matter. For example, fast chess is a turn-based game that is fast action and may not tolerate high lag. Also, some twitch games can be designed such that only events that don't impact the outcome of the game introduce lag, allowing for fast local response most of the time.

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