Bypass blocked port for gaming?

[mand1nga]

geez .. that's odd

I'd rather to blame the game AND the player regarding this .. although its true these kind of games are sorrounded by a culture of "be always connected". Thats the way a *lot* of people found playing WoW, I wonder how they made something that addictive ..

[AnArKiSt]

Well, it worls like this.

You sit down to play the game. As you play, your character becomes more powerful, and more content becomes available to you as you progress. The content is really tempting, making you really want to take the time to make your character stronger, and progress to it.

Progression is very time consuming, too.

On the server I play on, your character can reach a maximum level of 70. I've been playing WoW for almost a year now, and I've still not reached level 70. My main character is currently a level 59 Human warrior.

Also, the game has the ability to let you forget about time, kill monsters, other players, and do quests to your heart's content.

It's a trap, but a good time waster if you can't find anything to do with your life, or are too lazy to do it.

[ai]

Hah, I've been playing Final Fantasy XI now for over 4 years, I still haven't reached the max level (75) with a single character. I think it's 60 or so I've reached. But also, I don't play that much but still.
I have been addicted to FFXI when I first started, but over time I managed to overcome it. Now I play healthy hours whenever I have time, and will. It's not always I wanna connect and play.

[Lee_Stricklin]

The problem I had with WoW was that it was deliberately trying to be addicting and not necesarily enjoyable. Diablo (possibly the most addicting game ever) on the other hand was far more enjoyable, had a better atmosphere, and a great story that actually made me want to play it. WoW however focused more on stacking and looting and not much else, even the art-direction sucked.

[kevinwright]

Some games allow you to change the ports used. So if a game does allow you to change the ports, you could set up a server for that game using ports not blocked by your network's proxy, and your friends could use that server for that game.

You might also find a proxy server that allows you to bypass the school proxy and access regular game servers.

This is one reason why I think it's a bit silly for universities to use port blocking to control the usage of their networks. It's extremely easy to bypass. There are other more effective means of controlling bandwidth usage.

Of course, you need to make sure you're not violating the Terms of Service for your school's network by doing this. Some schools don't forbid gaming in their TOS, believing it sufficient to block the ports. Other schools whose IT are more competent do forbid gaming in the TOS, and monitor network traffic in addition to blocking the ports. If this is the case, you could face some disciplinary action for violating the TOS, such as having your computer's MAC address blocked temporarily or permanently.