Is Double VPN Good for Gaming? [All You Need to Know]

When you use a blue-chip VPN service for gaming, double VPN could be one of the server options you may choose from. This advanced feature can take your privacy and security to the next level.

But at what cost?

To avoid shooting yourself in the foot when using double VPN while gaming, let us show you how it affects your connection and what its benefits and drawbacks are.

How does double VPN affect gaming?

Double VPN affects gaming traffic both positively and negatively.

This feature allows you to hide your data behind two VPN servers in different locations. It masks your device’s IP address and encrypts your traffic twice.

In most cases, cloaking your IP one time can give you a healthy degree of anonymity when playing online games. The other players won’t be able to identify your device and general location.

Considering how dirty some gamers play to win and how petty they could be when they lose, it’s in your best interests to keep your IP a secret from anyone. And when you use two masked IPs instead of one, you can be practically untraceable.

However, using double VPN when gaming is making a trade-off between boosting privacy and security and sacrificing speed.

Routing your gaming traffic to two pieces of VPN hardware in separate locations will increase your ping. Plus, creating a pair of secure VPN tunnels can be bandwidth-heavy.

If your base internet speed is not too great to begin with, using double VPN will drive it down further.

Is double VPN good for gaming?

No, double VPN isn’t good for gaming.

Make no mistake about it, you could play games through a double VPN configuration just fine. Doing so can ease your security concerns.

But will you have a smooth gaming experience? Most likely, not.

Pros of using double VPN for gaming

The pros of using double VPN for gaming are increased privacy and security.

Forget about the nefarious players you might be playing with. Your own government, with all of its resources, may not be able to link your gaming traffic back to your device.

Remember: double VPN servers are usually located in different regions. So, tracing your traffic means checking the logs of both pieces of hardware in jurisdictions that may or may not be friendly toward your country or territory.

And that’s assuming that your provider keeps activity and connection records, which most reputable VPNs don’t.

From a security standpoint, double VPN can truly help boost your defenses against many cyber attacks and phishing attempts.

Using a secure tunneling protocol like WireGuard, OpenVPN, or IKEv2, you can encrypt your gaming data the way military organizations and banking institutions obscure confidential information.

What are the downsides?

The downsides of using double VPN for gaming are significant speed loss and limited server options.

Double VPN raises latency no matter how you slice it. Even worse, you typically don’t have the luxury to choose where to route your data.

At best, most service providers that offer double VPN only give you a fixed list of server location pairs. If none of them are close to where you are physically, you can do little to reduce lag.

Granted, many VPNs these days have been adopting 10Gbps connectivity, which promises faster speeds. But only a few have fully upgraded their networks.

Just like any VPN hardware, double VPN–configured servers have finite resources. So, they’re prone to server overloads too.

Summary

Is double VPN good for gaming? Definitely, not.

Despite delivering superior privacy and security, this feature can’t do its job without slowing down your overall connection speed.

As a gamer, it’s a huge sacrifice you can’t afford to make. So, stick to regular hardware or P2P VPN servers when gaming, as they’re similarly effective but not as slow.