Glad you agree shifty
I did not fully appreciate that. Is that universal? I've seen enough online games this gen where shots didn't register that I find it hard to believe. Obviously there's net code of sorts ironing out the sync issues (hence some games get praised for their net code), but there's certainly a notable affect of lag on gaming such that changing servers can provide a better experience. I'd like to know what internet lag really adds to real lag across different games, in relation to screen refresh lag.
Pretty much all online games have certain mechanics driven on the client side with just the server adjusting you if you break any rules.
Typically, in the games out there you can atleast move (and in the case of an fps, aim and often also shoot) freely as long as you don't break some rule.. It's not like you want to take one step and the client tells the server to move one step and then you see it on screen.
That just doesn't work without very low latency because it would be a total immersion breaker. (particularly on consoles which often lack dedicated servers)
In any case, to answer your question Internet lag does not necessarily add with the lag you experience from input lag, frame rate etc. While movement, aiming and shooting feels instant with any well designed online game - the Internet lag usually is seen/experienced in other areas ( and this is the reason why you want dedicated servers)
Main examples:
1. People warping because of lag spikes (host or client has poor/unstable upload speed)
2. You get killed all the time as soon as you see the enemy (reason: the enemy has a faster connection to the server, therefore he will registers his shots faster than you.
Reason 2: He will also "see" you faster. A typical example for this is if a person is coming out of a building. If the server/you has a poor connection, your console will not receive info that the person is outside in a timely fashion (the other guy who initiated the movement however sees this immediately on his screen and have more time to shot you)
3. NPCs just dont die! Reason : In coop games against the AI, AI reacts to whatever happens in the 0 latency world of the server. If you have a poor connection the AI has already done many things before you are told of it!
None of these things have any impact on the lag coming from input etc. it certainly can affect the gameplay experience tremendously, but it cannot be stacked on top of input lag etc.
Best example of this I would say is cod online , bf3 and if I remember correctly kz2(didn't play the other). Even if it's laggy (as long as there is no spikes that will warp you in place), your movement is as sharp as in a low latency game, but the impact of Internet lag on the game is of-course tremendous.
In regard to kz2 I seem I recall a discussion on this forum were many claimed it was lag free because they could not notice it. Then, when I made an example with the cloaked sniper, people suddenly spotted it. ( the invisibility will switch off if you hit something. Therefore by looking at how long it took from the decloaking (client driven) to when you got confirmation of your kill (server side) you could tell the lag was quite severe in some cases)