Wirebook › Glossary › Prediction
What is prediction in online games?
In one sentence: When your device guesses the next moment of a game before the server's reply arrives, so it feels instant.
A little more
Online games feel sticky if your tablet waits for every reply before moving you. Prediction means your tablet guesses the next moment (you pressed right, so the fox steps right now) and draws that straight away.
When the server's reply arrives, the tablet checks the guess. If it matched, nothing changes. If a friend grabbed the star first, the tablet snaps you back to what the server says is true. That snap is the rubber-band feeling.
It's a bit like… Stepping through a doorway before the door is fully open, then hopping back if someone else got there first.