offhost

Offhost, or off-host, is a term used in multiple technical domains to describe processing, hosting, or data that occurs outside the local host machine or host process.

In networking and distributed computing, off-host processing refers to tasks carried out on remote servers or devices rather than on the client device. This can include cloud computing, edge computing, or offloading computation to dedicated services. Benefits include reduced load on the local host, access to greater compute resources, and centralized management. Drawbacks can include added network latency, bandwidth costs, and potential privacy or security considerations.

In online multiplayer gaming, off-host hosting describes architectures where the authoritative game state runs on a client other than the server, or where the session is hosted by a peer rather than a dedicated server. Off-host configurations can reduce infrastructure costs but may introduce lag, desynchronization, and uneven fairness due to latency differences among players.

In security and anti-cheat contexts, off-host approaches run security checks on a server rather than on the client, improving integrity checks but requiring network connectivity and potentially increasing response times.

The term’s precise meaning varies by domain, and it is not a standardized technical definition. When encountered, it is important to clarify whether off-host refers to external computation, remote hosting, or server-side processing.