I’ve seen a lot of games that seem to create servers specifically in certain regions (like NA, EU, Asia, etc.), and I’ve always wondered how developers are doing this.
Is there any official method or workaround
I am inexperienced in these matters, please take what I say with a grain of salt. These are my ideas on how it might be done.
One way might be through their IP address. Most of the time it is possible to get a general idea of a person’s location through their IP address.
Another way could be the client game checking the ping with all the different servers and joining the one with the lowest ping (which more than likely is the closest server).
If they use a VPN; however, it would mess with both of these systems considerably. The server’s location would be in the right region for the VPN server but not necessarily for the player. Ping would stay low but the actual location for the player could be wrong.