Frequently Asked Questions

Rylai Crestfall

Click a link and it will take you to the relevant question, or simply scroll down through them all.

Why do this? What is the point of this service?

Will KiwiLAN ever cost? Are there hidden fees?

What is a VPN?

What IP ranges do the VPN's use?

How fast does my internet need to be to play?

Do I need a legal key / copy of the games to play?

Why do I disconnect from the internet when I connect to KiwiLAN?

Can I play on Linux?

Why do this? What is the point of this service?

This service is to bring together New Zealand gamers, to facilitate quality gameplay, and do better than the likes of Hamachi / Garena! We want you to rest assured you're playing with a fellow Kiwi, so the connection between you will always be the best. Most of all, we want to build the gaming community in New Zealand.

Will KiwiLAN ever cost? Are there hidden fees?

There are absolutely no hidden fees, no costs, and we will never force you to ever pay for this service! Eventually we would like to offer some additional "premium" services, to help pay for the cost of the servers etc, but to be honest we would rather take on sponsorship than do that. This is a free service, and it will always remain that way.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network.
Virtual meaning its not directly physically connected.
Private because not everybody has access, and the information is encrypted.
Network because they're connected together.
A VPN is basically a way of linking computers across the internet, so it appears as though the computers are sitting right next to each other.
We like the name "System-link service" better ourselves.

What IP ranges do the VPN's use?

See the Games page for the per-server details.

How fast does my internet need to be to play?

We've had some people play games successfully over Dial-Up, though it's not recommended. At the very least, have any kind of broadband connection, though we encourage you to have a Full-Speed upload & download plan. Otherwise, if you have more than 1 computer at home, as soon as somebody else jumps on, you'll be experiencing issues.
For more assistance with this, try asking yout ISP, try PressF1 or asking on Teamspeak.

Do I need a legal key / copy of the games to play?

Technically speaking, there are no server-side checks that we enforce which verify game keys to make sure they are legit etc, and users have reported banned keys etc working.
However, we strongly recommend you purchase any game you are looking to play. Check out GetThatGame for a great deal on all the games.

Why do I disconnect from the internet when I connect to KiwiLAN?

Well you're still on the internet, it's just that your PC tries to send everything through KiwiLAN, which we block for your security.
TeamSpeak requires that you are on KiwiLAN too, so that will continue to work. All you need to do is disconnect from KiwiLAN and everything will immediately resume.

Can I play on Linux?

Yes, absolutely. Instructions vary for each Linux distribution, so largely you're on your own, but look up the pptp-linux and network-manager packages.