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Game Shield Features ​

Game Shield does more than block attacks. It gives you live insight into your traffic, keeps bots out, speeds up server pings, lets you brand what players see, and spreads load across your backends. Here is what each feature does and how to use it.

Analytics ​

Game Shield tracks your traffic and attacks in near real time, so you always know what is reaching your server. You also get an overview of how your players behave, which helps you plan and tune your setup.

We send notifications by email, webhook and in the panel, so you never miss an attack on your server.

What data can I see? ​

For every server we track:

  • Traffic
  • Player counts
  • Attacks

You can see all of it in the Analytics section of your server in the panel.

Anti-Bot ​

Bot attacks try to overwhelm your server with a flood of fake joins. Our anti-bot system stops them with three checks: it looks at where the traffic comes from, spots attacks in progress, and verifies that each connection is a real player. Anti-bot is included from the Universal plan; for an extra layer, the AntiVPN feature is available from the Neo plan.

The system uses adaptive detection that keeps up as bot attacks change. It watches player behavior, packet patterns and IP addresses to catch bots and act on them in real time.

The whole thing runs at our edge, so you never install extra software or plugins on your server.

It also stays out of the way of real players. Legitimate connections get through without interruption while bots are caught and blocked.

Every game is different, so the checks are yours to configure. In the panel you choose which checks are active, adjust how strict they are, and read detailed reports on bot activity.

Caching ​

When a player pings your server, they see its status: the MOTD and icon. Game Shield fetches that status from your backend and keeps it in memory for a few seconds. The next ping is answered straight from our edge, which lowers your backend load and latency and protects you against ping floods that would otherwise hit your server.

We recommend leaving caching on. If you still want to disable or clear it, you can do so in the panel or through our API.

We cache the status of each of your domains separately, so MOTD plugins with per-domain behavior keep working as expected.

Why do I see "127.0.0.1 initial handler has pinged" in the console? ​

That is our proxy fetching the status (MOTD and icon) from your backend to keep the cache fresh, as described above. It is expected and harmless.

Customization ​

Customization lets you control what players see. You can hide NeoProtect from view and set your own messages for when your server is offline or unreachable.

Categories ​

The messages are grouped into four categories:

  • General — messages shown when, for example, a player is on the wrong version, uses Forge, or connects through a VPN.
  • Mitigation — messages shown to players affected by a mitigation, such as the anti-bot.
  • Offline — the MOTD and kick message shown when your server is offline.
  • IP Firewall — messages shown to players who are not allowed to join.

Load Balancing ​

Load balancing spreads player connections across several backend servers. Run more than one backend, such as multiple BungeeCord instances, and Game Shield balances players between them for you. You can pick from several algorithms, each with its own strengths.

Supported algorithms ​

  • Random — each connection goes to a random backend.
  • Round Robin — connections are handed out across your backends in turn.
  • Least Connections — each connection goes to the backend with the fewest current players.

How it works ​

When a player connects, we order your backends using the algorithm you chose in the panel, then try them in that order until one accepts the connection. If none of your backends are reachable, the player is disconnected with your offline message, which you can also customize in the panel.