[Dudd]

There is a big difference between a true dedicated server and a client acting as the server. For starters, usually a dedicated server is hosted on an extremely fast connection, much better than your local DSL or cable connection. This allows much higher amounts of players to connect to a server, which is why Halo on Xbox live is usually played with only 8 players and a maximum of 16 while games like TFC and Counterstrike have 32 man battles. Since you're not connecting to a user, you also have less lag issues on dedicated servers. Since dedicated servers run 24/7, you also don't get the annoying pauses in battle if the host quits, you can have people joining and exiting at will without restarting a game, you can have dedicated stat tracking at a particular server, you can choose to play at servers with special modified rules, etc. Finally, the host enjoys a tremendous advantage over the rest of the players since his ping time is 0, although as broadband gets better this is less of an issue. But, to state that XBox Live serves as a dedicated server is completely false.