What are "torrents" in relation to gaming?

I see torrents mentioned on a lot of gaming sites. When I google it I get "strong and fast-moving stream of water or other liquid" -- what does it mean in relation to gaming?

Solution 1:

Torrent actually refers to a peer-to-peer file transfer protocol called BitTorrent.

This gif and more information can be found on its Wikipedia page.

The idea is that once data gets out there, it can be distributed amongst the consumers. Because this can happen, it is often used for "illegal" download of media such as video games, movies, TV shows, and software, but can definitely be used legally.

Some examples of the usage of BitTorrent to download games (legally) is:

• Wargaming's World of Tanks and World of Warplanes launchers
• Blizzard's Battle.net downloader/launcher
• EVE Online's launcher
• Humble Bundle torrent download

Note that the launchers themselves do all the work—no need to get a client for them to operate properly.

If you are going to get a BitTorrent client, I would recommend Deluge or qBitTorrent, as they are open-source and do not include ads, which μBitTorrent and other clients do.