Lag

Also known as Latency.

A term used in online gaming to describe a delay in receiving game information from the server, which manifests itself as a pause or stutter in the graphics and sound. Lag may be caused by a slow Internet connection, and is especially noticeable when playing a game that is hosted in another country. It may also be caused by an excessive amount of players on one server. Lag can cause players to fall behind in the game world, often with fatal results.