Ummm, no, don't think I can trust you on that.
Sure, there are some areas like you describe where the game just stops while you reload. Those are graphics problems. Some may even be accountable for the lack of response your system gives you. But there are signals you can watch for to tell you what kind of lag you are experiencing.
Network lag: You click on something, say to loot. With a good network connection, the interface responds to you without any noticeable lag. When you're lagging here, you'll see a 3 or n number of seconds delay before the popups occur. That's because the server hasn't acknowledged you have clicked on the item yet. Other indication, you are fighting and you move. The mob moves to react to you. You are facing the mob in your screen, but you keep getting the message that it isn't in front of you. That's because the server and your client aren't in sync, and takes a few seconds to get back in sync.
Graphics Lag: Graphics lag is a result of an underpowered graphics card. One indication of this is consistently low frame rates. Games play best at frame rates above 30, I'd recommend 40 and higher though. One test to see this effect is when you're lagging, look down at the ground. Does your performance increase? If so, then you probably need a graphics card update... or the graphics engine needs some work. I'm not convinced Crystal Space is that well optimized yet for all the different OS's it supports.
Memory Lag: Another kind of lag is from your memory subsystem, and this is one people overlook all the time in this type of discussion. Your system has a certain amount of memory in it. If you fill up physical memory, your system starts swapping it out to disk. This will kill your performance. You'll see this effect the most when you zone and your system has to swap old database information for new. If it can't do that in physical memory, you will have to wait while it writes it all to your hard disk to make room for the new stuff. There are some settings in PS that try to improve performance with memory management, but don't turn them on unless you have the system to do it. After a while, it starts hurting performance. I have 1GB of RAM and it isn't enough to load more than three or four zones before I start having issues. Most graphics games really need upwards of 2GB or more of memory. The difference a GB of RAM can make on a game can be huge.
So everyone should evaluate their system for the type of lag they are experiencing and correct appropriately. There is no one size fits all here.
