So you need to send a few bytes of information every few seconds, but you want to spam the network with UDP packets containing those few bytes?
Every single online multiplayer game that cares about latency reimplements a subset of HTTP over UDP.
Huh, that's not what I would expect at all. If you are having custom network protocols anyway, why deal with all the overhead that even a subset of HTTP brings? You might as well make an entirely new protocol at that point.
Is TCP. Why everybody does it you ask?
>reimplements a subset of HTTP over UDP.
TCP, although I like to imagine FPS games where shooting someone sends "DELETE /players/n00b HTTP/1.1" to the server.
Yes TCP!!!!
Sure; why not? If I can stream videos on that same network for entertainment, or play another online, multiplayer game, why not use UDP if it gives a better user experience? It's not like UDP transport of those bytes is significantly worse network-wise and certainly lighter weight than those other alternatives.