Server checks aren’t always just an arbitrary gate at the start so this makes sense. For example, if the game has unlockable things (paid or not) and those things sync across multiple devices, then server checks to make sure your progress get saved and merged together properly can be woven through the whole game.

To give you some background on the term, it refers to rich land owners in England who had a lot of inherited wealth through the estates they owned (landed, meaning they own land). These “gentry” generally led lives of leisure and wealth, but they didn’t actually do anything, they just inherited it all through their family wealth and land ownership.

I’m sure I have details of that a little off, but that’s my best explanation of it.