A method, apparatus, and system for managing load in a server are provided. The server performs events for a plurality of electronic communication devices, each of the devices enabled to transmit to the server, at a respective given time and at a respective given frequency, a request to perform a respective event. The server receives the requests and determines that its load is above a threshold load value during a given time period when the requests arrive. In response, for a subset of the devices, the server transmits a delay time to each electronic communication device in the subset. The delay time causes each device in the subset to change the respective given time to a respective new time comprising the delay time added to the respective given time such that a next request is transmitted from each device in the subset to the server at the respective new time.