Responsiveness not only includes latency, jitter and other system performance attributes but also how the end user perceives this performance and to what use the system is being employed (i.e. real time constraints). Furthermore, the consistency of this performance is also important. A system that fails in these departments can not only irritate the end users but can also have a dramatic effect on its commercial uptake.
Some architectures may be better attributed to certain types of application than others and mirroring this is the affect applications have on the network infrastructure they are built upon.
Generally users of a system will require a fast and consistent response to interactions with their local applications.