Community Server

For things that have to do with those crazy test servers... and yeah. By request of z-man, and, of course, you gotta obey...

Moderator: Z-Man

User avatar
Rain
Round Winner
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: a random empty server playing with bots

Community Server

Post by Rain »

one year passed since i started to play AA. i remember ds clan active, i remember fe, i remember first time i saw z-man on-line, i remember Pavelo and his gold tail, i remember people crying bugs and abuse it, i remember a server full every night, where i had to try several times before join it, waiting for someone to leave. the CVS Test server. day by day server list became longer. actually there is one sumo server for any location, several fortress server, and no player in it. i see ghableska writing #tea command to armabot in IRC to see how many players are playing in Café as much as he checks the weather, and most of the times nobody playing there. im a fortress player, a team play player, bored to play sumo. i need a home. i need a a fortress server always full. i need to see respect between players. i need to see that who uses a service for free gives something back, i need a community. this is the way i think. i give, i get. i get, i give. this is the peer to peer concept. to spend 5 minutes of your playing time to teach a newbie how to play is giving something back. to help developers to improve the game is giving something back. finally to host a server where people can play is giving something back. some months ago i get a server for free by Sylv. that server called °°ps arena was a complains-farm. most of fortress/sumo servers after CVS was shut down became a complains-farm. so, since Sylv shut down his servers and °°ps arena isn't free no more, i decided to shut it down, even if a lot of players play there, with no reason as long as it is a shitty server for people who play there. im doing it not because of money, not only, but because im tired to see thousands servers empty. im tired to see a lot of sumo/fortress servers up with same settings. why do 10 players pay 50€/month to show up 10 average fortress servers? why don't they pay 10€ each for a unique wonderful fortress server? i cannot get an answer. i only see people setting up a new server every day. i cannot get the reason. aren't we a community? why don't we commune? does each clan need a server? are there 7 clans? why don't they just share a server choosing a day for each clan? each clan could spend 6/7 less with the same server. i know im a dreamer, but what the ****! it is so easy. it is so simple. http://www.hetzner.de, for example, hosts a dedicated server for 150€/month that should be wonderful for us. we are surely more than 150 players. think about everyone paying 1€/month. 12€/year. how could it be impossible for anyone? this is the idea. and this is the way i think. to commune. easier and cheaper.
User avatar
CruZ
On Lightcycle Grid
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:49 pm

Post by CruZ »

well im completey from the same opinion rain, perhaps this could be realized whith that idea from a new setting mentioned here.
But on the other hand i think, that we cannot prevent other clans from having an own server, because for most its their way to represent themselves in tron, even if their servers are empty all the time.
lets see what the others think about it :)

mfg CruZ
User avatar
Rain
Round Winner
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: a random empty server playing with bots

Post by Rain »

actually the idea is to form a team. everybody who joins that team pay a part for the monthly cost of the host and help technically (if he/she is able to). should be fine to set up a fortress test server, to try new way of fortress, a rubber test server, to experiment some ideas for rubber style, and an open test server, where everyone can test his/her own settings and maps.

any suggestion?
who is up for it?

@ tank: what about a dedicated section in aa forums?
if so settings could be voted with polls there.
User avatar
HEXadecimal
Core Dumper
Posts: 166
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:21 am
Contact:

Post by HEXadecimal »

its a exalent idea in theory, however in practice this would take a big comintment and would be hard too organize. if you can get sutch an idea off the ground id be more then happy to help in any way possible.

seriously.[/b]

UPDATE: i actually do happen have an idle server.
User avatar
Aang (avatar fan)
Round Winner
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Far away, in a distant fantasy land, where there lives happly little elves. (I'm not one).
Contact:

Post by Aang (avatar fan) »

So true. it would make tron so much more fun. i know where your coming from, i want to play in a server, but ai's never use brake, and are comletely prone to death zones. That makes a race server, a wild fortress server, and a brake boost server no fun at all.
If only....

btw, you have the longest post ever rain. lol
User avatar
Fonkay
Match Winner
Posts: 776
Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:24 pm
Location: eh?
Contact:

Post by Fonkay »

Aang (avatar fan) wrote:btw, you have the longest post ever rain. lol
Not even close. /me points to debates between Luci and Tank that she's too lazy to find and link to.
This post does not come with any form of Warranty or Return Policy.
If you're unhappy with this post, please feel free to suck it up and move on.
User avatar
wrtlprnft
Reverse Outside Corner Grinder
Posts: 1679
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:42 am
Location: 0x08048000
Contact:

Post by wrtlprnft »

Aang (avatar fan) wrote:btw, you have the longest post ever rain. lol
http://forums.armagetronad.net/viewtopic.php?t=6521
There's no place like ::1
User avatar
Rain
Round Winner
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: a random empty server playing with bots

Post by Rain »

hehe, i don't think i'll be ever able to compare philippeqc's.
anyways, should we use paypal? im informing about money organization.
would be nice to have a dedicated section in this forum to manage private and public communication/organization.
developers? real player one? venerable old school players? who is up for this project?
just when we will find a place where to talk/orginize i'll post in all arma related forums i find and emails. we need people.
User avatar
Aang (avatar fan)
Round Winner
Posts: 210
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:44 pm
Location: Far away, in a distant fantasy land, where there lives happly little elves. (I'm not one).
Contact:

Post by Aang (avatar fan) »

Lol, my bad. Rain does not have the longest post ever. Lol!
User avatar
HEXadecimal
Core Dumper
Posts: 166
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:21 am
Contact:

Post by HEXadecimal »

this comunity server, would be privatemembers only? or would it be on the master server list?
User avatar
philippeqc
Long Poster - Project Developer - Sage
Posts: 1526
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:55 am
Location: Stockholm
Contact:

Post by philippeqc »

Hi,

I have read and re-read you message many times. One thing that confuses me is why do you want to make it a paying server? Why would you need it to be?

Before anything else, I would guess that most servers you see online are some dudette/dude who have broadband setting up their old crappy computer to act as a armagetronAd server. They already have the hardware and they already are paying for the broadband. The only real cost is power consumption. That is most of the time the economic of setting up a server. It can be extremely cheap!

The problem that you outline seems to be that the attitude of players on most server seems to lack egard and respect, and through time even degenerate. That doesnt have anything to do with the cost of running a server. Rather I'd say it is how it is administered. I'll come back on that later.

An atmosphere on a server tend to be self-sustained past a critical mass. If you have enough playing showing respect on a server, player joining will adopt the same behavior, perpetuating it. If a disruptive element join (a jerk), the group will most likely resist the disruption by many ways (talking, ignoring, massive killing, kicking out of the server, etc). The problem is that if at any time the respecting group is below its critical mass (or abscent), jerks might come there and become the dominant group. Joining players asking for respect now are at risk to the same strategies that the previous group used to preserve its dominant philosophie.

The trouble with such a situation is double. First, it seems the anonymity of Internet brings the Jerkness into people. Second, a short disruption often has more effect than a long period without trouble, so your need of offering quite a constant level of respect/good behavior is really high.

And how you do all of this is a bit beyond me. Oh yes I have _some_ ideas, but I don't know how good they are, how efficient they are, and frankly they would require a serious investment of time and dedication.

First is something inspired by American Express. Everybody is a member, you simply have to connect to the server to enjoy the benefices. But if you are late in your payment just once, just a bit, then you are out. Definitively. Without appeal. And the way one could do this is have have a SIMPLE list of rules on the splash screen, then someone in charge goes through the logs each day, and when ever someone break any of the rules, the IP goes into a permanent ban list. No it is not a perfect solution, yes there is weakness to IP's ban (and I'm sure you will find many people to explain them to you), but it is something that can be done without being constantly present.

Second, well it is to ensure a constant presence. Find a group of like minded person spread around the time zones. Give them some admin rights. And trust them not to abuse them. Now you have a situation where your comunity can grow and establish itself. And you have the means to react a bit more swiftly to disruptive elements, and even chase a group that is acting in such a way. The trouble is to have such a group of person.

What I think is the key to creating a community is making sure such a community can actually grow and prosper, and become self-sustained by new players adopting its mentality. But none of this seems to be related with the location of the server, rather how it is administered. I've given some ideas how it could be, how weak they are, and you will surely find some betters.

Hope this is of some help.

-ph
Canis meus id comedit.
User avatar
zion
On Lightcycle Grid
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 2:00 pm
Location: berlin
Contact:

Post by zion »

hi all,
it seems the anonymity of Internet brings the Jerkness into people
yeah, you are so right. maybe a bunch of admins out of several clans or other global respected players can handle this. so its their interest that all players behave the right way. if not, they know where to look for them and how to solve problem for the future. ;)


zion...

...greetz all.
User avatar
philippeqc
Long Poster - Project Developer - Sage
Posts: 1526
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:55 am
Location: Stockholm
Contact:

Post by philippeqc »

Hi Zion

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for agreing with my concepts. Now we'd need admin to start to group together and collaborate.

-ph
Canis meus id comedit.
User avatar
ed
Match Winner
Posts: 613
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 12:34 pm
Location: UK

Post by ed »

I'm a bit confused about what you're trying to achieve here.
A Fortress Cafe style server and a Team Sumo Saloon style server being the main goals?
Don't they already exist? Aren't these the kind of Community servers you're looking for, only you pay for them? I'm sure wrtlprnft would gladly accept donations to help keep his servers running.
He even takes critisism reasonably well if you think his server settings have room for improvement.
User avatar
Rain
Round Winner
Posts: 300
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: a random empty server playing with bots

Post by Rain »

i personally take it easy.
if somebody is interested just say:
im interested, i can give X/month, i can/cannot administrate.
if nobody is interested then we could finally lock this annoying topic.
Post Reply