Response On "closing 8 Servers"
Jeepha
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9282Members
Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9282Members
Sorry Coil, im not trying to rub salt here, just wanted to make a response.
I realize I rarely post here, it is just that myself and our other server ops find these forums to be extremely 'defensive' and easily 'offensive', thus we avoid them to some extent. We also avoid posting 'who' we are for simular reasons.
HLRally:
Correct, we are not hosting this mod (due to it being rather in-complete), but we do support its development whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, it seems the project may have met an end.
8 servers:
I am surprized that having 8 NS servers is remarkable. NS has HUGE promise if not due to anything else, it is extremely light on bandwidth. So running 8 ns servers on 4 dual proc systems isnt a big deal. We hoped we would pull a large group of subscribers due to this, however we lost the last of them last week (8).
Cheating Death...(server death?):
I was being unfair here, here is our reasoning:
Positive: Cheating death is effective against many 'hacks'. Probably one of the most effective anti-cheat options available.
Negative: client side application... leads to a big support issue. We didnt have much trouble with the Clan servers, but pubs were a constant problem. CD worked great for me, but I had constant support requests from users reporting problems with starting their games, to getting booted even when on, etc. We run enough servers to know that CD enabled servers average 1/10 the traffic of non CD servers. Thus, we dropped CD. Internall we began calling Cheating Death Server Death because the servers running CD tended to become 'vacant'. It seemed users prefered to deal with cheaters than to deal with the client issues.
Not that any cares, but here is my personal take on NS:
1. I love the concept, and the game is one of my personal favorites
2. I like the typical NS player. I find more ns players to be polite and fun to be around.
3. I dislike the community here. Any non-conforming posts tend to get met with a barrage of negativity that solves nothing. I dont post issues here simply because others report it is simply a waste of time.
4. I am dissapointed with the support. I am left with very little information or accurate details to give to my subscribers when they have problems with their servers. I work in the gaming industry myself, so I realize it is no easy task to publish a free mod to the public with little hope of funding or profit.
Coil, if you wish to lock this again that is great. I dont plan on responding to any replies anyway. (Just to keep the drama down.)
I realize I rarely post here, it is just that myself and our other server ops find these forums to be extremely 'defensive' and easily 'offensive', thus we avoid them to some extent. We also avoid posting 'who' we are for simular reasons.
HLRally:
Correct, we are not hosting this mod (due to it being rather in-complete), but we do support its development whole-heartedly. Unfortunately, it seems the project may have met an end.
8 servers:
I am surprized that having 8 NS servers is remarkable. NS has HUGE promise if not due to anything else, it is extremely light on bandwidth. So running 8 ns servers on 4 dual proc systems isnt a big deal. We hoped we would pull a large group of subscribers due to this, however we lost the last of them last week (8).
Cheating Death...(server death?):
I was being unfair here, here is our reasoning:
Positive: Cheating death is effective against many 'hacks'. Probably one of the most effective anti-cheat options available.
Negative: client side application... leads to a big support issue. We didnt have much trouble with the Clan servers, but pubs were a constant problem. CD worked great for me, but I had constant support requests from users reporting problems with starting their games, to getting booted even when on, etc. We run enough servers to know that CD enabled servers average 1/10 the traffic of non CD servers. Thus, we dropped CD. Internall we began calling Cheating Death Server Death because the servers running CD tended to become 'vacant'. It seemed users prefered to deal with cheaters than to deal with the client issues.
Not that any cares, but here is my personal take on NS:
1. I love the concept, and the game is one of my personal favorites
2. I like the typical NS player. I find more ns players to be polite and fun to be around.
3. I dislike the community here. Any non-conforming posts tend to get met with a barrage of negativity that solves nothing. I dont post issues here simply because others report it is simply a waste of time.
4. I am dissapointed with the support. I am left with very little information or accurate details to give to my subscribers when they have problems with their servers. I work in the gaming industry myself, so I realize it is no easy task to publish a free mod to the public with little hope of funding or profit.
Coil, if you wish to lock this again that is great. I dont plan on responding to any replies anyway. (Just to keep the drama down.)
Comments
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Please - correct me if I am wrong. I mean it.
As for support, if you do not get a question answered in the forums (which I find very unlikely - we have plenty of excellent server ops here that can at least tell you if the problem is NS or yourself) you should try to email the team directly. Or use the bug email address. Or the cheats email address. Or any of the other ways we try to provide support to ops.
Anyway, I admit, possibly I was a little miffed a losing the last 3 subscribers of the original 8. Thus my post was dramatic and most likely a cry for some kind of patch release.
I am purposely sounding 'shady'. In no way do we associate our hosting company with posts. I would hope no-one would get any preconceived notions on 'who' we are by how myself or one of our ops have posted on a forum, thus posting that information is considered 'taboo' with us. My post is a perfect example of careful unprofessionalism, and we dont run our company that way.
Im AM very surprized at the numbers of servers per hosting company you mention. I consider 8 subscribers a very small amount, and had no idea that was considered high. When NS was released, we were very excited at how little bandwidth was needed (bandwidth is our main expense) to run servers, thus we agressively marketed the game. Our goal was to replace our bandwidth dependant servers with little to no profit with high profit NS servers. Well, we did get an initial rush, however we ended up losing our gains recently due to the misc known issues...
The problem is we jumped too early on this title, and probalby should have waited until a more stable release. This is no a fault of the NS creators, but on of our own. I sounds like the new features in the next version are compelling enough to bring a new life to that game, and hopefully, to our company.
Basically, it seems like you're just dropping a shady posting to make the team feel bad that we're not meeting your schedule or are not releasing patches that you want (but that we find to be a poor use of time when the 1.1 release is so close). If you really are in 'the gaming industry' (still being shady), I would imagine your empathy for the situation.
If you are truly involved in a server hosting organization and want your issues addressed more privately by the NS team, please stop making these odd forum posts and email me directly at monsieurevil@natural-selection.org. Thanks.
(mods - please do not lock)
The technician that manages the NS servers has been in contact with NS development, and has made some contributions to the project. About a month or so ago he related to me his frustration with the NS staff and used the word
'elitism'. I doubt he has continued to request direct support since. My recent post on this forum was initiated by the recent NS account closures, and that technician was not consulted beforehand.
As for NS Development staff, the only person your friend could have been in contact with is Flayra if it wasn't me, and I have a hard time describing him as anything but friendly and non-elitist. He is, at worst, overworked. As for the recent NS account closures, I don't understand what you mean. What NS accounts and what consultation?
I guess I had no idea the project was supported by 2 c++ developers working part time.
Considering the monumental changes you have initiated for 1.1, I understand your delay on support releases.
I hope you can accept a sincere apology from my self to you and all the forum readers for my misinformed posts. I wish you guys the best and look forward to the next release.
If I can be of any service via bandwidth or development let me know.