TheAdjHe demanded a cool forum title of some type.Join Date: 2004-05-03Member: 28436Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
My personal views on a server are this:
1) Gameplay/Rules I think gameplay is the most important portion of a server. I know NSA is already in the top portion if NS in regards to this. No gameplay altering plug-ins in any way/shape/form, no retarded custom maps that no one enjoys playing on (or no custom maps at all besides really popular and balanced ones, ie Orbital) or even classic maps that just don't work out right without having ridiculous player counts (Shiva, sorry moultano). Under 20 players or so is a must for classic.
I think a lot of players are willing to overlook small rule issues if they can get a quality game. I curse like a sailor at times, but I play on a couple of servers with language rules because the gameplay overrides my want to curse out someone who blocks me in a hallway and gets me killed. As long as the rules are reasonable, most people can understand and go by them. Don't seriously punish people for violations unless they 1) repeat them after being warned or 2) flagrantly break them (they know they're breaking a rule, yet do it anyways). Excessive punishment or refusal to reconsider an appeal get a lot of negative attention really, really fast.
2) Admins This is what gave NSA a lot of problems in the past. The admin staff has to both understand the difference in player skill and downloaded skill as well as be capable of taking a firm line with any player. This is something I've had some learning experience with recently as ANSL admin, how to deal with players that were my friends before, but make a fool of themselves and require administrative action. Don't let anyone slide by with rules infractions or lower the standards of play and conduct you set for the server. If you do this, people will see it and they will stop playing there. Your admins should be respected members of the community who can both earn the respect of others and not abuse the power they hold. People will intentionally harass and aggravate people they don't respect; that's less likely to happen to admins who have great community respect and support, and players will lash out at others who make trouble for respectable admins. I think most of the old NSA admins were fine, but several took a beating in the opinion polls, and that just encouraged the pranksters and troublemakers to go after them and make a scene.
3) Slots Do not be afraid to hand out reserve slots to people who are dependable players on the server. Initially you should give these out to people that frequent the server a lot, but don't be afraid to take them away from people for being asshats, causing trouble, or simply not playing anymore. The old NSA had this problem, they handed out freebie slots to people who didn't play on the server, or people that caused problems, etc. Use free slots as a reward to those players that frequent the server or to bolster support from clans and other communities.
One thing I think tacticalgamer does very, very well is its purchased reserve slot system. It isn't really spammed all over the place, but there are still plenty of paying slot holders on the server every night? Why is this? The quality of the gameplay makes people want to pay for a slot to get some of the action whenever they want, even if the server is full. Don't spam advertisements or make gaudy signs to get people's attention, let the gameplay do it for you.
4) Catering to player groups NSA has a crazy history of being a pubber's paradise, then being a competitive player haven. Strive to do both, without catering to the excesses on either side. Don't ban players for going 75-1 as fade because they "lol swipeaimbot" or some other stupid reasoning, but don't allow players to stack one team constantly just because they're clan buddies or whatever and ruin the game for everyone else. This 100% killed NSA last time, players were allowed to do whatever the wanted if they were a certain group of players, and everyone else was held to a different standard. Treat everyone equally, an important competitive player shouldn't get special treatment compared to (1)NSPlayer. The most someone should get is a free reserved slot, that's enough payment for being a good player as should be given. Don't be afraid of kicking players because it'll hurt the player count on the server, ensuring a quality game overall is way more important then the 10-20 players you may kick from the server in a couple week's time period. This was something I also struggled with in ANSL at first, being afraid to enforce my own rules because I would lose a player for x amount of time, and might kill team y. Don't concern yourself with that, just make the server fun and fair and the players will roll in.
I'll give the server a try as soon as possible, and I'm also willing to seed, depending on a number of things.
What I think NSA needs, first of all, is a vanilla ns server.
Judging from the thread, there are a lot of people who still care about your server, and it sounds like the regulars are coming back.
What I would suggest, is to look at the Wireplay server. They got 4 bots that you can have fun with if you're seeding the server. Notice that I only recommend bots if you can control them, e.g having the option of kicking them or adding them. Of course, the bots are replaced the second a real player enters, for example bot 2 gets replaced by the second player to join the server.
Votekick and votemap is a must. You can include both co maps and ns maps in the voting cycle, at least early on. This will allow people to choose their favorite map, and it's awesome when you're seeding, and you want to mess around with bots on various maps.
You will also need admins... and people who are aware over the fact that there are admins around.
I'm sure all this will help. Good luck with the server.
ssjyodaJoin Date: 2002-03-05Member: 274Members, Squad Five Blue
votekick is a mistake. cause when u get the guy that goes 50-1 as fade.. just beats everyone in the server, more often he'll just get votekicked..and then will stop comin around. .. leave the kicking to admins
ChurchMeatshield grunt-fodder // Has pre-ordered NS2Join Date: 2002-12-31Member: 11646Members, Constellation
I have to say I really like everything about NSA right now EXCEPT the frequent teamstacking. Now that firewater has hired more admins, this may abate, and I pray that it does. Yesterday I played like 5 games on there. 4 out of the 5 were blatantly stacked (marine team) and the games ended very, very quickly, and some of the aliens started leaving because the second hive never even got put up even once.
I also noticed that usually marine-favored maps are voted on. I motion to have Eclipse and Veil show up slightly less often than other maps.
Stacking is a major issue that we have been dealing with. I do have a plan that will minimize the stacking on the server as I want to the keep the games as close as possible, as many times as possible.
Within the coming week or so hopefully that plan will be executed.
<!--quoteo(post=1598142:date=Jan 13 2007, 01:20 AM:name=ssjyoda)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ssjyoda @ Jan 13 2007, 01:20 AM) [snapback]1598142[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> votekick is a mistake. cause when u get the guy that goes 50-1 as fade.. just beats everyone in the server, more often he'll just get votekicked..and then will stop comin around. .. leave the kicking to admins <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ah, you're right. I wasn't thinking about anyone other than me when I wrote that as a suggestion, because I would never votekick a guy just because he's two thousand times more skilled than me.
But of course the majority will, so you might as well forget about the votekick suggestion.
I was actually talked to a guy who was interested in developing plugins for us. One plugin was a combination effect of both the invisible reserve slots as well as the kicking reserve slot.
Another one I thought was cool was to either A) start the aliens at the middle hive every game or B) allow a team vote at the beginning of each around so the aliens can determine which hive they wanted.
I believe that most teams would choose the middle hive, as it is almost always the most advantageous hive to begin with, but the vote option would allow people to choose.
It's true that the middle hive is by far the most advantageous position in every map I can think of, but I don't like the idea of removing the randomization(and if you allow a vote it will always be the middle hive, barring a skulk/gorge rush or something). Even if it sometimes impacts the balance, the variable starting hive makes things more interesting. I can understand wanting to remove that aspect for a scrim or something, but IMHO pub games shouldn't be taken so seriously. More often than not the outcome is determined by the teams rather than minor imbalances anyway.
<!--quoteo(post=1597760:date=Jan 11 2007, 07:14 PM:name=Firewater)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Firewater @ Jan 11 2007, 07:14 PM) [snapback]1597760[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> So regular status is based on social approval rather than a monetary donation that mostly everyone has access to? I do not like that method as I've seen be abused in the past (think Lunixmonster). Your Regular nights, are worth taking a look at in more depth. Any information that goes on during reg nights would be appreciated.
We find that a lot of our players do not want to be beta testers, however I will host a poll on the forums as well as ask in game to see if the demand for 3.2 is relevant or not. The past couple of nights we have successfully filled the server, however, today the server died after peak time. We are currently looking for solutions for this problem. Something OTHER than reserve slots suggestions need to be suggested for the now, because the server may not be around when its time to open the reserve slot system again.
We tried to buy our own server box and get the bandwidth hosted but my research on that consisted of heavy bandwidth costs that were more expensive than our current provider charges for the server AND bandwidth.
I wanted to own my our server, especially since I work for Dell (any comments about that can be taken up in a PM) and I maybe able to get a discount on their servers. But the cost would be too much to bear for us. Perhaps down the road it would be more reasonable to do so, but as of right now it is not. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What is a psychology major doing working for Dell?
<!--quoteo(post=1599191:date=Jan 15 2007, 11:17 PM:name=Hellabeans)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hellabeans @ Jan 15 2007, 11:17 PM) [snapback]1599191[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> What is a psychology major doing working for Dell? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Pacifying customers after they've just spend half an hour trying to get tech support from people with thick Indian accents with no avail.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> My concerns were that admins would only add people based on a certain for some that is unattainable, like the "popular kids" at your local high school. That has lead in the past to many people being more dissatisfied than being kicked for a reserve slot, and that very principle has lead to the destruction of some NS communities. You are right it has to be carefully regulated and it can certainly be effective, but I'd rather not have that responsibility, nor delegate it to any of our admins.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Firewater,
an old CS server now dead I used to have admin on was the type of "social" admin-sorts of server you mention. But one of the key rules it had was that admin was a priveledge, not a right. If abused, it'd be revoked right away.
In my own experience, I've found that paid admins tend to abuse way more than hand-selected admins by the server owners. It also kinda says to players that there's no "goal" in playing at the server; play there for 5 years (strictly hypothetical) and get no admin/reward of anything. Frankly, servers where the only way to gain "access" to the higher-up community is by donating are servers that I'd rather not play on.
Again, from what I've seen, the type of people who do get admin in the "social" situation are indeed the "popular" people of the server; but let's be honest, there's a reason for this. Firstly, they play enough to be noticed. Secondly, they're levelheaded enough to not run around screaming dumb ish and crying and whining. People enjoy playing with these "popular" people because they're not tards; typically, these people are smart enough to get a clue about admining. As for having trouble selecting people to admin, you usually will be able to see who's right for the job just by playing in your own server.
While I can see money is an issue (zomg, star trek hurry up plz), if you have the option, I'd say go with the donation-not-requiered, but I guess I'm "old fashioned" (to be honest, I only know a few servers that do still do the donation-not-requireed metho,d but these are servers descending from the one mentioned above. And just thinking about it, issues arise with this method when it turns into a clan being formed around regulars; oyu start giving admin to people who are good, not people who are levelheaded.)
<!--quoteo(post=1599191:date=Jan 16 2007, 03:17 AM:name=Hellabeans)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hellabeans @ Jan 16 2007, 03:17 AM) [snapback]1599191[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> What is a psychology major doing working for Dell? <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Same thing as an eNerd working for Quiznos, trying to earn a paycheck.
I do hope those prank calls stopped, although if they didn't I'd be over it.
an old CS server now dead I used to have admin on was the type of "social" admin-sorts of server you mention. But one of the key rules it had was that admin was a priveledge, not a right. If abused, it'd be revoked right away.
In my own experience, I've found that paid admins tend to abuse way more than hand-selected admins by the server owners. It also kinda says to players that there's no "goal" in playing at the server; play there for 5 years (strictly hypothetical) and get no admin/reward of anything. Frankly, servers where the only way to gain "access" to the higher-up community is by donating are servers that I'd rather not play on. Again, from what I've seen, the type of people who do get admin in the "social" situation are indeed the "popular" people of the server; but let's be honest, there's a reason for this. Firstly, they play enough to be noticed. Secondly, they're levelheaded enough to not run around screaming dumb ish and crying and whining. People enjoy playing with these "popular" people because they're not tards; typically, these people are smart enough to get a clue about admining. As for having trouble selecting people to admin, you usually will be able to see who's right for the job just by playing in your own server.
While I can see money is an issue (zomg, star trek hurry up plz), if you have the option, I'd say go with the donation-not-requiered, but I guess I'm "old fashioned" (to be honest, I only know a few servers that do still do the donation-not-requireed metho,d but these are servers descending from the one mentioned above. And just thinking about it, issues arise with this method when it turns into a clan being formed around regulars; oyu start giving admin to people who are good, not people who are levelheaded.) <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Our admins are not paid, nor are they required to donate to the server. I don't want to hand out reserve slots on likability as it can breed resentment from the other players. Admins will be selected on their ability to enforce the rules without power tripping. A lot of servers have admins that are traditionally lower skilled than their regulars and often rage ban for stealing their thunder under the guise that they broke an actual rule. This is not a common place for our admins because they either:
A) Are in the upper standard deviations of skill, so performing poorly is rarely a reality.
B) Can learn to check their Ego at the door when other players showcase superior tactics, strategy and skill.
C) Both
Our admins are pretty capable of doing those things.
People can also become popular by blowing smoke up other's tushies. I cannot respect someone who kisses my or my other admin's ###### but a lot admins enjoy the ego boost they get from the agenda based complements. I certainly don't.
We are working on a compromise for the reserve slot system, instituting a combination effect between hidden and kicking slots.
ssjyodaJoin Date: 2002-03-05Member: 274Members, Squad Five Blue
the more this is talked about the more i find its drifting away from what everyone said in the first place.. as vanilla as possible, few/almost NO plugins!! and.. just everything else is making me shake my head..
i just remembered why i never played on NSA. Verbal abuse,###### attitudes and poor comments about my ping. forget it man,it hasnt changed,it never will....
Jigglypuff's NS Jigglyroom has the perfect setup in my VERY humble opinion:
vanilla NS, unless you execute a votemap for co (also vanilla) by saying "co co_faceoff." Also, bots can be added or removed if there are less than 5 real players with "/wb add" and "/wb remove"
After a co map completes, the map cycle automatically goes back to ns, so after a co map, you are guaranteed to go back to ns.
Jiggly's has a great player base I play with all the time, but the ping has issues for all but west coast people, so hopefully NSA can improve on that <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1596111:date=Jan 7 2007, 10:40 PM:name=Femme_Fatale)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Femme_Fatale @ Jan 7 2007, 10:40 PM) [snapback]1596111[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> Stopped by and had a try,seemed fine to me,server 10vs10+ all the maps i was there for. might stop by again later
i had fun,at least ppl were sorta nice to me,so ill put it in my server favorites <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
but having 150+ ping and having shaky hands because of it being so cold here,doesnt really help my gamingstyle <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /> <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i just remembered why i never played on NSA. Verbal abuse,###### attitudes and poor comments about my ping. forget it man,it hasnt changed,it never will....<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess a lot has changed in 10 days, oh well.
Honestly Femme, if someone was harassing you you could have filed a complaint either to a server admin present (there have been lots) or registered on the forums and taken care of it there. If you had notified me, I could have done something about it. Instead you just bash the community I am trying really hard to re-build, when we even had conversations about your ping and how it may present a problem. You chose to handle your problem with the server, and it will probably not be dealt with because you did not submit evidence, nor do you have any logs. Instead of going to the admins, you are going here attempting to damage the server's reputation. And you have the audacity to complain about ##### attitudes.
Very disappointing, I thought you would have been one of our better regulars.
But since we will never change there is no sense in looking into a rules violations assuming one exists (as I doubt you have evidence), so I guess I will just say "so long"
And the main fact about server that's you're forgetting Firewater, is that you HAVE MORE THAN ONE SET OF PLAYERS.
A different combination joins, and you get a good game, another combination, and you have a crap game. Another combination, another crap game. Your server regs aren't of the calibre to make up more good games with a good atmosphere, than crap games. And before any of the ego-tripping "vote NSA for president" crap comes out, I have played there, and not enjoyed a single game.
Ok, so your server is in America, so what? G4B2S is in America as well, and I actually enjoy games I play there. The reg over there are a mojority of chatty, sociable players. Whereas your lot <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /> Hardly the kind of people I want to play with. My ping is crap to American servers. I'm not (by my own admission) a good player. I can't hit the top of the scoreboard, unless I've gone gorge, and building all the game. I'm one of those people who, heaven forbid, actually play this game to be mildly sociable. Maybe some of your server regs could try to do the same thing. A little conversation goes a long way. I say "hi" over the voicecomms, and I get a team screaming at me to shut up. I try and say it over messagemode1, and I get nothing. Not even a single hello. All I get is people telling me to stop reswhoring when I've got 30 res. And even then, I've told them I'm saving for the hive.
Unless you're the kind of biased, uninformed person (which being the server admin, makes you just that in this case), then you'd see clearly that it's the <i>attitude</i> of your regs that drives random people away. Yes, in your defence, you get the occasional good game, but they are too few and far between to be of any real significance...
And if you're thinking of dismissing my post because "oh, you're not/never have been ad admin, or anyone important in a server", then you're wrong. Me and Femme were effective head admins at the [o] learning server, where we had to deal with elitist ###### coming in, and ruining the learning curve on our server. We've both also been admins on the [Pfff] servers, which were a complete skill deviation server, trying to balance out games involving said elitist ######, promoting the server, seeding it when necessary, and kicking people for admin use only.
Which brings me to my other point, no reserved slot system should kick any player, EVER. The only time when you need to kick a player is if they are being disruptive, and in breach of the server rules, or you need an admin on there to deal with a problem. NO OTHER TIME. If you want to use reserved slots, then use a passive one. 8 reservists only. Any more, and they have to wait until a random, or another reservist leave the server. Never kick people just because someone wants in. Ruins the game for the alien team if you lose a gorge that was about to put the hive up, or capping nodes. Or if you lose the commander on the marine team, you lose a scout putting up a ninja phase gate. You're willing to ruin a game for the sake of adding one regular person to a game?
Active reservation slots only drive people away from the server. I see one as 14/18, and I try to join. The game isn't full, but I get "Donator slots only" appear. I'm not going to back to that server, and I doubt very few people would, unless they were a non-donating regular, or a friend were playing there...
Server maps and plugins aren't the full reason as to why your community is near the gutter. The players are the life and soul of your community, improve their attitude, and do some server/attitude tweaks of your own, and you'll be getting there.
<!--quoteo(post=1599930:date=Jan 18 2007, 03:50 PM:name=Lt_Patch)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Lt_Patch @ Jan 18 2007, 03:50 PM) [snapback]1599930[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> And the main fact about server that's you're forgetting Firewater, is that you HAVE MORE THAN ONE SET OF PLAYERS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I've said repeatedly that my community is not one size fits all, that everyone may or may not fit in or feel that they belong there. Our community supports competitive players, as well as casual players who want to have a challenge and we encourage our players to play as hard as they want, but balance out the teams.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A different combination joins, and you get a good game, another combination, and you have a crap game. Another combination, another crap game. Your server regs aren't of the calibre to make up more good games with a good atmosphere, than crap games. And before any of the ego-tripping "vote NSA for president" crap comes out, I have played there, and not enjoyed a single game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Depends on your definition of a "good game". Myself and my admins try to keep the teams as even as possible, and try to keep the games close. We are not always 100% successful, but often times the teams will balance themselves out, sometimes they won't. We are working on developing our playerbase, just because YOU do not enjoy a game here, does not mean somebody else will not. Perhaps playing on a server that has a less emphasis on skill and teamwork will fit needs better. I'm sensing this is more than just a rant against my server, which I will address later.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ok, so your server is in America, so what? G4B2S is in America as well, and I actually enjoy games I play there. The reg over there are a mojority of chatty, sociable players. Whereas your lot <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /> Hardly the kind of people I want to play with. My ping is crap to American servers. I'm not (by my own admission) a good player. I can't hit the top of the scoreboard, unless I've gone gorge, and building all the game. I'm one of those people who, heaven forbid, actually play this game to be mildly sociable. Maybe some of your server regs could try to do the same thing. A little conversation goes a long way. I say "hi" over the voicecomms, and I get a team screaming at me to shut up. I try and say it over messagemode1, and I get nothing. Not even a single hello. All I get is people telling me to stop reswhoring when I've got 30 res. And even then, I've told them I'm saving for the hive.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Since you are lacking in the skill department, its probably a good reason why you haven't enjoyed a good game. It falls into my previous points/statements, people are allowed to play as hard they want on the server, provided that the teams can stay balanced. As far as being sociable in game, it really depends what time you joined. If its in the middle of a major battle, or if a hive is being attacked etc... I wouldn't expect people to have flowers at the door waiting for you. We have a teamspeak server which any and all members of the community can connect to which fulfills many of the social needs of our regulars.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Unless you're the kind of biased, uninformed person (which being the server admin, makes you just that in this case), then you'd see clearly that it's the <i>attitude</i> of your regs that drives random people away. Yes, in your defence, you get the occasional good game, but they are too few and far between to be of any real significance...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Interesting how you qualify your logic as if you know me personally. Lt. Patch, what do you define as significance? How many games on the server is "Occasional"? Do you feel that your short time on the server has conjured results that generalize to all players? If so, what kind of player would not enjoy a game on our servers? Did you play on our servers after I made the post about Femme, or before. If it was before, how many games did you play? If it was after, how can you expect me to take you seriously?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And if you're thinking of dismissing my post because "oh, you're not/never have been ad admin, or anyone important in a server", then you're wrong. Me and Femme were effective head admins at the [o] learning server, where we had to deal with elitist ###### coming in, and ruining the learning curve on our server. We've both also been admins on the [Pfff] servers, which were a complete skill deviation server, trying to balance out games involving said elitist ######, promoting the server, seeding it when necessary, and kicking people for admin use only.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now part of an agenda can potentially come out. How do you fine elitist blahblah players? Players who are significantly higher skilled? Their "ruining the learning curve" is probably them just playing their normal game. What exactly did you teach your players? When I taught players, either I taught them how to be an effective players against ANYONE, or I got someone who was a better player in a certain aspect to. I'm also beginning to sense a bias here towards players who are better than you, because you simply label them in one group when I know for a FACT that is certainly not the case. Did you ever think that YOUR behavior as an admin might provoke such behaviors? And you have the audacity to in a round about way, call me close-minded. Simply shocking.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Which brings me to my other point, no reserved slot system should kick any player, EVER. The only time when you need to kick a player is if they are being disruptive, and in breach of the server rules, or you need an admin on there to deal with a problem. NO OTHER TIME. If you want to use reserved slots, then use a passive one. 8 reservists only. Any more, and they have to wait until a random, or another reservist leave the server. Never kick people just because someone wants in. Ruins the game for the alien team if you lose a gorge that was about to put the hive up, or capping nodes. Or if you lose the commander on the marine team, you lose a scout putting up a ninja phase gate. You're willing to ruin a game for the sake of adding one regular person to a game?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
G4b2s does the same thing, but they are viewed as ok because of the type of games there. Again, I feel this rant is reactive to a previous post because a nerve was struck one way or another, and you are not being constructive, just condescending.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Active reservation slots only drive people away from the server. I see one as 14/18, and I try to join. The game isn't full, but I get "Donator slots only" appear. I'm not going to back to that server, and I doubt very few people would, unless they were a non-donating regular, or a friend were playing there...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When our reserve slot system was at its peak, we've had over 250 donators. Times have changed however, and we are looking at reserve slot buffer system that kicks that the buffer is full. We are changing for the times, because we feel it is necessary.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Server maps and plugins aren't the full reason as to why your community is near the gutter. The players are the life and soul of your community, improve their attitude, and do some server/attitude tweaks of your own, and you'll be getting there. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Our attitude is fine as far as I'm concerned, we have increased the average player count per hour by about 800% before I joined, according to game-monitor.com stats. What that average means is that pretty much every night, the server gets filled and people must be having a good time If that is not a significant increase than nothing will be. You talk as if my server is in gutter, but where are the servers that you and Femme have so bravely admined against the learning curve busters. I did a steam search but could not find them, I was wondering if you could personally show me how to admin a server on either of those as euro pings do not bother me so much.
Bottom line, you have to admit that Femme has a flawed logic and that you are just defending her here under the guise that you are giving me suggestions for the nsarmslab server. She raged, I retorted because I simply thought it was bull ####.
And you guys are admins, you have to know that raging on the NS forums will solve NOTHING, and that doing so just shows how spiteful a person can be.
Any other issues regarding the attitudes of regulars will only be addressed if there is evidence to address. If not, please stop the mud slinging because it is simply not helping the community which is what this thread exists for.
The reason the server/NS is dead is because there are only enough players to support one/two classic servers being full the majority of the time whereas there are 'players' to support 10+ /xmenu combat. Guns is the only classic server that is full 80% of the time. People don't want to play NS they want to play 3000hp onos with redemption vs 200 bullet hmgs with +150% damage.
I agree, which is why we are offering another alternative other than G4b2s.
Our games a little smaller, which gives the alien team a better chance of winning, and we allow players to play to their max level provided there is comparable opposing force.
We also encourage a learning enviornment, where if someone has a question about a particular technique or strategy its not a problem to get an answer. We have some of the best players competitively that play on our server, and I have been striving with them to have them balance the teams to keep the games close, which in turn often makes them fun, and allows more margin for error than stacking.
In the g4b2s server its not very difficult to win as marines if they aggressive early, every game I commanded on their using that strategy has worked simply due to pure numbers. The marines can have up to 3 IPs at any time in the game, but alien spawnpoints are restricted to hive, therefore if the aliens lose significant numbers early on that large of a server, it makes it even more difficult to get their numbers back to launch an effective counter attack.
Basically you need a plugin blocking jointeamone and jointeamtwo and automatically randoming everyone in the readyroom while blocking f4 and only allowing people to retry once every 30 seconds/minute if you want balanced teams. Also whip us up a plugin making the devour time for light marines in classic = to combat but make the delay between devour equal to HA.
Stacking is the main problem in NSA at the moment. Other than that, you're facing against above average players with a few noobs scattered in between to be builder monkeys. It's a good way to keep sharp, because the average NSA player will devastate the G4B2S servers. What's even worse is that the servers with custom plug-ins actually cater to good players because the skill gap multiplies the equipment/ability gap in the game. That is only countered by poor quality admins mistaking skill for hacks and kicking a good player from the server.
The problem is that three seasoned players can just go on the marine team and decimate the alien team because it's easier to play as a marine than it is to play a skulk. There is never a hardcore stack in which all the good players goes to one team and all the noobs go to the other one. I think it's more indicative of a weak skulk in the game balance rather than just stacking.
Comments
1) Gameplay/Rules
I think gameplay is the most important portion of a server. I know NSA is already in the top portion if NS in regards to this. No gameplay altering plug-ins in any way/shape/form, no retarded custom maps that no one enjoys playing on (or no custom maps at all besides really popular and balanced ones, ie Orbital) or even classic maps that just don't work out right without having ridiculous player counts (Shiva, sorry moultano). Under 20 players or so is a must for classic.
I think a lot of players are willing to overlook small rule issues if they can get a quality game. I curse like a sailor at times, but I play on a couple of servers with language rules because the gameplay overrides my want to curse out someone who blocks me in a hallway and gets me killed. As long as the rules are reasonable, most people can understand and go by them. Don't seriously punish people for violations unless they 1) repeat them after being warned or 2) flagrantly break them (they know they're breaking a rule, yet do it anyways). Excessive punishment or refusal to reconsider an appeal get a lot of negative attention really, really fast.
2) Admins
This is what gave NSA a lot of problems in the past. The admin staff has to both understand the difference in player skill and downloaded skill as well as be capable of taking a firm line with any player. This is something I've had some learning experience with recently as ANSL admin, how to deal with players that were my friends before, but make a fool of themselves and require administrative action. Don't let anyone slide by with rules infractions or lower the standards of play and conduct you set for the server. If you do this, people will see it and they will stop playing there. Your admins should be respected members of the community who can both earn the respect of others and not abuse the power they hold. People will intentionally harass and aggravate people they don't respect; that's less likely to happen to admins who have great community respect and support, and players will lash out at others who make trouble for respectable admins. I think most of the old NSA admins were fine, but several took a beating in the opinion polls, and that just encouraged the pranksters and troublemakers to go after them and make a scene.
3) Slots
Do not be afraid to hand out reserve slots to people who are dependable players on the server. Initially you should give these out to people that frequent the server a lot, but don't be afraid to take them away from people for being asshats, causing trouble, or simply not playing anymore. The old NSA had this problem, they handed out freebie slots to people who didn't play on the server, or people that caused problems, etc. Use free slots as a reward to those players that frequent the server or to bolster support from clans and other communities.
One thing I think tacticalgamer does very, very well is its purchased reserve slot system. It isn't really spammed all over the place, but there are still plenty of paying slot holders on the server every night? Why is this? The quality of the gameplay makes people want to pay for a slot to get some of the action whenever they want, even if the server is full. Don't spam advertisements or make gaudy signs to get people's attention, let the gameplay do it for you.
4) Catering to player groups
NSA has a crazy history of being a pubber's paradise, then being a competitive player haven. Strive to do both, without catering to the excesses on either side. Don't ban players for going 75-1 as fade because they "lol swipeaimbot" or some other stupid reasoning, but don't allow players to stack one team constantly just because they're clan buddies or whatever and ruin the game for everyone else. This 100% killed NSA last time, players were allowed to do whatever the wanted if they were a certain group of players, and everyone else was held to a different standard. Treat everyone equally, an important competitive player shouldn't get special treatment compared to (1)NSPlayer. The most someone should get is a free reserved slot, that's enough payment for being a good player as should be given. Don't be afraid of kicking players because it'll hurt the player count on the server, ensuring a quality game overall is way more important then the 10-20 players you may kick from the server in a couple week's time period. This was something I also struggled with in ANSL at first, being afraid to enforce my own rules because I would lose a player for x amount of time, and might kill team y. Don't concern yourself with that, just make the server fun and fair and the players will roll in.
What I think NSA needs, first of all, is a vanilla ns server.
Judging from the thread, there are a lot of people who still care about your server, and it sounds like the regulars are coming back.
What I would suggest, is to look at the Wireplay server. They got 4 bots that you can have fun with if you're seeding the server. Notice that I only recommend bots if you can control them, e.g having the option of kicking them or adding them. Of course, the bots are replaced the second a real player enters, for example bot 2 gets replaced by the second player to join the server.
Votekick and votemap is a must. You can include both co maps and ns maps in the voting cycle, at least early on. This will allow people to choose their favorite map, and it's awesome when you're seeding, and you want to mess around with bots on various maps.
You will also need admins... and people who are aware over the fact that there are admins around.
I'm sure all this will help. Good luck with the server.
I also noticed that usually marine-favored maps are voted on. I motion to have Eclipse and Veil show up slightly less often than other maps.
Within the coming week or so hopefully that plan will be executed.
votekick is a mistake. cause when u get the guy that goes 50-1 as fade.. just beats everyone in the server, more often he'll just get votekicked..and then will stop comin around. .. leave the kicking to admins
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Ah, you're right. I wasn't thinking about anyone other than me when I wrote that as a suggestion, because I would never votekick a guy just because he's two thousand times more skilled than me.
But of course the majority will, so you might as well forget about the votekick suggestion.
Another one I thought was cool was to either A) start the aliens at the middle hive every game or B) allow a team vote at the beginning of each around so the aliens can determine which hive they wanted.
I believe that most teams would choose the middle hive, as it is almost always the most advantageous hive to begin with, but the vote option would allow people to choose.
So regular status is based on social approval rather than a monetary donation that mostly everyone has access to? I do not like that method as I've seen be abused in the past (think Lunixmonster). Your Regular nights, are worth taking a look at in more depth. Any information that goes on during reg nights would be appreciated.
We find that a lot of our players do not want to be beta testers, however I will host a poll on the forums as well as ask in game to see if the demand for 3.2 is relevant or not. The past couple of nights we have successfully filled the server, however, today the server died after peak time. We are currently looking for solutions for this problem. Something OTHER than reserve slots suggestions need to be suggested for the now, because the server may not be around when its time to open the reserve slot system again.
We tried to buy our own server box and get the bandwidth hosted but my research on that consisted of heavy bandwidth costs that were more expensive than our current provider charges for the server AND bandwidth.
I wanted to own my our server, especially since I work for Dell (any comments about that can be taken up in a PM) and I maybe able to get a discount on their servers. But the cost would be too much to bear for us. Perhaps down the road it would be more reasonable to do so, but as of right now it is not.
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What is a psychology major doing working for Dell?
What is a psychology major doing working for Dell?
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Pacifying customers after they've just spend half an hour trying to get tech support from people with thick Indian accents with no avail.
Firewater,
an old CS server now dead I used to have admin on was the type of "social" admin-sorts of server you mention. But one of the key rules it had was that admin was a priveledge, not a right. If abused, it'd be revoked right away.
In my own experience, I've found that paid admins tend to abuse way more than hand-selected admins by the server owners. It also kinda says to players that there's no "goal" in playing at the server; play there for 5 years (strictly hypothetical) and get no admin/reward of anything. Frankly, servers where the only way to gain "access" to the higher-up community is by donating are servers that I'd rather not play on.
Again, from what I've seen, the type of people who do get admin in the "social" situation are indeed the "popular" people of the server; but let's be honest, there's a reason for this. Firstly, they play enough to be noticed. Secondly, they're levelheaded enough to not run around screaming dumb ish and crying and whining. People enjoy playing with these "popular" people because they're not tards; typically, these people are smart enough to get a clue about admining. As for having trouble selecting people to admin, you usually will be able to see who's right for the job just by playing in your own server.
While I can see money is an issue (zomg, star trek hurry up plz), if you have the option, I'd say go with the donation-not-requiered, but I guess I'm "old fashioned" (to be honest, I only know a few servers that do still do the donation-not-requireed metho,d but these are servers descending from the one mentioned above. And just thinking about it, issues arise with this method when it turns into a clan being formed around regulars; oyu start giving admin to people who are good, not people who are levelheaded.)
What is a psychology major doing working for Dell?
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Same thing as an eNerd working for Quiznos, trying to earn a paycheck.
I do hope those prank calls stopped, although if they didn't I'd be over it.
Firewater,
an old CS server now dead I used to have admin on was the type of "social" admin-sorts of server you mention. But one of the key rules it had was that admin was a priveledge, not a right. If abused, it'd be revoked right away.
In my own experience, I've found that paid admins tend to abuse way more than hand-selected admins by the server owners. It also kinda says to players that there's no "goal" in playing at the server; play there for 5 years (strictly hypothetical) and get no admin/reward of anything. Frankly, servers where the only way to gain "access" to the higher-up community is by donating are servers that I'd rather not play on.
Again, from what I've seen, the type of people who do get admin in the "social" situation are indeed the "popular" people of the server; but let's be honest, there's a reason for this. Firstly, they play enough to be noticed. Secondly, they're levelheaded enough to not run around screaming dumb ish and crying and whining. People enjoy playing with these "popular" people because they're not tards; typically, these people are smart enough to get a clue about admining. As for having trouble selecting people to admin, you usually will be able to see who's right for the job just by playing in your own server.
While I can see money is an issue (zomg, star trek hurry up plz), if you have the option, I'd say go with the donation-not-requiered, but I guess I'm "old fashioned" (to be honest, I only know a few servers that do still do the donation-not-requireed metho,d but these are servers descending from the one mentioned above. And just thinking about it, issues arise with this method when it turns into a clan being formed around regulars; oyu start giving admin to people who are good, not people who are levelheaded.)
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Our admins are not paid, nor are they required to donate to the server. I don't want to hand out reserve slots on likability as it can breed resentment from the other players. Admins will be selected on their ability to enforce the rules without power tripping. A lot of servers have admins that are traditionally lower skilled than their regulars and often rage ban for stealing their thunder under the guise that they broke an actual rule. This is not a common place for our admins because they either:
A) Are in the upper standard deviations of skill, so performing poorly is rarely a reality.
B) Can learn to check their Ego at the door when other players showcase superior tactics, strategy and skill.
C) Both
Our admins are pretty capable of doing those things.
People can also become popular by blowing smoke up other's tushies. I cannot respect someone who kisses my or my other admin's ###### but a lot admins enjoy the ego boost they get from the agenda based complements. I certainly don't.
We are working on a compromise for the reserve slot system, instituting a combination effect between hidden and kicking slots.
have you already noticed the edit button in the right corner of your posts?
radom plugins are fine. They only suck if you wanna play with a (one! ^^) friend and hes in the other team.
maybe its just to sort out what plugins are eeeevil and which are less...
Verbal abuse,###### attitudes and poor comments about my ping.
forget it man,it hasnt changed,it never will....
vanilla NS, unless you execute a votemap for co (also vanilla) by saying "co co_faceoff." Also, bots can be added or removed if there are less than 5 real players with "/wb add" and "/wb remove"
After a co map completes, the map cycle automatically goes back to ns, so after a co map, you are guaranteed to go back to ns.
Jiggly's has a great player base I play with all the time, but the ping has issues for all but west coast people, so hopefully NSA can improve on that <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Stopped by and had a try,seemed fine to me,server 10vs10+ all the maps i was there for.
might stop by again later
i had fun,at least ppl were sorta nice to me,so ill put it in my server favorites <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
but having 150+ ping and having shaky hands because of it being so cold here,doesnt really help my gamingstyle <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
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<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->i just remembered why i never played on NSA.
Verbal abuse,###### attitudes and poor comments about my ping.
forget it man,it hasnt changed,it never will....<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess a lot has changed in 10 days, oh well.
Honestly Femme, if someone was harassing you you could have filed a complaint either to a server admin present (there have been lots) or registered on the forums and taken care of it there. If you had notified me, I could have done something about it. Instead you just bash the community I am trying really hard to re-build, when we even had conversations about your ping and how it may present a problem. You chose to handle your problem with the server, and it will probably not be dealt with because you did not submit evidence, nor do you have any logs. Instead of going to the admins, you are going here attempting to damage the server's reputation. And you have the audacity to complain about ##### attitudes.
Very disappointing, I thought you would have been one of our better regulars.
But since we will never change there is no sense in looking into a rules violations assuming one exists (as I doubt you have evidence), so I guess I will just say "so long"
Switch to 3.2b2.
psst.
Switch to 3.2b2.
A different combination joins, and you get a good game, another combination, and you have a crap game. Another combination, another crap game. Your server regs aren't of the calibre to make up more good games with a good atmosphere, than crap games.
And before any of the ego-tripping "vote NSA for president" crap comes out, I have played there, and not enjoyed a single game.
Ok, so your server is in America, so what? G4B2S is in America as well, and I actually enjoy games I play there. The reg over there are a mojority of chatty, sociable players. Whereas your lot <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /> Hardly the kind of people I want to play with. My ping is crap to American servers. I'm not (by my own admission) a good player. I can't hit the top of the scoreboard, unless I've gone gorge, and building all the game. I'm one of those people who, heaven forbid, actually play this game to be mildly sociable. Maybe some of your server regs could try to do the same thing. A little conversation goes a long way. I say "hi" over the voicecomms, and I get a team screaming at me to shut up. I try and say it over messagemode1, and I get nothing. Not even a single hello. All I get is people telling me to stop reswhoring when I've got 30 res. And even then, I've told them I'm saving for the hive.
Unless you're the kind of biased, uninformed person (which being the server admin, makes you just that in this case), then you'd see clearly that it's the <i>attitude</i> of your regs that drives random people away. Yes, in your defence, you get the occasional good game, but they are too few and far between to be of any real significance...
And if you're thinking of dismissing my post because "oh, you're not/never have been ad admin, or anyone important in a server", then you're wrong. Me and Femme were effective head admins at the [o] learning server, where we had to deal with elitist ###### coming in, and ruining the learning curve on our server. We've both also been admins on the [Pfff] servers, which were a complete skill deviation server, trying to balance out games involving said elitist ######, promoting the server, seeding it when necessary, and kicking people for admin use only.
Which brings me to my other point, no reserved slot system should kick any player, EVER. The only time when you need to kick a player is if they are being disruptive, and in breach of the server rules, or you need an admin on there to deal with a problem. NO OTHER TIME. If you want to use reserved slots, then use a passive one. 8 reservists only. Any more, and they have to wait until a random, or another reservist leave the server. Never kick people just because someone wants in. Ruins the game for the alien team if you lose a gorge that was about to put the hive up, or capping nodes. Or if you lose the commander on the marine team, you lose a scout putting up a ninja phase gate. You're willing to ruin a game for the sake of adding one regular person to a game?
Active reservation slots only drive people away from the server. I see one as 14/18, and I try to join. The game isn't full, but I get "Donator slots only" appear. I'm not going to back to that server, and I doubt very few people would, unless they were a non-donating regular, or a friend were playing there...
Server maps and plugins aren't the full reason as to why your community is near the gutter. The players are the life and soul of your community, improve their attitude, and do some server/attitude tweaks of your own, and you'll be getting there.
And the main fact about server that's you're forgetting Firewater, is that you HAVE MORE THAN ONE SET OF PLAYERS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've said repeatedly that my community is not one size fits all, that everyone may or may not fit in or feel that they belong there. Our community supports competitive players, as well as casual players who want to have a challenge and we encourage our players to play as hard as they want, but balance out the teams.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->A different combination joins, and you get a good game, another combination, and you have a crap game. Another combination, another crap game. Your server regs aren't of the calibre to make up more good games with a good atmosphere, than crap games.
And before any of the ego-tripping "vote NSA for president" crap comes out, I have played there, and not enjoyed a single game.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Depends on your definition of a "good game". Myself and my admins try to keep the teams as even as possible, and try to keep the games close. We are not always 100% successful, but often times the teams will balance themselves out, sometimes they won't. We are working on developing our playerbase, just because YOU do not enjoy a game here, does not mean somebody else will not. Perhaps playing on a server that has a less emphasis on skill and teamwork will fit needs better. I'm sensing this is more than just a rant against my server, which I will address later.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ok, so your server is in America, so what? G4B2S is in America as well, and I actually enjoy games I play there. The reg over there are a mojority of chatty, sociable players. Whereas your lot <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /> Hardly the kind of people I want to play with. My ping is crap to American servers. I'm not (by my own admission) a good player. I can't hit the top of the scoreboard, unless I've gone gorge, and building all the game. I'm one of those people who, heaven forbid, actually play this game to be mildly sociable. Maybe some of your server regs could try to do the same thing. A little conversation goes a long way. I say "hi" over the voicecomms, and I get a team screaming at me to shut up. I try and say it over messagemode1, and I get nothing. Not even a single hello. All I get is people telling me to stop reswhoring when I've got 30 res. And even then, I've told them I'm saving for the hive.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Since you are lacking in the skill department, its probably a good reason why you haven't enjoyed a good game. It falls into my previous points/statements, people are allowed to play as hard they want on the server, provided that the teams can stay balanced. As far as being sociable in game, it really depends what time you joined. If its in the middle of a major battle, or if a hive is being attacked etc... I wouldn't expect people to have flowers at the door waiting for you. We have a teamspeak server which any and all members of the community can connect to which fulfills many of the social needs of our regulars.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Unless you're the kind of biased, uninformed person (which being the server admin, makes you just that in this case), then you'd see clearly that it's the <i>attitude</i> of your regs that drives random people away. Yes, in your defence, you get the occasional good game, but they are too few and far between to be of any real significance...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Interesting how you qualify your logic as if you know me personally. Lt. Patch, what do you define as significance? How many games on the server is "Occasional"? Do you feel that your short time on the server has conjured results that generalize to all players? If so, what kind of player would not enjoy a game on our servers? Did you play on our servers after I made the post about Femme, or before. If it was before, how many games did you play? If it was after, how can you expect me to take you seriously?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And if you're thinking of dismissing my post because "oh, you're not/never have been ad admin, or anyone important in a server", then you're wrong. Me and Femme were effective head admins at the [o] learning server, where we had to deal with elitist ###### coming in, and ruining the learning curve on our server. We've both also been admins on the [Pfff] servers, which were a complete skill deviation server, trying to balance out games involving said elitist ######, promoting the server, seeding it when necessary, and kicking people for admin use only.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Now part of an agenda can potentially come out. How do you fine elitist blahblah players? Players who are significantly higher skilled? Their "ruining the learning curve" is probably them just playing their normal game. What exactly did you teach your players? When I taught players, either I taught them how to be an effective players against ANYONE, or I got someone who was a better player in a certain aspect to. I'm also beginning to sense a bias here towards players who are better than you, because you simply label them in one group when I know for a FACT that is certainly not the case. Did you ever think that YOUR behavior as an admin might provoke such behaviors? And you have the audacity to in a round about way, call me close-minded. Simply shocking.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Which brings me to my other point, no reserved slot system should kick any player, EVER. The only time when you need to kick a player is if they are being disruptive, and in breach of the server rules, or you need an admin on there to deal with a problem. NO OTHER TIME. If you want to use reserved slots, then use a passive one. 8 reservists only. Any more, and they have to wait until a random, or another reservist leave the server. Never kick people just because someone wants in. Ruins the game for the alien team if you lose a gorge that was about to put the hive up, or capping nodes. Or if you lose the commander on the marine team, you lose a scout putting up a ninja phase gate. You're willing to ruin a game for the sake of adding one regular person to a game?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
G4b2s does the same thing, but they are viewed as ok because of the type of games there. Again, I feel this rant is reactive to a previous post because a nerve was struck one way or another, and you are not being constructive, just condescending.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Active reservation slots only drive people away from the server. I see one as 14/18, and I try to join. The game isn't full, but I get "Donator slots only" appear. I'm not going to back to that server, and I doubt very few people would, unless they were a non-donating regular, or a friend were playing there...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
When our reserve slot system was at its peak, we've had over 250 donators. Times have changed however, and we are looking at reserve slot buffer system that kicks that the buffer is full. We are changing for the times, because we feel it is necessary.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Server maps and plugins aren't the full reason as to why your community is near the gutter. The players are the life and soul of your community, improve their attitude, and do some server/attitude tweaks of your own, and you'll be getting there.
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Our attitude is fine as far as I'm concerned, we have increased the average player count per hour by about 800% before I joined, according to game-monitor.com stats. What that average means is that pretty much every night, the server gets filled and people must be having a good time If that is not a significant increase than nothing will be. You talk as if my server is in gutter, but where are the servers that you and Femme have so bravely admined against the learning curve busters. I did a steam search but could not find them, I was wondering if you could personally show me how to admin a server on either of those as euro pings do not bother me so much.
Bottom line, you have to admit that Femme has a flawed logic and that you are just defending her here under the guise that you are giving me suggestions for the nsarmslab server. She raged, I retorted because I simply thought it was bull ####.
And you guys are admins, you have to know that raging on the NS forums will solve NOTHING, and that doing so just shows how spiteful a person can be.
Any other issues regarding the attitudes of regulars will only be addressed if there is evidence to address. If not, please stop the mud slinging because it is simply not helping the community which is what this thread exists for.
Our games a little smaller, which gives the alien team a better chance of winning, and we allow players to play to their max level provided there is comparable opposing force.
We also encourage a learning enviornment, where if someone has a question about a particular technique or strategy its not a problem to get an answer. We have some of the best players competitively that play on our server, and I have been striving with them to have them balance the teams to keep the games close, which in turn often makes them fun, and allows more margin for error than stacking.
In the g4b2s server its not very difficult to win as marines if they aggressive early, every game I commanded on their using that strategy has worked simply due to pure numbers. The marines can have up to 3 IPs at any time in the game, but alien spawnpoints are restricted to hive, therefore if the aliens lose significant numbers early on that large of a server, it makes it even more difficult to get their numbers back to launch an effective counter attack.
The problem is that three seasoned players can just go on the marine team and decimate the alien team because it's easier to play as a marine than it is to play a skulk. There is never a hardcore stack in which all the good players goes to one team and all the noobs go to the other one. I think it's more indicative of a weak skulk in the game balance rather than just stacking.