$1/mo servers

vanity · Post by **vanity** » 2007-03-11 19:02

I'm trying to brainstorm ideas to cut down on the players who's only goal is to lone wolf, grief others, and steal vehicles. They really don't add anything to the game and I'm thinking many of them are probably fairly young.

So what about having a handful of register-use $1/mo servers. Pretty much everyone can afford $1/mo but the costing of it would require a credit card, something these kids don't have. And I really don't think their parent's will let them use the family credit card for a game. They could steal their parent's anyway but that's not really our problem anymore.

I'd prefer to see more servers going to register-only and/or a minimal monthly charge. It would set a difference from the other public servers. The public servers being more of an "intramural" game play where anyone can join and it's very casual. The registered servers would be more team-focused, actual sport servers. Something beyond the casual experience.

It looks like the problem is the 2 types of players sharing the same servers. Some just want to whore vehicles/grief and others want a great team-experience. It'd be good to brainstorm how we can cater to both audiences, as it would improve everyone's game play.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Post by **Nickbond592** » 2007-03-11 19:11

register only i'm liking the sound of but pay-to-play, no thankyou.
even if it is a miniscule amount of money i dont see the idea taking off

Demio · Post by **Demio** » 2007-03-11 19:11

Sounds interesting but I don't think it's feasible.

What I would suggest is create a weekly tournament, or get together with select people from the community. I think that would work the best.

It would be almost impossible to enforce the $1/mo idea.

wasserfaller · Post by **wasserfaller** » 2007-03-11 19:11

not sure if my opinion matters, but i would say maybe require to join your website if you have one. Then you could pass out a new password every two weeks or so that only forum members could view.

It would probably limit the smacktards, and you could keep better tabs on people. Unless funding is an issue, i don't think it's a good idea to charge for it. Hardly anyone would probably join it because

a) most are kids
b)unless you have the best server around, not many will probably do it
c)people will just move on to other servers

At least find a solution that doesn't involve payment, the people who really enjoy playing will simply join the forum and get the password, they will at least be more devoted to playing than the general smacktard.

El_Vikingo · Post by **El_Vikingo** » 2007-03-11 19:17

Some REALLY good players might not trust YOU!

Post by **Rhino** » 2007-03-11 19:25

lol, if you did do that you would make quite abit of money if enouth players went for it. I wouldnt mind 64$+ /month, would almost cover the server costs

but if you really wanted this, just make a passworeded server then let all the good players know about it, what we did for v0.4s release.

LiquidSnake · Post by **LiquidSnake** » 2007-03-11 19:36

I'm pretty angered about people who think that young players are "teh kiddz" which just learned how to walk. I think there are lots of young people which are good teamplayers or at least try to do good teamwork.
And now you come with your 1$ / month idea with credit card payment just to keep young players off your server, because some teenagers acted like little children?
I myself am 14yrs old and am always anxious to do some good teamwork, and btw my voice isn't qeeky at all

.

El_Vikingo · Post by **El_Vikingo** » 2007-03-11 19:49

Could some one make a age poll on the forums.

e.g.
between 5years and 10years.
between 10 years and 15 years
between 15 years and 18 years.
between 18 years and 29 years
29 and above. (not calling anyone "old"

)

NavalLord · Post by **NavalLord** » 2007-03-11 20:55

The best thing to do is have an official PR server, or something like that, and have it password protected. Then have a thread on these forums with the server info and password. Most of the idiots wouldn't come on here to get the password so it would be mostly forumers.

El_Vikingo · Post by **El_Vikingo** » 2007-03-11 21:06

Maybe one of the 10,000 members we have registered?!

Again, which continent? ( i vote europe)

This has been suggested before (by me!) some time ago, and the idea was sort of flamed, so let the flaming begin!!

Vicktor Vauhn · Post by **Vicktor Vauhn** » 2007-03-11 21:27

I think its an awesome idea, I mean, you have to want it....yet its only a buck...who cares a buch can't even buy a bottle of soda now a days...

Problem is getting a server going can be hard enough as it is...and while I don't even care about paying a buck a month I honestly wouldn't. It sounds great, but I just wont be bothered when I can just go play another server. (I think you would find most others to be the same).

huleboeren · Post by **huleboeren** » 2007-03-11 21:59

I like the idea of dedicated players
But us, good ones are not enough

The server would never fill up :S

jackal22 · Post by **jackal22** » 2007-03-11 22:01

e.g.
between 5years and 10years.
between 10 years and 15 years
between 15 years and 18 years.
between 18 years and 29 years
29 and above. (not calling anyone "old" )

*cough ancient cough*

j/k

the only problem with all register type systems is that you would have to be registered on about 8 different forums to use the most full servers, now i wouldnt minds signing up to a few but i dont want my inbox getting spammed under by normal activation emails and the such.

You also introduce the problem that the servers will be nearly empty, or at a state of about 32 ish. You will never have a 64 player server which has a pass on it. There are just not enough players in a certain load of time zones to make it work.

Which in turn takes away from the fun. Granted i dont like to see some smacktard crash the little bird as soon as they get in, stranding the whole team, but i would rather take that then playing with 10 people on a 64 server.

Silens.Intro · Post by **Silens.Intro** » 2007-03-11 22:14

I really do think we should get together a few if not one "Official" server... Requiring a password and supported by the community (forums).
I wouldn't personally mind paying $1 or $2 for a smacktard noobie vanilla trolling free server.
Perhaps setup a price basis for basic (only password) and premium (administrative controls) to help pay for the server (not to waste/steal your money).

The biggest question though, is where will the server be located?

Post by **Ghostrider** » 2007-03-11 23:23

vanity wrote:I'm trying to brainstorm ideas to cut down on the players who's only goal is to lone wolf, grief others, and steal vehicles. They really don't add anything to the game and I'm thinking many of them are probably fairly young.

So what about having a handful of register-use $1/mo servers. Pretty much everyone can afford $1/mo but the costing of it would require a credit card, something these kids don't have. And I really don't think their parent's will let them use the family credit card for a game. They could steal their parent's anyway but that's not really our problem anymore.

I'd prefer to see more servers going to register-only and/or a minimal monthly charge. It would set a difference from the other public servers. The public servers being more of an "intramural" game play where anyone can join and it's very casual. The registered servers would be more team-focused, actual sport servers. Something beyond the casual experience.

It looks like the problem is the 2 types of players sharing the same servers. Some just want to whore vehicles/grief and others want a great team-experience. It'd be good to brainstorm how we can cater to both audiences, as it would improve everyone's game play.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Your idea, I believe, doesnt sound good, even on paper. Not every young person behaves the way you describe. We even have underaged people in the dev team (which I doubt you would've noticed in the first place).

The mod is free, and everyone (even those without credit cards) should be able to enjoy it to the max (team play, squad tactics, etc..) without having to pay a single dime in order to access a "Team Play Server" or whatever you may want to call it.

If you want to start your own server following that logic, then do as you please..it would be your own empty server because there're many good well admined servers....free of charge.

If someone really wants to spoil it, I doubt they would care to pay your $1mo bill in order to enter your server and make their TKs more rewarding, since they know that their victims had to pay to enter and they would be pissed as hell.

Your logic also implies that you would need to pay $1mo for EVERY server that you would like to play on....which is, to say the least, completely ridiculous.

If you want to keep the TKers and other unwanted visits out of servers, just make sure to ban them using their GUIDs. Yeah, they can get around that, only by buying another copy of BF2, and its far more rewarding for an admin to GUID ban a TKer that must keep buying copies of the game just to enter to a server.

In short, I believe your idea is well intentioned (noone wants these kinds of players around), but I think your solution is not the best and would hardly avoid the problem. It would just make the unwanted visit's havok more rewarding for themselves, among other things.

-Ghost

kurtmax_0 · Post by **kurtmax_0** » 2007-03-12 00:16

The problem with a paying server or a passworded server is that people could get turned away. Even people that want to play with teamwork. Basically, all the people using teamwork and not being asshats would be on the restricted servers, and any new people would only see people flipping little birds off carriers and driving away in the only jeep leaving the rest of the team behind...

Post by **Ghostrider** » 2007-03-12 00:21

A paying server does not solve anything. It will only make matters worse.

-Ghost

Cerberus · Post by **Cerberus** » 2007-03-12 01:15

What about a... PASSWORDED server?

Post by **Ghostrider** » 2007-03-12 02:04

Cerberus wrote:What about a... PASSWORDED server?

That could work...but then again you would need to post the password in the forums here, and threads get lost in time and stuff. If a thread with a server password gets lost, or there're so many that people cant find them, then the hassle will be greater than any gain we could achieve from passwording them.

-Ghost