A new way of serving, A Respawn Server Team Initiative Options

[SirSquidness]

So, we here at the Awesome Server And Comps Team Inc. have been thinking of ways to make Respawn better and more player friendly, and we have an idea we'd like to present to you as a possibility.


We are forever being asked "Can you put up a warmod server for us to practice on?" "Can we have a Dystopia server?" etc. The answer is generally "yeah, sure. Come back in a few minutes" and everyone is happy.

However, we think we can one up this.

The system we are thinking of doing follows something along the lines of the service Game Arena provides, where you are able to book servers, set them up as you please, and run them however you want.

So, as far as you're concerned, you come up and ask us "Can we have a <game> server please?", we'll say "Sure!", click a few buttons, and you can head back to your seat, and either use the default or a pre-set server configuration, or customise to your hearts contempt, possibly even uploading mods and maps to the servers.

So people of Respawn, please decide using the above/below options.
Is this sort of service worth making? Will it be used? What specific features would you want in this sort of thing?



--edit--

I'll clarify a little bit here.

We host the servers for you. You get to open a web page, change a setting or three if you wish, click start, and it'll automatically be set up and run on our servers for you.

You'll be able to change map, settings, etc through the web page, or RCON in game.

We'll provide default configurations, and a variety of configs for some games. You can customise them to your hearts contempt if you so desire.

There may be time restrictions on it, or they may be optional/non-existant. This is yet to be thought about.

If the post isn't clear in some way, feel free to ask for further clarification.

[Jebus]

probably another option should be.. which is where i stand.

"hell yes good idea, as long as someone else is making the server."

but yeah i think there should be a limit to number of servers, so we can get more people on each one.

[SirSquidness]

"hell yes good idea, as long as someone else is making the server."

How do you mean?

That's essentially what is going to happen - you'll just say you want a server of a certain game, we'll give the thumbs up, tick a button on the website, and you'll be able to log on to the website, select which game you want, which map, maybe a few other major settings such as game type, and the rest will be done by our scripts.

[Drakz]

How is this different from me hosting my own flatout2 or ut3 server on my comp?
Less of my local resources? Faster pings for all involved?

[SirSquidness]

It's not. If you know how to do it, and have the right files.

However, we get a few people every event come up to us and ask us "Can you host a 3v3 CoD4 S&D Server?" or "Can you put up a CS:S Warmod practice server?"

They either want the official competition config, they don't know how to do it, don't have the resources to do it, or just can't be bothered.
Given any of these options, this will help them.


It also means there is less likely to be issues - the servers run off what is essentially their own circuit, with (essentially) multiple network connections to the core switch, the servers are very beefy so can take as much punishment as we throw at them. The servers don't have tonnes of useless crap installed, nor do they have any abstract hardware with barely-working drivers to crash them.
So essentially, the servers are as stable as a brick.

But yeah, if you have the knowledge, the software and the computing power to run it, this service will be of very little advantage to you.

[dead_man]

just to let people know that during v12 we had everything running off 1 box and it didnt miss a beat. (max load i think was only 30-40% considering i bring 2 identicle boxes we are just trying to utilise them for the players benifit

im proud to say that respawn probley has the most OVERKILL setup of any lan in VIC, possibly australia

[Danog]

As long as we have The Ship running, I'm happy.

[riskkk]

sounds like a great idea, the one GA provides is quick and easy.

[R4N]

i think the poll was missing an obvious choice.

[the ned]

I like this idea cause it means we aren't stuck on sleepy town lazy land fucking shit night tf2 map for 4 hours (no joke) like we were at respawn 12.

Even just add an RTV function to the tf2 server and i'd be happy.

[djzort]

The biggest hurdle to this is a) writing the software or paying for one.

FF has looked in to a www interface in the past but just ended up giving RDP access to the servers to a select few people who we trust.

I am interested though, would clans be willing to rent a dedicated server at the events? Just use windows remote console stuff and off you go - pre installed with a whole bunch of stuff and some default launcher icons on the desktop.

[SirSquidness]

The biggest hurdle to this is a) writing the software or paying for one.

FF has looked in to a www interface in the past but just ended up giving RDP access to the servers to a select few people who we trust.

I am interested though, would clans be willing to rent a dedicated server at the events? Just use windows remote console stuff and off you go - pre installed with a whole bunch of stuff and some default launcher icons on the desktop.

I think you entirely miss the idea I was trying to express in the OP.

The biggest hurdle, writing the software, isn't as hard as you'd think. I'd actually say the biggest hurdle is getting the time to do it properly

Clans will be freely available to obtain a server from us through the web page. All they need to is check on the EMS how to obtain access to it, open the web page, configure the server how they want and click start. No money involved. No knowledge needed. Just a want for a server.

[djzort]

so youre saying that the hurdle is writing the software?

i didnt say it was hard, just that it was a hurdle

we solved it with RDP, thats my suggestion. please dont see criticism where there is none.

im just offering our experience and am very curious to see what solution you guys go with, and the results.

its great to see innovation happening

[SirSquidness]

The problem with RDP is that since this will be accessible by anyone that asks, anyone can get access to the server. The biggest problem with this is only two people can have a RDP session open at any given time without getting extra terminal services licesnses (this is on windows, anyway. And due to a few reasons, we need to use windows at the LAN).

Not only that, but there is a potential to do a lot more stuff in RDP than there is through a controlled web page. Except for the players I know, I do not trust any player at all. It's not a risk I'm willing to take.

The web page will still let everyone be able to do everything they need to do. Some games will support RCON commands, map changes, etc from the map change.

I'd even hypothesise that locking down the server enough to prevent a user from causing damage would be more work than creating/modifying the game panel.