> Your cite Skial as an example, but what you fail to realize is that those large server groups only have those large number of servers because they are/were trying to use the quickplay system as a source of profit over and above their "expenses", NOT as a response to the natural growth in their "communities."
> Now, I'm not looking down my nose at Skial (I don't really know anything about them) You say you aren't "looking down your nose at Skial" then admit you "don't really know anything about" Skial, then make false claims such as being powered by cheap VPS? We never opened more servers than we can fill, and when they don't fill they get removed. All of our servers get filled every day. If this isn't being grown "organically" then I don't know what is. You can't say that for every other example of "quickplay farms" cited on this mailing list. 15 of our servers aren't even on quickplay, and we hosted 3 tf2lobby servers at our expense (they make pretty much nothing). So please don't make false claims about something you don't know about. This is why Valve can't take this mailing list seriously. If you have some strange notion that we are stealing players that belong to you or that we shouldn't open new servers because half the players don't have our clan tag, you should correct that belief until someone at Valve says that is the only appropriate way to run 3rd party servers. On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Jason Tango <[email protected]> wrote: > Your cite Skial as an example, but what you fail to realize is that those > large server groups only have those large number of servers because they > are/were trying to use the quickplay system as a source of profit over and > above their "expenses", NOT as a response to the natural growth in their > "communities." > > In other words - those kinds of communities did not grow "organically", > starting with just enough servers to support their current membership, and > adding servers as their community grew. They threw up those huge numbers of > servers as nothing more than "quickplay ad farms", turning the playerbase > into little more than disposable ad impressions. Do you honestly think any > of those groups have the massive community membership necessary to require > 80+ servers? Of course not. > > Do you see the distinction? > > There are server operators who have slowly and consistently grown their > server "regulars", adding to their server fleets as both their membership > and funding permitted, and there are those that simply threw up high-volume > "quickplay honey pot" fleets of ad-farms/servers with the intent of turning > the players into an easy source of profit. > > Now, I'm not looking down my nose at Skial (I don't really know anything > about them), or any other of these large server fleets, BUT - the fact is > that most new players first few experiences with the game will be through > quickplay, and the vast number of these ad-farms (many of which were hosted > by the hundreds on cheap, under-powered VPS servers) are/were giving these > players a very negative first impression of the game. > > While I don't necessarily agree with HOW Valve has fixed the problem (as I > think it stinks that ALL server operators have to be made to suffer due to > the actions of those abusing the system), I'm certainly glad Valve is > taking steps to at least insure new players don't think that these > ad-infested servers are the way ALL servers are run. > > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 21:24:00 +0100 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [hlds] An open letter to Valve about MOTDs > > > Forced in-game ads are evil. > > > > You’ve already paid for the game, why watch ads? > > > > There never was such a problem until quickplay and motd allowing video. > > > > Build a good community and likable servers, and you shall have your money > through donations. We haven’t done it any differently in the past 15 years > and we’re still doing so today. > > > > People are willing to donate bits for a fun community to play at who has > their own servers up and running. > > > > The whole problem here is quickplay, you have tons of people roaming > around random servers without an real good opportunity to bind them to your > community. Before people would search for likable servers and add them to > their favorites. These people would then return and start to get familiar > with other people at the servers. This allowed for great community building. > > > > Unfortunately I don’t expect VALVe ever to turn off quickplay. That’s why > I think communities will slowly start to die out. > > > > I can remember days where 90% of the players in a server had a > clan/community tag In front of their name, nowadays you barely ever see > them. > > > > Saint K. > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Supreet > *Sent:* Thursday, November 07, 2013 7:58 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [hlds] An open letter to Valve about MOTDs > > > Valve, > Listen. People make good money off of running their TF2 servers. Moreover, > it helps them pay for the servers. > Why don't you just take all our liberty away, pull an EA and cut dedicated > servers and host them all yourself? > Quickplay has only been beneficial to free to play players or what I like > to call "Window Gamers". They try a game because its free then after a > while they leave the game because they're bored of hopping on random > servers through quick play and finding ads everywhere. > The liberty and freedom of browsing through a server list was an amazing > idea so you should keep to it. > Your quick play scoring system is pretty stupid and flawed. Why? Because > its HEAVILY BIASED. > Over time, there's just been servers that get a behemoth influx of players > and and the quick play system starts favoring them. Therefore, ignoring the > possibility of any potentially better servers people might like if they > ended up on them. > You should really consider stopping your shenanigans. You can't make up > your own mind Valve. You released an update months ago with vague release > notes about the removal of HTML motds then you modified it and now you just > released another update. > If you really cared about the game server operators, you would remove this > bs "tweak" and give server operators the liberty to use methods to recovery > money to cover costs and pocket money for their efforts. > OR > Build a better dedicated server that doesn't eat up so many resources so > server operators don't have to pay $30 a month for a single server to a > hosting company. There are communities that run great servers and multiple > of them. Imagine the frikkin cost of servers Skial has to deal with, with > their massive 80 something servers. > These ads help pay for these expensive DDoS protected servers hosted by > big communities. > A lot of concerned people have offered their tiny bits of tweaks and > solutions to your update but it will never stop. > Either pull an EA and remove MOTDs overall, doom us all so we can get some > closure and move on LOL or let server operators have the freedom to run > their server the way they want. > Why don't you just work with the ad companies and get them to make a > variable that tells the quickplay system read if the server is ad enabled, > or maybe through sv_tags and DEDUCT score off of quickplay. > It'll make all the complaining kids happy. 50% less chance I'll end up on > an ad enabled server. > Many thanks and regards. > Please contribute to this discussion in a professional and cognitively > inclined manner and refrain from being monkeys yelling at each other on the > mailing list. > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your > list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hlds > >
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