Need I remind you, or anyone else, that ads weren't the sole problem. The big problem was some large server farms sending false player information to the master server, and servers not following quickplay rules.
On 3 September 2015 at 19:10, E. Olsen <[email protected]> wrote: > "While there were many good servers out there too, the bad servers grew >> in number until the situation became untenable. Extra things were done by >> Valve to try to stem the flow of Greedy Little Server Operators and all >> their methods of trying to cheat the system. What should have been a case >> of good servers thriving and bad servers dying became the opposite. The >> cheating scumbags were the ones thriving and so - from the player >> perspective - the game sucked." > > > Agreed - however, killing the patient to kill the cancer certainly isn't > how they should have gone about it. Since those ads are/were so open to > abuse, what they should have done is simply disable the ability for them to > function all together. If they did that, the profit-motive would have been > removed, and the "true" communities that were actually supported by their > members would have continued to grow and thrive (and the ancillary benefits > that comes from that would have continued unabated as well, such as new > maps, game modes, mods, etc.) > > The fact is, even if those truly awful MOTD ads didn't exist (and make no > mistake, I wish they had never been invented), the current UI design is > horribly slanted towards preventing new players from discovering anything > outside of a Valve server, and while that may not be of concern to you, > even if my community did not exist, I would prefer it if the game could > continue to grow beyond the confines of the "Vanilla" experience. > > I don't think asking for change is akin to acting "entitled" as your post > suggests. Does Valve owe server operators anything? In a purely business > sense, no....but if we're talking about what's right and wrong, then I > would absolutely say that, yes - Valve chose the easy wrong over the hard > right in their treatment of community servers, and that is something I will > continue to advocate that they fix. > > On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 1:44 PM, Kit Parenteau <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Here's a little interesting take on this (Not directed at anybody in >> particular, just at the concept in general)... >> >> There are some Bad Apples amongst the community server folks. Community >> servers were meant to enhance the game experience for the players. Instead >> we have operators whose only goal is to drag in as many clients as possible >> for their ad impression, even if it's "cheating" both the players and ad >> company by playing ads invisibly in the background. >> >> While there were many good servers out there too, the bad servers grew in >> number until the situation became untenable. Extra things were done by >> Valve to try to stem the flow of Greedy Little Server Operators and all >> their methods of trying to cheat the system. What should have been a case >> of good servers thriving and bad servers dying became the opposite. The >> cheating scumbags were the ones thriving and so - from the player >> perspective - the game sucked. >> >> Because of all the worms and bugs living in the apple barrel, Valve had >> to do what it did. They -are- a business, which means that yes, their goal >> is to make money, and yes, if the community servers were preventing that, >> then action would be taken. And it was. And the whining and groaning was >> heard by many of the worms who could no longer feast on ad impressions. >> >> Now, mind you, not all of the whining was heard by worms. Some >> legitimate, quality server operators had trouble too. However the end >> result is simple: >> >> Nobody should be running a community server to try to make a profit. If >> they are doing so, they have to realize that it's officially a business and >> may fail. Bad business plan? Crappy user experience? Not interesting enough >> to hold users' attention? *Poof!* Bye! As long as the net result to Valve >> from community servers is negative, they will not fix it. >> >> From the cynical side, the people who are doing just fine with their >> community servers are sitting back and thrilled that the worms are >> suffering. They're seeing people saying "OMG! IMMA SHUT DOWN MAH SERVER!" >> and laughing that these people think Valve care. If the server does not >> create a positive experience and bring Valve money, then why in the world >> should Valve care? They are not here to create free ways for people to make >> an income. So, from the cynical side, please, stop whining about how you'll >> shut down your servers. Shut them down and begone. Let the people who are >> doing fine live in peace from the inanely incessant prattle, assuming they >> are even on this list when they are doing fine. >> >> From the pragmatic side: If the server costs you too much money and you >> don't want to spend it, then don't. You don't owe Valve the server and they >> don't owe you anything either. Since you're not getting a bone from them, >> stop hurting yourself and your pocketbook. Shut down. Move on. There is a >> great big world out there and you should be awesome enough to stop beating >> your head against a brick wall. >> >> TL;DR version: >> Don't say that you're going to quit. Just do it. Don't cling to false >> hopes. Move on. Be happier. >> >> Good luck to all. >> >> On 9/3/2015 12:58 AM, Rowedahelicon wrote: >> >> To be honest I forgot they even said it, and I'm usually way on top of >> this stuff. I've been preparing to close down my servers if I can't figure >> out a good advertising campaign, the silence has gotten deafening. >> >> On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 12:05 AM, HD <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> They won’t reply, nor will anything be changed with Valve servers. >>> >>> Personally I’d like to see the amount of them cut in half and I believe >>> the suggestion was to remove it from defaults after a specified amount of >>> time played but as I said…never happen. >>> >>> >>> >>> Replying as you did just makes me feel like something will happen, kinda >>> like waiting for a unicorn to appear. >>> >>> >>> >>> *From:* [email protected] [mailto: >>> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Alexander Corn >>> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 02, 2015 11:57 PM >>> *To:* Half-Life dedicated Win32 server mailing list >>> *Subject:* Re: [hlds] Community Servers and the Gun Mettle Update >>> >>> >>> >>> >We agree this is not ideal. We are continuing the look at the situation >>> with community servers and how we can better support passionate >>> communities, but currently have nothing to announce. >>> >>> So how's it coming? It's been a few months now and as usual, nothing has >>> happened. I know that as without being a server op, I would find Valve >>> servers distasteful. There's something about being votekicked for killing >>> players on the other team that just makes the gameplay experience >>> unsatisfactory. >>> >>> >>> >>> Thanks, >>> >>> Alexander "Dr. McKay" Corn >>> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 5:22 PM, John Schoenick < >>> <[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Hey guys, with today's update we're introducing a few new features that >>> will impact servers, and I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. >>> >>> There is a new quickplay category, featured, that represents the >>> featured maps for a given campaign. In order to have your server in this >>> category, you need to be running the mapcycle mapcycle_featured_maps.txt, >>> and have the special string 'featured' in your quickplay tags. >>> >>> Today's update also introduces contracts, which currently require >>> players be on official servers to complete. Unfortunately, our current >>> setup makes it very difficult to restrict features like this other than in >>> an all-or-nothing manner, and we determined this was necessary to protect >>> the system from immediate abuse. >>> >>> We agree this is not ideal. We are continuing the look at the situation >>> with community servers and how we can better support passionate >>> communities, but currently have nothing to announce. >>> >>> - JohnS >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> *Matthew (Rowedahelicon) Robinson* >> Web Designer / Artist / Writer >> Website - http://www.rowedahelicon.com/ >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > 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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