Fallout Studios Forums

A debate that arose last night was whether to lock the server or leave it open for randoms to come in.

Pro randomers = The server fills up quicker, and games are sometimes more enjoyable with more people. With more people it also means that the server can stay populated longer with people coming in and leaving at any pace.

Cons = Randoms are sometimes, well, shit at playing and can ruin the chances of one team's success. As TheDr quite rightly pointed out, there's no point having a specialised TF2 day for FS and it's regulars, if the server isn't dedicated to just our playing. If the server fills up on randoms, FS players can not get in.

What I propose, and what I see other servers employ, is reserved slots. If the server fills up full of randoms, one will be kicked for an FS player to join. If enough FS players join then we have the server all to ourselves, if not, the spare spaces are filled with randomers who are kicked any time a regular to TF2 tuesdays wants to play. It doesn't solve all problems, but it helps to keep the TF2 tuesday dedicated to us if we want to play, as well as allowing anyone else who wants to get involved a chance to play too. It helps us to feel all exclusive too.
Edited by Duo Maxwell, 30 June 2010 - 09:30.

This isn't a debate that arose last night, this is an old debate that i thought was sorted. The way it has worked so far is that if we don't manage to get a good 5v5 game then i open the server, let a few people in and close it again. That means the FS population of the server will outnumber the random population, which generally leads to some good games.

We don't need reserved slots, we just kick a random person out if someone really wants to join, but that rarely happens anyway.
I think our main problem is that not enough people want to play TF2 anymore. The question we should be asking is "Why have we got a TF2 server when we can't even fill it with a 5v5 game once a week?".

However, before we even touch this issue, we should go back to sort out the custom map situation which never got resolved.

 Duo Maxwell, on 30 Jun 2010, 10:29, said:

Good luck convincing the admins to do so, I already failed twice in my attempt to
Edited by CJ, 30 June 2010 - 12:26.

 CJ, on 30 Jun 2010, 13:25, said:

I dont understand why not. If anything it's less hassle than having to kick a randomer every time a regular wants in.

And Dr, if you were debating it last night then it's still an issue isn't it? And it needs to be resolved.

As it stands, the server gets little traffic aside from on tuesday nights. This is because it is never started off available to the public. The server is locked when used the most, and the server is unlocked when everyone leaves. The server never gains traffic because it is rarely available to the public when there are more people playing the server, and thus it doesnt attract players because when it is available, the server is near enough empty. I know I would use the server more if it were near full more often.
Edited by Duo Maxwell, 30 June 2010 - 12:55.

 Duo Maxwell, on 30 Jun 2010, 13:49, said:

Ok, lets define our goals for the server. My goal for the server is to have a place where Fallout Studios members and their friends can relax and have fun in a controlled environment. Yours seems to be "Lets attract more random people to the server to keep it populated". We have had no members successfully move from being a random in the server to becoming a regular member on the forums. So attracting more random members to the sever and having the server populated more often seems like a waste of time and effort. I fully understand your point but i disagree with your proposed idea for what the server stands for.

People also don't stay in the server even if we do have the server open on a Tuesday, this is to do with many reasons but one of the main reasons is because of custom maps, people can't be bothered to download custom maps and thus leave. Which brings me back to the point of sorting out our custom map situation before we even touch this one.

Touché

Well we already have regular TF2 Tuesday-ers that havent even checked the forum already...last night was a special case in which we had only 6 ppl (im counting regulars mind you) and I started whining/bitching/call it whatever that we should keep the server always open unless we have more than enough regulars. If we open the server a couple of randomers will join, then its pointless to lock it up again as randomers randomly join and leave.

 TheDR, on 30 Jun 2010, 15:31, said:

That's assuming the only purpose of FS is the forums. The server can be fun in its own right and have its own set of regulars without them ever setting foot on the forums.

Agreed with Dr that the map issue needs to be resolved first.

I will put forward that I like the idea of reserved slots. Locking and unlocking the server isn't really conducive to getting a player's crowd. That, and having a wider variety of players can't hurt. The thing is, we can't just go giving them out to everyone who asks for one. We'd need to figure out who would get those slots.

My 2 cents.