Server hosts: Why do you lock your servers?

[159th_Viper]

Good job Viper et al for getting a separate place to further this dialogue :)

 

A first step:thumbup:

 

A first step indeed :thumbup:

 

Thanx to EvilBivol-1 and the ED Team for giving the go-ahead for extra 'space' so to speak - let's use it well.

[Steel Jaw]

My online squad has plenty of members to fill flights, no need at all to open to nor invite the public.

[Cali]

My online squad has plenty of members to fill flights, no need at all to open to nor invite the public.

 

Well good for your squad :thumbup: However there are lots of people that don't have the time nor want to join a squad. There are also squads that don't have a server or like to fly in others. Once again Mower comes through for everyone :D

[Insanatrix]

My online squad has plenty of members to fill flights, no need at all to open to nor invite the public.

 

Useful information, thanks for sharing..................

 

 

Seems like a good initiative towards getting a more open multiplayer community. One thing I run into alot is that TS info usually isn't given in the mission briefing. Usually if it is I try to log on to it.

[Panzertard]

Well good for your squad :thumbup: However there are lots of people that don't have the time nor want to join a squad. There are also squads that don't have a server or like to fly in others. Once again Mower comes through for everyone :D

 

hehe, okai - don't jump throats just quite yet you two.

 

I have to agree with Cali - there's plenty of times when it's nice to just go jump in and fly on a random server - no obligations, no Teamspeak. And yes, it's the 'other end of the spectrum' if you compare it to Squad-flying.

With Ka-50 it was easier to do this - STP servers always presented such an option. Text only was enough to say hello and fly casual.

 

Still, with the squad you have that other experience of MP and online gaming. It's the lads you know, it's a bit more formal, a bit more planning.

It takes a bit more work in general.

Sometimes - it's very nice to not have to do all of the preparing - jsut go fly for 30 mins or an hour. With strangers.

 

We do need both types of environments if the DCS community is going to thrive.

[Steel Jaw]

We do pick up flights and random stuff as well. But the advantage is everyone is on the same SOP and protocols. I have seen too many yahoos on the public servers. You ought to be directing your hostility towards them.

[Insanatrix]

To each their own, I'm not saying I haven't seen "Yahoo's" before but I try not to let 1 or 2 people make me feel ill about the rest.

[Grimes]

in that a MP enviornment, (irrelevant of Genre), success requires co-ordination in a unified purpose to achieve the Mission Goal. Take out 'any' form of comms, be that chat or the preferred (for obvious reasons) voice, and it's just a free for all, with the 'possibility' that the mission might just get achieved. Take BFBC2 for example. No co-ordination at all on any of the open maps, yet the mission goals are met by either side by virtue of sheer numbers and the 'fest' attitude.

 

Mmm, not diggin that example, and here is why.

Bad Company 2 has more features built into the game to effectively communicate a mission objective compared to Digital Combat Simulator. Even BC2's stripped down UI in "hardcore" mode has more features.

 

In BC2, the mission goals are completed by the fact that all players have a functioning UI indicating where the objective is and its current status. Furthermore squad spawn heavily influences the definition of where and what an individual's current objective is. Additionally there are player defined visual and audio cues built into the game to give players information to make better decisions, think spotting enemies or calling for medic. And lets not forget the overall level design that is tweaked to the point that players attention and movement naturally focus on objectives. So in reality, text or voice chat are not the only means available to players to effectively communicate mission objectives. I'm not saying everything else is a replacement, rather the supplement other forms of communication.

 

In the context of the A-10 we have a few non-VOIP or chat based forms of communication and most of them are context sensitive. The context being players know how the systems work, that they know they should be using a specific system and the time of day. These communications are:

-LSS for a buddy lase

-IR pointer at night with night vision

-Broadcasting SPI

-Sending Datalink targets

-JTAC

-Smoke

and last but not least the default waypoints given to a player.

 

Personally I'd like to be given more options. For instance, if the radio menu had gameplay relevant communications for multiplayer, the need for VOIP to be the sole effective means of practical communication would be diminished. Alot of useful info is already there, for example the AI saying "Guns guns guns" whenever they fire their Gau-8 in singleplayer or everything else they can say. What if in multiplayer the same thing happened for players? *gasp* effective communication between players who do not share a common language or are not currently on the same VOIP client could be achieved.

 

@Mower, where the blast do you see yahoos? I've only seen whippersnappers.

[Cali]

Mower knows I'm just giving him a hard time. It's nice to have a squad that you can do that with. But fighting the AI gets boring, at least to me. It is a nice change from flying online against human players where you have a mind and not programmed. I would love to see Mower's squad fly online in a public server when more aircrafts come out for DCS.

[Boberro]

I see again TS discussion so... ehkm forcing TS is not the way. Client should enter TS because he wants it, not because he is being forced. Good there are no only 2-3 servers to choose from.

What if I entered TS and would mute all? :D

[Cali]

I don't have a problem joining TS or vent, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. Sometimes you just want to fly by yourself and not hear anyone else talking. Or if I'm only flying 1 sortie, it's pointless for me to hop in comms. I would say it is very nice being on comms with other pilots. That is the best exprience you can have in multiplayer---cordinated attacks/strikes, set up CAP's and other stuff.

[159th_Viper]

My online squad has plenty of members to fill flights, no need at all to open to nor invite the public.

 

Each to their own - fair enough.

 

We requested all admins/server admins to provide their server when not in official squad use for general use to the betterment of the public MP environment. If yours is ongoing 24/7 for Squad-exclusive activity, fair enough.

 

As said - it's not about the numbers/a popularity contest. It's about providing a service by the Community for the Community.

[Steel Jaw]

What if I entered TS and would mute all? :D

 

 

 

:megalol:

[Steel Jaw]

If yours is ongoing 24/7 for Squad-exclusive activity.

 

That is up to Command, I am not saying yes or no to the issue. Snoopy has posted on that in another thread, the poll of servers.

[Boberro]

 

 

:megalol:

 

LMAO, good one :D

But to be more precise, you are obligated to enter TS, not to speak or listen :lol:

[WH_Boomer]

We requested all admins/server admins to provide their server when not in official squad use for general use to the betterment of the public MP environment. If yours is ongoing 24/7 for Squad-exclusive activity, fair enough.

 

As said - it's not about the numbers/a popularity contest. It's about providing a service by the Community for the Community.

 

 

We'd be glad to do so once this issue is addressed:

Server disappears from list but is still available in History

 

I'm sure there are more people than just us who have a similar problem, which would explain the low number of visible servers at any given time.

[Mazinger]

I try to keep my server as long as possible without a password, even though newbies who are connected.

[Jona33]

 

 

:megalol:

 

That happens to me a lot. :(

 

:D

[Frostie]

All I see is locked servers in DCS World, so much potential for expanding the community is wasted by locked servers.

 

New guys go looking for flights and all they see are a small collection of open servers with varying pings and a glut of locked ones with no information regarding how they could actually get into those servers. I can see only one thing happening here, new guys giving up and shifting their focus onto something else.

 

With no official set of servers from ED surely the squads who see themselves a the pinnacle of DCS should be setting up their servers feeling a duty to help out the community and fuel growth and learning to all the new guys who simply have no clue about squad forums etc.

 

If you feel the need to lock down your server for some hardcore action then so be it but if your not which will probably be most of the time then why not help the community and open up your servers and enlighten the new guys into the real world and potential that DCS can bring.

I'm pretty sure we'd see a boost in numbers not only in servers but signing up to squads and with that new squads develop and so the community grows thanks to server owners support, that is how it works around here, keeping everything locked down and you'll end up with very few to play with.

[Double_D]

We'd be glad to do so once this issue is addressed:

Server disappears from list but is still available in History

 

I'm sure there are more people than just us who have a similar problem, which would explain the low number of visible servers at any given time.

 

VTA-Virtual Tuskegee Airmen is available to pulic without passwords always but unfortunately it is mostly at this time for Formation Practise ... but will be changing this shortly...in process of making some mission and will collect some missions that are offered here...

[Dejjvid]

Masterarms.se lock our servers for 3 reasons.

 

Our goal is to have a Swedish combat flight community.

We want the members to be on TS.

We want our members to follow our SOP's.

 

Master arms have existed for almost a year now, and we have a thriving DCS and BMS section with some top notch players. So we will probably continue on this path.

 

But we fly with people from all over the world on a regular basis, both in DCS and BMS.

And when we're not flying squad only, we often host open servers. And next week I plan to host an open Ka-50 training session that anyone can join if they want help.

[sorcer3r]

We had some unlocked servers online for some days after the last dcs world release... or at least we tried it.

Too many disconnects. Still not stable. ( and now 2 of our servers are back to bms)

 

just wait for next stable dcs release and there should be more publuc servers online.

[BIGNEWY]

9th -=Shrek=- server has a password and will always

 

Join us on TS and chat ( we don't bite -details on our website in my signature )

get server password

fly and have fun

[badger66]

Anti-social behaviour , In 2 months Ive witnessed it 2 times , even flying on our squad server , doesnt happen very much at all in my opinion .

 

I feel , with all the changes , from original to world , and other changes that have come out , most of the geeks have been left behind , so I dont really think keeping your server locked for that reason , is valid anymore . We dont keep our server locked , ever , and we dont get any issues at all .

 

And if you do get the odd one , kick him out . Why do the rest of us have to suffer for something that rarely happens these days .

 

Anti-social behaviour = Lame excuse !!! ..... I think you lock them , because you can .

Edited July 24, 2012 by badger66

[HiJack]

I have changed the network settings to LAN on my dedicated server and it seams a bit better now in fact. At least there were 15 players online there tonight who looked as it was a good time.

 

EDIT: But I got a 100/10 Mbit line so I can count for the LAN setting.

EDIT2: And my server is NOT locked!

 

(HJ)