[OPINION] How To Keep Your Server and Make it Famous

[TheSifodias]

You notice all these lame servers squandering around the play list? Are you hosting a server but don't know how to start it? Do you want your server to repected and famous? Is so, then this is the guide for you!

Let's begin with the 6 essentials of every good server.

- Community: This reflects a lot father than just the fact that your community should be made out of hackers or not. Every server has a special class of people it likes to attract. While obviously this could mean differing nationalities due to time zones, more subtly it refers to player classes. Do you want people who play defensive, such as in Gen War, or do you want people who play aggressiveness Minit US style? Should the players be highly skilled or average/deuce? You can change and alter this community by changing maps and scripts, as well as attracting a broader range of people. But remember, if you manage to stick with a certain group, that group will stay on your server 24/7 versus a whole swarm of people who never stay on any server for too long.

- Administration: Lets just keep it simple: Any good server need TRUSTWORTHY admins. If you fail to find even a single admin who isn't competent enough to launch a perma-ban, than your server will be falling to hackers very quickly. That said, still be very cautious of who you pick for admins, since there a lot of power hungry ones who are just as bad as aimbotters. The best admins come straight from your server's loyal playerbase, but the second best come from the forums. But don't go around posting everywhere you see, we have a specific section for that found here: viewforum.php?f=82

- Location: Face it, if you live in Japan, your server will never reach America, if you live in America, people in China will find it hard to play with you. Your location is an unpreventable factor of what your playerbase is going to end up like. That being said, you should be familiar of what type of people you're going to come into contact with, if any at all.

- Maps: Maps make up the heart of your server, and will be the most complained about factor ever. Luckily, you have an entire map index to choose from as well as new maps coming out almost every week: viewforum.php?f=67. More importantly, your maps should reflect your playerbase, with larger, deeper maps for the offensive player, and smaller, more focused maps for the offensive player. There are three major map categories, each of which reflect game type:

-CTF/TOW maps are famous for being largely expansive with many forms of natural shelter. These maps allow players to tunnel strategically, build roads and forts, and fight at longer ranges. Here's where all intel protecting and building strategies pay off, because in CTF, threats are everywhere, and it pays to consider flanks. Similarly, it pays to station guards in TOW, because an unused command post can easily be reclaimed. These maps favor the defensive rifle player.
- BABEL: While Babel Maps may seem like CTF maps, they have somewhat different intentions. Babel maps are notorious for their open, shallow, flat maps. Players must first set up powerful starting bases to accomplish their ultimate goal: reaching the top of the map. This map type favors the smg and rifle, the smg to take down towers at long range and the rifle to defend buildings. Unlike CTF, there is far less sneaking and hiding due to the open sandbox enviroment.
- ARENA: These maps have no true goal except to kill everyone on the opposing team. For this reason, Arena maps are so intensely focused that most rounds will usually end after 1-2 minutes of fighting. The shotgun reigns supreme in this map, with the smg as a wise secondary.

Scripts: Scripts are basically addons to your server using the pyspades program. Scripts fall into two categories, necessaries and optionals.
- Necessary scripts can only be accessed being an admin or hoster of a server. Many of these, such as the "invisible" and "god" scripts, help your admin escape the battlefield and track down griefers. However, the most important script is the aimbot detection script, which automatically bans hackers if they are suspected to have an aimbot.
- Optional Scripts change how the game works outside of administration. This includes new game modes, such as Zombies, or new addons, such as airstrikes, squads, and beserk mode. These optional scripts should fit in well with the map being played; squads and airstrikes are best for large, open maps, while scripts that change firepower and better in arena maps.

Forums: Good server are always flexible and truly listen to the playerbase. To maintain your server, have a complaint thread or something like that to make sure that you know how the players are feeling. Most importantly, you need an unban thread for those who were unfairly banned or kicked off of your server. Another great aspect of keeping a thread for your forums is that you can talk to players outside of game. You might find potential admins in one of the posts.

Phew, that was a lot of text. So let's summarize this thing:
- Locate and form you server's community.
- Find good admins to ban bad people.
- Your location has an effect on how your server is going to end up like.
- Maps make up the base of your server, so find good ones!
- Scripts are a necessity to your server.
- Keep a responsive forum for your server.

Ok that's it. Sifo's out.

[Tai]

Nice Post.

+1

[TheSifodias]

Thank you.

[IronShotGun]

Very good guide Sif, "Vedy Vedy gud".

[TheSifodias]

Thank you, although this is just a bump.