John Carmack Says No Dedicated Servers for Rage

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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John Carmack Says No Dedicated Servers for Rage


More bad news, PC gamers: John Carmack, the Big Brain at Rage [http://www.idsoftware.com] probably won't offer support for dedicated servers.

When internet petition [http://www.infinityward.com/] against the move is currently sitting at nearly 185,000 signatures. Despite the best efforts of Infinity Ward, it was widely seen as yet another example of the "dumbing down" of videogaming in favor of people who get confused when they're confronted with more buttons than they have fingers on one hand.

But now it sounds like Infinity Ward won't be alone in forsaking the mouse-and-keyboard set: No less a luminary than John Carmack himself said recently that id would probably follow the same path with Rage, its newest project. "It's not cast in stone yet, but at this point no, we don't think we will have dedicated servers," he told Variety [http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/11/dedicated-servers-and-rage-news-you-probably-dont-want-to-hear.html].

He also sounded thankful that Infinity Ward is blazing this particular trail, so he won't have to. "The great thing is we won't have to be a pioneer on that," he continued, apparently mindful of the fact that the decision won't be a popular one. "We'll see how it works out for everyone else."

This one stings a bit. Infinity Ward did a great job with Modern Warfare but Carmack is - or was - "one of us." Is it possible that he's right - that dedicated servers are a "remnant" of days gone by and have no place in contemporary gaming? John Carmack is a groundbreaking genius and I'm really not looking to start an argument with the man but simplicity aside, I honestly don't see the benefit of dropping dedicated server support. How does it make the experience better for anyone?


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John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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John Carmack is one of the people who made PC gaming what it is today. Few people know the platform better, I'd wager.

So it's really interesting to see him saying this.
 

uppitycracker

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Oct 9, 2008
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The beginning of the end.... IW really is setting a new standard, that is essentially screwing over the same people that made them what they are today. Good job, IW, alienating us PC gamers and standardizing the console experience on PC.
 

Frank_Sinatra_

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Dec 30, 2008
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CantFaketheFunk said:
John Carmack is one of the people who made PC gaming what it is today. Few people know the platform better, I'd wager.

So it's really interesting to see him saying this.
Could it be a sign to PC gamers to accept change for the good and bad?
 

MasterSqueak

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May 10, 2009
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Frank_Sinatra_ said:
CantFaketheFunk said:
John Carmack is one of the people who made PC gaming what it is today. Few people know the platform better, I'd wager.

So it's really interesting to see him saying this.
Could it be a sign to PC gamers to accept change for the good and bad?
No. I don't even know who he is.
 

Powerman88

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Dec 24, 2008
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John Carmak hasn't REALLY been relevant since the early 90's. He really reminds me of the kid from Grandma's Boy. What was the famous quote from him? Something to the effect of "Plot in videogames is like plot in porn; its expected but not important."
 

Jaranja

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Jul 16, 2009
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I'm a PC Gamer and I really don't care, if things change, things change.
 

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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uppitycracker said:
The beginning of the end.... IW really is setting a new standard, that is essentially screwing over the same people that made them what they are today. Good job, IW, alienating us PC gamers and standardizing the console experience on PC.
I don't think you can blame IW for this. This is the sort of decision you don't make in the span of a month, and from what Carmack said it sounded like they'd been planning on it for a while. This was probably the direction Carmack & Co. decided on themselves. As much as people like to pin the blame on IW (and by extension Activision, since it is obviously The Great Satan and behind everything evil ever), their only sin in this case was probably announcing it first.

Frank_Sinatra_ said:
CantFaketheFunk said:
John Carmack is one of the people who made PC gaming what it is today. Few people know the platform better, I'd wager.

So it's really interesting to see him saying this.
Could it be a sign to PC gamers to accept change for the good and bad?
Probably. I doubt they'll change their minds any time soon.
 

Croaker42

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Feb 5, 2009
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Can you really 'Pioneer' de-evolution. It just sounds like a stupid concept.
"We were the first to run in the wrong direction."
Stop growing fur and give me innovation. It sure as hell beats this simplification BS.
 

Flames66

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Aug 22, 2009
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I'm not quite sure what this means. Does it mean that there are no dedicated server run by the company or that no one can set up a dedicated server?
 

yourbeliefs

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Jan 30, 2009
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Sounds like they're trying to make PC gaming more "mainstream" and more accessible. Honestly I've hated "matchmaking" ever since Halo 2. I was so psyched to finally be able to go online and set up whatever crazy match types I wanted and have people join in on a real central service like XBL and not whacky setup like Gamespy, only to find myself forced into what THEY wanted me to play. I know you could set up private matches, but I didn't feel like having to friend a bunch of people and hope they were up for wacky gaming when I was..
 

Jonny49

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Mar 31, 2009
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Well it certainly does suck to be a hardcore PC gamer right now doesn't it? It's a shame really that this is happening, without Mods and stuff PC gaming would become like console online gaming. Fun for a while, that is until the next game comes out. Mods give life into games and can keep them going for years. But alas, no more.
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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Well, seeing as we don't know exactly what Carmack is going to do he gets the benefit of doubt for now.

Until he starts systematically swatting down any hope of his game's multiplayer being any good at least.

Thought: what's the logical extreme of this kind of progression towards consol-ising Pc games? Does it grind to a halt when if MW2 PC bombs or does it reach a ridiculous point where major a games are simply never released to the PC, with PC gaming made up entirely of pirated console ports modded to deliver a proper multiplayer experience.

It's extreme and unlikely, but it would be interesting to know if any publishers like the idea of abandoning PC sales altogether and just leaving it to the pirates.
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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CantFaketheFunk said:
John Carmack is one of the people who made PC gaming what it is today. Few people know the platform better, I'd wager.

So it's really interesting to see him saying this.
Which simply suggests that there's no need for the whole fuss and the uproar that Infinity Ward had when they made the MW2 announcement. I'm a PC and console gamer, and I honestly can't see why there's so much of a problem with getting rid of dedicated servers. If the company can handle it well enough, as they do for consoles, then the P2P system should be enough to cope alright. And Infinity Ward have now, effectively, been shown to not simply be screwing PC gamers over, but rather, they were simply the first to announce plans that in fact other companies are adopting. I predict this won't be the last announcement we hear in the coming weeks, in fact I'd go so far as to say that I fully expect other developers to follow suit pretty soon...