Why do PC gamers like Dedicated survers so much?

MASTACHIEFPWN

Will fight you and lose
Mar 27, 2010
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Hello!
I am in the process of begining to bring some of my ideas to life, and making them PC games... But for the first game (or second, just depends on how lazy I am...) I want to make it strictly online, sort of like CounterStrike... But, there is one thing I have noticed in my experences in PC gaming... When there are no dedicated survers, people freak. But the thing is, I hate dedicated survers, Only because 90% of the ones I go to are "Knife only" "Shotgun only" or something similer, yes I know there is a tag system in valve's, but half the time they don't label them. From my perspective it would be a whole lot simpler if there was just a match making system.

I can understand modding, and a want to show off what you made, but isn't just the game itself enough?

What I would plan to do is this (if any of it is possible)
Make the main online have a matchmaking system
Make dedicated survers an option, but people would have to pay 2$ or something like that to make it theres, and have all of the rules and crap they want.

But the thing with this is that barley anyone would play the standered matchmaking. Is there something so bad about the actual game that it has to be changed in some way? what is it?

So that is why I turned to you, gamers of the escapist, I want to know why you like (or dislike) dedicated survers! because I really can't see why people hate matchmaking so much.
 

Awexsome

Were it so easy
Mar 25, 2009
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I was under the impression that with dedicated, player supported servers it allowed PC the freedoms that it can take much better advantage of compared to a console. All types of mods and perks that they can add into a game for their server.

The matchmaking mode is more efficient if you just want to play the regular game for me but the extra flexibility is well worth it for the PC's ability to customize and mod things. At least as a mainly console gamer that was my impression.

*edit* ah, yes the host problems when it comes to some games. Forgot about that. Yeah that can definetly be something chalked up in dedicated servers favor too. Although my main game being Halo, Bungie does a superb job with their online when it comes to functionality. Rarely do I run into a problem that wasn't caused by someone else running dial-up on their toaster.
 

FightThePower

The Voice of Treason
Dec 17, 2008
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The modding isn't the reason why dedicated servers are far superior to matchmaking, it's because they give everyone a better connection, elimate host advantage, create communities for players to congregate and they can be more easily policed since you can just call an admin and ban someone who's cheating or being obnoxious/whatever.

Modded servers are irritating when you want to play Vanilla, but that's what Official Servers are for, and allowing modding can extend the life of a game. The only real drawback of dedicated servers is that they're more expensive.
 

TheYellowCellPhone

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Sep 26, 2009
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I like dedicated servers for the fact that:

a. they usually are monitored by mods
b. rules (such as knife only) stay in power, so if you like knife only you know the server to go to, rather than that one moment where everyone cooperated.
c. if you hate that server, go to another one.
d. no more "Host Quit" messages
e. good communities of regulars

That's why I didn't feel that compelled to play multiplayers without dedicated servers.
 

teqrevisited

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Mar 17, 2010
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Dedicated servers tend to build up communities. It's a consistent server where you know if you go on you'll recognize some of the people. With the added bonus of mods etc it's easy to see why PC players prefer dedicated servers. They are freedom.

Matchmaking is just fixed gamemodes. Generally far less customization options in comparison. Typically games with these kinds of restricted systems make you pay out of the nose for anything extra via map packs, extra gamemodes etc, all of which can be made by modders given half the chance.
 

Sabiancym

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Aug 12, 2010
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I always wanted to know why console players put up with playing on some random person's machine...

Dedicated servers = less cheating, more community, more freedom.
 

MASTACHIEFPWN

Will fight you and lose
Mar 27, 2010
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FightThePower said:
The modding isn't the reason why dedicated servers are far superior to matchmaking, it's because they give everyone a better connection, elimate host advantage, create communities for players to congregate and they can be more easily policed since you can just call an admin and ban someone who's cheating or being obnoxious/whatever.

Modded servers are irritating when you want to play Vanilla, but that's what Official Servers are for, and allowing modding can extend the life of a game. The only real drawback of dedicated servers is that they're more expensive.
And you have the drawbacks of unfair hosts, and the ammount of servers there may be makes it difficult to conncect with friends.
 

imperialreign

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Mar 23, 2010
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DSes also allow us the ability to have insane matchups (y'know, those 32v32 fragfests) that aren't always inherently supported by the game's primary executable (anyone remember the glory Quake days of 64v64? :D), not to mention we don't have to worry about our host getting called off to dinner, which foobars the whole match.

server<=>client response times are insanely better, we're not at the mercy of a host's connection, or the amount of BS they have running in the background . . . depending on your connection, and your distance to a DS, ping rates are typically extremelly low.

Instead of someone else's computer having to both render their game, and also coordinate all the background communication that goes on inbetween all the connected computers, a DS doesn't have to waste any clock cycles rendering the current scene . . . it mearly handles the communication.

Plus, it's much easier to impliment 3rd-party anti-cheating software (as the server-side forms of these apps can be rather intensive at times), which keeps gaming extremelly legit. Plus, larger DS (or clan hosted) typically have a few admins, and moderators typically play on said DS frequently, which means if there's ever a player posing a problem, it can be dealt with quickly - without the need for having all the players vote on if someone gets kicked or not.

The only downside to a DS is that you either have to build one yourself and have it run all the time, or you have to pay a nominal fee to a host-server service that "rent" you a server to use.
 

Mcface

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Aug 30, 2009
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match making is much better for people who like to play lonewolf.

also i hate being kicked from servers for being too good.
Believe it or not it happens enough to be noticeable.

Several times on COD Blops a admin has logged on, seen my score, and says "52-8?" and i am removed.
 

Sleekgiant

Redlin5 made my title :c
Jan 21, 2010
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survers

servers :3

Just thought I'd point that out, also I like dedicated for many of the reasons TheYellowCellPhone listed, they make multiplayer much more enjoyable.
 

Kuhkren

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Apr 22, 2009
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A good compromise is Left 4 Dead's system. You can do a quick matchmaking if you want or scroll through a list of servers. Also by typing openserverbrowser into console you can see all the unpopulated ones.
 

MASTACHIEFPWN

Will fight you and lose
Mar 27, 2010
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Sabiancym said:
I always wanted to know why console players put up with playing on some random person's machine...

Dedicated servers = less cheating, more community, more freedom.
They are easy- thats why, just get a couple friends and look for a game, no host rules or anything like that. And the game finds them for you- gives lazy gamers a way to play without searching an hour for a surver they like, making one mistake and being banned forever.
 

imperialreign

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Mar 23, 2010
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TheYellowCellPhone said:
e. good communities of regulars
THIS is a BIG reason in my book, and one that I overlooked.

You'll see a lot of the same players over and over again on a specific server - you start to learn their playing styles, and what they're good at. It creates a very strong "team" aspect, and players are quick to come to each others aid, or act more like a team instead of "every man for himself," even in deathmatch.

I've seen so much more comraderie in the online PC community than I have in the console communities . . .
 

rabidmidget

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Apr 18, 2008
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MASTACHIEFPWN said:
Sabiancym said:
I always wanted to know why console players put up with playing on some random person's machine...

Dedicated servers = less cheating, more community, more freedom.
They are easy- thats why, just get a couple friends and look for a game, no host rules or anything like that. And the game finds them for you- gives lazy gamers a way to play without searching an hour for a surver they like, making one mistake and being banned forever.
You seems to have some strangely specific experiences with dedicated servers, most games have tabs that allow you to see which games your friends are in, so you can join mid game and play with them.

Also, searching for an hour? It takes me less than a minute to find a server I would like to play on, even less if I'm not picky about maps, one's with mods and host rules are a vast minority among servers anyway.

I have been playing TF2 for 3 years with almost 1000 hours clocked and I have never been banned from a server, ever.
 

MASTACHIEFPWN

Will fight you and lose
Mar 27, 2010
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Sgt. Sykes said:
Do I understand it correctly that you're making an indie game? If so, what other sort of online game would you like to support, if not dedicated servers?

As for why? A game based on DS's never dies as far as there exists someone who runs a server (doesn't even need to be 'dedicated', just a computer with the game running for people to connect to).

That plus speed. Run any of the older games which supports (but doesn't require) DS and you'll see that a process dedicated just to the server always runs faster than a process that has to take care of everything.

Speed squared - DS can run on a hyperfast connection (there are companies providing services specifically for game servers). With matchmaking, you play as good as the server's connection is.

Plus there's always someone with zero ping and thus an unnecessary advantage.

How about communities? You can run your own server for your local community. Or two or ten servers. With any rules you like. Why wouldn't you like to play on a server that's geographically closest to you?
Like I said, dedicated servers would be an option, but the host would have to pay for a portion of it, if they wanted rules to be enforced there way- on the other hand, there would be community survers, that are moderated by official moderaters, so no unfair rules like knife only. But if no moderaters were avalible at the time someone cheated, they could be reported, and the player would be put under watch, and banned if they were caught doing so.
 

FightThePower

The Voice of Treason
Dec 17, 2008
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MASTACHIEFPWN said:
And you have the drawbacks of unfair hosts, and the ammount of servers there may be makes it difficult to conncect with friends.
Unfair hosts? You mean admins who kick you for next to no reason? That's okay, just find another server; if they're going to kick me without warning or reason I don't want to play on their server anyway. I honestly don't understand the second point, can you elaborate?

Also, you made a point about how matchmaking is simple since the game searches for matches rather than having to manually scroll through a list. That's true, but you can have game that have both dedicated servers and will automatically find a server for you. Black Ops and the Left 4 Dead series do this; though I have run into the same problem you have when you automatically search for a server and it puts you into a modded one you don't want. It happens in Left 4 Dead quite often but you do have the option of searching for official servers only.
 

DazZ.

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2009
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MASTACHIEFPWN said:
gives lazy gamers a way to play without searching an hour for a surver they like
Have you honestly ever spent an hour looking for a server?
If so you really need to learn to use a server browser.

As for the finding your friends thing, just click the "join friends" button that pretty much every game has, if the games too old for this usually Xfire will have it covered. That point is null until you can actually find a game without a friends tab and isn't compatible with xfire/another server browser.

Just find a server you like, favourite it and that's your game sorted, with standard rules or whatever and you don't even need to really use the browser again.
Like I said, dedicated servers would be an option, but the host would have to pay for a portion of it
Why a portion of it? Are you going to own the servers they run the game on? Why don't you release a server client with the game and let people do what they want without having to give you money to run servers? That will also mean the game will live as long as people want to play instead of how long the developers can afford to keep it running.

I honestly don't think you fully understand what dedicated servers are.
 

Paragon Fury

The Loud Shadow
Jan 23, 2009
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Dedicated Servers provide a better, more stable connection, which provides a fairer game environment.

On the other hand, Matchmaking provides a randomized, fairly skill-even experience to everyone, and breaks up communities and groups, providing a fairer experience to everyone involved.

The key is to do it like Frontlines and Bad Company 1/2 (on the 360) do; games themselves are hosted on dedicated servers, but matches are made through a Matchmaking system. You get the best of both worlds while doing this.