Shrapnel game server

[Lingchih]

I have been venting a bit on game hosts dropping out lately.
Sorry If I have been a bit callous.

This begs the question though, why is there not a Shrapnel Dom 3 server? Dom 3 seems to be a popular game, with more people joining in regularly. The MP games fill up quickly. Could not Shrapnel, the publisher, host a Dom 3 network server? It would not be much work to set one up, and the cost would be very little. One employee set to administer the games. A part-time job at best.

[Ironhawk]

I dont think its fair to expect something like that from Shrapnel, which serves such a small market. If we paid subscription dues or something, maybe.

[JimMorrison]

Well, considering the small amount of actual bandwidth that (I imagine) is needed for the games, the main cost would be the hardware. What kind of hardware would be needed to host 10-20 games on one machine?

And if it were possible that we could donate funds to get said machine up and running, would it be possible that a simple interface could be set up, to allow a select few trusted people (like Llama, Ich, I dunno) to start and end the games, with just a couple of minutes actual effort spent here and there?

Not implying that anything is expected of anyone, just tossing out ideas here.

[NTJedi]

JimMorrison said:
Well, considering the small amount of actual bandwidth that (I imagine) is needed for the games, the main cost would be the hardware. What kind of hardware would be needed to host 10-20 games on one machine?

And if it were possible that we could donate funds to get said machine up and running, would it be possible that a simple interface could be set up, to allow a select few trusted people (like Llama, Ich, I dunno) to start and end the games, with just a couple of minutes actual effort spent here and there?

Not implying that anything is expected of anyone, just tossing out ideas here.

If shrapnelgames wanted to continuing promoting DOM_3... they would find a way to provide a reliable server, even if it was from a 3rd party source.

Increasing a games popularity is more than just advertising. Usually we don't hear from the folks at Shrapnelgames unless it's advertising or someone's in trouble.

[MaxWilson]

JimMorrison said:
Well, considering the small amount of actual bandwidth that (I imagine) is needed for the games, the main cost would be the hardware. What kind of hardware would be needed to host 10-20 games on one machine?

I think you mean "the administration." People are always more expensive than machines, and one of the reasons Shrapnel has given for not supporting downloadable distribution of Dom3 is that downloadable distribution's costs are dominated by support costs. I expect an official Dom3 server would be similar. How much time does llamabeast spend on the Llamaserver?

-Max

[JimMorrison]

The support cost for online distribution, I was under the impression, is mainly in people having various and sundry issues with the process. Otherwise, it's just a matter of infrastructure, and that's why you see less of the smaller outfits doing downloads, as the cost per unit goes down very fast once you have invested enough time and effort to get a system that "almost always" functions flawlessly for most customers.

I've noted Llama stating repeatedly that he has no qualms about hosting games for whoever asks, because it only takes him a couple of minutes to set them up. The largest drain is when people do blitzes, and for some reason people like to restart blitzes a lot, which leaves a lot of games needing resets, for nothing. Otherwise, the few minutes taken for a game that will last a month at least, is kind of trivial. And again, that's why I suggested that rather than this "part time job" system of paying a guy to hang around doing nothing all day, cooperation could be gained from people who already actively donate time to get extra games up, and who are trusted by the people in charge, to operate a more powerful system that requires even less effort on a per game basis.

I am sure that Llama, and Gandalf, would be happy to do the same service that they willfully already give the community, if they had the opportunity to do so without tying up their own hardware. Reasonably sure, that is. Obviously it's not my decision to make, I was mostly just proposing that if someone in said position looked into it, I'd bet the project would have a very good chance of resolving in a way that led to faster, more powerful, and ultimately more reliable hosting, which should hopefully translate into a more robust MP community that would attract new customers by virtue of its existence. That's all. (Edit: Especially if it were a larger "Shrapnel" server rather than just a Dom3 server, and could host other games as well.)

[MaxWilson]

Well, maybe you're right. I don't have much experience with Dom3 servers--I just remember from some of the Wishlist threads Llamabeast mentioning that a couple of new server switches would save him loads of time.

-Max

[Saxon]

Speaking of great community projects in this line, the PBEM site for SEIV was very cool and community based. I have no idea if the technical side of Dom and SE are similar, but it is a great example of the community doing great things.

http://www.pbw.cc/

[JimMorrison]

< shrug >

They could get people to PayPal 1$ for every hosting? And if someone had to flip a switch to start larger games, such as all of the volunteer hosts already do, then they'd know if there were real people playing them or not.

I think what would help the most, from what I've seen, is if there could be a script running on the servers (private hosted, or company managed) that ran a backup of the game files on each turn. Then if the main system did crash, there might be a brief delay, but the game could get restarted elsewhere with minimal complications.


I'm basically just theorizing, that broken games are likely one of the primary reasons that people stop playing Dom3. The more people give up the game, the smaller the community gets. The smaller the community, the less games going at any given time. The less games up, the less likely someone will stumble on it and get into it. I mean, take SE5 for example, there is 1 thread from this year in their matchmaking forum. Who is going to buy the game when they see that?

At a certain point all of the reasoning in the world can't take the place of action. And on that note, we are honored by your efforts Llama, but what happens when life changes, and you also move on? We're losing a well respected host as we speak, no? We can count on you today, and we're more than grateful, but tomorrow, the only server we can count on, won't be privately operated. Well, maybe day after tomorrow, or next month, but someday for sure! <3

[Aezeal]

Seriously what would Shrapnel offer that Llama doesn't..

- He get's games started faster than you can find players
- more admin options than I usually need.
- can't really think of other options I would need
- easy, clear and simple to use interface

The back-up system is the only thing that might be worth mentioning now gandalf crashed and some players are unhappy.. but how often has llama gone down?

If llama leaves I'm sure someone else will pick it up, it's the way things go and for a company like shrapnel it's a huge effort and cost to set things up and run it I guess while it doesn't add much to the community atm.