How to become a ranked Provider [Archive] - Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars Official Community Site

Kapeket

08-22-2007, 05:24 PM

Serious providers?

How about anyone who has a colocated box?

Absurd, short-sighted and myopic if you ask me.

What is it with these developers that they think they should restrict their game to "licensed" NOC monkeys? Service providers no less about the game than most of you guys and since when has any provider given a rat's ass about overworking a cluster or fixing lag issues on their hosting?

They are in this for the money, which isn't a crime by the way. That is a good thing, but service is going to suffer for end users with no options available to us.

It took America's Army along time to figure out that SCI was a scumbag operation ran by a blatant crook named Jesper. The Honor servers were pathetic at best. And figure this. The Army charges 40/server for the right to run Honor. Now they don't have to pay for Honor servers to be run and they unlocked the ability for the entire community to pay for their own hosting and all the Army had to do was collect the money for said Honor.

Best lesson for any game maker would be follow this line of thinking boys.

Once the ability to run your own Honor server was awarded, the servers for AAO have become immeasurably better.

You would think these guys would learn that limiting your clientele limits your ability to make money, which is why they do this, right?

Ashen-Shugar

08-22-2007, 06:26 PM

our provider just sells boxes and provides the games for free. but they probably will not be on the ranked server list, lol

Sonyfan

08-22-2007, 06:35 PM

Only these providers in this list (http://community.enemyterritory.com/?q=node/60) have a official licence for ranked servers. More licenced providers coming soon! All other are unranked.

exParrot

08-22-2007, 06:38 PM

Can someone explain to me the advantage of having such a small set of ranked servers?

If SD truly intends to keep this structure, I hope the QW community doesn't participate with the ranking silliness.

Ashen-Shugar

08-22-2007, 06:40 PM

wow, our provider is on the list. I wonder if they will charge us for slots.

Tripster

08-22-2007, 06:58 PM

We're sticking with unranked, we run our own hardware for our servers and our clan is social rather than competitive so our players don't care about stats.

Deemer1

08-22-2007, 07:08 PM

I say, lets boycott ranked servers..

GeezerUK

08-22-2007, 09:36 PM

Well the thing is i have all my own equipment and own servers in the datacenter here in the UK and cannot understand why i cannot put in an application to become a Ranked Server Provider as all my servers are capable to run hundreds of slots as i can just add new racks as i need them so there must be someone who i can speak to or conatct telephone etc etc to put in an application so i can provide Ranked Server

As at the moment i already have a BETA server running without any problems

195.12.48.180:27733 and can set up BETA servers with a click on button so to speak...

But i would like to be able to provide 'Ranked' and 'unRanked' servers

www.powerfrag.com [PowerFrag]

TacticalAdmin

08-23-2007, 03:12 AM

If they don't allow un-ranked servers to store stats, well then hoepfully the underground figures out how to do it, I mean come on. It's easy enough to host a mysql or sql server and write out the data ohhh ahhh, lets charge extra to a limited clientell for the privlage. Lame.

Inflikted

08-23-2007, 04:27 AM

ya its quite do-able tacticaladmin
the guys at etpub mod.. for ET
made a global webstats program for all etpub servers worldwide. all you gotta do is signup which is free :)
just gotta wait for the mods to come on.

personally its just another way for them to make money. the ranked servers are dumb lol :)

since you gotta pay for something.. that eventually will be free lol :)

|WCK|MurderFace

08-23-2007, 05:11 AM

ranked servers - LAME

the idea is good - but the execution is elitist and akin to the barking of the money-hounds over at microShaft...er, umm..microsoft.

ranked servers COULD be a way to verify a particular config on a server, thus enabling global stats that are consistent and verified. too bad the money involved 'outranks' most of the smaller players in the gsp game. the larger GSP's seem to me to be more restrictive anyway. 3.50 a slot for BF2142 servers???? ROFL!

who the hell in their right mind would pay 250 US or MORE for a dedicated box per MONTH???? you can BUILD a much faster machine and colocate for about the same money...yielding MORE control and freedom

pffffft!

besides, one of the first mods to be launched for this will most likely be stats related. then all the servers who are 'unranked' officially can establish their OWN 'rankings' and usurp the ones who tried to be all uber1337. all it would take is a dedicated stats server set up by the mod maker. all kind of effortless once it's up and functional.

:D

Kapeket

08-23-2007, 06:59 AM

Murder is close.

With checks available via serverside scripting, there is no way a Rank server can be manipulated, so why not offer Rank for people's own hardware at a true colocation of course, for 40/month. That is easy cash in pocket for id and shows great promise for residuals of course.

reyalp

08-23-2007, 07:38 AM

With checks available via serverside scripting, there is no way a Rank server can be manipulated, so why not offer Rank for people's own hardware at a true colocation of course, for 40/month. That is easy cash in pocket for id and shows great promise for residuals of course.
That is not correct.

Verifying the servers integrity faces the same technical problems as cheat detection and copy protection. We all know how completely foolproof those are ;)

JBRAA

08-23-2007, 10:07 AM

Sublim3

08-23-2007, 10:16 AM

I just wish that more locations were available through a single Ranked GSP.. for international clans. So they (we) dont have to manage mutliple GSP's...

hypernia shouldnt be a ranked server provider.... they suck.

PizzaMan

08-23-2007, 11:49 AM

So trusted GSP's, mean that SD trust the GSP's to not change the ranked server settings. With 100+ ranked servers, how will SD manage to check/control if the ranked server-settings have been fiddled with or not? I'm asking.

I guess thats where the word "trust" comes in. But thats kinda like saying that all the other GSP's cannot be trusted. I can see that if you give any random joe the ability to run ranked servers then sure, someone will tamper with the system, but comon - GSP companies provide servers for a living, and are not likely to tamper with the stats. You could even set up some sort of automagic comparison system that gave some sort of alert if the players on one GSP were constantly above the average level, which could then be investigated further.

If this sort of thing becomes the standard for all games, then at some point all the other companies will find themselves out of business. "Ranked servers? Ehrr sorry dude, thats not us.."

JBRAA

08-23-2007, 12:12 PM

If this sort of thing becomes the standard for all games, then at some point all the other companies will find themselves out of business. "Ranked servers? Ehrr sorry dude, thats not us.."

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are saying. Other game companies? Or other GSP's? And why would they find them selves out of business?

PizzaMan

08-23-2007, 01:16 PM

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are saying. Other game companies? Or other GSP's? And why would they find them selves out of business?

GSP's.

My point is, if all game developers / publishers / w.e. did the same thing, only the GSP's who are allowed to run ranked servers would survive in the long run. Most people, given a choice betveen otherwise equal providers, will chose the one that offers ranked servers.

zeroman

08-23-2007, 04:30 PM

I totally agree on them being very restrictive on who they select for ranked providers. On a minimum they should have at least been in business for 3-4 years. Half these little rinky dink places are run my kids. Look what happened with stats padding in bf2 and to top it of some of the ranked providers were giving the ranked files out to hacking groups.
If they do give out to more companies they should be the big boys
Just google game server rental give it to the ones on the front page who arent on the sponsored ads more than likely they been around the block a while. I seen a lotta places come and go and yes half them are run by kiddie places renting servers and renting gameservers off them mostly run by 16 - 17 year olds. Personally I hating the ranking idea it took the fun out of games people play for points and not as a team. Bring the skill back kill the ranking. Besides that what makes servers unique is usually mods which are restricted off of ranked servers that why I wont even play on them. Hardcore Unranked here keep your rank while I own you with skill. I would have rather seen a ranked web package release for clans so they can manage there own on there servers. Power to the Players

PizzaMan

08-23-2007, 05:43 PM

Just google game server rental give it to the ones on the front page who arent on the sponsored ads more than likely they been around the block a while.

Interresting approach. Too bad there's absolutely no guarantie that you will find anyone that you can trust that way.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=game+server+rental&btnG=Google+Search

Notice number 2 from he top, www.vskgamingservers.com

Then check out the results of this search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vsk+game+servers+ripoff&btnG=Search

And this: http://www.stlouis.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=110221497

I havent checked out that site in a while, from the looks of it, VSK has been bought by another company. But its probably just Ray doing his usual tricks.

zeroman

08-24-2007, 10:04 AM

LOL Ya true I wont even get into that subject vsk aka aowc
Gee seems how since that merge happened aowc went to crap and there site started doing thing more like vsk used to.

I think the enttire gameserver world knows how bad that company was and now ran aowc into the ground.

But thats onyl cause google hasnt dropped the link yet

Other than that mst of them seem to be the ones that have been around

I just say drop the rank system period and let each server host there own database on there website you should have to earn your rank on servers individually in my opinion anyway

P.s. LOL Sites that dont even have a google pagerank shouldnt even be allowed near ranked servers then you know its a startup noobie company

GeezerUK

08-24-2007, 11:24 AM

And what about the companys who have just set up?

I mean in the way that i have bought and own all my own equipment in 2 datacenters and have just kicked of providing Game Servers now i would like to be able to provide ranked servers as in the way matey was right in the way people prefer to buy servers from an ranked server provider and in the long run they are the guys who will survive making it extremly hard and diffcult for us very small GSP's just kicking of.....

#PowerFrag @ Quakenet - www.powerfrag.com

|WCK|MurderFace

08-24-2007, 02:29 PM

i don't think people PREFER to get price gouged for a ranked server. usually, it's because a server owner thinks the larger, more expensive GSP's offer a superior product (not ALWAYS the case).

to clarify my statement above.... i wasn't talking about manipulating the ranking system supported by Id/SD. i was speaking of an independent stats system run either by GSP's or a maker of say.. an ETQWPro mod or what have you. the GSP sponsored ranking systems could actually help to attract and retain players within that GSP.

or perhaps Id/SD should take the lead here and provide an alternate global stats system to the ranked one - maybe charging 30 dollars a year or something to help with maintenance/system costs.

basically it all - as usual - boils down to the almighty dollar ;)

Ashen-Shugar

08-24-2007, 03:37 PM

I think its funny as all the clan servers are running fine but the big providers are always lagging, lol

exParrot

08-24-2007, 03:41 PM

The way that it is all going to shake down is that XP whores are going to play on ranked servers, and the real hardcore players are going to play on unranked servers.

I actually like this. It means that those of us who are looking for a good game with solid competition are going to be in luck while the kiddies go and shoot/heal one another on ranked servers.

PizzaMan

08-24-2007, 08:14 PM

You are missing the point of this thread.

Its not about "lulz I dont care about rank". Its about GSP's wanting to provide ranked servers because without that option, they are standing way back in line when average Joe is going to decide which GSP to sign up with.

The answer to "how to become a ranked provider" is simply not "lets just dump the rank system" and "omg ranking is lame". They are not going to dump the rank system. And from a hosters point of view, it simply does not matter whether or not ranking is lame. This game has a global ranking system, and hosters providing ranked servers will use that for what it is worth and they will be preferred.

GeezerUK

08-24-2007, 10:53 PM

Well said pizzman thats what i am getting at..

Its like the same as getting BF2142 or BF2 Ranked Server Provider when that all got released belive me the average joe blogs will just look up who is the biggest and supplies ranked servers and go to them instead of trying a smalled GSP who will have more care and attention to details of servers and customer care...

|WCK|MurderFace

08-25-2007, 09:15 PM

if the ranked prices weren't so ungodly high.... like i said above 3.50 a SLOT for some games??? LMAO and a great big PFFFFT!

PizzaMan

08-25-2007, 11:23 PM

3.50 a SLOT

3.50 what? Apples? Oranges? Blowjobs? Or increase my postcount pls?

*goo

08-26-2007, 11:20 PM

3.50 what? Apples? Oranges? Blowjobs? Or increase my postcount pls?

Nice language to present on a public forum.

Next time, please apply some logic or common sense at best. It will avoid the need for you to resort to pointless filth.

TacticalAdmin

08-27-2007, 04:03 AM

If your a new GSP it's supposed to be hard, your not supposed to be a ranked GSP out of the starting line. Why do you think the 1 year lifetime for any new buisness is ver low, it's not easy. Why trust a new GSP when odds are 1 in 8 they will be oob before the eol of ETQW?

lol and fta, ftn, ftaa, once a jar head always a jar head!

Nail

08-27-2007, 04:09 AM

the only reason to play on ranked servers imo, is to be guaranteed locked settings and maps, easy enough to establish same setup servers anywhere. I can't see ranked servers being all that popular with no permanent unlocks or skills, at least not after a little while. Like as soon as an XP save mod comes out. As soon as that happens, ranked servers will die

;)

jamie_whizkid

08-28-2007, 07:40 AM

for ranked server licences should be slightly easier to get your hands on

eg. something like teamspeak it easy you go in pay and your a authorised provider (i know this isnt to do with ranked server but its an example)

as said before if the Likes of EA(or who is i charge of ranked licences for EA) give out more ranker server licences they would make more money

sponge

08-29-2007, 03:07 AM

mianosm

08-29-2007, 03:02 PM

I'm extremely disappointed that only GSP's are going to host ranked servers.

I run over a dozen game servers for a local ISP, and it's a slap in the face that the local community gets no benefit and has to play on servers that are states away - as opposed to a city or county away from them.

Bad move in my opinion SD/ID, very bad move.

Babylon

08-30-2007, 04:29 PM

aye

you will se me vent on this subject at length...

its bad for the game, the communities and the players.

The only people that benefit are the GSP's and the StatWhores :p

With QW at least they havn't gone the route of weapon unlocks. From my XP with BF2 servers, the novelty of stats wear off pretty quickly.

The only stats that count are server based community stats where you rate yourself against your peers who you love and hate :p

Means nothing to realise you are 200 places behind an 11 yr old Korean kid with a Quakewars cluster in his bedroom and plays 25 hours a day. ( i know ive used that analogy a lot..but you know what I mean...no Korean kids were hurt in the making of this analogy!)

I remember playing kingpin back in the day, and we used to use the CLQ stats.

We knew they were naff and inaccurate...but there were only a few hundred hardcore KP players back then across the globe.(eek..10 ys + ago?!)..so it was a nice bit of fun as we all pretty much knew each other and each others servers.

Also, that was a team game (bagman mode anyway) .. but it was still very much kills/cash/score based..so it still kinda worked.

With the newer games pretty much from Operation Flashpoint, BF1942, BF2 and a load of other games culminating in Quakewars today, these are all very much TEAM based games...and introducing stats, pretty much screws that up for ANY game. As people will often go for a stat boost over the overall team pursuit and even get team stat points for it.

On thing I did on our CS server is that players would often not bother to try and complete the objective (plant../defuse bomb rescue hostages etc).
I tried encouraging this with stats..even putting stats on there for this reason..but all people did was let their team get done over while they took the glory.

The only thing that fixed it in the end and all good teamplayers love..is slay the losing team. So if you dont defuse or rescue...then you get PUNISHED. A few randoms moan about it when it happens at first..but ultimately you end up with players (even randoms) really workign to get the job done..

Teh carrot doesnt work...use the Stick!

We need a stick for Quake wars...enough of the carrots already! :p

*goo

09-02-2007, 08:36 AM

A new/small GSP does not normally have the infrastructure to cope with something like ranking.

Small GSP's are normally popular - because they are cheap but that does not mean they are better.

Often is the case that the smaller GSP's cram their boxes with as many game servers as possible because they are trying to gain custom with rock bottom prices. The result is a service that is very poor and performance that is not up to standard.

The current climate is one where any 12-16 year old thinks they can rent a dedi server and call themselves a GSP.

I am pro-unranked, but would at least like the option to rank up. I own my server, thus I'm not going to pay a GSP for the 'privilege'.

SD have not ruled out certification for server owners - at least they are listening to the community. It may be a while before this goes live though.

Babylon

09-03-2007, 10:09 AM

I disagree with global rankings, I think local stats are more meaningful
However, I dont see how global rankings can be realistically farmed out to smaller provider without upsetting the integrity of global rankings.:dance: #

I dont think this would stretch to independents or community servers that co locate

You run into the small problem of monitoring the ranked servers integrity for a start.

Deprave

09-24-2007, 06:06 PM

This is realy hurtfull to someone who has been paying GOOD money since Enemy Territory Release to host multiple servers out of our own pockets...Now we cant be an offical server....How about someone who has been paying top dollar since the birth of quake1 to promote your games and run many servers...Its because of people like us that splashdamage and id software are where they are at today...We host your games to millions of people over the years and now we cant have official ranked servers without using specific providers, that is ridiculous

datamunk

09-26-2007, 07:47 PM

Hey guys I'm with you on the whole ranked thing... I am starting up a GSP, and was really hoping to be able to host ranked Quake Wars, BF2 etc etc, but, looking like thats a no-go for now.

Anyway, I will be hosting unranked servers.. Im going to set one up in a few moments and will repost with demo IP, but, all my servers are $1/slot pub or priv... Website isnt up yet, but its www.riotservers.net

All servers are in Atlanta at the moment, will be in Dallas here shortly as well.

Shoot me a msg if interseted, #riotservers on gamesurge...

Also, I'm not a 16-17 year old kid, I'm a 23 year old college senior/gamer, that also works for a data center, with access nation wide to additional centers, so, I wont be cramming servers full of games, since, my costs are low, Im not tryin to nickel and dime my way thru. :)

datamunk

09-26-2007, 09:09 PM

Im going to set one up in a few moments and will repost with demo IP

As said, heres a demo server. 65.182.33.125 default port.

CapnLaunce

09-26-2007, 11:04 PM

I am currently working on getting access to run ranked. As for being a "newbie" company, while the company is new, the staff are all serious veterans, all of us with Gamersociety have over 10 years of experience, company wide. We are also probably the best outfitted company in the industry, our initial deployment was of enough hardware to scare a fortune 5000 company (the benefits of being in the heart of Silicon Valley). The information on becoming a ranked service provider however is literally humerous, it is almost a back door deal with most game manufacturers.

--L

|WCK|MurderFace

09-26-2007, 11:53 PM

how much money you got? that's what it all boils down to. kind of like trying to get a private server licensing deal for xbox360. Ain't gonna happen without some major bread in the basket.

Sublim3

09-27-2007, 12:30 AM

MyIS (myinternetservices) sux, all there server lag... even the websites hosted by them are slow :/

And the other Ranked server provider Hypernia has bogus "packages"...

Need more ranked GSP's for USA, were actually thinking about scrapping the whole "Ranked" thing because we just need one Ranked server in USA and one in UK, Hypernia would be $150 minimum for just 1 server (we get our other servers through MaverickServers) and the other Ranked provider has Crappy servers (MyIS).

MyIS was a very, very very bad choice. Overall there should be at least 5 ranked providers in USA, there are plenty of well established GSP's that would be able to do it.

PAIN

09-27-2007, 03:31 AM

I found out our current GSP won't be able to host ranked servers. We've been with them for years with our W:ET server. A shame. We probably won't be hosting a ranked server as I don't think we'll look at other GSPs.

EuT.be

09-27-2007, 06:24 PM

Tbh, with only those 6 GSP's able to run Ranked servers totally sucks.I3D since most of those are located in Germanny and hey.. I always have laggy situations towards germanny.

Another tbh would be... Ranked = Ingame adds and unranked = No Ingame Adds. See how they're going to handle since that Ingame ads would be a income for SD whilst those, with their power and able to connect with FTP to their unranked server on their GSP, are able to modify the server files and remove or even disable the ingame ads.

And still, server files are appearantly still NOT released!