Suggestions (:

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mennes
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Suggestions (:

Post by mennes »

Just gonna do a list :D
  • A suggestion category for the forums :D could have sworn i seen one before :P
  • Dynamic server slots/quota
    A lot of people rent servers knowing it probably wont be that populated, but they dont want to run into the issue of not having enough slots! So people (like me) spend a ton more money every month for resource reservation that we will never use!

    This could be done by the customer buying a 32 slot server, but then either in the server control panel or the order page you can select an amount of slots that you could imagine it actually being filled on a regular basis (so say like 10, typical im thinking cs server). Then if they dont ever go over the 10 players in that billing cycle, they dont get charged. But if they do, you could charge them for the extra slot for that month.

    Just a rough idea, basically i pay for a lot of slots that i never use but there is that rare occasion where i have an event and i populate it more (:
  • Extended server support/plugin support

    Basically you could charge a set up fee for setting up a modded server. So say someone wants a 1v1 server set up for csgo. You could make a list of general things that could be altered with the plugin (such as scout rounds, how many rounds per map).

    Now i know many of you will say "they need to learn how to do that themselves". To someone that has spare time, you should defiantly be doing this stuff yourself. But to people like me, i do not have time to set up all my servers and learn how to do everything. I would much rather pay someone to set it up. When i get time, i work on my servers!

Thats pretty much all i have for suggestions!

Side note - The nfo theme for the control panel doesn't highlight text when you select it, i dont mind this flaw but at first i thought it was impossible to copy things D:
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kraze
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by kraze »

Thanks for taking the time to post your suggestions! I'll see if I can answer a few of these for you.
Dynamic server slots/quota
A lot of people rent servers knowing it probably wont be that populated, but they dont want to run into the issue of not having enough slots! So people (like me) spend a ton more money every month for resource reservation that we will never use!
In some cases this would be possible, but in most conditions it wouldn't. This is due to specific precautions being made for games. For example, a 10 slot CS:S server is going to use less resources then a 60 slot. Meaning that a 10 slot server could be placed on a capable, but slower machine then the 60 slot could. Another example, is some games are not very well optimized and use a lot of resources even with lower player counts. Arma is a good example of this. We've had to enforce a high minimum player count since it naturally uses so much and doesn't change a whole lot once new players join. Essentially, what you want to do is possible, but complicated on the back end since so many things need to be accounted for.
Extended server support/plugin support

Basically you could charge a set up fee for setting up a modded server. So say someone wants a 1v1 server set up for csgo. You could make a list of general things that could be altered with the plugin (such as scout rounds, how many rounds per map).

Now i know many of you will say "they need to learn how to do that themselves". To someone that has spare time, you should defiantly be doing this stuff yourself. But to people like me, i do not have time to set up all my servers and learn how to do everything. I would much rather pay someone to set it up. When i get time, i work on my servers!
This is always a possibility down the road once there is staff to take care of it, but there lies a few problems. Mainly, there are too many configurations out there to know them all, which means staff would need to spend ample time understanding and knowing all these. This in-turn would be very cost heavy especially for an obscure configuration that will never be used again. What if something breaks the day after we configure it and no changes were made? Who fixes it? What if a slight configuration change is needed two days after the initial setup? Do we do it for free or do we charge them again? Ultimately, it really comes down to how much does someone want to spend on having their server setup vs doing it themselves? If we ever did offer this service, it would not be a cheap service. Our staff time would be valued at a fair but serious amount. I'm sure it'd also cover all sorts of changes/tweaks, but it is unlikely to be cheap.
Side note - The nfo theme for the control panel doesn't highlight text when you select it, i dont mind this flaw but at first i thought it was impossible to copy things D:
Sounds like you may be using the "darkred" theme. If so, it does highlight text, but the highlighted text is red, so it can be hard to see in some cases. The "original" and "simple" theme have a standard highlight which is easier to see.
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mennes
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by mennes »

ya i understand that these things are complicated, which is why i would be ok with paying extra for these features ;D

And ya after reading, i looked at the theme and it is highlighting i just couldnt see it XD

Thanks for replying! I thought of the quota thing while i was at work, something i would actually be really interested in, since i waste so much money on servers that probably never see a single soul in a months time XD
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by J-English »

I had to rent a 10 slot server from a crappy host to use arma as a test server.what i have noticed with arma is that resource usage is very low..until players start filling it up.

If NFO offered arma3 with low slots then i would have definately rented a seperate test server with nfo alongside my main 64 slot arma 3 server.
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by Edge100x »

Resource usage tends to be pretty high across the board for that game, which is why we have a high minimum slot count. Just turning on persistence and having a couple of players in the game with bots, and a couple of CPU cores can be flatlined.

If we had separate restrictions on which missions could be played, whether persistence could be used, etc, then we might be able to have more price points, but that's not a direction that we really want to take. We've always preferred to allow maximum user customization.
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mennes
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by mennes »

Ya its hard to get the best of both worlds. Honestly when it comes to having maximum customization, I would just suggest them getting a full machine or virtual. The only reason why i use managed vs unmanaged is the auto updating, and maybe the control panel for new users. If i knew how to make my own control panel and auto updater (like a lot of people have done) then i would totally just get the unmanaged. I guess if i wanted a battlefield server, then i would go managed (because you have to) but battlefield servers have very little room for customization (compared to other games).

It seems to me that the "noobs" of server admins are the main people that use managed servers, so why not make them more friendly to the newcomer vs more flexibility?

I remember when i first wanted to rent a server, i didnt know ANYTHING about what went into it. So the majority of the time i have had servers, ive been learning them instead of creating content and being able to pull in traffic.

I totally understand why you guys do the things the way you do. I am just trying to help you guys :D
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mennes
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Re: Suggestions (:

Post by mennes »

Im just going to keep using this post for my suggestions, i feel its annoying if i create a new thread everytime I come up with one.

Being able to Nickname my servers in the control panel! I have to keep putting 34 at the end of my server names and my brain hates how it looks XD

Also, being able to change/organize the server list would also be nice. So like putting my CSGO servers and Gmod servers in separate categories.

These two together would be great because then i can clean my control panel up a little more!

Not really a necessary thing, but my OCD would sure appreciate a more organized control panel (:
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