What makes a good server in your eyes?

[proma]

I did not intend this thread to become a server advertisement thread, so let me state it now, that if you have good servers, then there surely is a thread to advertise them, but this one should only focus on the qualities a good server should have (without naming good servers ^^) to help those who host them to hit the taste of the players.

@Shoko16:
Please try as many servers as possible and post your feedback here. It is always good to have some "external" opinions of people who are not that much into the "system".

@Smigles:
I am running servers too in tmnf/tmuf, tmc and there are people playing on the servers that say those are the best they have played on but still they are empty most of the time. As many here have pointed out: Most players seem to be after the LPs although only 10 of them will really profit of them (if at all).

It is very annoying to me that most people follow the crowd instead of trying new things. In the first days of TMC our server was well visited, because people were testing servers but now they settled down and only join the fat ones.

@firstdriver:
I do not know the average age in TMC nor TMNF but at least in the latter I would guess it was below 18. So the servers should not contain problematic contents. There are rules that have to be followed and even if the server operator does not care about this he could be held responsible. So cheating, hacking and especially inappropriate content have to be punished.

As to the plugins: It is not the plugins but the visible widgets that annoy people. I think this is one of the shortcommings of most of the server-management-tools. The widgets should be fully customizable to allow players to arrange their content like they want.

Finally let me repeat: Please do not advertise your servers here. To those that already did: Please be fair to the others and move the advertisement to an extra thread.

[xGEKKOx]

Well as i know Mistral i must agree with Smigles.
I have no problem with my servers thx to TPS (this help me much to have always players) but i can understand what the other admins mean.

I repeat it another time, and i want this time, that all admins say their mind (please):

- SHUTDOWN UBISOFT SERVER (the players of those server will probably join Mistral or other)
- SHUTDOWN NADEO SERVER (same reason)
- 100K SERVERS ONLY BY NADEO/UBISOFT (this is the solution for 100k)
- BETTER SERVER LIST (use Icons64x64_1 badge inside server name instead "challenger or beginners")
- SERVERS HIDE WHEN NO PLAYERS ENTER FOR 24H AND REAPPEAR IF 1 PLAYER ENTER (if a player like your server it will add in the favourite)

And many other suggestion can be done.
Now what a server need to be a good server?

Easy... what the players want!
So as a good Admin, you need to listen to your players and give them what they want.
I please all Admins to give help to tell to Nadeo to do some updates for servers list or the situation will never change.

[firstdriver]

I did not intend this thread to become a server advertisement thread, so let me state it now, that if you have good servers, then there surely is a thread to advertise them, but this one should only focus on the qualities a good server should have (without naming good servers ^^) to help those who host them to hit the taste of the players.

Point taken and post edited

[proma]

@xGEKKOx:

Now what a server need to be a good server?

Easy... what the players want!

This does not bring us forward.
I was (indirectly) asking what the players want.
And for those of us who do not yet host full servers it is hard to ask the players what they want.
So it would be nice of you to share the knowledge you gain on your servers!

The suggestions you gave are merely in the admins hands.
Of course I support those points but I always begin searching the failure at my site to avoid wrongly blaming others.
That said one question remains for me: Is there any petition or a thread in this forum on this topic?
If yes, then link there for the problem, if no then create one and link it ^^
I would appreciate to split these from this thread because it is a whole other problem,
but I also would like to discuss about it.

[xGEKKOx]

Sorry mate, i don't wanted to create a problem, but you given me an idea. Thx!!!

Edit : Ah, it was an opinion from the Admin side.

[AlexKF]

And for those of us who do not yet host full servers it is hard to ask the players what they want.
So it would be nice of you to share the knowledge you gain on your servers!

I can give you 3tips:

1. Create your servers in a German country. There are the most active players and servers in Germany so if anyone is going to enter your server its most likely going to join in from Germany.

2. The name of your server must be attractive (or recognisable). As you see the top 5 servers all have consistent names which everyone knows now.

3. Try and be friendly and chat with people in the server, as well as being in it as much as possible.

Hope that helps

[om23]

when a server is made by u, then u must decide if it´s good or not.
u are the person who made this and presumably u are the most time of all playing on it.
maps,controller,speed/ping,kind and count of visitors,...
by disliking anything u change this and all is fine

personally, i feel good on my server. the maps nothing for beginners.
good informations with widgets, of course to much for the most, I realized this as the server controller was down.
the ppls joined it more. whatever,
the most ppl who join, they don´t say anything (no hi no bb no talk).
around 2 minutes and they left the server.
sometimes there is a - -- or --- vote becouse they didn´t found any cp or finish,
but a massege will appear: u need 3 finishes to be able to vote
I hate this guys who would like to vote without finishing or knowing a map!
and here we start to lough, we are very familiar with us and some visitors who visit us.
we have big open minded talks and don´t blame to talk not only positive things to keep any rules.
server is mostly empty, but there is a good chance someone of my buddies join if I join or other way around and then we are 5 and having crazy fun and I like it
btw. it is ok for me, this keeps the server costs low.
if my servers would have 50 players in average, I would for sure need a server update.


@xGEKKOx
do u have allready a thread for your SHUTDOWN UBISOFT SERVER and SHUTDOWN NADEO SERVER survey?
I agree to this.

[firstdriver]

whatever,
the most ppl who join, they don´t say anything (no hi no bb no talk).
around 2 minutes and they left the server.
sometimes there is a - -- or --- vote becouse they didn´t found any cp or finish,
but a massege will appear: u need 3 finishes to be able to vote
I hate this guys who would like to vote without finishing or knowing a map!
and here we start to lough, we are very familiar with us and some visitors who visit us.
we have big open minded talks and don´t blame to talk not only positive things to keep any rules.
server is mostly empty, but there is a good chance someone of my buddies join if I join or other way around and then we are 5 and having crazy fun and I like it
btw. it is ok for me, this keeps the server costs low.
if my servers would have 50 players in average, I would for sure need a server update.

I always say "Hi all" when I enter a server as it is polite .. and it also builds a sense of community. It is important that the Admins on a server also greet a new player. I will also say goodbye

I am someone tho who will leave the server should I find bad signage and lack of CPs to guide you around the track. I am neither expert or mindreader and hate RPG servers. So when I get frustrated, I leave. If I cannot leave karma for a bad track when I can't find my way to the finish because of bad signage and lack of CPs then I won't waste time hanging around.
It also means that if there's a really bad track that only 10% of players ever finish, that track will stay on the server for all time because 90% of the player CAN'T vote to get rid of it, remember, they have to finish it to vote. Result = they know the bad tracks are still on that particular server and seldom, if ever, come back.

The bottom line is that if players don't enjoy a server they won't use it. Theres alot of Admin out there that need to change their thoughts on how their server is run and what type of tracks they use. Just over 2 weeks ago there over 880 TM2 servers online. I've just had another look (23.30hrs 14/11/11) .. it's down to 770 servers ... that a loss of 110 servers. Some will obviously be temporary shutdowns, others because the Admin have lost interest, and others simply because players never used them and they faded away.

In a nutshell ... Keep the tracks well sign posted with good use of CPs and finishable to all grades of player. Build a community by saying 'Hi' and talking. Listen to what your visitors are saying and sort it. Good luck