Server providers & responsibility to the comunity

[SpiRe]

Hello.

 

At first i want to say: I am glad that you reading this topic.

 

This time is for Epoch mod something similar like Dark Age and unfortunately there is more servers online than players.. And the successful providers keeps their code itself to grow their player base. But in the end it's the epochmod.com comunity that is kept slow. I don't say that we need more AI missions or map addons but essentials.

 

Every good idea can be implemented to epoch mod by default even if devs don't want to do it now. They can in the future. Good example is map support for Epoch (Bornholm, Taviana, Namalsk, Panthera). Some people shared config.cpp and mission.sqm code so other providers don't have to make it again.

 

And that is what am i trying to say. We need more essential code share.

 

When i don't have to code something that has been coded for several times by someone else who may or may not do it better i can focus on coding something else for my server and share it to the comunity in the end.

 

For sure there will be a lot people who just copy&paste and will be no benefit to the comunity and thanks for a few that is.

[Darth_Rogue]

There's two schools of thought on this issue.  The first is share and share alike.  People create things and they either a.) want to show off, or b.) honestly want to help others, or c.) they believe in the spirit of modding and that it's the community members who ultimately determine the success or failure of any given mod.  Regardless of their motivations, those who share their knowledge and creativity with the community do offer a great service to the community as a whole, since they help shape the experience of the players who ultimately get to enjoy the creations and the mod itself.

 

The second mentality is one of selfishness.  There are many reasons for this, but in our current state of affairs relevant to Epoch, the primary reason is to try to gain server traffic by offering a unique experience to their players.  With 10 times the amount of servers than players this makes good sense on some level.  After all, it's just basic marketing....have something in your brand that nobody else has and you will have an advantage over other competitors in your market.  A side effect of this is that eventually the communities who don't have those unique products or services and consequently can't gain sufficient traffic eventually die out since they can't continue to foot the bill for server costs due to lack of incoming donations.  In turn, the servers with unique content continue to grow their player base even further, thereby solidifying their foothold.  

 

There are pros and cons to both mentalities.  But I'm of the mind that I would rather give a fellow community member every possible chance to succeed by helping with their coding issues and teaching them how to do things on their own and occasionally sharing my work or things I have learned.  After all, we were all new at this once upon a time.  We all had to start somewhere and grew to where we are today.  I haven't forgotten where I came from and I still remember very well what it was like first starting out and learning how to run and manage servers.  Yes my servers are mostly empty the majority of the time, and while that does make me sad, it also makes me happy when I have the opportunity to help someone else solve a problem or to learn how to do something new.  When moments like that happen I remember back to when I was new and how excited I felt to finally solve that problem that had been kicking my ass for hours.  It's my way of paying it forward, and that, to me, is more important than having a full server of random players.  I'm a part of this community and I enjoy contributing to it and I think it's the right thing to do, regardless of how it may affect my own server traffic for the time being.  

[Guest]

There's two schools of thought on this issue. The first is share and share alike. People create things and they either a.) want to show off, or b.) honestly want to help others, or c.) they believe in the spirit of modding and that it's the community members who ultimately determine the success or failure of any given mod. Regardless of their motivations, those who share their knowledge and creativity with the community do offer a great service to the community as a whole, since they help shape the experience of the players who ultimately get to enjoy the creations and the mod itself.

The second mentality is one of selfishness. There are many reasons for this, but in our current state of affairs relevant to Epoch, the primary reason is to try to gain server traffic by offering a unique experience to their players. With 10 times the amount of servers than players this makes good sense on some level. After all, it's just basic marketing....have something in your brand that nobody else has and you will have an advantage over other competitors in your market. A side effect of this is that eventually the communities who don't have those unique products or services and consequently can't gain sufficient traffic eventually die out since they can't continue to foot the bill for server costs due to lack of incoming donations. In turn, the servers with unique content continue to grow their player base even further, thereby solidifying their foothold.

There are pros and cons to both mentalities. But I'm of the mind that I would rather give a fellow community member every possible chance to succeed by helping with their coding issues and teaching them how to do things on their own and occasionally sharing my work or things I have learned. After all, we were all new at this once upon a time. We all had to start somewhere and grew to where we are today. I haven't forgotten where I came from and I still remember very well what it was like first starting out and learning how to run and manage servers. Yes my servers are mostly empty the majority of the time, and while that does make me sad, it also makes me happy when I have the opportunity to help someone else solve a problem or to learn how to do something new. When moments like that happen I remember back to when I was new and how excited I felt to finally solve that problem that had been kicking my ass for hours. It's my way of paying it forward, and that, to me, is more important than having a full server of random players. I'm a part of this community and I enjoy contributing to it and I think it's the right thing to do, regardless of how it may affect my own server traffic for the time being.

Very well said sir and I know for a fact of at least two servers who wouldnt be enjoying the success they currently are having if not for your helping hand. So thanks for paying it forward and wish more here actually thought like you do :)

[nedfox]

@Darth_Rogue : I totally agree with your sentiment.. There's a hitch tho : Anything you want to share, either in scripts or Mod section, is moderator controlled, and can take DAYS (or even weeks) before a mod actually releases your code / post.

 

I've posted a serverside framework PBO, which can be a vehicle for any admin who needs to implement server side scripts.. It still hasn't shown up yet.. As far as "let's all share" , the Epoch management is way too controlling over these kind of posts.

 

I just hope the post I did is released soon, but others will have the same, it's taking too long to actually bother posting goodies to share to the community.

[Darth_Rogue]

Well you can always try posting stuff in General Discussion.  Then the mods would only have to move the post to the appropriate section when they have time and lots of people would get to see it.  

[nedfox]

I would, if it hadn't been a LENGTHY post which I don't want to type again :) We'll see, if moderators haven't cleared the post by tomorrow I'll do it again.. **sigh**

[SPIB0X]

At this point in time, I have no interest in starting my own server but im curious about the code behind it. Does one have to have a coding/programming background to be able to adapt/build scripts? Or is it like web-development where you can grab code from elsewhere and piece it together/alter it and fine tune it to suit your needs and wants?

 

How much assumed knowledge is there when it comes to scripting/adapting codes server-side?

[Darth_Rogue]

Having experience editing config files and html/php would definitely be a good start.  There is lots that's different about it but the basic principles are the same.  You have to learn the variables and commands, how to call various functions between files and all the details that go with it, like remembering to close all code blocks and such.  The good news is there's tons of resources available for those getting started in SQF.  Some things you can get away with doing a copy/paste from other scripts for certain functions, but other things must be done from scratch.  It depends on the size and scope of what you're trying to do.  

[Face]

The only experience I had when i started doing .sqf scripting was very basic programming knowledge with languages like Pascal, Java, and C. Basic to the point where the only concepts I was taught were different data types such as integer, boolean, arrays, strings, and structures such as for/while loops.

 

This knowledge definitely wasn't enough for me to hit the ground running when it came to sqf scripting but it was a major help in getting myself started by learning to read examples of code that other people wrote, and editing them piece by piece until I had something that was completely different.

 

So basically, my learning path went something like this:

 

1. Learn how to read other people's code and understand what it does.
2. Learn how to edit other people's code to make it do what you want.
3. Learn how to write your own code from scratch. (It took several months for me to get to this stage).