Auto Kick F2P

[chris.crowder 0]

http://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=160049

I personally like this idea.

[Xolid 0]

This would be amazing

[DreamLord 3]

Retracted.

[Mana 3,867]

This would be amazing

I don't see how the servers being autodelisted would be a good idea at all:

[Bombz 31]

Version 2 (Experimental!):

Rejects the person from joining the server, as if it was full or they entered the wrong password on a password-protected server.

Requires: SteamTools (0.7.2 or later) + Connect

Download: anti_f2p_connect.smx

Source: anti_f2p_connect.sp

Wouldn't that prevent delisting?

[Mana 3,867]

Wouldn't that prevent delisting?

Don't ask me. I didn't make it.

[Bombz 31]

Don't ask me. I didn't make it.

Well you didn't make the other version either but you knew it'd get you delisted.

I think that since it actually prevents a client from connecting at all you wouldn't get delisted, not from the traditional scoring method, anyway.

[Mana 3,867]

Well you didn't make the other version either but you knew it'd get you delisted.

I think that since it actually prevents a client from connecting at all you wouldn't get delisted, not from the traditional scoring method, anyway.

Except the scoring is on steam's side and reported though the player's client. In the thread it says the reason for this version is "...for a better player experience...".

I won't be risking delisting. Someone else can test this first to see if the client reports the connection to steam or not.

Looks like so far none of the big communities are willing to use it either:

http://www.game-moni...riable&game=tf2

Only trade servers.

You'd have to be retarded to use this plugin as it is now without knowing it's full side effects.

[Lasser 0]

Maybe I have been out of the game for too long, but what is wrong with those that are free to play now joining the fray?

[DreamLord 3]

The problem most people are having is that F2P is overwhelming the servers with players who :

1) Are griefers.

2) Are cheaters

3) Make the game so lopsided that one team is always going to win and the other is always going to lose.

[Bombz 31]

The problem most people are having is that F2P is overwhelming the servers with players who :

1) Are griefers.

2) Are cheaters

3) Make the game so lopsided that one team is always going to win and the other is always going to lose.

This.

normally a community is grown incrementally and in small waves (Which updates would sometimes cause)

The new players slowly learn, their impact on entire teams is negligible. They grow and learn with the community.

When you say, Hey guys, this great game that was once a retail, paid for game, is now free, you get a wave as big as or bigger than the current playerbase flood in all at once.

This typically causes huge team imbalances on servers at best and forces veterans out of the game entirely at worst. It causes the teamwork to go down by a large margin and just generally pisses off the people who were part of a community which had regulars and had pretty decent games on a daily and nightly basis. To administrators a player is a player, 32 slots full is 32 slots full. Your $5 is as good as anyones. To the people who helped grow and build your communitys in the first place, it's garbage.

I know it's not Mana's fault Valve has turned TF2 in to a turd, but it sure would be nice if there were some real options.

[DreamLord 3]

Actually, I am glad you said that, because this is the point I am trying to make.

It is actually a small part Mana's fault, because he is not even willing to try new options. In fact, all he says is to show him there is demand for it. I could do this the same way I did it during Ut2K4, but first I would have to start a clan, develop a player base and then open a new, more limited server. It would take me a year at best to do that. Although I do have all the resources at my disposal, if I am going to do that, I am definitely not going to do it for Lotus, just to prove something to Saul.

Between at least 3 of us donators who have posted on this topic Mana has enough to run a small 18 - 24 man server and experiment with what it does and does not limit to add a kick for non-F2P. The problem is that I think we are wasting our breath because, as you said, 32 slots is 32 slots and that is all he sees 32 full potential donor slots with a 1 in 20 donor average and a weekly - monthly donor conversion.

The future of F2P FPS is to provide players an experience they will not get anywhere else and to ask for a little compensation in return. Within 3 months, the right server can pay for itself, a website, and a small clan piggy bank to give incentives to clan members. I know because I did it and that was back when games weren't F2P, and when you couldn't just run 4 machines on a good server using the right virtualization technology, because at the time the technology was bunk.

Saul, I can draw you up a 10 page proposal if you want so that you can understand where it is I am coming from, but you need to do something before someone else does, because the flood of F2P only lasts for so long before the next big thing hits and takes it all the way.

[Bombz 31]

Actually, I am glad you said that, because this is the point I am trying to make.

It is actually a small part Mana's fault, because he is not even willing to try new options. In fact, all he says is to show him there is demand for it. I could do this the same way I did it during Ut2K4, but first I would have to start a clan, develop a player base and then open a new, more limited server. It would take me a year at best to do that. Although I do have all the resources at my disposal, if I am going to do that, I am definitely not going to do it for Lotus, just to prove something to Saul.

Between at least 3 of us donators who have posted on this topic Mana has enough to run a small 18 - 24 man server and experiment with what it does and does not limit to add a kick for non-F2P. The problem is that I think we are wasting our breath because, as you said, 32 slots is 32 slots and that is all he sees 32 full potential donor slots with a 1 in 20 donor average and a weekly - monthly donor conversion.

The future of F2P FPS is to provide players an experience they will not get anywhere else and to ask for a little compensation in return. Within 3 months, the right server can pay for itself, a website, and a small clan piggy bank to give incentives to clan members. I know because I did it and that was back when games weren't F2P, and when you couldn't just run 4 machines on a good server using the right virtualization technology, because at the time the technology was bunk.

Saul, I can draw you up a 10 page proposal if you want so that you can understand where it is I am coming from, but you need to do something before someone else does, because the flood of F2P only lasts for so long before the next big thing hits and takes it all the way.

Well you may be just being a tad hard on Mana. You do make valid points and I do understand the risk in delisting, but yeah I'd just like a 32 player Dustbowl server where I can be relatively sure it's not going to be infested with people who absolutely positively don't know a thing about the game. At this point in my and TF2's life, I'm just not willing to sit around as others learn the game from the ground up (What, with ALL of these freaking weapons now in the game) In order to get a decent game of TF2 in, where you can expect that you won't have 5 spies and 5 snipers on your team and that rolling is something that occasionally happens, but not every other round.

It's why I have barely played the game any more. I've tried it out some lately and it's as bad as I remember it being right when F2P started.

[DreamLord 3]

I know I am being a little hard on Mana, but let's face it. They are his servers and he could at least try something. I joined a server today that was non-F2P (it was a listed server by the way). In fact, it was a listed trade server with VAC. So seriously, I know it works and doesn't delist. Again though, all I want is for Mana to say, "well we could try this..." There are like 21 servers on the roster, can't you experiment with something that could bring you in more donors on just one of them?

[Mana 3,867]

I know I am being a little hard on Mana, but let's face it. They are his servers and he could at least try something. I joined a server today that was non-F2P (it was a listed server by the way). In fact, it was a listed trade server with VAC. So seriously, I know it works and doesn't delist. Again though, all I want is for Mana to say, "well we could try this..." There are like 21 servers on the roster, can't you experiment with something that could bring you in more donors on just one of them?

I've been running TF2 servers since the beta, and servers for other Valve games way before that. But even though I know that it will fail.... Don't forget, as old retail players leave the game there will be less and less of a playerbase for a server like this.

OK. If 12 donors say they want this I will make a server like this.

Also if you think that you are seeing lots of free players while playing on a 32 player server then you are mistaken. Unless an update just came out and quickplay is forced to put them on a 32 player server (that's the only real exception).

Most of them do not know what a server browser is.

This was a very popular server prior to quickplay/free to play update:

http://stats.lotusclan.com/overview/16

Now it's one of our least popular ones. I really don't see how making a server like this EVEN LESS (by kicking free players) popular would do any good.

[DrkEagle 15]

Poor WC servers

[DreamLord 3]

You can see the quality difference in the play since F2P. We all understand that there will always be bad players, but right now people are defaulting to looking at the problem from the perspective of, "this must be the F2P."

Also, isn't the Chicago Arena server a 24 man server with Infinite Reserved Slots?

[Mana 3,867]

These are our 24 player servers:

http://stats.lotusclan.com/tf2

Arena chicago is 33 players.

[NoobSpy 0]

The problem most people are having is that F2P is overwhelming the servers with players who :

1) Are griefers.

2) Are cheaters

3) Make the game so lopsided that one team is always going to win and the other is always going to lose.

I don't know about the griefers and cheaters side of it, but I've brought three friends into TF2 in the last couple of months who are F2P. They like playing heavy and medic because those classes are easy to get the hang of and are always in the middle of the scoreboard above many people who's names I've been seeing around forever, higher than many of the unusual hat wearers, and did more cart pushing than all the circa 2007 snipers on the team combined.

On #3, I don't think F2P is the big problem here. Next time you suspect someone is a brain-dead F2P, just throw them a trade request and watch as you get a 'player unavailable' message. F2P players, I really doubt, would be disabling trades as the ones I've met tend to go bonkers when I give them a newer weapon for their favorite class. When you get the unavailable message, then you've likely got a bot that is hiding the fact its a bot for server stat padding or for whatever reason admins feel is the need to hide them. That seems infinitely worse for the community than F2P players, IMO.

A closing thought on F2P: You are going to get absolutely no new TF2 players that didn't at least start off as F2P from this point forward. I think it's a good time to reflect on how small and leetist folks who want to run them off are going to come across as these newer players eventually make their first purchases in the MANN CO store and start looking for communities to join. They won't be joining a community that treated them like a griefer/cheater/retard for certain.

[DrkEagle 15]

This is a old thread and the idea has been pretty much buried and done for now, it's been awhile since the F2P thing happened. Just because you're new on the forums doesn't mean you needa go posting on a bunch of threads, especially old ones. Welcome btw

[NoobSpy 0]

I just post on the front page threads when I see interesting subjects. By this logic the whole TF2 board is near-death.

[DreamLord 3]

For once a statement of true fact. All message boards that are the grandfather of all message boards are virtually dead thanks to social networking.