One megaserver or servers hosted by the community?

Jelle_Zwiers

Do you like the whole "megaserver" idea or do you prefer servers hosted by the community? (like, par example, Minecraft)

With "megaserver" I mean one big server hosted by the developers of the game.
With "hosted hy the community" I mean smaller servers hosted by fans of the game, not by the developers themselves.

Try to make one choice! or do you have better idea? Let me know in the comments! It's not a poll, so say whatever you like!

Jelle_Zwiers

I think I prefer a megaserver. Those are more reliable than servers hosted by the community. You also know that your information is secure and if something goes wrong you can always contact the developers.

Tandor

I have no interest in community-run servers, but I do prefer multiple developer-run servers to a single megaserver. Multiple servers offer the benefit of different rulesets such as role-play preferred, consensual only PvP etc.

Solariken

I would be somewhat interested in community-managed servers, but I am pretty sure ZOS would never sanction that.

I would love to see some ZOS server options though. I would be really interested in a subscription-only server without a crown store.

bedlom

Megaserver all day please.

Ch4mpTW

Community-run servers tend to not run as smoothly as "mega servers" (across the board). Not to mention that they're more susceptible to overall poor performance, than mega servers.

Taisynn

How is this even a question? This is an MMO, not Left4Dead or Arc; Survival Evolved. It would never work. Have you noticied these games have very primitive game systems at best? And community hosted would allow for cheating, more lag in Cyrdodil, and a whole clusterfudge of problems.

And the lack of dedicated customer support. People hosting it on plain PC's not dedicated servers. There would be no guarantee your chara would be there tomorrow.

This question is beyond logic in regards to applying it to ESO.

Acrolas

Mojang officially supports public servers and distributes its own server software free of charge.
It's a legal choice they made.

Meanwhile, ZOS will just look at you like,

Gidorick

I think this should be something ZOS should consider once ESO has run it's course and they want to shut down their servers. They should release a "Complete Edition" of ESO and should allow players to play the game alone or they could set up servers to play with others.

But not until then.

Taisynn

Gidorick wrote: »

I think this should be something ZOS should consider once ESO has run it's course and they want to shut down their servers. They should release a "Complete Edition" of ESO and should allow players to play the game alone or they could set up servers to play with others.

But not until then.

Servers to play with others is still servers they have to pay for and host, @Gidorick. When they want to shut down the game, it'll mean they'll no longer want to waste money on it.

Teridaxus

Seperate servers, need to farm stuff when everyone sleeps.

Gidorick

Taisynn wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

I think this should be something ZOS should consider once ESO has run it's course and they want to shut down their servers. They should release a "Complete Edition" of ESO and should allow players to play the game alone or they could set up servers to play with others.

But not until then.

Servers to play with others is still servers they have to pay for and host, @Gidorick. When they want to shut down the game, it'll mean they'll no longer want to waste money on it.

There are other games that allow players to play with others without the developers involvement Taisynn. Maybe not on console, but on PC. There have been many games that have been brought back from the dead by community servers. Star Wars Galaxies is still active because of this. http://swgawakening.com/portal.php

This practice is actually now protected by law: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/10/28/legally-you-can-now-grant-new-life-to-dead-games

I'm saying that at the end of ESO's life, it would be great if ZOS supported this sort of afterlife for ESO by maybe releasing server software or even the developers tools. Is it a lot to ask? sure, but if the game is going to be shut down anyway... why not? If they boxed all of ESO and sold the game and tools for $60... I think I'd buy it. Many people would. It could be a way for them to make one last wave of cash prior to shutdown.

Jelle_Zwiers

Well, one advantage community-driven servers have is that they can use plug-ins.

rootimus

Setting aside the fact that there's no such thing as a "mega server" outside of the marketing department, this is an MMO. It simply won't work if you have a gazillion servers out there like TF2 or counterstrike. Something like that needs to be in the design plan from the very beginning, just like open world, non-consentual PvP.

Jelle_Zwiers

rootimus wrote: »

Setting aside the fact that there's no such thing as a "mega server" outside of the marketing department, this is an MMO. It simply won't work if you have a gazillion servers out there like TF2 or counterstrike. Something like that needs to be in the design plan from the very beginning, just like open world, non-consentual PvP.

Well, ZOS calls it a "megaserver", that's why I call it that way too.

Betheny

I can imagine how much you'd all love to stick around on my "Community Server" while I fly around on godmode in Cyrodiil.

Acrolas

Gidorick wrote: »

This practice is actually now protected by law: http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/10/28/legally-you-can-now-grant-new-life-to-dead-games

But because I normally read the articles I cite before citing them...

"Unfortunately, the new rules only cover games where the single player has become unplayable. You are not yet allowed to run servers to resurrect multiplayer games, or to run servers that bring MMOs back to life. Though that may be the next step, now that the Librarian of Congress has accepted the need to protect single player games.

The initial proposal from the EFF called for multiplayer games to be exempted, too, but the Entertainment Software Association blocked it. "They argued that the proposed exemption was too broad, would not facilitate any noninfringing uses, and could adversely impact the market for video games,""

***

Star Wars Galaxies Awakening claims to be legal because they didn't copy any code from Sony, but it's illegal to create products, commercial or otherwise, using existing, unlicensed intellectual property. SWGA is also not legally allowed to use a PayPal Donate button due to the nature of their service, but that's a whole other issue.

Lysette

What is "legal" and what is not is anyway questionable in an internationally played game - as soon as servers were run by the community, there is no law which would apply to all of them any longer. There are countries, which give a damn about copyright laws of other nations and copy or reuse stuff after their leisure. Your privacy could be violated in any way possible and you have no secure environment to play in anymore - this is IMO not an option for an internationally played game.