I haven’t seen anything “official” on the topic of dedicated and/or custom content support yet I think, I surely hope we get that and if we do, I have a proposal to bring up before you (hopefully) start hacking on the server code. This proposal is based on the experience from running ET and QW servers, and partly based on some discussion we had in the old QW forum long ago:
Assuming we get support both for dedicated servers and custom mods and maps to host on them, I would suggest some kind of tagging/branding in the master server to make it easier both for network and clan admins to promote their servers and setups, and for players to easily find servers fitting their social and configuration preferences.
Network tagging
This would be more of a social branding thing, typically for clans but also for more loosely connected server admins sharing the same admin policies/philosophy and player types, more or less.
It could work by letting one admin register a network tag in the master server system, with a short description or manifesto for preferred/acceptable playing behavior and “rules”. Things like “pro or pub” gameplay, “kids or oldies” friendly (hehe), teabagging friendly or not, and of course, clan or other types of network servers.
Then other admins could register their servers under a certain network, and players could use this as a filter in the launcher. Could also be handy if servers are full and you can quickly pick (or automatically be redirected) to another server within the same network, hopefully finding some of your usual playing mates there.
The owner of a network should have some option to be able to restrict other servers from joining without approval, or keep it open for anyone to join.
Config tagging
This would be a more technical tagging, working pretty much the same way as the network branding but with a required set of server settings and custom maps (or other downloadable content) that will be used/required by all servers in this network.
This could make it easy for players to setup filters for configs and map packs they would prefer, so they also know in advance if they got the required content.
Typical tags could indicate “stock maps only”, “final custom maps”, “map testing”, “comp maps”, friendly fire on or off, bots or not, and so on. Just packaged into a “set” rather than setting every filter option one by one.
Even better if this could be combined with a central cloud service where admins could upload and then the content could be distributed easily to all servers and players joining a network.
Other
Maybe configs and download paks should also be separate “views”, or maybe only one tagging system would be enough for all of it.
I know this is stuff that is typically announced in server names and server messages today, but if the game gets really big with a lot of servers and admins (which we hope, right?), an “official” tagging system could be a really simple way both to make it easier for players to find they’re preferred networks, and for admins to promote their setups and philosophies.
Combine it with a network/server section on the forums, where each network could get it’s own little page/blog or even a forum where their players can hang around and comment on stuff, building smaller sub communities inside the big DB universe.
What do you think?
