Boycotting Ranked Servers

[BoSBrian]

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have a great discussion going about ranked servers.....

http://www.bos-clan.com/forums/45905/ShowPost.aspx

Might hit home with Rude regarding CoDUO.....

[MajorWoody]

As an authorized BF2 host, i can give you some details.

EA requires ten 16 slot servers to be free and open to the public at all times. No revenue sharing is required for ranked servers. I think the ten 16 slot servers is a small price to pay.

EA *does not* require *any* access to the machines, either via some sort of remote control or even Rcon access. Whoever said that is flat out wrong.

[BoSBrian]

Thanks wood for the info.

[Wizz]

As an authorized BF2 host, i can give you some details.

EA requires ten 16 slot servers to be free and open to the public at all times. No revenue sharing is required for ranked servers. I think the ten 16 slot servers is a small price to pay.

EA *does not* require *any* access to the machines, either via some sort of remote control or even Rcon access. Whoever said that is flat out wrong.

I have a question for you then:

1) If I go out and rent a "RANKED" server do I have FULL and TOTAL control of it.

2) Can I change what ever I WANT when I WANT.

3) Can I run what ever mod I want to run on said "RANKED" server.

4) Can I enable all weapons like I want.

5) Can I access the server logs so I can parse them for my OWN web stats.

6) DO I have FULL and TOTAL control of FTP and can I FTP what ever I want. This includes grabing and and ALL SERVER LOG FILES and PB log files so I can process/parse use for a web stats.

I already know that the new patch that was just released will LOCK out most changes that was done in the past on a UNRANKED server. The new patch will FORCE certain features fo the game to a DISABLED state, one of which is the extra weapons.

[MajorWoody]

1) No, you will likely only have access to the BF2CC rcon tool. This let's you change the servername, logos, map rotation, map sizes, kick players, etc.
2) No
3) No
4) No
5) Hmm... That's a good question. I'll see what i can find out.
6) No, zero FTP access. Not sure what this means for PB Screenshots.

EA will be posting "Official" what you can change and not change on their website shortly. I will post a link when i get it.

[Wizz]

Hi MajorWoody

Thankyou for the reply to my questions. I do understand to a point on some things but to have to pay double or even tripple the price per player slot and be locked out isnt right. But then again its a ranked server and needs to be secure.

This could be a good thing also in the sence that server logs can now be used as evidence of cheating, crashing and stats padding.

PB screen shots can be made in a seperate folder and the person(s) who are paying for the server have access to. Then in the pb cfg file you can point the pbss functions to that folder.

[bystander]

Personally I'm boycotting ranked servers for a different reason. That's the who'e "locked weapon" thing and EA's position on restricting it to only ranked servers. Screw that. I paid for the game, we pay for several BF2 servers for people to enjoy, and yet we can't use a portion of the game we paid for? Bullshit. Furthermore we dont' allow unranked weapons or ranks on our unranked servers because it's inherently unfair to our regulars who only game on our servers, as the "ranked" passersby would immediately have access to weapons and squad roles only because they play on EA's servers? Again bullshit. I have no problem with the concept of the ranked servers for those than find it important to measure their dicksize, er I mean skills, against others. But don't keep restrict important parts of the game there. It's a slippery slope that's only going to get worse I fear.

[Mike_Nomad]

Personally I'm boycotting ranked servers for a different reason. That's the who'e "locked weapon" thing and EA's position on restricting it to only ranked servers. Screw that. I paid for the game, we pay for several BF2 servers for people to enjoy, and yet we can't use a portion of the game we paid for? Bullshit. Furthermore we dont' allow unranked weapons or ranks on our unranked servers because it's inherently unfair to our regulars who only game on our servers, as the "ranked" passersby would immediately have access to weapons and squad roles only because they play on EA's servers? Again bullshit. I have no problem with the concept of the ranked servers for those than find it important to measure their dicksize, er I mean skills, against others. But don't keep restrict important parts of the game there. It's a slippery slope that's only going to get worse I fear.

You have my backing..... I will not spend one soo with EA - not one. This "Ranked Server" thing amounts to nothing more than an elaborate scam.

All our players on both servers will have nothing to do with EA BF2 as far as I'm concerned BF in the BF 2 has a whole new meaning. ;)

[SNYPE]

DONT GET ME GOING ON THIS RANKED SERVER STUFF!!!!!!

This appears to be EAs attempt to muscle in on the game hosting arena. For years we have been able to host our own servers and run them without interference. Now it appears things are changing. They made a dismal attempt with PA and have upped the ante by offering "incentives" like unlocked weapons, etc to those who play on their Ranked BF2 servers.
BTW--did you see the news about TIVO. Thats what big companies do when they see they have a product that is doing well, once the public is "hooked" on it, they change it to make more money off of you!!!! Where will this all stop?? Whats next, BF3 LITE server version with only 5 maps???? To play the Full version you will have to go to EA hosted servers??? And you thought the little movies at the begining where bad, just wait until they insert full commercials between rounds......LOL.

[rudedog]

I can understand why EA locks down ranked servers and I agree with them on that.

But to restrict, regular servers from having all those extra weapons upsets me. I can not understand why EA would do that. Ranked servers in themselves should be a good selling point for their servers.

It would be nice to have someone working on a all weapons mod, using the code from BF2 V1.0

[BoSBrian]

I can understand why EA locks down ranked servers and I agree with them on that.

But to restrict, regular servers from having all those extra weapons upsets me. I can not understand why EA would do that. Ranked servers in themselves should be a good selling point for their servers.

It would be nice to have someone working on a all weapons mod, using the code from BF2 V1.0

What, to have EA ban any servers running the mod from the in-game browser?

[rudedog]

That is true, forgot about that :mad:

[MajorWoody]

EA will be posting their "official" stance on modding "unranked" servers in the next few weeks. They've gotten some major pushback from Admins and are listening to the feedback. Unofficially (until you see it on an EA website) an EA rep said that unranked servers with full fledged "mods" on them will be allowed much more flexibility in regards to weapon unlocks.

As for ranked, it's what it is. They control it so there is a level playing field on all servers. They do allow some customization so that server admins can have unique servers, but not so much that one server will allow you to rack up points more than others.

EA doesn't make a single dime on Ranked servers that are not leased from EA directly.

I personally disagree with their unranked stance. If you want to mod your server you should be able to mod your server. But there's that nagging 10 page EULA that says otherwise :X

[Wizz]

The whole point is the mere fact that paying such a hugh out lay of money just for ONE server is outragous and for them to have the nearve on saying you cant do crap with it is BS. If I go out and rent a unranked server and pay the money then why cant I run a mod. Its my server, im paying for it. Yes its there software but to force it down our throats like this isnt right and is pure extortion in my opinion.

If I go out and pay 8 bucks a player slot I better have control of MY SERVER THAT IM PAYING FOR. BS on not given me control of it.

[OldDog]

I've kinda stayed out of this (except for my flame about market share) because I haven't brought up a BF2 server, nor do I intend to...until I hear EA's "official" stance on unranked servers...then I'll make my decision.

I bought the game, of course, and I've played on quite a few ranked servers, just to see how everything works, and to see the level, and caliber, of players. Frankly, a lot of the players are "point happy". There (on the servers I tried...mostly EA servers, but several others, as well) seems to be little, or no, cooperation between/among teams/squads, etc. Kind of disappointing. Most of the squads were locked, I found, so, unless you want to start/lead your own squad of 1, you were on your own. I joined one squad, got annointed leader (don't really know how), and had all the members bail, and create/join another. They all had the same clan tag. I followed them around, to see what they did, and, for the most part, they ignored the commander (who, admittedly was ineffective), and proceeded to rack up 'neutralize', 'capture' and 'kill' points, individually, leaving no defense of the captured point, to the detriment of the of the whole team, which invariably lost the round because the opposition recaptured after a few minutes. Sleazy little bastards...

EA seems to have created 'point greed'. Players aren't PLAYING, they're racking up points...to what end? I read in CoDBoards a post from a couple of folks who were proud of the fact that they had 'zero points'...not such a bad distinction...sounds as if they are PLAYING...

Woody has a point (although I'm not sure about the 'listening to admins' part, but I'll take his word on it)...EA can dictate on ranked servers...it is what it is. After all, folks, we DID buy the game and ok'd the EULA...just as we bought PA and Breakthrough.

Me? I'm waiting for the "official" word about unranked. If we can't mod and/or control our own servers as we see fit, well, my decision will be the same one I made for PA and Breakthrough...no server.

I'm waiting for CoD2...

Over and out...:salute:

[Driel310]

Actually we do run an unranked server for a month now at 83.149.95.75, and we've modded in such a way with several python scripts (not sure if you can really call this "modding", it's more like adding stuff EA/Dice didn't put it).

- High ping kick
- Message rotator
- Private slots (sort of, but all clan members can get on)
- Announcements of people joining
- Auto balance only affecting lone wolfs
- Etc., etc.. lol :D

We are quite happy with it and I wouldn't want to swap for a ranked server even if they offered me money. I mean, try to play on your own server............. you can't because she will always be full and you have no room to play on your own server you paid heavily for.

Competition of ranked servers is pretty heavy I'll admit that. Server takes some kickstarting by clanmembers. But we also found something against that: Our own server stats with records of every player who visits the server. It's still not like we want it, but we'll get there.

To prevent this from being an advertisement, my point is: You can get a good unranked server if you are willing to invest the time in it. ;)

[SNYPE]

Actually we do run an unranked server for a month now at 83.149.95.75, and we've modded in such a way with several python scripts (not sure if you can really call this "modding", it's more like adding stuff EA/Dice didn't put it).

- High ping kick
- Message rotator
- Private slots (sort of, but all clan members can get on)
- Announcements of people joining
- Auto balance only affecting lone wolfs
- Etc., etc.. lol :D

We are quite happy with it and I wouldn't want to swap for a ranked server even if they offered me money. I mean, try to play on your own server............. you can't because she will always be full and you have no room to play on your own server you paid heavily for.

Competition of ranked servers is pretty heavy I'll admit that. Server takes some kickstarting by clanmembers. But we also found something against that: Our own server stats with records of every player who visits the server. It's still not like we want it, but we'll get there.

To prevent this from being an advertisement, my point is: You can get a good unranked server if you are willing to invest the time in it. ;)
I am glad you have a good server running and I do too. Part of this Ranked vs Unranked beef is that EA is now the sole Judge of what is considered a "hack" vs a mod and has been delisting Unranked servers from the GSpy/Ingame Browser lists based on a "unspecified" criteria that they can make up as they go. Tomorrow they may suddenly decide that your AutoBalance or your Message Rotater constitutes a Hack and not a mod and delist your server.
They can do what they want with their Ranked servers but when it comes to our Unranked they should let us do what we want.:p Of course the problem is that everyone would unlock weapons and such and the Ranked servers would be empty. They need to keep us under their thumb or we will ruin their monopoly.:rolleyes:

[Driel310]

I hear ya Snype.

We didn't put the unlockable weapons in on purpose since they are directly related to ranked servers. We are still listed and I can't think of any reason why EA would consider these mods reason to remove us. Still I also know sometimes EA is not following logic. :p

Would be nice if they released an official point of view. Us admins love to play with our servers and mod it like we want to. We did the same with Spearhead, United Offensive and Pacific Assault (uhm.., lol is patch 1.2 for that game out yet? ;) ).

[Mike_Nomad]

I've kinda stayed out of this (except for my flame about market share) because I haven't brought up a BF2 server, nor do I intend to...until I hear EA's "official" stance on unranked servers...then I'll make my decision.

I bought the game, of course, and I've played on quite a few ranked servers, just to see how everything works, and to see the level, and caliber, of players. Frankly, a lot of the players are "point happy". There (on the servers I tried...mostly EA servers, but several others, as well) seems to be little, or no, cooperation between/among teams/squads, etc. Kind of disappointing. Most of the squads were locked, I found, so, unless you want to start/lead your own squad of 1, you were on your own. I joined one squad, got annointed leader (don't really know how), and had all the members bail, and create/join another. They all had the same clan tag. I followed them around, to see what they did, and, for the most part, they ignored the commander (who, admittedly was ineffective), and proceeded to rack up 'neutralize', 'capture' and 'kill' points, individually, leaving no defense of the captured point, to the detriment of the of the whole team, which invariably lost the round because the opposition recaptured after a few minutes. Sleazy little bastards...

EA seems to have created 'point greed'. Players aren't PLAYING, they're racking up points...to what end? I read in CoDBoards a post from a couple of folks who were proud of the fact that they had 'zero points'...not such a bad distinction...sounds as if they are PLAYING...

Woody has a point (although I'm not sure about the 'listening to admins' part, but I'll take his word on it)...EA can dictate on ranked servers...it is what it is. After all, folks, we DID buy the game and ok'd the EULA...just as we bought PA and Breakthrough.

Me? I'm waiting for the "official" word about unranked. If we can't mod and/or control our own servers as we see fit, well, my decision will be the same one I made for PA and Breakthrough...no server.

I'm waiting for CoD2...

Over and out...:salute:


I will not spend one penny with EA..... I have in the past and found that EA let me down.

BF2 might be many things to many people (in EA's eyes) but to me..... its initials say it all... BF That's just what you get when you buy it thinking you'll set up a server and enjoy multiplayer mode with all your local friends as in CoD/CoDUO. Not a chance.

EA and Trip Hawkins can keep BF2... EA hasn't changed a bit over the years.... :undecided

GREED GREED GREED......... EA can rank THIS! :D