Declined A Server That Runs Several Custom Games Modes

hey guys its Bambi again. This time I'm gonna try and make a bold move which hopefully you guys will be ok with. So n0name, this is been in my head honestly since the first day I've been an admin. I think it would be great if we had a server dedicated to running 10+ custom tf2 game modes on a say 30 minute rotation. every 25 minutes, a vote would come up with 1. extend map and 5 other votes for 5 different game modes. In my opinion, I think the community could use a bit of a refresh as it just feels all we have is a bunch of trade servers and 1/2 unique game modes.

I know what your thinking and all the questions that comes with it
Will the server be populated?
Would it be worth setting up such a server?
Would the community enjoy having such a server?
Would this introduce a whole new bunch of players?
Would this overall make FOG more popular then it already is?

The answer to all these questions and more is YES. I've been doing a lot of research before I even thought of making this suggestion. And I've concluded, Almost every community that runs such a server is very successful.
For example, "Redsun" has a US dedicated server to running game modes like
Deathrun
Prophunt
CTF
Orange
Class wars
Stop That Tank
Balloon Race
Zombie Fortress
and much much more.

Now n0name, I know you aren't the most free person. anyone that runs a community for several years probably has real life priority's and not quite enough time, but Id like you to give this some thought. TF2 is slowly dying and that isn't a surprise to anyone so I figured the sooner I suggested this the better.

here is the long list of a ton of Custom game modes https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=253161995

Small edit: Look I totally understand that this is very very optimistic as its not like we have developers popping out of every corner or other people to help make this happen, but imagine how amazing it would be if we were to have such a server. If you need a certain donation personally from me as for server upkeep as if that's an issue I'm sure we could work that out.

 

definitely add PH, not orange tho. a gamemode server shouldnt have "normal" maps.

 

Off my own experience with such a server, IT really didn't Work out. I like the concept, but IT would really be needed to be done GREAT and not just ok. You know scrap.tf? They have a server Running like that and the one time I found myself playing on that server, it really didn't Work. With every map poll Half of the server voted vsh and the other Half voting DR. That made Half of the people playing on the server annoyed because they didn't get to Play what they wanted. Also the less popular gamemods got never played because people only wanted to Play the "popular" things as DR or VSH.

The voting system should be something special and thought out, otherwise I don't think it will Work.

 

Could you elaborate more upon how it didn't work? using scrap.tf solely as an example and saying that people were annoyed doesn't make any sense. The whole point isn't to play 1 specific game mode like death run or prop hunt, its to constantly switch between each other and at a more decently and minimally fast pace with 40 minutes, then if players want to continue playing the game mode they can simply vote to extend and get 15-20 or more minutes on the game mode. People don't just join a server with several game modes just to play versus Saxton Hale and get annoyed when it isn't picked, they would join a server dedicated to that sole game mode.

The great thing about my idea is that you can introduce several custom game modes that are extremely popular today, and not focus on the stuff that isn't. Obviously certain game modes are less popular then others, for example death run is probably one of the most popular custom game modes while balloon race may not be. We could discuss what game modes we could introduce and start with and work from there, its not an all in one package right away. Additionally, adding less popular game modes to the pool wouldn't hurt us at all, it just means they wouldn't be picked as much and we could be able to monitor such while adding different game modes.

As for the voting system, we could argue about what would be better. But starting each game mode at say 40 minutes, then near the end having extend map vote option for another 15-20 minutes to me would be ideal when I go to a server dedicated to playing all types of custom game modes but that of course can be debated. I also feel that in todays age of TF2, having a server dedicated to playing all of these game modes would bring new life to our community and doing us a lot of good. My stance on this really hasn't changed but critism is always appreciated @Snorre

 

I definitely think that using Scrap.TF as an example isnt fair since they don't have the best servers and being such a large website cant really harbour a community. Also, you could easily make it so after a certain gamemode/map is chosen, that you cant choose the gamemode for a while, so people cant just keep choosing vsh/deathrun, etc.

 

Personally I haven't heard of this kind of server but it sounds pretty cool; lots of fun and could bring in more players. Also, I'd like to know how well these type of servers are holding up nowadays because on paper it sounds pretty good. With that being said I also don't have a great base for my opinion of this idea but from the looks of it I am definitely interested.

I'd wanna be admin there.

 

I think doing this is worth a shot, we've got a few servers here and there where you can actually play a game mode, but honestly its kind of barren. It's kind of proof of concept by the fact of how many people tried to join during the admin gathering because it was prop hunt, I wasn't there for more than 20 minutes and I saw probably 5-6 people trying to join over that time. Not to mention the variety and the ability to let the players vote on what they want to play should draw in more players. Even if some of the players don't like the next game that gets picked, its only 30-45 minutes before you could vote again.

 

I think this would be an amazing idea, it seems like it could keep peoples attention on the server for a while since its constantly changing its mode. I (personally) get bored from just playing one type of gamemode over and over and over again! It can just be relaxing to have a quick switch of random gamemodes that you can play and enjoy with other friends. Its definally an interesting idea that bambi has brough up and I would certainly love to have it added.

 

Scrap.tf Was ment as an example of what not to do.

@Bambi :) The scrap didn't Work because of the voting system. And yes I totally agree that the point of the server shouldn't be where only two gamemodes got played, but that Wasn't the reality. To prevent the most popular gamemodes from being the only played ones, there should be a pretty large cool down for gamemodes or big gamemodes should just be banned from that server.

I still like your idea, but out of my experience with a not that great server, It didn't work.

 

To be honest, I'd love to see a server like this, it's something new. It would probably bring a lot of new players too.

 

At first, thought it'd come to a stalemate between two/three gamemodes which are liked more than others, but it doesn't really hurt anyone. Instead, the freedom of gamemodes can attract old and new players alike, there's many other reasons that are obvious or said already, but as a whole it'd be a great addition as many people that have many different interests and it'll bring everyone in. Good luck with the suggestion bambi!

 

just poking my head in reading the comments and everything looks pretty good although having a timer system running stopping people from constantly voting for the same things (or rotating the game mode the server is running via a timing system or rounds system is good as well). I think the idea will be good for the server when executed well but, if executed poorly could waste a large chunk of peoples time and effort.

 

bambi joins said server "oh, this map/gamemode again, no one likes this map/gamemode right? everyone rtv" everyone does because why not

Shitpost aside, this seems like a good idea but I don't see it working from a program standpoint. I myself am not really experienced with plugins and such but from what my brain thinks of this there is a risk of stuff not working and everyone knows that waiting for a plugin to be fixed isn't the most fun. IF this can be done with a small amount of bugs/glitches I'd love to see this be a thing.
(no one saw that, ok?)

Big + if this can be made well.​

 

rotation servers sound neat.

 

This sounds really neat, but I feel to keep things fresh the modes should rotate every 35-40 minutes, and have a 7 mode (~5 1/2 hour) cooldown. Imo this will bring in a wave of new players and a good development to the community in general.
Of course, we could have it running on a test server for admins only (or donators too so i can join in ) just to see how it would function and if it would work out. If some admins enjoy the server they could be temporary admins for the server aswell as their own server until other people start applying for it. Just throwing some ideas out and I hope this could turn into a real thing