yep, just like you must pay for your home electricity and internet connection to run a home-based server, you'd have to pay someone else to host the server off-site 24/7 while your computer is shut down.

Quote from: yazeen on April 18, 2011, 03:51:55 AM
Maybe its One of the Best Hosted Servers by Vrocker thats why!

yes, VRocker's hosting and ongoing support is indeed one of the many contributing factors  

I've seen 180 before, I wanna say 220 but I think that's exaggerating

yeh... tommis and his scripts gave us a good platform for the fundamentals that make XE so popular to this day.

the mirc scripts and their limitations have actually helped XE on a conceptual basis up until recently. without XE to showcase the potential popularity of a basic VC deathmatch script, done in mirc no less, many scripting talents would still be lost a few years back in time, still thinking that all we need to do to make VCMP popular is copy what SAMP servers do.

there are many other reasons for XE's popularity, but the primary reason imo has to be the administration activity at XE.
XE has many experienced Vice City enthusiasts as members of the staff team, and this shows its benefit on day to day operations, as well as helping create an XE community sense of inclusiveness for the public.
also, most other servers pop out of nowhere one day from some scripters brain, and once he finds out it takes much more than his ideas alone to make a popular server, they abandon their efforts, begin ragging on VCMP and blaming the game for the shortcomings of their server.
XE has never taken this "blame and abandon VCMP" route, we are content to sit on top of a server with no scripts but only to kick/ban cheaters if thats what it comes down to, and we will still tell you VCMP is an awesome game. this gung ho approach to operating a server is what makes XE popular.

I don't think VCMP is dying anytime soon, but I can see why sugar could worry about it... my biggest fears for VCMP failing are:
-the MSL dies and nobody cares.
-the VCMP site/forums go down completely and download links for the client/server become obscure.

...and at times I've often felt or expressed the need to show the developers that I and others felt VCMP shouldn't go down like that, and show that we're trying and we care..
so all that said, I can totally see why this thread has brought the old discussion up once again, and I consider it a credit towards cutton's points that the sentiment is coming from a relatively fresh face in the realms of this topic.

the fact is, VCMP has a unique position in the world of online gaming, and not because of its small community, but because it has unique gameplay offerings that other games just don't have. it has things that other online games from the corporate profit model of online gaming actually have systems in place to prevent that certain competitive gamers enjoy and cannot get anywhere else. because of this, VCMP will always retain a player count and some dedicated community activists, as long as there's support for the server browser and MSL we should be just fine.

about the success of basic scripts in VCMP.. in a nutshell it's because certain people want to simply create their super-cool gameplay script and let it fly on its own without any responsibility to the players, fairness, gameplay balance, or any respect for the gameplay mechanics and dynamics.
it takes a bit more than a good script with a cool idea to run a server in a game like this.
don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for anyone who attempts any sort of original game mode, or even attempts to make an already tried idea actually work out for once.. but when people overlook what a script must do in order to address universal VCMP gameplay issues on their quest for the most popular game mode, I think they should re-assess their goals and plans before blaming VCMP scripting capability, or blaming XE/UMS, or even suggesting XE is part of some sort of script-apathy problem in the VCMP community.

before I go, I've got to say that it seems if people could set in-game boundaries for players easier and with more precision, and allow for more vehicles placed on the map, we'd be able to move forward with the scripting and gameplay ideas that are more in-line with VCMP's natural sand-box free-roaming chaotic gameplay, that have sorta been shelved for the day we get an autistic miracle-scriptor, or the day a magical VCMP release answers all of our prayers and lives up to all of our wildest dreams.

g1 tmavs, congrats.

Quote from: Tical on October 10, 2010, 10:08:04 PM
could switch VU and DU and that's it

awesome 

omg M4 does it.

boom! HEADSHOT!

wow thanks for the quick response, it's nice to know I'm not falling on deaf ears.

yeh I had heard something of the sort from SGB about the no-shoot bug.
I understand it's probably a huge pain to fix, as I'd assume you'd have fixed it already if it was easy right 

as for the cars, I can't say I have a feel for how difficult that would be for you, but lemme say once again: if you could pull it off, there's alot people can do with current scripting capability before bugging you for any more updates/features, if ya know what I mean...

anyway, thanks again, and take care man... cya 

Quote from: Charleyutton on July 15, 2010, 10:50:03 AM
Even though people are doing the same thing over and over, the competition still drives people to improve and stick with it. (Just my view anyway)

yep, I'm just glad someone besides one of my partners or protege's is finally waking up to this reality.
pretty much ALL games are stupid and pointless, unless you derive competition from said game... there is no good reason to be playing around.

scripting isn't everything in VCMP, you can make 100 awesome servers, and it doesn't matter unless you can drive people to compete there... as without competition games are pointless. if you're going to minimalize competition in favor of cooperative sandbox RPG type play or "for the hell of it" script-features, VCMP will always be at a loss for games with higher functionality for that type of gameplay. SA simply has better graphics and controls for that type of gameplay, so VC will always be at a loss trying to compete with it... even if scripting capabilities and sync were equal.
while some servers managed to successfully include non-dm types of competition such as LW's car ownerships, they still failed to keep competition fresh, and died under inflation and stagnation. non-DM competition is very hard to balance.

competition in VCMP is growing as cutton says, and this competition is directly rooted in deathmatch gameplay styles. competition also drives the game and gives it purpose. at this point, developing VCMP's DM aspects is naturally the most productive way to take advantage of the growing competition, and using it to drive the game further.

just ask any LW's regular what keeps them playing there rather than XE, and they tell you it's the chancce to fight the stubby masters usually found at LW's and not XE. ask any XE guy why he plays there and not LW's, and he tells you it's because he feels more challenged to compete in the FFA crowd around XE.
ask any major server regular why, and they say "competition" not "escapism through online role-playing in VC cause I'm too cheap for WoW and too old for runescape"

eh lemme suggest two things I'm sure you've heard before 1000 times from 100 people... I know it's probably pointless, but I do not know if someone has framed these suggestions with the same background as I have... they may seem like run of the mill gimme's, but please read everything and understand, this is coming from someone who obsesses over this stuff... 
anyway...

fix the no-shooting bug or minimize it if possible.
you know,the one where players slide around and do not fire, and polite types will tell the other guy he's bugged.
for all the anti-cheat routines and pro-active administration in the world, this bug will make a new player think he's seeing cheats or a broken cheapshit game 50% of the time. remove this bug, and you are seriously smoothing out the VCMP learning curve, and making the game more accessible to novice players.

add more vehicle placement options
all throughout various script/server planning sessions I've been involved with, one consistent goal is simply enabling a given type of standard GTAVC gameplay within VCMP. one consistent problem with carrying over certain types of gameplay from singleplayer to multiplayer, is the amount of available car spawns in a server. simply by adding more vehicles in-play, we can greatly extend the amount of GTA gameplay variety present in VCMP without having to change/upgrade current scripting capability. there are plenty of game-mode types, that are scalable enough to base an entire server around one of them alone, if the vehicle amounts required were available and in-play.
just ask yourself, what is truly GTA? teleporting around to other players, walking around an empty stretch of road to other players, fighting other players around a centrally based location or spawn, or taking a random car from the huge amount available and driving where you want to go? as is, only 3 of those situations work in VCMP, and lack of having access to the 4th is definately a hinderance to any scripter or server operator who is taking a comprehensive approach to their VCMP projects.


maxorator, I know you already have enough to do... but I see these two as the least complex goals to approach with the largest payoffs, so I thought I'd suggest them as such. I say all this not knowing shit about anything else in the 0.4 release or how hard it would be to actually prevent the no-shoot bug or add cars... but just sayin' if ya make those two changes, everyone will get more from VCMP, more players, more gameplay and scripting variety... and as someone who has been working on those goals(more players, more balanced gameplay variety available) for 2 years now and planning on going longer, I really hope you take the time to read and consider my suggestions. thanks for your time

Quote from: Force on July 12, 2010, 07:12:56 PM
Therefore they all end up being deathmatch servers, which not everyone wants to play. In my opinion the wider the variety of gamemodes that are out there increases the chance of having more players since it gives them more options than just a deathmatch server.

while you are right about more variety being good for VCMP, I guess you're sortof touching on what I'm about to say... developers can add scripting features all they want for VC, SA does other types of gameplay better than VC, and it probably always will.
at the end of the day, SA just has way more to offer in the way of gameplay variety like free roaming or RP, while VC offers better core control functions for deathmatch styles of gameplay.
you can spend years trying to turn VC into a half-assed collection of wanna-be SA game modes and always come up short, or you can focus on it's stronger points: fast-paced combat via more robust core controls and a smaller map where it is sometimes easier to make use of everything and everyone in play..


from my end over at ULK and XE, the problem with VC isn't the fact its slighted for DM, it's a problem with getting players to accept it and becoming interested in DM gameplay and competition, instead of thinking VC can give SA a run for it's money in the RPG department. the root of a DM games' payoff to a player, is competion.. with that said, establishing VCMP as a fair playing field should be something all server operators or scripters or developers are concerned with. otherwise competitive DM players join and see lag, cheats, glitches or holes in scripted DM gameplay, of course VC DM is going to fail in their eyes. there is no competition on an unfair playing field.
in all my dealings with trying to get gang activity stirred up within VCMP, the main obstacle has been getting players to realize VC offers solid competition, and they cite weak scripts, servers that do not account for bugs or glitches or gameplay balance issues in their reasoning against VC. they generally laugh at the notion of anyone considering VC an actual grounds for competition, due to the lack of comprehensive DM scripting. on the other side of this coin, zegro and edhex scripted a deathmatch-style game mode for VC, attack/defend, and it's being used by gangs constantly since... gangs that sat idle doing nothing for nearly 2 years beforehand. its is a direct example of how comprehensive scripting towards fair and competitive DM gameplay within VCMP has immediately paid off with increased community activity.

besides all that, the most immediate and concrete obstacle to VCMP moving forward that I can point to right this second, is the amount of vehicles spawned or in-play... the limited amounts really curb what we're able to do in the way of fostering in more GTA gameplay variety into VCMP. without tons of cars or pickups or markers all over the place, the natural dynamic will always have to be slanted towards DM within VC as the most competitive option.

who's kino? lmao, who are you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3NbiTxaLg


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