Serious TTT Chocolate - New server concept

Please actually read the server concept, this isn't about a name.

You're essentially saying that a server where anyone can join, will have the exact same upkeep as one where only our donators can join. I'm sorry, but that's flat out ridiculous. No troll is going to bother actually paying money to RDM a couple people and get banned, I'm sorry. Most people in GMod aren't in the working class, and don't have money to just throw at a server. Those who are in the working class don't either. It's the reason donating is such a big deal, because while that may just be an ice cream with a friend IRL-- it's a major decision online, here. Something most people don't have the opportunity to waste. Certain people will of course, but you're a lot less likely to go on a Mass RDM spree after paying ten dollars, just to get banned.

An' even if they do, they'll be taken care of just as swiftly. When they will, rather. Again, we have a very tight nit community here when it comes to donations. Everyone knows who everyone is, and we have records for those we don't. With these databases that already exist --the same one that makes you link your forum account with Steam when you donate-- ensure we can squash any rule breakers even easier than any of our other servers combined. It even ensures that when a report is made on the player in the VIP server, we can tag them on the forums to ensure they respond.

I'm not saying the entire sever can just be staffless. There will be accidental RDM's, there will be mishaps, as with any server and any community. What I'm saying his, we want to expand. We're going to want to expand regardless. This is an option to expand; give back even more to our donators, give incentive for even more donators, improve player moral, game time, and fun, all while being more efficient in regards to staff effort and server power costs. An option to expand, without requiring an entire new Administrator. Without requiring anything. Mango, there is a reason whitelists are incredibly popular. There's a reason they're used for quite literally everything and anything in non-public gaming, and it's because they work. I'm not going to realist the reasons again, but declining this idea because it has the same upkeep as any other server is not only false but silly within itself.

There's no harm in trying it, and we can end it just as swiftly. Just as with Vanilla-- if Vanilla failed, we obviously weren't going to keep it. But it strived, it flew, and it got us where we are today. Which is why I want to see and let this fly too.

 

Making a server into a premium server is most definitely an incentive, @MangoTango . Obviously not all RDM is going to be resolved and prevented, but this allows a sort of "paradise" for those that become frustrated with majority RDM on another one of our servers with no staff on. It is an unarguable fact that this will be a reduced RDM server. The amount of spots open at any given time will also improve.

Also, the community is growing swiftly and is not as small as it used to be. Granted, we have 5 servers now, but it is now summer time and very close to the steam summer sale. We soon will see 36/36 on almost all our servers at any given time(obviously it won't be 100% consistent). Allowing not only another server, but a restricted server, will allow a little more ease of mind for those that have contributed to the development and stability of our community.

 

All I'm saying is that the current staff can't even handle the amount of rule breaking on other servers and you want to add another one? Not to mention another one that you guys would want to play on the majority of the time because you're donors, as well. I just think that there's no real benefit to segregating the community.

 

Maybe we could shift the focus to a testing server, still donor/staff restricted, but maps, new items, etc will be tested here as someone suggested above. They could be tested for days before being put on the main servers, giving contributors of the community a good chance to give their feedback and allow time for the addons to be perfected before being introduced.

 

The name needs work but the idea is flawless

 

Agreed. I just winged it and looked at the title and rated it by the name. Seems cool to me.

 

If you're are someone who plays during the day you think "Ya we could definitely staff this server without more staff." Try playing through the night then tell me we can staff this server.

 

All the servers in gmod are going to have little to no staff on during nights and early morning your just going to have to deal with it for a little bit.

 

Yeah, I kind of like this idea. with some different things or all the same.

 

+1

 

So you think it's a good idea to add another server to the list of servers that are already in adequately staffed? How about we walk before we run.

 

What would you call running

 

@mtndewbunney ? I don't understand how you could have misunderstood what he meant. He means how about we manage the amount of servers we have now before we start adding new ones that need more staff.

 

That's an entire 'nother issue if you're saying we don't even have enough staff to handle the servers now, especially considering we have what is essentially a full staff. If you think we need more, please either make a thread or talk to our Lead Administrators about either adding another Administrator or adding another slot for each Administrator/the like.

That aside, considering this is my own thread I'm going to go ahead and lock it. I've talked with Highwon, and this concept really isn't feasible with a few very big projects we have going on right now. Maybe later down the road or even later this year, but until then there's no point in keeping this open-ended debate open. We'll revisit it then. Thank you for all of your constructive criticisms and opinions, lovelies.