Suggestion for better requirements on private servers (mostly aimed toward MapleStory servers!)
Some of these are suggestions directly to the server owners and not necessarily suggested required regulations.
Server requirements:
- Proven up-time of at least 168 hours (7 days). Not every last second, but a reasonable consistent percent.
Disagree with this. Not every server starts off with enough money FOR a reliable host. Even more, quite a few reliable hosts have had issues recently that caused them to be down longer than normal. Should a server get shafted for that? FYI, 168 hours IS 24/7. That's literally impossible for a MapleStory server now-a-days.
- NOT hosted from a residential (home) Internet connection. Residential connections are in no way equivalent to a reasonable server, and the owner can easily be found through legal action.
An owner can be found through legal action regardless of being self hosted, or through a company. Do you think Nexon sues the hoster? No. They contact the hoster and threaten them with legal action if they don't give Nexon the "owners" information. When it comes down to whos' butt is on the line, best believe the hoster will choose the "owners" before theirs.
- Proper identification of the hosting platform. "24/7 dedicated server" is not reliable. A VPS is not a dedicated machine, the resources are shared. Along with this, the "100 mbps" connection many boast is shared between several other nodes, or from a complete misunderstanding of Internet connectivity. For example, my computer has a 1 Gbps port. That does not mean my Internet will be that fast.
Isn't this just being anal? Do you really need to know the dedis' specs and/or if it's a VPS? If you don't like the server, don't play it. It doesn't take a lot of work to delete a localhost. I see no reason why this should matter.
- Proof of proper user information handling. Passwords should absolutely not be stored in the database as plain-text, and should always be salted. Emails should also never be sold or given to third parties for any reason.
There is no way to enforce this. Literally no way at all. Servers aren't going to give RZ Mods access to their host machine just so it can be "checked on". 100% of repacks/sources released here, already have it so passwords are encrypted in SHA-1. If the person running the server knows what they are doing, sure, they could change it, but anything they got off of RZ is safe. I personally know of 0 servers that sell their emails to 3rd parties.
- Servers should not require users to vote, do surveys, click ads, or use any sort of advertising gimmick in order to download, sign-up, or (aside from voting) gain in-game items. For example: link bucks, CPAlead.
The servers that do that are the servers where barely anyone plays. Notice how none of them are remotely close to being as popular as the ones that don't require that?
- The server's owner must be identified if taking donations to avoid donation scams and mishaps. All the money must go only to the server unless otherwise directly specified. For example, SojuStory (down): http://forum.ragezone.com/f429/ad-sojustory-dedicated-24-7-4gb-ram-606955/ The users are directly informed that the donation money will be used for more than the server.
In case you didn't know, again, there is no way to enforce this. If a person says it goes only to the server, how are we (other people) supposed to know for a fact 100% of the money goes to the server. If an owner gets 1,500 in donations a month, at most he'll need to spend 500 for the host. If he gets shut down/sued, where does the rest of that money go? Refunded? Name 5 owners that have/will done/do that. In my opinion, so long as the person pays the bills and keeps the server maintained, anything extra should be theirs. After all, they are the ones taking the risk by running a server.
- Servers should avoid using annoying scripts, such as: pop-ups or in-browser pop-ups (eg. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!), auto-play music, changing of the mouse icon, using screen effects such as falling snow, changing the size of the browser.
Why are you basically trying to tell people what they can/can't do. It is their server, their web domain, their rules. If you don't like it, you don't have to go to it.
- Servers should supply spoken languages of their staff so foreign users know who (if anyone) on the staff they will be able to communicate with.
This I can agree with. It would be helpful, but shouldn't be required.
- Servers should avoid using
You must be registered to see links
or chatboxes. These are very disorderly, laggy, and often crash. I suggest a better alternative:
You must be registered to see links
.
Again, their server, their web domain.
- Servers should supply their server's IP address and port and allowed client modifications. (MapleStory specific) Downloading a ~9 MB client for each server is illogical when one can run their client to any server like so: Maple.exe 111.32.73.40 8484. This may also apply to other servers.
This is a negative. In fact, if this ever went into effect, I can place money on it 90% of the current servers being advertised wouldn't do it. Why you might ask? Because that's asking to get DDOS'd out the butt. You are exposing yourself so they have less work to do. Also, in case you didn't know... Nexon frequents this forum often.
- A server owner may not spontaneously create and close their servers. This is a common sign of donation fraud.
Agreed, but no real way to enforce this. What could the Mods do? Require people to have their server up and operational for a month before posting an Ad? That wouldn't help because they could still close their server without notice at any moment.
- Any server proven to be engaging in attacks against other servers (eg.
You must be registered to see links
, promoting their users to advertise, making blatant lies of false claims) shall be blocked from advertising in any way and reported as bad-business: listing of the server's name, owner, and affiliates to avoid.
You'd be surprised how many people can't figure out who is DDOS'n them. I agree though there should be some place people could post warnings like this, but obviously proof would be needed, such as screenshots.
- Servers should act professionally and promote competence among staff.
Again, their server. The majority of players are minors, and the majority of owners are minors. You can't expect them to be "professional", especially when their entire server theme might be based otherwise.
- Servers should also avoid shooting themselves in the foot.
Explain more?