Current Events > People/communities owning their own servers was the golden age of multiplayer

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah, no. That hearkens back to my KF and L4D days with abusive hosts.

Hell yes, you got to know all the regulars and develop a real sense of community. I miss it.

TF2 was certainly in better shape back then.
Matchmaking caused that game to lose so much of its personality.

Xatrion posted...

Yeah, no. That hearkens back to my KF and L4D days with abusive hosts.

Why would you continue to play with a bunch of dicks? Just find another server.

It was all fun and games in Counter-Strike 1.6 until you realize you accidentally stumbled in during a clan's practice night and every player on one team is actively coordinating and communicating and the other team is filled with randos.

It's not just about the kind of people you'd meet. It was maps too.
Currently there are still a bunch of generic Orange and Trade_Minecraft servers on TF2. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk and Wacky_Races have vanished.
And then in Valve servers, it's only the main game maps.

s0nicfan posted...

It was all fun and games in Counter-Strike 1.6 until you realize you accidentally stumbled in during a clan's practice night and every player on one team is actively coordinating and communicating and the other team is filled with randos.

It's fun if you're on the other side tho

GeraldDarko posted...

Why would you continue to play with a bunch of dicks? Just find another server.

Only ever play with randoms. For me, there was no greater dread than when you see the message, '*name* has signed in as a server administrator'.

Xatrion posted...

Only ever play with randoms. For me, there was no greater dread than when you see the message, '*name* has signed in as a server administrator'.

Sounds like you were pissing people off lol

s0nicfan posted...

It was all fun and games in Counter-Strike 1.6 until you realize you accidentally stumbled in during a clan's practice night and every player on one team is actively coordinating and communicating and the other team is filled with randos.

I'm sorry you ended up as op for on my clan server.

I mostly didn't play online games in this era but honestly I really do like automatic matchmaking. removes the intimidating factor of actually having to choose and play against specific people

Dunno how anyone could D this

ssjevot posted...

I'm sorry you ended up as op for on my clan server.

Nah, I've been on the other side of that problem too. Being on the wrong side of a clan practice is just an excuse to load up on smoke and flash nades and then run around with the silenced TMP getting shame kills on people who should never die to that awful gun.

The problem with matchmaking is that it creates a death spiral if the game isn't popular enough. With a server browser, you can see exactly how many people are playing and what modes/maps they're playing. With matchmaking, you have no idea if *anyone* is playing so if you can't join a game in a reasonable time, you just assume the game is completely dead and never try again.

I miss it so much

Admins actually being able to kick cheaters
Map voting + custom maps
Actually having a community build instead of entirely different randos each match
If one aspect of a game was completely busted there were tools to just disable it for everyone

kirbymuncher posted...

I mostly didn't play online games in this era but honestly I really do like automatic matchmaking. removes the intimidating factor of actually having to choose and play against specific people

You may as well play against bots then?

bots obviously play nothing like real people in any way

I don't recall which one (I'm sure there were several) but there was a mod for Diablo 2 that had online play on its own servers. It was a blast. People would team more easily and even help people out since it was a smaller community.

DarthAragorn posted...

I miss it so much

Admins actually being able to kick cheaters
Map voting + custom maps
Actually having a community build instead of entirely different randos each match
If one aspect of a game was completely busted there were tools to just disable it for everyone

Yep. Those were the days.