[bf1942] Anyone have a popular non-ranked server?

[Mike Swain]

I don't think the decision makers at EA are as stupid as you think. 
If I was a giant game company and wanted to bring  a large chunk of 
game hosting "in-house" as an additional revenue source then I would do exactly
what EA is currently doing with BF2 which is basically testing the waters
with a monoplized ranking system without investing heavily in its own game hosting
infrastructure. 

If all goes well with BF2's ranked servers, then EA's next FPS will also have a 
ranking system and by then EA will have its own game hosting infrastructure in 
place to take full advantage of their monopoly on ranked servers. I can picture
the many spins that EA uses to explain their reasons for doing this and it will all be
for the "benefit" of the gamer.

My biggest concern is that other game companies will start moving in this direction if 
they see EA having success which could be the beginning of the end for all you game
hosting companies  :(

Those of you who are now participating in EA's ranked server program may be reaping 
some short term benefits but I think you are failing to see the bigger picture. It's too bad 
there isn't some kind of "Game Hosting Union" where all the hosting companies vote on a course 
of action to take and act in a unified manner. Without this kind of organized action your fledgling 
industry is easily manipulated.

I'm not saying that game companies don't have a right to design a game so that it allows them to
bring as much game server hosting in-house as is possible (it is their game after all) however it
will be more difficult for them to do this if the current game hosting companies banded together
and acted in ways which benefited their industry as a whole.

I hope I'm wrong and EA has no such plans however there have been so many things that EA
has said and done that make me think I'm not too far off the mark :(

-Mike

>>> Mark J. DeFilippis<defilm at acm.org> 8/22/2005 4:01:46 PM >>>

Well,

Our clan ranges from 14 to 52.  Yea, they are rank-whores as well.
But they understand that once they get to a point it just isn't worth it,
and they "have a life".  Yea, perhaps you will continue to get the
"10-15" crowd.  You will also get my clan members working towards
the first few weapons.  But they have made it clear they have no
intent on going for 10000 to get anything, and will play on the non-lag
servers with our other clan members rather than a laggy ranked server.

If they have I.Q.'s above 100, most will figure this out, minus the
10-15y/o category.

I also didn't say their model wasn't working.  I said it sucks,
everyone knows it, will not continue to survive. It is working at
the moment, but it is not well thought out.

Hey... New Coke was popular for a short period of time as well.
Then it crashed.  That guy probably works for EA not too. ;-0

Dr. D