[cod] Off-Topic: The Future of GSPs

[MaydaX]

It's looking grim either way you look at it. Two of the largest FPS 
franchises have stuck it to the smaller GSP and mod communities. On the 
IW side they abandoned dedicated servers while on the DICE side the 
dedicated servers are restricted to a smaller number of "trusted" 
providers. I am a firm believer that anyone should have the chance to 
get into the GSP business as it promotes healthly competition.

Players are hoping DICE will release mod tools for Bad Company 2 / 
FrostBite at a later date but how will that even work without server 
files to play one. All players have to do it look at mod downloads for 
BF2 and you will see client and server files. I don't see anything 
changing for BF3 or any future Battlefield game so long as people buy 
the games. In the end it's all about money and no mods means the players 
get tired of the stock game and will be more tempted to buy DLC's.

Mods have allowed game devs to see new ideas without having to invest 
money in making a new game that could possibly fail. Counter-Strike and 
Desert Combat mods have proven this just to name two. I think consoles 
have started this trend as they have proven that with no 3rd party 
content and official paid DLC's it means big money. Until PC gamers stop 
buying in mass numbers I don't see anything changing.