Yeah, so about dedicated server support for Call of Duty: Black Ops -- it's going to cost you.
Activision and Treyarch have inked an exclusivity deal with GameServers.com, meaning if you want to run a dedicated server in Black Ops, you'll have to rent one through GameServers. As for pricing, there's a page here that shows the rates and also allows pre-orders.
I wonder if this is what Activision had in mind when statements about monetizing Call of Duty's multiplayer were thrown down. At any rate, you just know someone is going to find a workaround. It's a matter of "when," not "if."
Black Ops Dedicated Servers Come With a Catch [IGN]
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Contest:
1:00 PM on 09.13.2010 | 
I'm ok with this.
It's good to see dedicated servers back as an option for players, match-making is usually just terrible.
not exactly they didn't make a deal with just one provider there are at least multiple competing providers
Ive heard the term before, but not really understood it lol
So a different person can charge you money to do the same thing?
Dedicated Servers are usually run by the people who made the game and they don't rely on a player to host. When it's a player hosted game you usually find it'll lag depending on their Internet connection plus some games that don't feature host migration have the game session end if the host leaves.
Dedicated Servers usually mean the game will run smoothly without any issues no matter how shitty your connection and you aren't dependant on a player to host.
Dedicated Servers are the reason Left 4 Dead kicks so much ass as an online experience because the game is almost always running smoothly.
There are primarily two types in the gaming world-
Listen Server - The game is hosted on a player's computer/console. All players wishing to join must connect to that player's computer/console.
Dedicated Server - The game is hosted on a separate dedicated server computer in which all players must connect to server computer. No player actually 'hosts' the game.
I could get you a laundry list of other facts advantages/disadvantages but that's the principle difference.
Also I'm a bit disappointed that the ranked game server rent system is locked at 18 players max while the unranked has a 24 player limit (Didn't Call of Duty 4 and WaW support 32-40 on ranked?). Can server owners even modify game rules anymore? Much like what happened with Quake Wars NO ONE WILL PLAY UNRANKED and that didn't even have unlocks. Even though the Battlefields since 2 have worked the same way they were far far more flexible.
But eh why bother complaining at this point, we've already been shown gamers have the spine of a tube worm. Guess it's back to not buying Call of Duty for me.
the news is that they are only allowing one provider in order to make more money for themselves
someone who knows something about pc games should maybe cover this, hmmmm?
<3
This isn't a big deal and it's actually a good thing...
and when I said they I was referring to those who released the news.
Then again, this doesn't really impact me as I don't plan on hosting anything. The option of having them is still much appreciated and I will gladly support the existence of any kind of dedicated servers.
I'm now under the idea that "unranked" does not mean "no xp gain" and instead ranked is locked that way for league games which I'm fine with since I don't give a flying Dutchman about league play. I'm more prone these days to assume the worst in gaming news and as well I'm still rather disappointed that "unranked" servers are but meager shadows of what they were in prior Call of Duty games (excluding Modern Warfare 2 of course).
There are argentinian servers, mind it, but they are all hosted somewhere on the usa, so the problem still exists.
This issue needs to be adressed, it cant be too expensive to use 3rd parties to host servers off land.
its better than no dedicated servers i guess, unless your isp lags to 'GameServers' in which case your pretty much fucked and cant play online.
anyway, i would be very surprised if the Server Client wasnt leaked within a couple of days or release, so its all cool i guess.
anyway, is this PC only? or will you also be able to buy servers for 360 and ps3?
Also the "big" deal is that some people can put up a dedicated server themselves with little to no cost beyond what they already pay for internet speed.
So free vs. cost.
so no competitive scene. awesome.
*Checks.
Yes they are, so eduh is salty.
What a company says and what a company actually does are two different things. I don't even need to cite anything for ya to tell you that, especially for say Activision affiliates.
anyway, lets hope they do in fact allow them.
Oh well from me. I still won't be buying it.
1. dedicated servers host the game and no one is playing on that machine locally this dedicated server can be rented from a company or if you own a server type machine you can set one up in your living room. If 20 people have dedicated servers set up in their living rooms all over the world players can choose the games they want to join based on ping. Therefore everyone can play with low ping.
2. what treyarch is doing is saying, "hey you can have dedicated servers but they ALL must be at our locations." therefore you MUST rent the server machine directly from them. This isn't so much a problem for the people who were gonna rent anyway, but for those people and clans that already have servers and don't need to rent are getting screwed. Also its likely these servers will all be held in one place so pings will diminish as you gain distance from them.
Yeah, but Activision aren't saying these things, Treyarch are.
Here's my understanding of the price points:
Play on Treyarch's official public servers: FREE, gain XP and CoD Points
Play on someone else's ranked server: FREE, gain XP and CoD Points
Play on someone else's unranked server: FREE, no XP and CoD Points, but may use mods
Renting your own ranked server: $14.95/month, 18 player slots, gain XP and CoD Points, may create new playlists or map rotation
Renting your own unranked server: $0.99/month per player slot, no XP and CoD Points, NO confirmed player cap (you must have gotten "24" from Kotaku), ability to upload mods, and more.
I understand that Wager Matches are only on official Treyarch servers, due to the potential for griefing.
I did hear one comment claiming that you don't even get complete map rotation control on the ranked server, which someone on the official board claiming that essentially you're paying for the right to kick/ban... which, sadly IS probably what some people would pay for a server for.
There are a number of games running on the PSN (which is free by the way) on dedicated servers, which would like a word with you.
Dedicated servers only cost money when they have anything to do with a greedy American company like Activision or Microshaft.
Sony: let's provide a great online gaming experience for our customers who buy our expensive but high-tech games console, sure dedicated servers for MAG, Socom, Warhawk etc do cost a bit, but hey they've already paid plenty for our super awesome console!
Microshaft: Dedicated servers? Fuck that, we're gonna charge them a fee to play on P2P connections as it is! I'm not having dedicated servers cut into our bottom line!
Activision: these people are so fucking easy! We'll charge extra for our games because we can, and we'll use the cheap option of P2P hosting. What? They want dedicated servers, well let's do a deal with a server company, force them to pay for them and get our kick back.
"Bobby, you sir are a master of squeezing money out of people."
Even the Matchmaking server set up by Activision for MW2 was fucking shite, and that was supplied by an Activision owned company!
I wouldn't be surprised if Activision has a stake in this server company too.
This will surely piss off ALOT of pc gamers!