First of all, what are game server providers, GSPs, and why do I need one? If, like me, you love to play with your other online game buddies, they usually play together online. You and your team need a playground to provide you with the online space. How and where is all this information processed? There are two main methods.

The first is peer to peer. Peer to peer is a well-established protocol for exchanging information between computers that want it. In the case of online computer games, this is where one computer acts as the host (master computer if you want) and all the other players’ computers send their information to the master. This gives the player hosting the game a slight advantage in response time or lower ping and of course once the player leaves the game the server no longer exists as it depends on their connection, historically this it has become known as a ‘listening server’. .

Dedicated servers. Some game companies like Activision and EA offer their own dedicated “official” or “classified” servers online where they have their own machines in their own data center that host official servers that they control and manage. Console games generally also have their own dedicated servers provided by developers or peer-to-peer solutions in some cases like with Modern Warfare 2 and 3. But some servers are provided by people who like to have personal control over how it is set up. your game server. These come in two options. The individual has a rented or own machine and hosts the game server. The second option is to rent a dedicated game server from a large list of GSPs (game server providers) who, for a small monthly fee, can host your server 24 hours a day and have web-based graphical user interfaces. to start and stop. , reinstall, edit configuration files, configure scheduled reboots, install mods and much more. This is by far the most common option, as it is cost effective and much easier to get started. Only basic knowledge is needed to host a server in this way. That is why the GSP industry has grown to an industry of $ 5 million a year.

What are online servers?

A server is a machine that runs in a data center (CC) with a high-bandwidth connection to the Internet and a redundant power supply to keep things online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This allows many players to connect to one place to play all together. GSPs host their game servers on machines in a data center.

What is ping?

Ping is just an ICMP command that checks the time it takes for a packet of information to travel from one computer to another and vice versa. Ping is measured in ms or milliseconds, which are thousandths of a second. A game server hosted less than 300 miles from your physical location should provide good latency for your game server.

Full Dedicated Server

I have heard of dedicated servers. What are these?

You can rent a full dedicated server, this gives you root access to a Windows Server machine via Remote Desktop Connection. This is for advanced users as setting up a game server using steamcmd and configuring the firewall can be a time consuming process, but for large communities and clans this is the only option. Full control over your game servers, root access to all files, something you will never get with shared game server hosting. However, it costs around $ 100 per month, so get those donations flowing to pay for the hardware.

Shared game server hosting

Renting through a GSP (game server provider) is the most common way and the best option to run a game server. You choose one provider out of the many hundreds out there, and choosing which provider to go with can be quite a daunting task. These are the main points to consider.

· Price. Well, price is king in most cases and many gamers would have searched for the cheapest company in Google’s top ten and walked away with them without even thinking about it. However, choosing the lowest price is a haphazard way of choosing any service, be it a plumber, an electrician, or in this case, a game server. You can choose the cheapest and bet, go for the most expensive and hope that it translates into quality service, or if you are like me, go for the middle ground, not too cheap and not too expensive. I use this practice when choosing everything from toasters to hotel rooms. But price is not the only factor to consider.

· Reputation. Reputation has an extremely strong influence on any decision about which service provider to use. There are game server companies that seem to have been around since the dawn of the internet age, and there are unknown startups that have only formed in recent years. Older companies have seen it all before and maybe they can get stuck without putting the effort into the control panel functionality that modern games and players demand. Young and vibrant startups can be enthusiastic and energetic in their approach to both new game releases and support, but they can also make mistakes and show a lack of experience with challenging support matters. The complicated nature of newer indie games and early access Steam games make it very difficult to get a game server that runs smoothly, so I would go for the middle ground again, a company that is not too long. but who is also old enough to have experience where it matters.

So what else does a GSP offer?

There are also a few other factors to consider when selecting a GSP:

· Control panel interface. This is a graphical user interface (GUI) from which you control your game server. Here you can start the game, change the rules, add server passwords, add bans, allow, add administrators, and add mods. This should be quick and easy to use. The industry standard is TCAdmin 2, but many vendors have custom dashboards to cut costs, as TCAdmin can be quite expensive for businesses.

· Support staff experience. The support staff are experienced in setting up the game to make it easier to play, as many games today have complicated setup procedures. A good GSP will have a configuration editor already configured in the GSP control panel so you don’t have to go searching for all the information to edit the file yourself. The key is that the better the staff, the less problems will go wrong with your server once you have it.

· Mod installers. Some GSPs have mod installers where you can, with one or two clicks, fully install a mod in a game with all the required files without the need to upload them via FTP. Again, this is a configuration that your GSP should have done on its own.

· 24 hour support. I play until the wee hours of the morning and support during business hours does not work for me. I want 24 hour support and I want someone to contact me fairly quickly so that I can continue with my game. I don’t have a lot of free time and I don’t want to waste it staring at a broken server, even if I broke it myself.

· Instant setup. Most GSPs should have instant setup, in my experience this is not really instant setup instant start, not instant setup, files need to be downloaded and some of these new games may be 20GB or more .

· Configuration editors. These are necessary for GSPs, as many do not want to give access to root folders and modify settings and .ini files, as player slots are generally directly related to CPU consumption, so the more slots For players you need, the more the server will cost. . A good configuration editor will make it easy to configure your game server. The complicated nature of some of the recent indie games like DayZ and Ark Survival evolved requires attention to detail for them to run smoothly. Make sure to check that the GSP is up to date with all custom settings, as updates for these types of games come quite frequently and can break out of date settings. Therefore, ensuring that GSP staff keep up with the games is a good indicator of a good GSP. Any good GSP should be able to answer detailed questions about its games, and if it doesn’t, what kind of support can you expect from it.