Uncommitted
06 11 09 - 11:22 Dedicated servers are part of what makes PC gaming multiplayer great, but that seems to be changing. For those who are unfamiliar with dedicated servers, they are server that host PC games. This is different from Xbox Live and listen servers in that no one is actually playing on the same computer that is hosting. This setup solves many of the issues that plague Xbox Live games, for example, there is no host advantage and there is no 5 second delays in the game because the person who was selected to be the host quit the match. To PC gamers though, these servers became the focus point of communities. A community could run its own server and play how it wanted to, and clans could easily run modified rules or block non-clan members from their matches. Unfortunately it seems that developers no longer care about how much these servers bring to the community surrounding multiplayer PC games. It started when it was announced that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 would not support dedicated servers despite all the previous games doing so. And to say that the PC community took this poorly would be an understatement.Many saw that this was not done for a technical reason, but as a way to force PC users to buy downloadable content. The system that Call of Duty will be using is similar to that of Halo 3 on Xbox 360, there are a series of playlists you can select from. The problem with this is traditionally on the PC you could select a server that is running the exact settings you want, and since the servers are community controlled they could even run custom made maps and modifications. Several famous PC games even started this way, both Team Fortress and Counterstrike were originally mods for Quake and Half-Life respectfully. As more detail about has come out about the new Call of Duty, it is apparent that the whole thing is designed to force PC players to accept the way things work on consoles.
If this was an isolated incident it would be bad enough, but it seems Call of Duty is the start of a trend. It has been announced that both thenew Alien vs. Predator game and id's upcoming game Rage will most likely not support dedicated servers. This is a worrying trend; we are losing a part what makes PC gaming great in the further consolization of the gaming industry. Note that this is not a knock at consoles, I enjoy playing on consoles and have enjoyed how each generation they become more like PC gaming, but I was hoping that they would continue to move towards PC-ness with dedicated servers and such instead of the weakening of PC gaming in an attempt to force overpriced DLC and other unwanted console developments on the PC crowd. We need to put a stop to this now before it’s too late.
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