They are the life blood of our multiplayer communities and something that so many it seem take for granted but I wanted to do a post as a server owner of what I see as the good and the bad sides of running a DCS server / community. Its something that I notice doesn’t seem to get aired a lot and I’d be interested to see if other server owners agree or disagree with me.

Like most ‘games’ and yes I’m going to use the word game even if some will get annoyed and go ‘simulation’ we build our communities around the various servers we play on be it Hoggit, the various Through the inferno servers, TGW, Virgin Aus, the Untouchables etc and I think that many forget that these servers are run by real people, putting in real amounts of time and effort and some times money not only into keeping DCS updated, but the servers running smoothly and of course DCS from breaking everything.

So here’s what I find as the ‘Good’ of being a server owner/community runner.

• An Awesome community whom generally show a great deal of thanks to those whom have taken the time to give them places to fly.
• Generally an open and co-operative atmosphere of ‘lets help’ each other when it comes to mission scripting, bug issues and just general ‘how do i’.
• A willingness from those whom tend to fly on servers to support those servers one way or another.
• Generally a great level of maturity (some times it’s not always so but generally i’d have to say yes).
• Multicultured and Multi-disciplined which allows for some great times.
• Typically we as a DCS community are willing to make fun of ourselves.. at our own expense.

The Bad side of being a server owner/community runner.

• Being the people whom cop flak and abuse for things that we have no control over when it comes to bugs and other issues with DCS.
• Having to deal with people whom will hunt down any little ‘exploit’ and push it to the limit.
• Having to deal with things that are undocumented breaking entire missions for seemingly no reason.
• number 1 again, but normally when something changes and puts everything out of wack.. thus leading to one section of the community becoming disgruntled and annoyed.
• Lacking the proper tools to really manage servers properly*
• Watching hardware both server and player wise that should be able to run stuff cry in pain because DCS decides it doesn’t want to do something and having players vent at you because of it.

*Don’t get me wrong on this one ED releasing the dedicated server was awesome, but we really really need better tools a lot of SLMOD should be built into DCS as standard for example.

Overall though I don’t regret ever ‘running a server’, it’s frustrating as hell at times, stressful but it’s also.. gratifying when you see people enjoying themselves, when they come back and want to fly on the server you’ve created, I just wish, DCS World wasn’t like trying to lead a cat into a pool that has never been near water, never wants to go near water and will scratch you to hell if you even try and put it into the water.. Because some days that is what it feels like when your dealing with it..

I know that the server runners likely understand where i’m coming from when I say that there are times when a new build of DCS comes out and your ‘what broke this time’ turns into ‘everything’ that you some times just want to throw the toys out the window and go ‘screw it, I’m done’.. But the best thing about this community is that even as some complain and swear about it we rally and push through.

It’s that tenacity i think to continue to fly even when some times our own favorite platform is trying to stop us that makes this community awesome.