What to do next?...

After last week/weekend, I have had to really put some thought into this server manager, in-game admin thing.  You see, I love playing with each and every one of you but it has come to the point that every time I login I spend most of my time aiding you in something you've lost or something someone else has messed up i.e....excessive trees, minibikes, etc.  Honestly, I do not mind helping and I really do like helping but I also like to play the game.  I'd like to build more events for people to experience.  I'd like to not just be an admin in which everyone jumps at for when something disappears.  It doesn't seem to be going that way though.

Over the weekend I managed to get a little bit of game time in again while up at the butt crack of dawn.  Mike was doing his thing and I was doing mine.  We had our typical weekend talk about games, things we do, what we were doing in game.  That sort of thing.  The sort of thing most of you experience every time you login to the server.  I on the other hand can really only experience that while up early in the morning with Homerdog, Mike, Nerix...

I hopped off last night and within minutes the Discord chat is blowing up with issues.  Issues, which, if given the information, would allow me to aid you anyway I can.  Without the info, I can do nothing if I am not experiencing it myself.  Now, I'm not sure what caused these issues, or who and what may have caused them but it seems that I roughly get two solid weeks of people playing before something goes crazy.  I do not think it is a coincidence and I do not think that it is ONE single player is causing these issues either.  No blame is going to anyone and if we could blame someone, they would be kicked and banned.

I wanted this server to be a place for people to gather and play and enjoy the company of one another, and for the most part that seems to be happening.  As our rankings go up we seem to be attracting more and more people.  I'm absolutely thrilled about this.  Unfortunately the game cannot keep up with the amount of people we are trying to throw at it.  Soooo, I have come up with an idea that I would like to throw out there.

I am thinking of making the server a password protected server.  It will require registration on our website.  You will not be getting spam mail or anything of that nature.  It is so I can keep track of who is allowed and who is not.

Those that have played since the first server are "grandfathered" in and have no need to register.  I want it protected so that we do not have trolls joining.  It's a lot of work for a troll to go through to just get on and get kicked off.  This will also allow me to see if people are in the global ban list prior to them attempting to join.  I didn't want to go in this direction but I need to keep structure within the game and with the constant logging in and logging out, it tears away at the server RAM causing me to reboot 4 times yesterday.  I may also be knocking the server back to 16 as well and seeing if someone wants to admin a second server named Z-Day Pve II.

Will this split some of us up?  Quite possibly.  But not everyone on the server plays with everyone on the server.  We would still use our Discord and I'll create a Channel for Z-Day PvE II.

Finally, if what has happened to the server cannot be fixed...prepare for a wipe....AGAIN!

Between falling buildings in water, items flying across the map, and the constant minibike issues...it really causes overall issues on the server.  The minibikes are a major problem and the only work around is to not use them.  This is why I do not use them.  I hope that I can fix the issues today but if not, remember, it's alpha and we know better.

Give me your thoughts and comments



The Irascible Joker