www.newbietrainer.com

NT1 is an expensive, 100 tic, high RATE, 20 slot server that has had low traffic levels as of late. There are other pubs that still run 66 tic rates and get more traffic than NT1. NT1 used to be full every night, for years.. so I kinda want to get a feel from the community, gather some ideas on how we could try to tweak it to give it a bit of a popularity boost.

some of my ideas/issues/rantings, whatevers.....

*maps don't seem to be autodownloading from the server
I got complaints from regs saying the maps aren't autodownloading from the server. most people wont take the time out of their lives to google for a random map on some random pub they've selected.

*how maps are handled
I hate to say this but the majority of the populated servers nowadays are such that run a specific map "24/7", and these generally maintain high numbers (D2, Office, AWP maps, AIM maps, iceworld, other FYs ect..) Perhaps going down one of these roads, or switching maps off monthly/weekly.. or defaulting the server to one map and enable voting for others, or giving admins exclusively the ability to change the maps while present.. If we stayed with a rotation (IDEAS ON A MAP ROTATION ARE WELCOME), is the current time limit on maps now too long? or maybe too short even? should/could maps change based on the number of wins CAL style?

*my feelings on bots:
i see bots a lot on NT1 when i'm looking through the server list, and when i see bots on any server, i tend to avoid them. some people just don't like bots having 3 bots auto join when one person joins might not be the best idea. Bots scare off experienced players, and to be real... this isn't the newest game title on the shelves.

*mods
roll the dice is neat. the bank can be useful, and its not really abuse-able. admins have every control available to them needed to keep the server in order. adding or removing mods on the server, or tweaking some general settings can be done but id like to see NT1 stay as true to a counterstrike server as it can be without going nuts...


not to say i have any real final say on what happens to NT1, i'm just trying to stir up an old hornet's nest a bit.


thoughts, ideas comments? T-you'reanutcase?

This ones for all the servers, maybe adding something like "11 year anniversary" to our server names in the server list is in order. that's an eye grabber, and it's true.

I'd be happy if the rotation/map-vote always had plenty of interesting maps when it shows up.

Sure you can nominate cool maps, but that's an easily forgotten step.

In my imaginary perfect world the mapvote would show up and look something like:

cs_galleria
cs_militia
de_dust2
stone_palace__3
knas_speedcastle
cs_office
de_shipfight

I tend to think bots are not that much of a problem. If you are idling out there alone it only makes sense to add bots till people join.

I hate to say it, but I think the real problem is CSS is long in the tooth and there are way too many hackers. I mean hell even Slick is playin MW2, that has to be a sign of the apocalypse.

Thats not too say we shouldn't try to boost the pop, just the issues as I see them.

i disagree with this 100%

+ de_aztec

maybe de_cpl_mill? others?

That's why I'm here, right? To be liberal with the banstick. (not that I have or anything *shifty eyes*)

Keep the ideas coming, I can change the map rotation and selection without too much difficulty. We do not have a good source for the map downloads since Kershaw left us. FPS banana is now the only source I use when my maps don't load. As for bots on the server, I placed them there based on popular request from some of the old time NT's and regs. Nothing is cast in stone as far as the way the server gets run and any suggestions are welcomed.

Any radical changes such as on map 24/7 would have to be put to a vote.

I can add that it is our eleven year anniversary in the banner somewhere if you think it's a good idea.

NT Mono loaded all the current maps and if we want changes, I can ask him if he can do it. However, we need a file source for storage and I am not willing to buy one.

Set up Thursday evenings as an NT night? Every week choose a different map?

Offer candy.

cake/pie seems to work better around these parts.

does NT2 have a file server? if so.. can nt1 and nt2 share the same file server? I know others can't volunteer to add a game server, but would a reg be able to host a file server?

The NT website has enough space to handle this.

Read this a while ago, but didn't have a change to make yet another name on here. (1st hint don't delete old forum usernames? Just kidding!)

Anyways here is some stuff I've compiled as a 21 year old that I think will be appealing to all ages. I'm just going to ramble off a list and add to the thread as I think of or remember more ideas.

1. Change Name "24/7|NEWBIETRAINER.COM|Rotation|FF=ON!|100tick|NT1"
a. Something more flashy that resembles many of the more popular public servers that I always see full. Things such as 24/7 and capital letters draw more attention. 100tick, friendly fire and stats aren't features everyone has/utilizes and I figured you wanted NT1 although that's more for older players I feel. I also included rotation. This means it rotates whatever map set the server has; if you want you could add D2/Office/Inferno or whatever to this if you like to draw attention as well. I took out the www. before the url as well, it's kind of obvious now in the year 2010 to most people.

2. MOTD - Message of the day
a. Another thing that could be more flashy. It would not be difficult to create an image with the rules on them that would be more appealing to the eye. It should look somewhat futuristic probably? Other than that make what you like. Also you could make a server rules page that looks nice and put that in the MOTD. This would also let people connect to your web page/forums through the MOTD.
b. The MOTD can be used for much more than just rules. You could add a list of maps available (and a location to download ones that are unique to the server?) I can't remember if you have links to the other servers or not in the MOTD. If you don't add the server IP's and a link (I could figure out how to give you one again) where you can click it and join another server (only know how to do for CS and a few other steam games).

3. Bots
a. I saw it discussed and am sorta mixed, but I do think they should be there since the majority of the people joining an empty v. bot infested server will be someone from this community possibly hoping others will join.

4. Give up your seat on the bus/Take people over from NT2
a. I'm not sure how you feel about this, but when NT2 is full and people can't get in if a few admins or friends here went over and started playing in the other server. This would allow for more people to populate NT2 and enjoy your servers as well as encourage others to populate NT1. There are times when I would have joined had there been some people playing (like today).

5. Rules
a. While many of you pay to keep this server and have done various things for the websites/server/community you must keep in mind that others HATE admins on a power trip. It's not all the time or all the admins, but I hear it and it looks the server look silly/immature overall and no one wants to listen to them bicker. I say if you have an issue warn them and then ban don't get into a flame war. Also, relax a bit, perhaps if it's extremely late at night as well. I've seen admins create far too much controversy over one person using bad language that would've just shut up and played if not provoked. Can't admins mute people? If not you should get that feature and use that for that purpose. I've known people who avoid the server entirely because of one stupid incident.

6. Mods
a. NO!
b. In addition friendly fire is a KEY element of this server and was the original draw for me (and is for many experienced players.. correct me if I'm wrong).

7. HeLLsGamers.com
a. This is a large community which has greatly expanded over the past few years. I'm listing them because they often will allow you to list your server on their website (look). This is a good way to get noticed and populate servers. I'm speaking from experience as I did this in 2007/2008 when I was an admin. I'm not sure who you would speak with now though although they provide contact information.
b. If nothing else you could take ideas from their site and apply things you like to yours. **Sorry if the link is inappropriate, please feel free to remove it if it is!**

8. newbietrainer.com
a. It's pretty basic. You could offer better colors/more options for the forums. Maybe add a few more pages or something that people can do when waiting on someone to reply from a post that will keep them here. I would provide hyperlink the IP address to allow them to join your server directly from your home page.

9. Events
a. Sort of like the NT night I saw I thought that for many people semi-competitive scrimmages/matches might be fun to improve the community as a whole. I heard you might have a server not in use that was a cod:mw server? That could be a server that's open part time for scrims. (Note if you put 24/7 DO NOT put a password on it or that's kind of going against your server name.

10. Time of day
a. I think that the time of day in which many of you (working adults) play is not the time that college students or other demographics might play. Maybe if more people of a younger age were in or involved with NT or if people tried to play at times of day when they normally wouldn't it would get others who play at those times to play.

I'm out of time for now. I think these would draw more attention to NT1 and newbie trainer in general. I tried to focus on suggestions you guys might be open to (left out allowing sexual harassment/bad language). I didn't check for grammar and typed this out extremely fast so I apologize for any errors. I'd answer to any questions or anything.

1. the only thing you mentioned missing from our current banner is ROTATION, but instead it says "11 years of gaming XP", which i think is more powerful. maybe its not? maybe i can try to squeeze FF on into there.. CAPPS can be added.

2. I agree, a more flashy MOTD would be nice.. the banner on http://www.newbietrainer.com seems to be integrated into the background but would be a nice banner for the MOTD.

3. bots.. ughhhhh we actually had autojoining bots up until a few days ago until i removed them.. but idk *grumble* ive been thinking about adding them back for the very same reasons you posted.

4. we've been doing that the past few days. the night ends up in NT2.

5. many admins tend to lax on a few rules "after hours" which is cool, i really dont care what people are talking about past a certain hour as long as it doesn't get out of hand, causing others to leave. there aren't many 9 year olds on the servers past midnight. the only rule that's been causing trouble as of late is bhopping. i never liked bhopping because not everyone has a mouse that can spam jump fast enough to hit the sweet spot. i jump around ALOT in game, but thats me using my JUMP BUTTON, attempting to skillfullytime my jumps, not being a pussy and spamming/scripting commands.

so with this we're left with 3 options,
a. let people bhop
b. implement: http://zblock.mgamez.eu/readme.htm zb_bunnyfix
c. continue to do things the way we've been doing them.

I will say, if we do start to allow bhopping, i will be an ******* and bind jump to my mousewheel and hop EVERYWHERE (logitech g500 mouse with a toggleable mousewheel clutch that will spin freely for half a minute)

6. I'm pretty positive FF will always be enabled i think we're stuck with the mods that are already on the server

7. no comments

8. " "

9. we do these, but more on an impromptu basis maybe start NT nights once a week? idk...

10. we allow everyone of every age to participate in the forums and servers as long as he/she isnt a tool. im not about to start going to kid-focused websites and spam our website.

and THANKS FOR THE INPUT

constructive input is a;ways appreciated - thnx