Luckily I am able to speak in great detail about game servers, having hosted them for eight years! I've seen all forms of GSP's - the good, the bad and the ugly. There are better practises for running a game server host, and very bad ones. Let's look at the way in which game servers operate.
Most gameservers will normally support multiple server operating systems. It's very unlikely you'll find a gameserver that doesn't run on Windows. For example, CSS servers run on both Windows and Linux. There are however some games that only run on Windows. Most Windows game server hosts run Windows 2003 server. There is plenty of squabbling as to which operating system is best. Purist game server providers (at least that's the best way of describing them) will cough at the thought of running gameservers on Windows, unless there is really no Linux support. Linux is indeed thought to be more stable. Linux is always considered to be smoother and more secure. You can always choose to run Wine on Linux in order to emulate Windows. Although do bear in mind Wine can lead to performance and stability issues.
So why would you use a game server provider? Why not rent your own dedicated server and run the games? Probably if you are a legendary server admin. Let's assume you are going to manage your game servers on a Linux server. If this is the case, you are going to need to ensure the server is fully patched and secured. Should the dedicated server go pop, you are going to need to know how to fix it. If not, it is going to cost you to pay the provider to fix or format the server for you. Of course knowing what you are doing, and not chowning the Linux operating system to another user generally helps!
Also consider game server providers spend all day fixing mods. Mods and addons are developed by members of the gaming community. Consider, they aren't being developed in software houses, and with that they come with bugs. Team Fortress 2 servers always break on update because of mods being installed. You then have to wait for the mod makers to release a patch. It's not fun because you'll get shouted at by those that play for free on the game server, and burst into tears if they cant play games 2am on a Sunday morning.
In short a game server provider does all the above. They deal with all the hassle for you. Game servers are so stupidly cheap now, it's generally worth the effort to pay someone (who is probably providing the server at cost) to do it for you. Happy fragging!
Most gameservers will normally support multiple server operating systems. It's very unlikely you'll find a gameserver that doesn't run on Windows. For example, CSS servers run on both Windows and Linux. There are however some games that only run on Windows. Most Windows game server hosts run Windows 2003 server. There is plenty of squabbling as to which operating system is best. Purist game server providers (at least that's the best way of describing them) will cough at the thought of running gameservers on Windows, unless there is really no Linux support. Linux is indeed thought to be more stable. Linux is always considered to be smoother and more secure. You can always choose to run Wine on Linux in order to emulate Windows. Although do bear in mind Wine can lead to performance and stability issues.
So why would you use a game server provider? Why not rent your own dedicated server and run the games? Probably if you are a legendary server admin. Let's assume you are going to manage your game servers on a Linux server. If this is the case, you are going to need to ensure the server is fully patched and secured. Should the dedicated server go pop, you are going to need to know how to fix it. If not, it is going to cost you to pay the provider to fix or format the server for you. Of course knowing what you are doing, and not chowning the Linux operating system to another user generally helps!
Also consider game server providers spend all day fixing mods. Mods and addons are developed by members of the gaming community. Consider, they aren't being developed in software houses, and with that they come with bugs. Team Fortress 2 servers always break on update because of mods being installed. You then have to wait for the mod makers to release a patch. It's not fun because you'll get shouted at by those that play for free on the game server, and burst into tears if they cant play games 2am on a Sunday morning.
In short a game server provider does all the above. They deal with all the hassle for you. Game servers are so stupidly cheap now, it's generally worth the effort to pay someone (who is probably providing the server at cost) to do it for you. Happy fragging!
About the Author:
For CSS servers, explore INX-Gaming . INX also expertise in providing game servers.
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