Look. Can I just give you guys my CC# for a private server?

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by portable, September 13, 2014.

  1. portable

    portable Active Member

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    Games tend to run around 60 minutes. An EC2 m3.2xlarge instance (8 cores, 30 GiB) costs $0.560 per hour. What would it take to make "private server credits" happen?
  2. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

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    me and @brianpurkiss would also hop on dat if this were something uber would do, we've already asked numerous times.
    igncom1 likes this.
  3. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    I think there was something about renting your own servers in the FAQ. Just need to find it on the page...

    Edit: Odd, cannot find it anymore. Maybe I looked at the wrong games FAQ or the idea was dropped/the FAQ reworked.
    Last edited: September 13, 2014
  4. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    No, this in fact NEVER happened EVER. Was definitely another game, the idea was never an idea that was ever had.

    The idea was, the game wouldn't be ran off servers forever, that players would get servers.

    However, the servers would have a direct connect and a way to publish to the game listings via playfab. The playfab public PA listings would require a game key, linked to your online account, like it does now. The player servers being ran local or via direct connect, wouldn't require an account.

    There was never an idea, about renting players servers for the rest of time.
  5. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    I could be up for that, it'd be pretty cool actually. Uber hosting a couple servers for players, they get revenue from it, and players get a nice host without going through the complications of server batch files.
  6. Brokenshakles

    Brokenshakles Active Member

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    I would be interesting in hosting PA servers for a profit, it might be an opportunity for uber licensing/subcontracting it out. 56c per hour? Not a bad income if you have a couple dozen blade servers. However, EC2 doesn't have the right sort of performance for this application, so I would do a custom hardware solution. Also, the rates for that is really high, and I would charge per game and not per hour. Like I said, its really a separate business. Of course, Uber will always have their own public servers, but privately rented servers should be a thing for people who want to buy a game on an ultra-large system on a private server.
  7. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    I think the current servers are leased from amazon (makes more money for cloud computing & server hosting then selling stuff).
    When looing at the network activity of the pa.exe in Windows 8 resource manager at least one of them is clearly belonging to amazon: post.PNG

    Edit:
    It seems only playfab is hosted on the amazon servers.
    The game itself seems to run on softlayer.com servers:
    post.PNG
    Last edited: September 13, 2014
    bradaz85 and thetrophysystem like this.
  8. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    I'd hope that Uber can release the server within a timeframe that makes any work for such "uber hosts better servers paid for a more private use" concept simply not worth it.
    thetrophysystem likes this.
  9. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    When they release the server it could be interesting to still lease a server to run the programm on.
    There is even some business in hosting online servers for people to play on (game servers on demand).
  10. cola_colin

    cola_colin Moderator Alumni

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    That for sure, but I felt the OP is more after faster servers right now ;)
    I am SOOOOO gonna play around the the server exe on the biggest rentable server I can get.
    devoh likes this.
  11. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    Well I'd imagine once the server is released they obviously won't stop hosting servers for players. (Which is actually a nice thing, games are doing this less and less now adays it seems), and people could host their own servers if they have 'em...

    It'd be cool for Uber to make some money by hosting servers for people who don't like to deal with batch files. :D
  12. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    One step ahead of y'all.
    Brokenshakles likes this.
  13. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    That was the server rental I was remmebering. Totally forgot to look on the wiki-page for it.
    Thanks for compensating for my lousy memory.
  14. Brokenshakles

    Brokenshakles Active Member

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    Right, since they are planning on doing it, I assume that Uber has given the greenlight to the idea in general. Although, Uber will probably want an agreement in writing with anyone who does it.
  15. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    I don't need an agreement from Uber to use the game I purchased. It's supposed to come with server access. So I paid for it, so I can use it.

    That being said, I plan on working closely with Uber to make sure I provide the best server rentals possible.
  16. Brokenshakles

    Brokenshakles Active Member

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    No, I was talking about using their servers for a for profit service, which may not be within the doctrine of first sale in this case. Especially since the server was not included in the original 1.0 release, and may be considered a separate product by law.
  17. zgrssd

    zgrssd Active Member

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    Thier stance on monetising videos is clear:
    http://www.uberent.com/canistreampublishandmonetizevideos/

    There is no rule to prevent you from running a server accessible from the internet (if so that would be very stupid)
    There is no rule about not restricting access to a server you run.

    You are not renting out the server programm. You are renting out the calculation capacity of your computer that is running the server.
    It is just a lot more comfortable then having to rent yout own sever and install/start the server tere yourself (I could do it, but most people propably cannot).
  18. mrwaxem

    mrwaxem New Member

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    I personally think its too early to go to rentable servers, carve out the game first make it a winner in the RTS genre.
    To many times have i thought yeah top game then gone into a rented server to find an ego behind the hire agreement, their rules or you walk type of M.O.

    Open to everyone. Full stop.
  19. portable

    portable Active Member

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    Let's look at the economics of software development. The game has already launched, and there is some nascent DLC. Where is new revenue for Uber going to come from? There are multiple avenues for the studio -- an expansion, a new game, or, as I've suggested, PA-as-a-Service.

    Ok, maybe that's distasteful, but I'm going to be paying someone for hosting a private server: either brianpurkiss or tatsujb or someone else. I already have a financial relationship with Uber Entertainment, so it's easier for me to give them more money than someone else.
  20. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    Rentable servers are optional and 3rd party. Uber is going to be offering their servers for free and so far has given no indication of offering rented servers.

    The reasons for rented 3rd party servers is rather simple. More power, larger systems, modding, dedicated bandwidth, etc.

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