Paging: Game Server Hosts

[Stealth]

What stance are other game-server hosts taking with regards to customers using bots? I have done my research and a server with 11 bots and 1 human can use 10-15% more CPU than a server with 12 humans, this is a massive increase in resources which i feel is unacceptable as just 3 customers with 12 player servers on 1 box can severely damage the gameplay for others as the CPU usage shoots to the 90% region.

So what will GSP's be doing about this? limit bots? or leave customers to it?


Also, is there a command which will totally limit the number of bots which can be added from the commandline?

[CannonFodder]

Actually, I think if my customers were doing that (Mind you I have a little more CS 1.6 than CS:Source customers at the moment) I'd be a little irritated, especially if it came down to their game affecting my other clients or the efficiency of my machines.

I'd put a quick and definite damper on the bots, personally. Thankfully, my boxes are fairly beefy so 10-15% isn't going to do TOO much on a dual CPU.

Bottom line is, if I saw any potential for it to happen, the bots would get the lock down. I give my clients enough leeway as it is

[White Wolf {Hull}]

I don't have this problem but if I was a customer of a gsp who limited bots or took them out I would instantly stop paying for the server because at the end of the day I would be paying my monthly subscription for the server and its resources and in my opinion the GSP has no right then to take things out they should have mentioned this factor before I bought the server.

[Stealth]

yes, however all GSP's (or most) have a clause whereby if a plugin or certain settings are causing too much resource usage on a server it can be stopped.
After all, we arnt being greedy ... we just dont want other customers to be affected by the abuse of bots.

Thankfully when i made this thread bots had just been introduced but interest was lost in using them. We still have a max 4 bot policy which customers accepted when they signed up and dont seem to have a problem with.

-Paul

[[BRU]knox{CL}]

Also a few GSPs that I've come across state that you are renting on "thread" on the server. Usually this is taken by their gameserver whereas bots require additional threads.

knox