[Powerlord]

Originally Posted by Dr. McKay Did they? AFAIK, the only way to change maxplayers after server start is sv_visiblemaxplayers, which only changes the player count reported in the server browser.

Unless they've locked it again since.... but yeah, I remember some GSPs were upset about it. Maybe they did switch it back.

[DarthNinja]

It was possible to change at runtime (even when it was locked) using an extension.

[Dr. McKay]

Originally Posted by DarthNinja It was possible to change at runtime (even when it was locked) using an extension.

Yeah, this led many GSPs to continually scan their customers' servers and suspend any servers that raised their maxplayers above the allowed value.

[AeroAcrobat]

Originally Posted by Powerlord For instance, I'd love to see changes to it, especially increasing the size of the sv_tags field.

Anyone know the current max. ? I'd like to write a note about this in my cfg, so tags don't get cut off.

[asherkin]

Originally Posted by AeroAcrobat Anyone know the current max. ? I'd like to write a note about this in my cfg, so tags don't get cut off.

I believe it's 255 characters.

[Krelle1911]

Lawl. Valve could force a shutdown on all Saigns.de servers, since they are 99% bots then

[Mirandor]

Originally Posted by Krelle1911 Lawl. Valve could force a shutdown on all Saigns.de servers, since they are 99% bots then

If their bots don't have ping, they won't have any problem with valve

[API]

I always see this thread but I forgot to leave a comment. There are a lot of members here that have been around since as early as 2006. It seems that it isn't these lasting members, but rather desperate server administrators, that keep reviving the "FakeBot" trend. It is honestly killing the server-browser, and more importantly it is going to lead to stricter policy until we are completely blocked out from modifying future Valve titles.

I used to feel like server plugins were a right -- "since I'm running the game server, I can do whatever I want to the server." This is all good and well, until you have 40% of servers trying to deceive the server browser into thinking there is a standing population. The simple fact is that not all game servers are going to become wildly popular. It takes time and effort to build anything worth while; whether that be a community or a plugin.

If you are one of the server administrators taking the half-ass approach, shame on you. You are going to ruin it for the rest of us, and this community is far too giving in nature to have that happen because a few people are trying to cheat their way to the top.

EDIT: Another thing... for those saying that the server owners are the life blood of the user base, you couldn't be more wrong. There are thousands of servers, hundreds of which are telling the truth about their max players, tags, and bot count. I can leave your server whenever I want, and that's what happens when people spoof data anyway. The game was developed for players, not developers.

[Smarmy]

I think there is a lot that can be said about the Policy of Truth for what it stands for by itself as a policy and what it's effectively (Or not effectively) doing in relation to server owners and consequently the players.

I think part of the great thing about Valve games is that they allow quite a bit of customization. Servers can stand out in a bunch of different ways. You can carve out your own little spot in the TF2 universe and if you're doing well enough you'll gain a following.

Because of all the plugins that are made and offered you can mix and match them to make your experience a little different than the next guy. You can add an rtd plugin, you can have a radio, etc.

But I think this is also part of the issue. There is no real clear way to govern what a server can do. The method in which it's done now, when a server or community is breaking a rule is pretty much just reporting the server (How effective is this, even?) or emailing Valve directly about said servers.

This means that a lot of time has to be spent checking in to those reports. The "tags" are mostly just optional and are almost never a clear representation of what the server is doing. Not only can tags be faked but they don't even have to be set. With so many servers and such a hodgepodge way of dealing with offenders it's no surprise that so many servers exist and have existed for a long time before ever being reprimanded.

The policy is put out there in the hope that server owners will "just listen" and play fair. The most notorious offenders in my opinion are the ones which have utilized fake clients or bots that spoof as players to draw in quickplay players. It's the illusion of a community without a community. Typically when these communities lose their fake clients and/or get delisted they drop off the map. I can think of a few recent examples but I won't post them here.

But there are plenty of other minor offenders that will most likely never be targeted. Fast respawns is one such type of mod to the standard gameplay that I don't foresee having anything done about because it's too hard to police it. It's no surprise that we get a bunch of players complaining about the respawn time on our servers because they're so used to other servers running quicker respawns and getting away with it.

TLDR: I think the customization of Valve games are great. But with that customization comes a lot of modifications that are nearly impossible to police when they break the rules. There is no automated system to do it and any such systems could easily be fooled anyway. It's up to the players to report these servers and this process is slow and ineffective.

[Marcus101RR]

* Concealing the fact that bots are bots, and making them appear as human players. (Running bots is OK, as long as no modifications are made that make it difficult for players to identify which players are bots and which are humans.)

I stopped reading after that, if a human can't tell the difference between a bot and a human. Then I am sorry, but you need help.