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- May 2, 2011
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How to Idle Responsibly
Since GamingRobot32 showed us how to idle while using limited resources and Gaming and I have respectively made Windows and Mac tools to help with this, it has become really (and I mean REALLY) easy to idle on servers! The question remains: when? When should you idle or when should you just let things be? Herein lie oey's tips for when to idle to best help the servers.
I will go through a bunch of scenarios. (If you encounter one that's not on here, let me know and I'll see if I can't come up with a strategy for it)
General Tips
- Contact a member of the FFTF (Fast Fill Task Force). Ask them to send out a Fast Fill announcement if they aren't trying to fast fill another server
- Never idle on a server that has more than 3 people idling already unless the server is completely dead and there's no hope of filling it in the next several hours.
- Never let one server die to get another one going. It's much easier to keep a server full than to get another server running. You may end up killing one server and not reviving another. (Moral of the story: if you're inviting players who are already on eGO servers, don't ask for 6 people all on the same server to help you fill a different one)
- Try to keep at least one admin on every server that has people playing on it
- Don't kick idle players from a server unless it's completely full (23-24 players) or if there is an overwhelming number of idle players and they're deterring people from staying on the server
- Recruit! If you can bring more people into eGO who play at off-peak times, it'll help our servers! (And recruiting in general is just a good idea!)
- Always use common sense. If you think you can help the server get enough players for QuickPlay to kick in, do it! If you can help the average number of players go up without making the server full of idlers, do it!
If a Server is Dying
By dying, I mean the number of active players is going from full to half-empty over a fairly short period of time (a half hour or less)
Start playing! Invite your friends! Most importantly, make sure an admin gets on the server. Idling can help, but usually if a server is dying, starting to idle on it won't do a darn thing. Servers die either because their QuickPlay rank isn't high enough and the total number of TF2 players actually playing decreases (rapidly), usually due to people going to bed, OR due to a lack of admins on the server. Sometimes people like playing on our servers if there's an admin present even if nothing needs admining (and of course, if something needs admining that almost always drives people away…)
If All Servers Are Full
Simple: Don't idle
Note: I consider full to be 20-24 players for a 24 slot server and 28-32 players for a 32 slot server
During Off-peak Hours
Off-peak means times when most of the people in the United States are asleep or at work/school
Remember - the player ranges are approximations. Use your own judgement.
0 - 4 players
Start idling. Don't expect it to fill, but at least you'll keep the average number of players up, thus helping the server's rank.
If all the people on the server are playing instead of idling, invite all your friends and hop on yourself and start playing. There's at least a small chance you'll get it started!
5 - 8 players
If you can, start playing on the server. Invite your friends. Bug them until they hate you if necessary. You should be able to get QuickPlay to kick in, though this may not help if the server's QuickPlay rank isn't high enough.
Don't idle if there is more than one or two people are idling already.
9- 16 players
Start playing on the server. Invite your friends. QuickPlay should be active or almost active, but it may not be helping.
Don't idle if there are more than 2-3 people already idling. It will make it look like an idle server and newcomers may leave.
16-20 players
If no one's idling and all the other eGO servers are full (excluding the event server), go ahead and start idling if you can't play. If there is already someone idling, you should generally refrain from idling alongside them. Otherwise, hop on and see if you can't get the server completely full!
If you can't play and there's another server that needs filling, it would usually be better to idle on that server than one with 16-20 players on it.
During peak hours
0 - 4 players
If the server is the highest ranking server that is not full, contact the FFTF straight away! Invite all your friends, and if you really can't actively play, start up your idler assuming you're going to be the only idler (two total idlers would be OK…)
5 - 10 players
If you can't help by playing, idling would be OK so long as there aren't more than 2 total idlers. Otherwise invite friends or players from other full eGO servers (just don't empty a different eGO server to fill the one you're working on)
10 - 19 players
If the server is dying, do everything in your power to reverse the trend (invite people, inform the FFTF, etc). (See If a Server is Dying above)
If the server isn't dying, idling would be a good idea if you can't play. If the server isn't dying, it should pick up fairly quickly at this point (at least during peak hours)
Picking an order to fill servers in
Generally, I try to fill servers in accordance with their rank. Namely, if the highest ranking server is empty, I'd fill that one before filling one that was ranked third out of our servers. Higher ranking servers are usually easier to fill, and we can also keep their rank up if we fill them first.
However, if you see that server #3 is starting to fill but is having a bit of trouble, you might want to go get that server completely on its feet before getting #1 up and running, especially if you're by yourself. If you're with the FFTF, you can probably fill server #1 without difficulty and then move on to server #3 (assuming, say, that server #2 is doing fine)
Note: I'm talking about GameTracker ranks here. The TF2 servers and their ranks can be found here.
How to actually idle (Tools!)
Gaming's idling tips (includes links to download Windows and Mac tools!)
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