Features
The unwritten contract between a server and its regulars
Every server has a rules page and a second set of rules nobody wrote down. The second set is the one people leave over.
SweetMask · · 4 min
Longer pieces on the games, the people making them and the scenes around them.
Every server has a rules page and a second set of rules nobody wrote down. The second set is the one people leave over.
SweetMask · · 4 min
Years after casual matchmaking sidelined the server browser, independent networks and niche communities continue to host Team Fortress 2.
SweetMask · · 4 min
A separate publication from the server directory, and the rules it holds itself to.
SweetMask · · 2 min
A server list has no private channel to your server. It sends the same query packet any player's game client sends and writes down the answer.
SweetMask · · 19 min
RCON is a small TCP protocol that lets an authenticated client send console commands to a running game server and read the output.
SweetMask · · 19 min
A server that is fast on boot and unplayable twelve hours later is accumulating something, not straining under load.
SweetMask · · 17 min
A backup is not a backup until you have restored it. Most game server backups fail for four reasons: they were copied while the world was being written, they
SweetMask · · 17 min
Work through four layers in order and stop at the first failure: the server must listen on 0.0.0.0 rather than 127.0.0.1, the operating system firewall must
SweetMask · · 15 min
You can cover a hosting bill without selling power. Cosmetics, name colors, extra homes, supporter recognition and above all priority queue access will fund
SweetMask · · 16 min
A listing is an advertisement in a scannable list, not a feature dump. A player reads your name, player count, ping and map in about two seconds and decides.
SweetMask · · 18 min
Most servers lose new players in the first ten minutes, and almost none of it is about content.
SweetMask · · 15 min
Admin teams collapse for four predictable reasons: the job was never defined, the permissions were all-or-nothing, the only feedback was a complaint, and the
SweetMask · · 15 min