A "listen-server" is being simultaneously hosted and directly played on by the host, which means he has 0 ping and what he sees on his screen is always 100% "true". Everyone else has at least, let's say, 15 ping (people have as low as 3 in Sweden, but I think we're alone in this) which together with the use of prediction (estimates what's going to happen the next frame based on what happened in the previous few frames, in an attempt to "hide" lag and get closer to what is actually going on at the server) means that what they see isn't necessarily what's happening in the game (i.e. what takes place on the server, which has authority of everything of importance like where players are standing, where bullets hit, etc. ("cosmetics" like blood-splatter is often surrendered to clients to save bandwidth and such)).
A dedicated server is what one expects of a server: it just hosts. If you're a kid you might have to pool money with friends to get a server of your own or
rent one, either way they stand safely somewhere, focusing wholeheartedly on their sole duty (and is lovingly cared for in return, I might add), unlike a listen-server which, besides giving a
HUGE advantage to whoever is hosting it, is much more likely to cause problems since any client-related problem the host might have also affects everyone in the game: if his internet provider fucks him for 1 second
everyone gets fucked, if his mom pulls out the power-cable
everyone gets fucked, if he messed around with overclocking and accidentally damaged something and that shows for the first time while he is hosting the game then
everyone is fucked, etc. And you simply don't play on a server where there's a non-negligible risk of something fucking up (try playing basketball with constant earthquakes, time-freezes (though brains doesn't freeze, so you experience it) and the threat of the whole world disappearing at any second).
You prefer a server where everyone has 25 ping over one where one team averages 10 and the other 20 because the advantage is so big. Someone having 0 when everyone else has over 10 is just ridiculous. It's like one guy having a motorcycle in a bicycle-race (and if it's a 5 vs. 5 bicycle-race his teammates can grab onto him and each other, forming a long tail, and he can drag them all to a glorious victory).
So both on account of the unreliability (though listens aren't unreliable per se, in practice they are less reliable than a well-protected dedicated) and the ping-advantage (and the listen-host doesn't even need prediction since his version
defines what is actually happening) listen servers are unacceptable.
I'll repeat this since it's such an important thing to know: because of ping and prediction (though the latter partially cancels out the former) what one sees on one's screen isn't necessarily what is happening in the game (i.e. on the server) when one plays online (though one's brain compensate for this automatically to some degree (this "hidden skill" is of
utmost importance!)). Many people never learn/accept this fact and thus spend year after year screaming at their screen since they can't comprehend why they missed "even though they shot straight at him" (PROTIP: If you
did he'd be
dead).
Usually (or maybe I'm just blessed coming from
Counter-Strike) there's enough support for changing important variables (i.e. making key rule-changes) for one to not care about mods (other than for hilarious alternative ways of playing (i.e. new and different games)), so that they're even talking about mods means that the game is
so bad in it's original form that they don't even want to touch it. A mod is a chunk of new code that is connected to the original game through a "slot for modifications" which doesn't exist unless the developers add them, i.e. "mod support" (
Half-Life did this
extremely well). What is possible to do with them depends on what the developers allows one to do with them. It sounds like it's here needed to remove some things from the game, but code-wise it's an addition, i.e. an expansion. (Note that third-party software which e.g. reads pixels on the screen and does something from that are NOT mods. (What is cheat and not of course depends on what has been agreed upon, this goes for mods as well.)) Modifications are basically user-made expansions, they often/always (I'm not sure, but it's really just a matter of implementation) need to be
installed on (i.e. need an installation process that connects them with) either the clients, server, or both.
That mods are even needed is stupid (especially since it's a series: why the hell haven't they made all changes the players want available as simple settings yet?), and now that the mod support is gone then the game is unfixable-shit instead of just shit. The changes might not seem big (disabling some weapons, removing some traits, etc.), but the difference can be huge (I'm guessing it takes the game from ** to ****). While the listen thing is big on its own it is MINOR compared to the mod thing, since without the mods they wont even be playing the game they want.
Bradford wrote:Also, I believe that the matchmaking service will be in addition to the ability to host "private" games. Why else should one care?
A very good question. They really shouldn't care at all as these are separate issues (matchmaking is actually a great addition), but adding matchmaking either means having a pool of dedicated servers that the players automatically use, or picking the host from (i.e. forcing the extra load and responsibility on and giving the advantage (though it's possible to reduce/remove it with "fake lag", I don't think anyone is doing this...
yet) to) one of the players who got matched up for the game, and the former costs money, so it might have played a part in the listen issue. It is possible to let players simply give the IP to their own dedicated to the matchmaking service, which then joins with some bot (that one must give admin rights to), which then sets up everything and monitors the game etc., but I guess that's too high-tech for them. (That's basically how third party anti-cheat software works.)
"The dedicated server system" he talks about is really just that everyone has a
fucking sweet super-optimized dedicated server with a static IP that is given on IRC ("on IRC" means "in a chat channel on an IRC network" and in this context also "a channel created specifically for finding people to play against") to whoever one has agreed to play against. Being the "home team" is quite a big advantage, even if both teams have the exact same ping, as one is more used to how one's own server feels (i.e. one has already adapted perfectly to the minor differences in prediction which comes with minor differences in settings (no two servers feel exactly the same unless they've been set up exactly the same)), though part of playing warmup for (
hopefully just) a few minutes is to allow the other team to adapt to it, so it's rarely a deciding issue (at least if one can adapt quickly)
unless the game is started INSTANTLY as everyone has joined the server (one might even delay one's last player a while so that at least 4 people are used to the server when the game starts). Matchmaking services often start games as soon as everyone has connected, to speed things up, as finding and playing games quickly is what matchmaking is all about. (More on scrubs: they often squeal "oh-mi-god-the-hitboxes-are-fucked-on-this-server!" as they die, not realizing that
it's their brains that are fucked and can't adapt to the new environment.)
The maps are very important since they all work differently: some maps are very simple, some are very complex, some leads to a high-pace game, some lead to a low-pace game, etc. A new map can feel like a new game, as your team might be great on map X but on map Y appear to be complete beginners. It takes most people quite a lot of time, perhaps even years (as is often the case in
CS) to learn a single map, especially the first few. If there's a few good maps included already then it shouldn't be such a big issue until they've been mastered, but not any support for custom maps is kind of a big "fuck you" anyway, since the "slot" is already there (otherwise the game would only be able to run a single map). However, the developers retaining complete control over the maps could also be a good thing, depending, of course, on what they do with it.
In short: Custom maps, mods, listen vs. dedicated and matchmaking are all separate issues. Having only listen servers does in no way or form cut out mods or custom maps. Matchmaking does in no way or form decide the "to be or not to be" of the other three, and neither does it automatically mean that "connect-directly-to-an-IP" games or "choose-from-a-server-list" games are made unavailable. Maps and mods might appear more closely related than the other issues as they are both expansions, but the "slots" for them are different, so so are the issues. And so on and so forth.
The bottom line worth repeating is that the game is
shit as-is, and now they removed what the players needed (i.e. mod support (and possibly custom maps, depending on the quality of the original ones)) to make something decent/good out of it. And perhaps also that listen servers by and large
suck ass.
