Dedicated server support for PC games has become something of a hot topic lately; it’s almost impossible to browse any gaming site without being inundated with multiple articles dealing with the topic (including, I guess, this one. Sorry). Here’s a little more for the fire; in comments made to Variety’s The Cut Scene, id Software co-founder, John Carmack, made some interesting comments that are sure to confound and enrage fans awaiting id’s new first person shooter Rage. Specifically, Carmack mentioned that he didn’t think Rage would support dedicated servers.
When Infinity Ward made this same announcement for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 a while back it resulted in massive fan backlash; including on-line petitions and the game being given fake ratings on Amazon.com. It should be noted that this was not an official announcement from id and that Carmack also said they would “see how it works out for everyone else” so server support may find its way back in before the game is released; but it doesn’t seem like it’s in the plans at this point.
This comes off as a surprising move on id’s part, not just because of the certainty of fan backlash, but the company has a legacy of their games, both the Doom and Quake franchises specifically, being favorites among the PC modding community since… well, probably almost for as long as there has been a PC modding community. Not including dedicated server support in Rage would likely make running mods impossible.
[Via: ShackNews]
Is that what the fuss is about when it comes to dedicated servers? Many of the games hitting the stream as of late have been of pretty decent quality when it comes to content and multiplayer support. Modding doesn’t really seem necessary.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE mods and I’d give anything for Relic to release the toolset for DoWII. They give the chance for the community to express themselves in a creative manner but that manner is pretty limited in terms of a FPS.
I tend to agree with you, Xanderkun, that the dedicated server debate is overblown. I’m not really a huge PC guy so maybe I just don’t understand where the PC gaming culture is coming from on this one; but yes, the lack of mod support seems to be at the heart of the issue.
It is not the only issue though; Chris Pereira of 1UP.com has written an article that does a great job of encapsulating the all the pros and cons of the debate if you’re interested.
Keen, thanks for the link.