Server for events

[Lord McGuffin]

Simply put, a server where admins could plan events, prepare, build, all without worrying about space, players, performance, dropped loot, etc. This would open the entire map for admins, and conjure up new ideas that basically weren't possible before. Custom maps could even be used, like on Elysium, so that specific events could take place (road that allows for a race around the map, huge mountain like last wipe, etc.).

And with no pesky active players to worry about, changes could be made on the fly for the event (change day/night, call in 40 Karens, etc.).

Ideas off the top of my head :

• Car race around the map
• The Karens are coming! (mountain top base, defend it at all cost against wave after wave of Karens)
• Horse racing track (all thoroughbreds obviously)
• Boat rally
• Snow mobile race
• Treasure hunt in scrappies (pilots register beforehand, each assigned to a team)
• Or simply team treasure hunt on horses
• Car jumping (huge ramp, sedans, 3 tries each, longest jump wins)
• Harbour Takeover (TONS of though NPCs, 10 mins to take em all out and takeover Harbour)
• Drag racing course
• Team raids (30mins to build, PvP turned on, last base still with TC wins)
• Rock climbing (first to reach top of a huge mountain wins)
• Medieval battlefield (choose archer or knight? Two clans meet on an open field, war!)

I could go on ... 

[Postanou]

Some of those events you listed are already hosted by various admins across the 9 servers:

>The car race around the map sounds a lot like The Amazing Race Badman74 hosted, plus serveral other admins have hosted simpler races around the ring road in the past. I've hosted a couple myself in the past, complete with numbered waypoints and a grandstand at the start/finish.
>The Karens are coming is the Heli Attack! event I used to host.
>Treasure Hunt is an event Tiffdust hosts.
>Medieval battlefield sounds like the Templar Terror Pezza681 hosts.
>I have participated in a boat race that was hosted on AU Survival (great fun).

Also, there already is a Dev server that Death has, specifically for testing.

Seems your wish has already come true

[Lord McGuffin]

Yes I know some of these have taken place. But in all those events admins were limited as to where they could build, how big, etc., as to not have an effect on active players. I've also been to many events where night/day became an issue, Karen shows up uninvited, etc.

Imagine having an entire island to set up on, where one could build for an event on the coast, while others on top of a mountain, an other admin builds a race track in the desert, and so on. All of it undisturbed, anywhere you want, as "big" as it needs to be, doesn't have to be "built in a day" sorta speak, no need to remove it afterwards. 

[Elixil3]

We are not really limited and can usually adapt a event to the terrain/map, so it doesn't really hinder an admins ability to run them in that aspect. As Postanou mention most of the event ideas you have mentioned already take place with some of them run each wipe, the only ones I have not seen yet are the harbor take over and Rock climbing. What is an issue sometimes is the set up, and take down which can take a bit of time depending on the event that is being run.

If I was looking for a dedicated events map then I would want it tailored for events, meaning custom map with zones that already have event stages set up. For example if you have ever participated in charitable rust that is the kind of map I would be looking for, pre built race tracks, arenas, galleries, sideshow games and the list goes on. This however is not an easy task to set up but with the growth in map makers this might be plausible in the future.

So its not a bad idea and I think admins would love it, however one of the purposes of running events is to draw players to servers and increase player numbers on those servers. Having a dedicated map draws players away and doesnt give them that chance to expirence our other servers.

[Lord McGuffin]

I dunno about attracting players to servers... I participate in open events on any server, but I'm not gonna switch from US Pure to say AU Survival because of an event. The server type and location pretty much decides where you play, not events. In my opinion, events serve as a way to maintain player interest, not as a way to get people to join a server. And they don't attract new players, they are an "internal" affair. I don't see how participating in an event on a custom server would "draw me away" from the server I usually play on, especially since it's not a server I can play on other than during an event (so there's no "internal cannibalism" here, the server is for events only, it won't take players away from their servers).

I also don't see why a custom map made for a specific event would be necessary. Wanna make a horse race track? Find a flat and large enough area, put stone barricades in the shape of an oval in the middle, wooden barricades on the sides, and stand for spectators, done. You can't do that on a normal server, those flat spaces will all be taken up by players (or if it's not then you don't wanna take em anyways since that will prevent players from building there). Same thing for a car jump, that ramp is not something you wanna leave lying around, as it will cause headaches for admins if players use it and end up going through the map, as well as taking up a lot of space and blocking the way. A dedicated server solves those issues and, simply put, "allows for more".

Also, having a custom map for one specific event kinda defeats the purpose, since the idea is to enable admins to design multiple events on the same island. So while someone is making a horse race track, another can create a rock climbing event on the tallest mountain, while others build a "Pyramid descent" elsewhere, and so on.

A dedicated server would allow admins to push the limits and surely do things they couldn't do before on a "live" server.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Lord McGuffin