Rotation Server?

So there have been many posts requesting a rotation server. We would love to set one up if we can get enough donations for one. There are 2 ways we can get to a point where we can start one.

But first an explanation of expenses. Here are the server costs.

Orange Server (24 players) = $30/month
VIP Server (12 players) = $10/month
**Rotation Server (18 players) = $22.50/month**

This would bring the total monthly cost for 3 servers to $62.50/month.

On to the 2 ways we can start one financially.

1) If we can get a committed steady flow of donations totaling $62.50 or more. (This would be the ideal option as we could start the server immediately)

2)If we can get the total amount of money to be at least 1 year of payments for all 3 servers. That would mean 12 months * $62.50/month = $750.

So currently we are working on number 2 because noone has committed to a monthly donation. But if anyone wants to help with either option and doesn't know how please let us know.

The current funds including today's donation by Jonesie (Thanks!) = $338.17.

Thus to get a server with random donations we need $411.83 more.

We are working on some other ways to get some money into the clan, including using adsense (thanks for the idea Havik). But donations are a much faster way of achieving our goal.

Not that I want to put more expenses out there, but the rotation server should be 18 players, so there can be one of each class idealy, and we could have highlander matches.

However, I greatly support this idea.

EDIT: I'm sending 20 bucks right now.

Ok agreed on 18 players. I will edit my post now. The 2 more players only raises it by about $2.50/month.

No problem on the Idea Jameless. You won't notice how it adds up, but it helps. Anyways, I will donate once I get a job

I know this may be a bad idea, but you can buy the server now and then wait till you get an active crowd on the Rotation server then you'll get donations. With Jonesie's money, the servers would last for about 5 months, thus leaving plenty of time for people to be an active community member of PULP, then maybe some active donators? Then after some time when you get a surplus of money coming in every month, you can add more slots and/or get another server like 24/7 PL maps or whatever to expand and so forth. This is seems more of a failure though, it was just an idea.

Rawr, why does Valve have to disable the custom hats -_- , would be great in this time of need.

Btw, I don't think I will get to donate, due to the fact that I'm starting college Fall '10 and will need my money for books, laptop, etc. =/[BUT ILL STILL PLAY TF2 FTW]

Custom hats are back up google!

And I do agree with what google said. On top of that, people who join a stock server are generally a lot less nooby than those who join orange servers. They'll be more committed, and we could see more mature members who would be able to bring in a steady stream of donations, and a more competitive gaming atmosphere.

Issues with a rotation server:
1. Members have to start up the game. Pubbers don't usually join a stock map until there's a higher number of players. Which brings us to number 2.
2. Pulp has too few active members online at the same time to reach a high number of players on the server

Why dont we replace the 12 slot vip server with a 18 slot server? While having events it can be password protected and the rest of the time we can have a stock map rotation open for everyone.

I would LOVE a stock server, mostly because orange_x3 is getting boring as fuck. Getting people to donate however will be hard. Some servers sell special privilages like multiple sentries, more ammo, more HP etc but I don't think selling these advantages would be fair towards non-donaters (not to mention how it makes us look like douchebags).
Still, we could try and rent a stock server for a month or two and see how things go. There are allready a lot of stock servers up atm so tahtw ay we would know if people actually want another one.

Also, we could give away some privilages to donaters. I'm thinking of stuff along the line of auto-balance immunity and colored text messages (name should still be team color!).

Edit after Tidelag beat me to the post: that could also be an option but it sure is fun to have a private server where we can just mess around and test plugins without spamming.crashing the other server(s).

I'm not sure I like that option tidelage, as it prevents us from hosting lobbies for one thing, and people will not enjoy it if our server shuts down all the time for clan events.

@tidelag: There is a way we can make it so when a command is typed in chat it switches you from orange to the other server or vice versa. This can help us get regulars and Pulp members to seed the rotation server much easier. VIP is used for pugs, scrims, lobby games, testing, new maps, etc. We wouldn't want to eliminate that.

@pepper: Autobalance immunity is in the works already. Should hear more about that in the near future.

I do agree with tidelag. The main server is rarely full and for the VIP, apart from pugs, scrims and lobby, it's always empty...
I dont think it's the best idea for now.
I've seen it happen in one of the old server I played. They created a 2nd server for orange x only (the other one was orange rotation) and it separated the clan a lot. Now that orange x server is shut down because it was not worth the money.

Let me first give you guys an overview of the donations so far:

May - $30 (jonesie)
April - $40 (kinseth)
March - $50 (greezy, manette, pepper)
Feb - $0
Jan - $360 (jameless' boss)
Jan - $50 (gibbo)

Before that me and Fubar paid for the server. Looking back we almost achieved that $60 a month.

We could indeed just startup the server but we need a good plan to achieve that $60 a month very soon after starting the stock server.

I also see the risk Nico pointed out of resulting the clan being split up, but i also expect a lot of new players who simply don't go to orange (also a lot of noobs).

We could also startup with 12 slots and when we have a steady flow of players upgrade to 18 slots.

Jameless had an idea where all of us click the adsense links and gather money that way or we do events where everyone that donates $5 earns a chance of winning a game that can be won, like in a lottery if you have the winning ticket.

Yet another scenario is if some people just commit themselves to a monthly donation. I would be willing to commit to $5-10 a month for my favourite game i play so many hours a week. Who is with me?

Eraserhead wrote:Let me first give you guys an overview of the donations so far:

May - $30 (jonesie)
April - $40 (kinseth)
March - $50 (greezy, manette, pepper)
Feb - $0
Jan - $360 (jameless' boss)
Jan - $50 (gibbo)

Before that me and Fubar paid for the server. Looking back we almost achieved that $60 a month.

We could indeed just startup the server but we need a good plan to achieve that $60 a month very soon after starting the stock server.

I also see the risk Nico pointed out of resulting the clan being split up, but i also expect a lot of new players who simply don't go to orange (also a lot of noobs).

We could also startup with 12 slots and when we have a steady flow of players upgrade to 18 slots.

Jameless had an idea where all of us click the adsense links and gather money that way or we do events where everyone that donates $5 earns a chance of winning a game that can be won, like in a lottery if you have the winning ticket.

Yet another scenario is if some people just commit themselves to a monthly donation. I would be willing to commit to $5-10 a month for my favourite game i play so many hours a week. Who is with me?

Tbh, I wouldn't donate money for something for only 1 server . I guess that's why people are reluctant to donate, they aren't really dedicated to the server and play other servers.

I'm happy, I've feel as if I've HELPED PULP.

We got $50 more in donations since the start of this thread!

We have $361.83 to go.

Payment of Greezy also got through so thats $70 in total now.

If we see it is increasing with a steady rate i think we can starup the other server when we meet the target amount halfway. Like Google said if you open up a second server it will attract a new crowd and even more donations.

O sry Eraser when I said the $50 I think it included the $20 from Greezy.

correction: 30 from jonesie, 20 greezy and 30 from adam. So thats $30 in may and $50 in june so far.

Gibbo just donated $50!!!

Thanks again Gibbo!

So now earned:
$30 may
$100 june

With this rate we will have a stockserver soon hehe.

$311.83 to go!

YES! W00T! Bring it on!

Eraserhead wrote:Gibbo just donated $50!!!

Thanks again Gibbo!

So now earned:
$30 may
$100 june

With this rate we will have a stockserver soon hehe.

does this mean i get a new hat?If so i'd like this one http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/89344

You can pick 3 custom hats and Jameless already gave you 10 months of class and balance immunity. I will work on that hat for you Gibbo, it was already on my to do list .

$291.83 to go!

Eraserhead wrote:Gibbo just donated $50!!!

Thanks again Gibbo!

So now earned:
$30 may
$100 june

With this rate we will have a stockserver soon hehe.

gibo....sniper.....all the time



my whole day is now ruined