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  1. #1
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    Game Serving is tough business..

    Just when you thought it couldn't get worse.. It appears IlanGames has shut down and from I can tell took everyone's money with them..

    That would make over 50 GSP's that went under just this year alone.. Yikes!
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  2. #2
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    How many of them were legit though?
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  3. #3
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    From what I've read, the gaming industry is saturated by a bunch of underage teenagers who will drop your services for the next company that's a dollar cheaper. I was considering entering the market, but it doesn't look very promising.
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  4. #4
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    You are partially correct webbist101. Yes the market is saturated but so is the webhosting and dedicated market.. Problem is anyone with a keyboard and browser thinks they can run a business now-a-days..

    It's too bad really, The only ones that get hurt are the customers who believe they are giving their money to a real company and wake up one day to nothing..
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  5. #5
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    Your right. It's a dollar cheaper, my friend pings 1ms less there or the usual:

    "Can you sponsor us we will make you big!"
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  6. #6
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    Originally posted by Sigmaservers
    Your right. It's a dollar cheaper, my friend pings 1ms less there or the usual:

    "Can you sponsor us we will make you big!"
    I've gotten so many of those requests, it's not even funny... well, okay, it is funny. Most of the gamers I've spoken to over the internet about a contract for game serving don't know the value of a dollar, and they just can't comprehend that there are alot of resources in the background, and that those resources cost time and money.

    I currently host a few gameservers (to help support a NFP group), but on a face-to-face, personal level. If a person is willing to meet face-to-face to discuss terms, then there's almost zero chance that they'll turn out to be a hosthopper. (At least, that's how it's been in my experience.)

    Flash's Advice Column: Word of advice to you hosting-hopefuls... A GSP should NEVER be a stand-alone, self-supporting company with its own employees, because it will never bring in enough to support them. Don't focus on gameservers, branch out into other services, such as System Management, virtual hosting, dedicated server rental and colocation. GSPs disappear for alot of different reasons - not all of them are just fly-by-night scam artists. Take a good look at the financial records for some of them and you'll see the truth - The owners/managers realized that they can't live off of a dozen or so $12 kiddy-servers, so they bailed.
    Last edited by danclough; 06-17-2005 at 10:13 PM.
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  7. #7
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    I used to be in the game hosting business, but I got out. Nowadays you can't compete with the people selling slots from managed.com and etc.. because the gamers don't care about anything but the lowest possible price. The churn rate is extremely high too, customers change game server hosts every month heh... And last but not least, they expect literally everything for the price of 1 cup of coffee.
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  8. #8
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    I beg to differ on your opinion flashwiregsn.. I do this as my full time job and have been for the past 2+ years.. But yes I see your point, I don't think it is the norm at all.

    Churn is definatly a factor too.. But the key to staying alive is not lower prices.. The only thing that does is kill you faster..
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  9. #9
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    Originally posted by JHosts
    And last but not least, they expect literally everything for the price of 1 cup of coffee.
    Amen to that... I swear, we would literally draw straws at my last job to see who had to work the helpdesk and IM Support team. Every single day, our most infamous clients (and by infamous I mean just plain lazy (not to pass judgement or anything)) wold say, "hey man can u install a mod 4 us?" Now, I had a talk with the guys working TS about whether or not they would want to tinker around with the general administration (non-emergency, non-problem-related). They had no idea what they were in for. To make a long story short... kids want everything for nothing in no time.
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  10. #10
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    Originally posted by X-Gaming
    I beg to differ on your opinion flashwiregsn.. I do this as my full time job and have been for the past 2+ years.. But yes I see your point, I don't think it is the norm at all.

    Churn is definatly a factor too.. But the key to staying alive is not lower prices.. The only thing that does is kill you faster..
    I have alot of respect for you, staying in the game for over two years. It's rare that folks in your line of work with your intended customer base can stand it. And what I mean is that one cannot live solely on gameserving. You wouldn't fall into that category, as you offer dedis, colo, voice and webhosting, etc. But nonetheless, congratulations on your success.
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  11. #11
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    Thank you for the kind remarks flashwiregsn, Much appreciated.

    And yes we do a bit of everything but it all requires work.. Being diverse is great but you cannot spread yourself too thin.. That's what gets you in trouble The other side of the coin is offering alot of products chews up profits as you need to hire additional staff who specialize in these things..
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  12. #12
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    Sponsorship: I get so many requests i put up a link on my main page telling the kiddies "get a job there's no free rides"

    Hosting kiddies: Setup fees, voice verifications of credit cards, and banning "free" (hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc) email accounts for registering has made our kid population go way down.
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  13. #13
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    From our experiences, gameserver is a matter of cycles and yes .. churn.

    Richard is right, don't drop your prices.

    The problem with the gameserver market is that most peopl euse the same dedicated server farms and itturns into a pissing match with who can get the cheapest prices.

    The problem with the market itself is not generated byt he customers but by the hosts who are willing to lower prices for an extra buck. There is for lack of a better word - no market standard and thus it creates a bottomfeeding effect.

    In our experiences, stick to your horses, keep prices stable, improve quality - and things are good Cheers

    and btw Richard, ILAN did not rob their customers, money has been returned,so ha shardware
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  14. #14
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    Thanks for the update Eric, I am glad to see Ilan did the right thing.
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  15. #15
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    Originally posted by The Broadband Man
    ...

    In our experiences, stick to your horses, keep prices stable, improve quality - and things are good Cheers
    I agree. This is the correct way of maintaining the market price. Offering cheaper price by cutting few corners does not always win in the long run.
    Reyner Natahamidjaja
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  16. #16
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    Yeah game server are a hard market. I think as people have previously said mainly because of the low age of the customers who are willing to jump providers month to month, but also the instability of clans and such who usually purchase servers during our time as a game server provider we had several clans who split or stopped exisiting then individual members could no longer afford to pay the bills.

    If you can get the more mature (dare I say adult?) demographic who understand that whilst it is about low pings that isn't the be all and end all of game hosting. These customers tend to be more loyal and generally better to deal with!

    Jona
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  17. #17
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    And we love when the server gets restarted..

    "omg get my server up NOW im going to SUE you if you dont put it up right now!" - 13 year old

    Its a tough, really tough business to get into.

    - Eddy
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  18. #18
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    I have to agree with the keeping prices high bit.

    I've verged into dealing with younger people and gaming, and didn't like what I saw. Their rudeness and lack of professionalism amazes me, especially when 99% of the problems they encounter are their own, and nothing to do with the provider.

    You'll often get an email back something like "oi m8 ma webby int workin so f**kin put it bk up now or i wnt ma money bk!!!!". Which is totally inappropriate.

    Stick with high prices, and you'll deal with nice courteous, professional people, that *love* the service they recieve from you.

    Dan
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  19. #19
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    Perfectly put, Dan.

    Cheap Prices = Kiddie Customers
    Expensive Prices = Educated, adult customers

    =)

    Thanks,
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  20. #20
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    Perfectly put, Dan.

    Cheap Prices = Kiddie Customers
    Expensive Prices = Educated, adult customers

    =)

    Thanks,


    __________________



    ummm wrong

    it's just the nature of the biz - there are tons of adult customers doing the same - just read these boards - just don't cater to the bottom of the barrel customers
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  21. #21
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    In this line of work you are going to get kids no matter what.. As long as you have educated staff with ALOT of patience you should be ok.. Most times when a problem does come up it only takes a few minutes of your time and a bit of explaining to calm most of them down.. And yes even the "adults" get nutty on occasion


    On a side note. I'm not sure your statment about Ilan 'not' robbing their customers is accurate Eric.. I spoke to a few of our new signups this morning and as of yet they are unable to get a hold of Ilan to recover their funds.. Phones, email etc.. go nowhere.. I would think if they were as 'upstanding' as you say they would find a way to get a hold of their customers..
    Last edited by Defcon|Rich; 06-18-2005 at 12:28 PM.
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  22. #22
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    It does seem that the most demanding and troublesome clients are the gamers, which is why we really arn't that interested in targeting that particular market segment.

    As was mentioned in previous posts, these guys tend to complain about a couple ms difference in ping times, or a provider who will give them a deal for $1 less than you. They tend to demand lightning fast networks without wanting to pay for it.

    We once had a customer who would put in at least 2 or 3 tickets a day complaining about a mere 10 ms difference on coast to cost routes. He thought that it was an "issue" to have 80 ms from SFO to NYC instead of the 70ms he was getting yesterday, etc... It drove us batty.... The best part is that this guy was paying $90 for one of our celeron boxes. We have many clients paying hundreds, and really don't give a damn about a 10ms difference in ping time from one coast to the other. Needless to say, this guy left after just 3 1/2 months due to these "issues".

    If you ask me, many gamers are way too much a pain in the neck to deal with and not worth the effort.
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  23. #23
    Originally posted by FlashwireGroup
    Flash's Advice Column: Word of advice to you hosting-hopefuls... A GSP should NEVER be a stand-alone, self-supporting company with its own employees, because it will never bring in enough to support them. Don't focus on gameservers, branch out into other services, such as System Management, virtual hosting, dedicated server rental and colocation. GSPs disappear for alot of different reasons - not all of them are just fly-by-night scam artists. Take a good look at the financial records for some of them and you'll see the truth - The owners/managers realized that they can't live off of a dozen or so $12 kiddy-servers, so they bailed.
    Jolt are a pure GSP (more or less), same for Game2XS, speaking of which, I know how people can feel giving support to gamers (who lets face it are annoying kids with little understanding of technology) as I know one of the game2xs managers, and he gets driven crazy with support requests about game servers. One of the solutions I've been developing (because I'm bored with nothing to do more or less), are fully automated systems, where everything can be done with a web control panel, from installing gameservers, to starting them, changing config settings, etc, etc, meaning that there is little or no need for interaction with gameserver clients as they can do everything from the panel.
    Last edited by BSD2; 06-18-2005 at 08:47 PM.
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  24. #24
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    It drove us batty.... The best part is that this guy was paying $90 for one of our celeron boxes. We have many clients paying hundreds, and really don't give a damn about a 10ms difference in ping time from one coast to the other. Needless to say, this guy left after just 3 1/2 months due to these "issues".


    nectar, first of all - the guy mighthave been annoying but your way of business is laughable

    1) You don't give a damn about coast to coast 10 ms?
    2) Just because he's payingless you don't care?

    Just because your other clients don't notice the 10ms diff doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

    Your goal as a provider should be to improve quality and performance of your network and infrastructure, not to find clients that will not notice if it sucks
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  25. #25
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    Originally posted by BSD2
    Jolt are a pure GSP (more or less), same for Game2XS, speaking of which, I know how people can feel giving support to gamers (who lets face it are annoying kids with little understanding of technology) as I know one of the game2xs managers, and he gets driven crazy with support requests about game servers.
    Jolt isn't a pure GSP. I'm talking about people with nothing more than gameservers. People who think that it's a $25k+ industry need to know that it requires alot more time and money to start than a regular webhost (although that already takes alot of time and money), because you need very stable servers (one five-second timeout and you'll be flooded with threats of lawsuits), VERY stable and fast network (much faster ping-wise than webhosting), and a very, very patient tech support department. Jolt offers broadband, dedicated servers (Uberservers), advertising, colocation, etc., so they have alot more to make money off of.
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