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Thread: Game Serving is tough business..
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06-17-2005, 05:03 PM #1Carpe Diem
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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!0
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06-17-2005, 08:19 PM #2Web Developer
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How many of them were legit though?
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06-17-2005, 08:22 PM #3Disabled
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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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06-17-2005, 09:08 PM #4Carpe Diem
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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..0
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06-17-2005, 09:52 PM #5Retired Moderator
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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!"CloudNexus Technology Services
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06-17-2005, 10:03 PM #6Web Hosting Master
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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 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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06-17-2005, 10:13 PM #7Web Hosting Master
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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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06-17-2005, 10:16 PM #8Carpe Diem
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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..0
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06-17-2005, 10:21 PM #9Web Hosting Master
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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.0
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06-17-2005, 10:25 PM #10Web Hosting Master
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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..0
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06-17-2005, 10:30 PM #11Carpe Diem
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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..0
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06-17-2005, 10:53 PM #12Junior Guru Wannabe
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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.:: Shrapnel Network LLC ::
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06-18-2005, 12:35 AM #13Web Hosting Master
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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 shardwareServGrid - www.servgrid.com - Affordable and Reliable SSD Cloud Solutions
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06-18-2005, 12:42 AM #14Carpe Diem
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Thanks for the update Eric, I am glad to see Ilan did the right thing.
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06-18-2005, 02:51 AM #15Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by The Broadband Man
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In our experiences, stick to your horses, keep prices stable, improve quality - and things are good Cheers
Reyner Natahamidjaja
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06-18-2005, 04:32 AM #16Junior Guru
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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!
Jona0
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06-18-2005, 08:58 AM #17Web Hosting Master
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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.
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06-18-2005, 09:12 AM #18Managed Hosting Expert
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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█ Dan Kitchen | Technical Director | Razorblue
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06-18-2005, 10:08 AM #19Eternal Member
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Perfectly put, Dan.
Cheap Prices = Kiddie Customers
Expensive Prices = Educated, adult customers
=)
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06-18-2005, 11:44 AM #20Web Hosting Master
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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 customersServGrid - www.servgrid.com - Affordable and Reliable SSD Cloud Solutions
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06-18-2005, 12:24 PM #21Carpe Diem
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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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06-18-2005, 06:25 PM #22Aspiring Evangelist
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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.0
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06-18-2005, 08:43 PM #23Disabled
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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.Last edited by BSD2; 06-18-2005 at 08:47 PM.
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06-18-2005, 08:47 PM #24Web Hosting Master
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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 sucksServGrid - www.servgrid.com - Affordable and Reliable SSD Cloud Solutions
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06-18-2005, 08:50 PM #25Web Hosting Master
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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.0