When are people online?

When are people usually online? I'm online on the weekend, and I never see anybody.

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Apples rock! My two favorite games only work on a mac, EV and ARES.
(Check out the ARES Web board, it needs you!)
(url="http://"http://www.boeing.com/")Boeing(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.apple.com/")Apple(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/")EVula(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.EVula.org/evweb/")EVWeb(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.matrix-xp.com/")Matrix-XP (its not what you think)(/url)

People are online a lot. Unfortunately without the aid of a MegaServer it's tough for anyone to really find out.

The people at Ambrosia don't put much effort into preserving Avara anymore so the game has turned into a small community. Given this small community, it's rare you'd open the tracker and find a server, as they're few and far between.

A MegaServer was established but later destroyed by the higher-ups in the Ambrosia community.

Those here who claim they still care about and play Avara like to make private servers so only they and their friends can play. This means a new player such as yourself is left out in the cold, like a H.E.C.T.O.R. alone in Cowboy's Ice Daggers.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

MegaServer is not entirely truthful, and does not voice the fact that he doesn't let anyone in on his 'MegaServers'.

I have played good games on servers recently, but I haven't played the last week, sadly. I have a little trouble finding games since my timezone is CET. My tip is to check the tracker when the time is 20:00 - 23:00 in the US. Absolutely the most people seem to be from the US.

Also, if you don't find a server up, start one yourself, and remember to list it to the tracker. Sitting and waiting at the right time somebody usually drops in. The standard tracker still works, and has no problems, should you know.

If you are really bored, you can just check my profile info and grab my ICQ # and send me a message, and I might be there to play.

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(url="http://"http://en.wikipedia.org")En Wikipedia(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**(snip)
A MegaServer was established but later destroyed by the higher-ups in the Ambrosia community.

**

Edgar, you've been warned not to lie on these boards.

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"You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Helen Keller..."
Weird Al's "It's All About The Pentiums"

<< Edgar, you've been warned not to lie on these boards. >>

How am I lying? I said the higher-ups on this board destroyed my MegaServer.

Let's define MegaServer. My MegaServer was an Avara server that stayed up 24/7 on the tracker, so whenever anyone looked on the tracker they would see my server and be able to join.

I was banned from the tracker by Andrew (A higher-up on these boards) and so my server was no longer registered on the tracker and therefore couldn't be seen. My server lost it's 'Mega', and as far as I was concerned, was hardly even a server because it no longer served.

So what of this is a lie?

All I'm saying is this thread wouldn't be necessary if the MegaServer was still around.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**
All I'm saying is this thread wouldn't be necessary if the MegaServer was still around.**

I'm sorry, Hons, but I never understood the utility of the MegaServer. Really, whether you have a server up 24/7 or not, if there's no one to play Avara with then there's no one to play Avara with. You certainly were not always at your server, and it would have been no more difficult for you to run a server only when you were there. The same applies for everyone else. Ambrosia runs the tracker, so we can always know when a game is going. Besides a few rare instances where some people were perhaps behind firewalls (which it is possible to work around in most cases, unless the person in question is not supposed to be playing games in the first place), your MegaServer didn't really do all that much. I frankly found it frustrating because most of the people who gathered there weren't interested in playing games so much as talking or screwing around.
The unfortunate truth is that people don't play Avara all that frequently any more. Just check the tracker periodically, list your server when there isn't a server up, and hope for the best.

_dies irae

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Pinky, are you pondering what I am pondering?
I think so, Brain, but if they called them sad meals, kids wouldn't buy them.

(This message has been edited by rebelswin_85 (edited 01-17-2004).)

"When are people usually online? I'm online on the weekend, and I never see anybody."

Dies, that's why I had the MegaServer. Most of the time, if you just look at the tracker, you're not going to see a server. This guy doesn't even know if anyone plays the game anymore. My MegaServer wasn't just so the same 5 people had a chance to play. It was so old players could come in, see someone was still around, and, if I wasn't there, know to come back later. The same thing applies to new players who really don't know how trackers work and if they saw an empty tracker they wouldn't know what to do and just quit the game. It did serve a purpose.

Also as you said, it did help people behind firewalls.

And I don't know what you mean when you say we didn't play. We did play, a great deal. Yes we also chatted and screwed around, but I wouldn't have booted you if you started a game in the server.

Why exactly do you find it frustrating that people want to talk? It's a game, it's about having fun. It's not a job, there's no need for urgency or schedules.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

Even though this is almost off topic, I feel it needs to be addressed again. Hons, Perm servers are fine, as long as someone is there to watch it the entire time. Since, I'm assuming, you are unable to be at the computer that is hosting the server the entire time, you are unfit to be hosting. Without some sence of order, or punishment on your server, people will feel free to do/say whatever they want on a server, while the host is not there. This may even include crashing someone. I'm all for seeing a good permanent server... but unless somone wants to dedicate their life to a game that is 7 years old, I would suggest leaving this topic alone.

Just wanted to bring those points up again... since no one seems to be bringing up the problem with edgar's good buddy, atomic.

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-Kyle "Vader" Blessing
-(url="http://"http://www.homestarrunner.com")Homestar Runner(/url)
-Don't love, or hate... Just join the (Players Club)

(This message has been edited by Vader (edited 01-18-2004).)

"Without some sence of order, or punishment on your server, people will feel free to do/say whatever they want on a server, while the host is not there. This may even include crashing someone."

Well even without some 'sence' of spelling, that argument is ridiculous.

As you mentioned in your post, Atomic is the one who was going around crashing people. No one argues that.

But the fact is, I let Atomic in my server. Whether or not I'm there, Atomic is going to be able to crash people.

On top of that, Atomic's got just as much ability to run a server as anyone else. That means he could start a server, be there, and crash anyone who came in.

Furthermore, assuming some 3rd party made a server and was present, Atomic could simply join and crash anyone in it.

The fact is that if there's a public server, Atomic has an opportunity to crash people in it, whether the person serving is there or not.

The only real way to ensure someone like Atomic is unable to crash people is by creating only passworded servers. Now if there are only passworded servers around, then no newbs or old guys, or even regulars, will be able to join unless they've been given a password by the host. That's about as effective as having no server at all as far as I'm concerned.

The game's got faults because certain levels crash people. Yet rather than educate people about how to delete these levels (Loranne, Harha) it's been decided that banning me is more effective.

If the challenge was to have nobody be crashed, then you've found a solution by having nobody TO crash.

If the challenge is to create a civil Avara community where crashing isn't a problem, you've failed by a long shot because there's no community left.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**"Without some sence of order, or punishment on your server, people will feel free to do/say whatever they want on a server, while the host is not there. This may even include crashing someone."

Well even without some 'sence' of spelling, that argument is ridiculous.**

Oh lighten up on the typo-critical comments and let's get to the meat of your stupidity.
If I was going to be petty I'd say something about your inability to quote remarks properly, but I won't.

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**
(snip)
The game's got faults because certain levels crash people. Yet rather than educate people about how to delete these levels (Loranne, Harha) it's been decided that banning me is more effective.

**

You've been told, time and time again why you were banned, yet you continue to believe you're being persecuted because of your server, which is your continuing lie. You were banned because of how you reacted to your server being taken off, and your subsequent actions after that. I'm not going to rehash it any more.

Time to grow up edgar. Show me you can do that. Show me you can post and not whine. Show me you can help anyone who bothers to come in here for answers. Snide remarks on how many or how few are moot. Until you step up and do that, don't bother coming here.

'nuff said.

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"You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Helen Keller..."
Weird Al's "It's All About The Pentiums"

(This message has been edited by Taz! (edited 01-18-2004).)

"You've been told, time and time again why you were banned, yet you continue to believe you're being persecuted because of your server, which is your continuing lie. You were banned because of how you reacted to your server being taken off, and your subsequent actions after that. I'm not going to rehash it any more.

Time to grow up edgar. Show me you can do that. Show me you can post and not whine. Show me you can help anyone who bothers to come in here for answers. Snide remarks on how many or how few are moot. Until you step up and do that, don't bother coming here.

'nuff said."

I'm well aware I wasn't banned because of my megaserver and never said 'I was banned because of my megaserver'.

Now then, you say I was banned because of how I reacted to my server being taken off. That's not true Taz.

I was reacting to being banned. Remember? Someone accused me of crashing them.

Then I went months and months with no means of contacting Ambrosia about why I was banned because I didn't know about these boards. When I finally learned of these boards I came here and acted like a jackass.

I reacted the way I did because I had been unjustly (Atomic and Missile Man admitted they had done the crashing) banned and for months had no means of straightening the situation out.

Yes, I could have chosen to not act like a jackass when I came here. But the fact is, I went through months of silence (albeit involuntarily) and nothing was resolved then either.

Now you say you want me to show I can grow up. Do you remember what happened the first time I came to these boards? I apologized for acting like a complete ass to Andrew and the rest of the board. I admitted my wrong, I accepted responsibility for my mistake.

Yet when it came to Andrew banning me wrongly and leaving me in the dark for months, I received no apology in return. Yet you defend him and attack me.

--

If I'm going to answer someone's question on this board, I'm not going to do it just so I can prove to you I'm mature. I can help new guys, but if I can't do it in the realm of Avara, it's rather pointless. I helped teach new players how to play, ask people who visited my server when it was up.

But the fact is, if this guy has never seen a server up on the tracker before, there's a possibility he's still got it set on Appletalk (Which is the default) and hasn't set it to TCP/IP. And when he says to me me "Ok, set up a server so I can check if I see it" what am I supposed to say? I can't help a guy with a question about the tracker if I'm banned from it.

I'm good for Avara, I'm not a jackass to everyone on Avara. I don't come to these boards when I play Avara, I only come when I'm kept away from it.

I feel I'm acting a good deal more civil now than I was in the past. In my first post I said it was as cold as Cowboy's Ice Daggers. I don't really consider that a threatening tone. I'm not going around calling people idiots or morons. Perhaps my "sence" line was inappropriate, I'm sorry Vader. I'm trying to use logic now, I'm trying to present facts and being deemed a liar.

I've made 4 posts in this thread. A summary in reverse order:

1.Vader claimed a server without a present host is prone to crashings.
I responded and argued any public server is prone to crashings.

2. Dies Irae asked what the purpose of the MegaServer was
I responded and explained it let people know Avara was still being played - EVWeb for example

3. You, Taz, claimed I was lying about my MegaServer being destroyed
I responded and defined what a MegaServer was and how me being banned effectively destroyed it.

4. EVWeb asked when people were around
I responded and told him that there was still a small community and unfortunately some people choose to make only private servers. You asked me to answer people's questions, I was the first to respond to his post.

I put your AIM Screen name on my buddy list a long time ago but you've never been on. If you want to talk about this away from the board, fine. My screen name is TheEyebrow. I wouldn't mind getting on good terms with you. You were always very civil to me in the beginning of this whole ordeal and I respect you for that.

But I don't really know what you want from me. If you want me off the boards, it should be clear to you that telling me to grow up isn't going to work. The only thing that's kept me off the boards so far is unbanning me from Avara. If you truly do want me to answer questions on this board, I don't mind. I'm one of the only regular players left nowadays, I should be able to answer most anything.

So I don't know what you want. But there's one thing I want and that's to be unbanned. Since Andrew doesn't respond to my e-mails and doesn't sign on often himself, I figure there's only one way to get his attention and that's to come here and start my antics again. If you can think of a better way, go ahead tell me. I don't want to piss off people on this board, I just want to be unbanned.

And, not to be petty, but it only seems logical to me that quotation marks would still be considered a proper way of quoting remarks.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
Perhaps my "sence" line was inappropriate, I'm sorry Vader.

Well, that's fine... I guess you would have to try, to be able to find some fault with me.

Quote

**1.Vader claimed a server without a present host is prone to crashings.
I responded and argued any public server is prone to crashings.
**

First, if you want to get technical, “crashings” is not a word. Crashing is an action, not a thing.

Second: yes, but that is not my point in whole. Say, just for a moment, you have a server up. A newbie goes into your server, but no one is there! gasp Just as it often was. While the newb does know the tracker works, I would say that would be more frustrating than seeing no games at all.

Also, with an unattended server, you generally have to leave the all options turned on. Such as: movable positions, change colors, load levels, start/resume, and change latency. I personally find this very annoying when trying to play, while people change my position, or my color. Or, they have the freedom to pause every 2 seconds.

Again, with the crashing problem, it is not only related to certain levels. Since many DO know about those levels, and have fixed them, people have come up with other ways. Like a "level bomb", where you load the same level many times, and too quickly, it causes the people on the other end to crash. This is not preventable, unless,the host is there with "load missions" option off, to load them. That is, if you care about preventing this sort of behavior.

I understand where you are coming from, I would be upset as well. However, I don't see why you are getting upset about a game that is 7 years old. 1) It's just a game, get over it. 2) Yes, it's dear to me as well, and that is why I play it every so often with old friends. Although, that doesn't mean I need to host a server 24/7. 3) There is no breath of life, that could revive this game.

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-Kyle "Vader" Blessing
-(url="http://"http://www.homestarrunner.com")Homestar Runner(/url)
-Don't love, or hate... Just join the (Players Club)

Quote

I understand where you are coming from, I would be upset as well. However, I don't see why you are getting upset about a game that is 7 years old. 1) It's just a game, get over it. 2) Yes, it's dear to me as well, and that is why I play it every so often with old friends. Although, that doesn't mean I need to host a server 24/7. 3) There is no breath of life, that could revive this game.

Ok, if you get upset when someone changes your color and position, then I can see not wanting to have those options on all the time. I really don't mind someone doing that to me though, so I don't really consider that a problem.

Yes a host could just turn loading off and prevent anyone from crashing them. But I've been host of 6 player servers before where I turned loading off. It means 3 of us are in a game and the other 3 are waiting for us to finish so I can load a level for them. It just gets frustrating for everyone so I just ended up always leaving loading options on.

So yes, a person like Atomic would have the chance to crash in my server. But facts are facts, Atomic likes me and didn't make a habit of crashing my servers. I know for a fact the 2nd time I was banned was because of Crodo claiming I crashed his server when it was in fact Atomic. The point is that Atomic crashed Crodo's server, not mine. So perhaps any MegaServer could be prone to attacks but mine was fairly safe.

I do like Avara though, and I think a MegaServer helps promote it. Perhaps there's no breath of life that can promote this Avara but if an Avara 2 came out, that'd be awesome. But no one's going to make an Avara 2 if no one plays Avara 1 anymore. If Juri comes onto his 7 year old game and sees a full server someday, he might be more inclined to make Avara 2, which is what a lot in the community want to see.

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-Kisses to Andrew
Welch!-

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**(snip)
Yet when it came to Andrew banning me wrongly and leaving me in the dark for months, I received no apology in return. Yet you defend him and attack me.

**

I defend these boards, and for the most part, defend ASW from attacks.
And, here we go again, get over the "I deserve an apology" attitude. Just drop it.

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**(snip)
I'm good for Avara, I'm not a jackass to everyone on Avara. I don't come to these boards when I play Avara, I only come when I'm kept away from it.
**

You've been a jackass MOST EVERY TIME you've come to these boards. Your actions speak louder than anything you could say in an email or on AIM.

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**
I feel I'm acting a good deal more civil now than I was in the past. In my first post I said it was as cold as Cowboy's Ice Daggers. I don't really consider that a threatening tone. I'm not going around calling people idiots or morons. Perhaps my "sence" line was inappropriate, I'm sorry Vader. I'm trying to use logic now, I'm trying to present facts and being deemed a liar.

**

Well, glad to hear you might be actually thinking about the consequenses of your actions once again, but it's probably too late (again.) And, once again, actions speak louder than words. For you to make up for past actions you have to go 200% above the normal person. You just can't be nice once, and think things will be ok.

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**(snip)
So I don't know what you want. But there's one thing I want and that's to be unbanned. Since Andrew doesn't respond to my e-mails and doesn't sign on often himself, I figure there's only one way to get his attention and that's to come here and start my antics again. If you can think of a better way, go ahead tell me. I don't want to piss off people on this board, I just want to be unbanned.

**

And, once again, you've done it completely wrong, and you'll probably be banned from here again soon. I'd say I'm sorry, but your actions here once again require a response. I told you that when this mess started, and you didn't listen. You think you can force something to happen just by being a pest. Who's little prince do you think you are?

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
**
And, not to be petty, but it only seems logical to me that quotation marks would still be considered a proper way of quoting remarks.
**

On a written paper, yes. On this board, not really.

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"You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Helen Keller..."
Weird Al's "It's All About The Pentiums"

(This message has been edited by Taz! (edited 01-20-2004).)

Aren't we getting off topic? Anyway thanks, for all the help. I just never see anyone, and I don't like waiting 1/2 an hour to get to play one person, that's boring. It would be better if they made this game compatiable with Gameranger.

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Apples rock! My two favorite games only work on a mac, EV and ARES.
(Check out the ARES Web board, it needs you!)
(url="http://"http://www.boeing.com/")Boeing(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.apple.com/")Apple(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.EVula.com/")EVula(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.EVula.org/evweb/")EVWeb(/url)|(url="http://"http://www.matrix-xp.com/")Matrix-XP (its not what you think)(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by MegaServer:
Most of the time, if you just look at the tracker, you're not going to see a server. This guy doesn't even know if anyone plays the game anymore.

As has already been said, more often than not there was no one on the MegaServer, which can also be frustrating. If people want to know who plays the game, they can do as EVWeb did and ask on this board. And they will get a prompt response.

Quote

It was so old players could come in, see someone was still around, and, if I wasn't there, know to come back later.

A) There is no way that an old player would know to come back later to be able to play, or when later might be. 🆒 I believe a number of the old players outright avoided your server.

Quote

Why exactly do you find it frustrating that people want to talk? It's a game, it's about having fun.

I do not find it "fun" to engage in lewd and immature conversation. Nor do I find it fun to waste my time poking around the remote cloud regions of a level and similar frivolous activity. Frankly your server is never a place I would want to hang out, and thus it was frustrating when the people there were only interested in goofing off. While Avara may not be scheduled, pretty much every single aspect of my life is to the nth degree, and I haven't time for stupidity.

On a somewhat related note, and getting back to something said by another poster, it is possible and often necessary to police your server. To note a single instance, once Sphinx posted a pornographic image as his player icon. I booted him repeatedly until he finally agreed to remove it.

_dies irae

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Pinky, are you pondering what I am pondering?
I think so, Brain, but if they called them sad meals, kids wouldn't buy them.

(This message has been edited by rebelswin_85 (edited 01-21-2004).)