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Dismantling GFL's Anycast Network

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Something that Roy mentioned (that I heard through Infra) was the possibility of dismantling the GFL anycast network. Right now, the anycast network provides us some level of DDOS protection and the ability to reduce server browser pings globally (so as to attract more players) through the caching of A2S_INFO packet. On the other hand, the network proves troublesome because Roy is generally the only person able to solve issues with it, the usage of A2S_INFO has damaged our relationship with some other communities (particularly in CS:GO), servers are generally impacted negatively by the use of the network (frequent issues connecting to external services, updating, authing with steam, etc), all of which impact availability,  complicating setup in a way that limits what we may we with automated tooling (for instance, automatic updates are currently a bad idea with the issues anycast presents with updating), as well as somewhat frequent issues for players in connecting / maintaining a connection.

 

If we cut the network, population will probably decrease, but I also think the quality of our service isn't particularly great right now and this is one of many points that we could improve at.

 

Do we still think the pros outweigh the cons? I'm not looking to have a vote here. This can not be a council decision. I just want opinions.


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This is written from the perspective of being a Server Manager for about a year now, and heavily involved with helping my division even before I was DL.

 

I don't feel confident with our network being this inconsistent. I know many, many people are extremely upset about it. It makes managers, who I say are some of the most important people in GFL, want to give up when their servers are always just being yeeted for things that are not in their control. Surf being one of our most popular offerings with 5 servers and much more on the way being knocked out for over 48 hours is insane. Unacceptable when these are problems caused by our infrastructure, even more so when this was fresh after a period of consistent hiccups and issues.

 

Earlier, I spoke briefly to Aurora about my thoughts and plans for the CS:GO division. If FrenZy & I want to make moves with the division to push it to the top, something GFL needs to dip its toes into are competitive game-mode servers - things like deathmatches, retakes, executes, etc. I can't do this if the servers we develop lag out every 24 hours, especially when we're expanding into a new region with the hopes of building a base there. It leaves a very bad impression, one that can potentially kill our reputation right at launch. (CS:GO 1v1 is a great example of this. Great server, decent functionally, but completely abandoned by both players and staff because its not stable.)

 

Allow me to talk about my own server's poor population: KZ #2 suffers from this terribly as it caters to a pro player crowd, the world's best of the best - it was not a rare sight to see some of the most well known players on this server when we first launched, chilling and running maps. These are the types of players we need in our community, they are the ones that keep GFL running - the ones that enjoy grinding out maps and records on our servers, the ones willing to donate to support GFL and be supported in return. Who wants to stick around and support GFL when they lag out in the middle of a 60-70 minute world record run on a tier 6 map? We are nothing without these players. CS:GO Zombie Escape is a fantastic success story that proves fostering an environment of players, that are willing to commit time and support our servers, is what will carry a game-mode to the top. Without that, we are nothing, and talented efforts to develop these game-modes go to waste.

 

5 hours ago, Aurora said:

the usage of A2S_INFO has damaged our relationship with some other communities (particularly in CS:GO)

 

When other server owners and well-known developers don't want to help answer even a simple doubt from one of our managers because it would support GFL, the same GFL that actively damage the community scene in games like CS:GO with ping spoofing, it becomes extremely difficult to keep up with the rest of the CS:GO community that are keen on leaving us behind due to our bad practices (sneaK and our surf servers are a good example).

 

It goes against the whole spirit of "community" when we actively damage everyone else by means that are not ethical in the slightest. In my opinion, our focus on this is wrong - we should be focusing on maintaining the player base we have and support the servers they enjoy playing on, not focus  entirely on bringing in new players with spoofing ping.

 

While it has its benefits, I strongly believe they are outweighed by the cons. At the end of the day, we should be about offering to our players the best possible experience - with the network making achieving that extra difficult, and impossible in some cases, it would be wise to either downsize or dismantle it imo.


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             Executive Director & CS:GO Division Leader          

Server Manager of CS:GO KZ

 

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I already briefly stated my thoughts on this in Discord, and they pretty much echo what quite a few others here think about it as well.

 

Regarding the ethics, I've felt from the beginning that the A2S_INFO has sullied our moral character somewhat. I didn't even think so much of our reputation at the time since one of the arguments for the ping spoofing was that Valve weren't doing anything to stop the communities that already were doing it.  "Why bother playing by the rules if our competitors aren't?" was pretty much our mentality. Turns out that mentality has harmed us with our relationship with other communities. Not only does that have the issue that Infra mentioned earlier with simple technical help being turned down, but people are going to be inclined to stay away from us when the anti-GFL word of mouth gets around in those communities. I know quite a few people here in GFL who have went out of their way to tell others to stay away from moat.gg before it died, and it's fairly obvious to see how that would apply to us with the practice of ping spoofing.

 

Obviously I can't speak from a high staff perspective anymore, but I've seen the performance issues firsthand as a regular player on CWRP as well. The frequent outages have caused us a lot of grief, and Koni expressed a lot of frustration over how they'd happen at the worst times and that he didn't really have any control over it. Because the maintenance of the network pretty much falls solely on Roy, it was pretty much guesswork on when the issues would be solved.

 

I'd personally be for dismantling the network, but wasn't there some agreement with HellsGamers regarding our Anycast? How will that come into play?


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Achievements

On 6/1/2021 at 2:46 AM, Shuruia said:

I'd personally be for dismantling the network, but wasn't there some agreement with HellsGamers regarding our Anycast? How will that come into play?

 

I don't think it would be an issue ultimately.


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(signature made by @Kaylode)

Previously known as Xy.

 

Twitter ❤️Ko-Fi ❤️Github

 

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