Hi, this is pretty much my first post here, and I've been playing on the FITH tf2 server for a while. I see that FITH is generally un-populated most of the time, and I was thinking maybe you could reward players for seeding the server to try and change that. Skial has a plugin that gives out points to seeding players that can be spent on stuff like titles and fake unusual effects. Seeding a Skial server gives you around 50 points per minute. If FITH could have a system like this, I think you could see an increase in playercount. There's also other things that are more of a convenience type of thing, like adding inspect animations for non-stock weapons. Then again, Im not really an experienced person regarding server dynamics, nor do I have the technical know-how to implement these features. Thanks for even reading this, I guess. And I hope to god that this is the right place to post this.
This isn't the worst idea (I've played on skial and seen the system). I've honestly never payed too closely to the sorts of rewards offered on skial, but there could be something good there. Fake unusual effects are a pretty common donor perk. https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=207157 <-I think the plugin is something similar to this one. Based on the description that's closest to how it works. (I know this is for an outdated version of sourcemod, but this thread has the better description of how the plugin works so I'm linking it for reference.)
Hot Damn, Erk you play on the FITH sever. The only thing I seen you do on Skial is vote crit on cap which does nothing.
I think the main issue is the server tends to only be populated at night. I suppose this is due to the fact there's a fairly consistent group of players who populate the server in the evening, getting it busy enough that randoms start joining. I don't know how it could be done besides word of mouth, and maybe offering perks like Erk suggested, but if we could have a effort to get some FITH regulars on in the afternoon I imagine we'd see better player count at all hours. Personally, I'd totally be up for playing in the afternoons on weekends if I could get people to join me.
I think the main reason for such a late population is because most of our TF2 crowd are adults with jobs, bills, kids, and shit. I have made it a personal goal to make this server the least like a skial server as possible. And I'm happy to report that has been pretty successful. I see no reason to change that dynamic.
To me a sever is a sever no matter what happens. Even in rough times the FITH sever has some of my fav friends on here and I stay loyal to them.
I'm ususally up for a few games if I'm showing online on steam. Dstraktd hit the nail on the head. Eastern Time, day job, second job, wife and dog duties, etc, etc.
