Abuse of admin privileges and favoritism on typical open server is common. It makes it nearly impossible for the average player to get an online Conan Exiles experience that isn’t total fkery.
No wonder mods and new people are just floundering in poop. If told the game can be played online with others it is a certain this is what the player will attempt and judge the game by.
What’s a common open server?
im assuming you mean private server?
THe people pay for the servers and are, as such, administrators.
If you don’t like it play official. If you don’t like official, pay for your own server.
People on the Internet.
Some of them are jerks. Some of those jerks play online games, so it’s almost inevitable that you’d run into some of them in any online game.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Have you encountered private server administrators who you feel have treated you unfairly? Official, Funcom-maintained servers don’t have personal administration, so these private servers are managed by private people using their own money, so they have the right to choose who they want to let on their servers.
Do you think it’s possible that these private admins have found your playstyle or way of communication unsuitable for the server they wish to maintain? These admins often have a very particular vision about how they want to play the game, so they naturally want to pick and choose people who are the best suited for that playstyle. most of them want their servers to succeed and flourish within their own vision of the game, so few admins have any motive to actively drive away people unless they felt those people were ill suited for their server.
Private server management isn’t something Funcom can affect. It’s the private owners’ playground and their rules.
Vote with your feet. If you do not like a private server then move to another (there are a lot). If you want unmoderated, go to Official. Most private servers have ‘rules’ and guidelines so it’s not hard to see what is or is not allowed. Is it modded? I have been on private servers where it was annoying to see that the admin players had big bases and lots of resources. I was a little peeved as I though I should be able to get ‘some of that’. Well, it was not my server so tough. I did manage to cope well on my own and so the clan and I built up and made a great base and, though it took longer to get there, it was playing and enjoying it.
If what you refer to is hat the Admin(s) are destroying your base or killing you or abusing you, well that’s different - you have not gone into any details.
I have a server. It uses my mod StraysNoAdmin. There is no admin abuse in game due to this.
I regard the average personal server lease that is not password protected as open. Hence ‘open server’ - a server leased by an individual that anyone can join.
The password protected lease I regard ‘private server’.
If you are not following the semantics lets just skip it and get back to the point. People that lease a server and make it available to all (as in not password protected, open to the public) typically strike me as people on a power trip (such as a dungeon master type running things using Pippi to change virtually everything to suit their taste). Some are worse and represent true fckery in the sense they want random people to join so they can fck with them.
Assuming the server admin(s) do not cheat and are not trying to run (or ruin) everything, why do they need admin rights during play, or does anyone? Not having admin in game has kept things right sane with our server. No fckery.
To enforce server rules and ban the trolls and griefers that have been the bane of many official servers
If their servers are open to public, they’re also open to all sorts of bad people going out of their way to ruin other people’s day. Having someone to moderate the server ensures that good, honest players can enjoy their game without being harassed or abused by griefers.
Now, I’m sure there are some admins who abuse their privileges, but those are basically inviting people to leave their server empty. I’m not sure I’d label all “open server” admins as power-trippers. And smart admins will probably advertise the mods they are using so using something like PIPPI for role-playing shouldn’t be seen as power abuse but as a way to make an interesting gaming experience for people who share similar tastes.
Not all of these may be suitable for your tastes. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong, they’re just not for you.
I’m wondering if this relates to the story I saw on Reddit about the admin letting friends exploit but harassing other players who complain about the exploiters…
The truth is… Admins are human too. Some are great, some suck. I’ve had the privilege of being on a server with a good admin. It was fun. Haven’t encountered a bad one, but I could see it happening. Just be careful, test the waters, MD don’t get too heavily invested as it is just a game.
These are paid private servers. The only thing you can do is warn your friends if you come across toxic ones and leave. I use the word toxic, but to the server owners, it is a way of playing for them. They have every right to play like they want on their own server. Same as being on a Solo version. You have to vet out the servers you like, and go from there. There are things on the private I play on i don’t 100% like, like 10x harvesting, but that is me. I have to weigh the pros and cons, and decide if it is fun for me. If not, i will move to another.
because they paid for it? you know the rule of the usa: i paid so shut up.
you’re better off going on official servers
Not just a rule of the usa, but common sense in general. I have a home. I like to watch rated R b level movies. If you come over for movie night, you can’t tell me not to watch them. You may not like them and that is your right, but it is my house. You don’t have to come over if we don’t have the same taste.
Now if they were “charging” you to play on the server, then you have a right to gripe. It would fall under a public business like a cafe. Paying patrons deserve the same service. But if i invite you over for dinner to my house, and have a dish you don’t like, it is rude to complain.
hence what i wrote: i paid shut up.
but sadly in the usa they tend to be more angered when they cant control what they pay. i miss that idea that last year i had a private server and now i lost it. god bless barbarian edition
its not disrespect its actually the truth. goes as well in game than irl xD sorry if i offended you xD next time i will lie promise
Though i agree with your point, i think it may over simplify some aspects.
There’s a difference between not liking the rules so go someplace else and admins who create rules but allow a special privileged croup to ignore those rules while expecting everyone else to play by those rules. Again there isn’t much you can do about this and complaining won’t help except to vent steam. However, it does stink when you expect fair play and it doesn’t happen.
For example, the story on Reddit stated that the admin’ s friend was allowed to use an exploit to increase bomb damage and when people complained, the admin said they would boot the complainers. It’s actions like this that I think the OP is referencing.
On the other hand, i played on a private server where the owner/admin did a very good job. The only special rule was no attacking the admin’ s base. Yet the admin did not abuse this and never raided anyone else. So really there is a mix of both and it just takes time to find the right one for you.
Issues like these are the reason we added the rating system for private servers. We hope it gives more information to players who are looking for a private server to call home and thus also more confidence that they join a server with a healthy community and trustworthy admins. Going forward, we will closely monitor how that system is received and if it works. We will also absolutely make adjustments to that system of needed.
Feedback in that regard is very much appreciated.
I think this might entirely be oversimplified. I am a USA residing player who recently opened a new server. My actual encounter has been people ENCOURAGING ME to use my admin powers excessively. My server is a hard server with vanilla or rougher settings mostly. It is meant to encourage survival RP. The only staff I have are me and a trusted friend. We have used our admin powers to build the initial T1 structure of the central city. I make it clear when Admin powers have been used and only use them for testing, player issues, and such. I also have plans to make admins/mods report any time they use admin powers to prevent abuse.
I think what you are running into are people who have no experiencing handling issues as an admin, mod, or customer service rep experience. I find often those who have these and have the right training know when to help and when to call someone on issues and drama.
Have I used my own admin powers for my own gain at any time? I won’t say I haven’t cause I am sure somewhere I spawned in something and of course I run the central city. However I hope that 90-98% of the time I am using these powers people understand it is used to make the server I pay for a fun place for all who enjoy what I have offered.
How is going to admin powers anything but a mistake?
‘Vanilla’ is not an ice cream flavor, it’s the game the way the devs intended it, it is ‘stock.’ When an admin does enough with the server it cannot be recognized as Conan Exiles, and is more an imagination of server’s admin, things have gone too far.
I cannot imagine having hosted a modded server without ever resorting to admin powers and in fact no one on the server can (no in-game admin) how any use of admin powers would be anything but abuse of powers and game fckery.
Privately hosted servers can set their own rules. If part of those rules is individuals with Admin powers then that is their choice and their right as they are the hosting the server and setting their rules.
Some examples I’ve seen of private server rules listed in adverts for servers on these forums include:
A private server may offer a “starter pack of items and level boost” to new players/clans - this would need Admin powers to provide.
A private server may state that certain areas are “no build zones” … that they have no tolerance for building in those areas and Admins will remove offending structures
A private server may state there are certain rules for raiding and if not followed then the offenders will be wiped from the map for the first offence and banned for subsequent offences.
A private server may have Admins provide events … so providing those events they might use Admin powers eg Arena boss fights - Admins spawn in the NPCs; dungeons with NPCs to fight and treasure to uncover; Admin provide buildings to siege/destroy with rewards inside.
Admins use the tools provided by mods to provide quest-NPCs and quests; Admin use mods to set up trading centres or teleport portals.
If you consider these types of things to be admin abuse etc then you can chose not to play on those servers.
Because some people like the game in a way different from yours doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Some people want to have a “game master” on their server. Some people want to have mods that change the game from the game designer’s original vision into something different. And considering the mod support for the game, it seems to me that Funcom wants us to play the game as we like it, not as they like it.
Your way is not the only way. If this is how you present yourself on a private server with non-vanilla rules or mods, it’s hardly surprising that you may have run into conflicts with the local admins.