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The current statistics and players on the NS server:
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Section I: Half-Life
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For those who do not know, Half-Life
is a basic game where you play against opponents, either computer artificial intelligence (a.k.a. "bots") or
real people over the internet. Half-Life is referred to as a First Person Shooter (FPS) game - like
Doom, but what makes
Half-Life so great is that you can develop your very own video game (based on the main gaming engine), which are called
modifications (a.k.a. "MODs").
There are literally hundreds of MODs available for Half-Life,
that change up many aspects of the original game. There are all types of MODs ranging from simple level add-ons, to the extremes
of having real-time strategy games (i.e., Natural Selection),
and even a racecar driving MOD (i.e., HL Rally).
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Section II: The Half-Life Natural Selection (NS) Server
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Natural Selection (NS) is currently my favorite
MOD for Half-Life, and I have been playing it for quite some time. In a nutshell, it is basically like having
Warcraft III (or
Starcraft) merged into a First Person Shooter (FPS). Lately, I have been running a NS server; and to play on it you must
(1) be using Steam
(Valve's main game interface),
(2) have NS installed, and (3) either find my server's
name in the "Servers" portion of Steam or simply add my server's address to your "Favorites" list.
Here below is my general NS server information:
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Server Name: |
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[ junktext.net ] - Normal Game Play! - On GNU/Linux |
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IP Address (and Port): |
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208.167.249.107:27015 |
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Network Connection: |
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Gigabit Fiber (Capacity of 650 T1 Lines) |
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Section III: General Rules on the NS Server
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On the NS server, you must abide by the following rules:
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1.
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Be respectful (especially to new players).
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2.
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No racism.
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3.
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Swearing is okay as long as it doesn't conflict with Rule #1.
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4.
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No Onos or Heavy Armor (HA) until 5 enemies are present! (Unless the other team has two extra players, or if the majority of both teams agree [just ask in chat] that it would make the current game more fair/fun to ignore this rule.) The agreement to ignore this rule could be based on a stacked game (i.e., pros vs. newbs), the obvious turret/offense chamber (OC) spam, and so forth.
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5.
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You CANNOT use any hacks/cracks/scripts to gain an advantage over other players!
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6.
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Using structures (i.e., turret factories, command chairs, etc.) to purposely block (or lock-in) players is PROHIBITED!
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7.
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Recycling the Marines' base is allowed as long as it is only used to end a potential agonizing and slow eventual death. Do not recycle unless it is okay with the majority of your teammates!
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8.
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Spawn camping is allowed if you are not intentionally trying to delay the end of the round. You can spawn camp, but you must try your best to either end the round quickly or continue on to another area of the map. For example, as Commander, don't have your Marines build an Armory and just plant mines all over the place without shooting down the Hive. You're going to kill the Alien team, yes, but this is obviously going to irritate the Alien players; so don't attempt this or related tactics!
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9.
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You will NOT use map exploits on serious games, as it will ultimately waste your teammates resources and time.
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Note: However, you ARE ALLOWED use map exploits
during the game as long as you (1) ask if you may use those exploits, and (2) use them only during non-serious games!
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If any of these rules are broken, you will generally be asked to correct
yourself. However, if you continue breaking a rule, you could be kicked
or even banned if severe enough.
It doesn't matter if an admin isn't present on the server, as the logs
are occasionally checked for compliance. If the logs show that you are
directly disobeying a rule and are purposely ignoring other players, you
may find yourself banned.
We never enjoy kicking or banning anybody, so please try to respect our
rules. Thank you!
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Section IV: How to Become an Administrator on the Server
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Every good gaming server, needs good quality administrators (or "admins" for short). Though regrettably, we are NOT accepting open applications for those interested in becoming an admin. We are operating on an "invite only" mode, which means we will be the ones who will actually ask a user if they are interested in becoming an admin. Generally, we will only ask a potential user to become an admin if they are already pretty well known within our Community (i.e., from the game server, Forums, or IRC chat) and can get along well with the other users and admins. However, all admins (and potential admins) of the server will follow the general guidelines below:
Swear that you will never cheat or purposely disrupt the game for others.
Will only kick or ban players that are, without a doubt, ruining the game for others.
Understand how the game actually works (i.e., seasoned players only please!).
Speak and understand English (sorry, I do not know any other languages).
Note: I don't care if you speak other languages while playing, I just want to ensure I can talk with you if necessary.
Also, since the server is not a "clan" server, I don't care if our current admin roster have players who are already apart of an outside clan/gaming server or those
who already run their own servers. You can even wear your clan's tag on the server and still have your administrative powers... I
really don't care. I just want to run a laid back environment, where you can come and go as you please, without the fear of having
to meet up at a certain time for some clan meeting. I've tried running a clan back in the day (called "[cE] Clan Evil"), but I
never had time to meet up at a certain time each week. It would just be nice to have an admin playing on the server to ensure no
annoying or abusive people are ruining the game for others.
Of course, there will be those times where you may want to simply "horse around" on the server, where you use your admin
powers to do things you normally wouldn't do (like changing the gravity and so forth). This is fine as long as the other
players on the server are (1) aware, and (2) okay with it! For example, if you wanted to change the gravity on the server, I would
initiate a simple "yes/no" vote asking whether all the other players on the server would want this. If they vote does not succeed,
DO NOT change the gravity on your own!
The reason for this is this constitutes as "admin abuse," which if there are multiple admin abuse reports by different players,
it can mean I might possibly either (1) remove your admin privileges, or if bad enough, (2) ban you from the server. The following
list below is considered "admin abuse":
Purposely disrupting the game for others that causes normal players to get irritated.
Kicking or banning players for no real reason (or made-up reasons).
Slapping players during the game which could impact how the game could be won (i.e., this does not apply at the end of
the match, which are called "victory slaps").
Changing a player from one team to the other team with no reason, or without warning that player beforehand. Obviously,
changing a player's team in-game is sometimes necessary to help balance the game (i.e., moving somebody from the Alien's
team to the Marine's team so that the Marines will have the extra player); but before you move the player from one team to the
next, just inform them first!
Spamming or excessively sending "admin" commands that could lag the server (i.e., "amx_say", "amx_tsay", votes, etc.)
Adding or removing bots for no real reason.
Though the list above does not cover every "abusive" action, as they are just simple guidelines to follow. In short, just try not to
cause trouble and only use your admin powers when needed.
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