How to chose a multiplayer server that fits your preferences?

Arrange meetings with other people to play MP, announce your servers.
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zOldBulldog
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How to chose a multiplayer server that fits your preferences?

Post by zOldBulldog »

To get some practice in multiplayer, and after learning that there isn't a website that ranks servers or let's you filter by their characteristics (plus people said the selector in the game did that job) I tried my first multiplayer game (after many hundreds of hours of solo play) and I was very disappointed.

1) The selector was horribly limited. I could not request the options I wanted. So I just chose to see servers that we vanilla, used no mods and did not require a password (since I obviously did not have one). Then I filtered by number of players (assuming that more players meant a better managed, well known server) and picked a server that had started a game in the last hour or two.

2) Once in game I noticed a couple of issues:
- The server clearly stated that Discord was required but most players did not get on it, so it was hard to coordinate.
- Even though there was an attempt to have a plan, a lot of people just messed around or went along their own plan. We still launched in about 13 hours (mainly because two of us stuck it out) but it was grueling and I spent, 9st of the time dealing with things that others were supposed to have done. Not an experience I care to repeat.
- Quite a few players joined and messed around or built pointless designs, causing more problems than help. Few were intentionally disruptive but still, it interfered with those of us working towards achieving something.

3) I realized that focusing on launching is not the only way to do multiplayer. For example I imagine there are some more community oriented servers with long-term maps where new players spawn near (or far) from each other, group up (or go solo) and focus on building nice bases. But I did not see any way to identify those servers from the rest.

4) i did not see a way to identify what mods were used by what servers. That would seem to be of huge importance if you are choosing a server with mods.

5) I can see that password protecting probably solves many of the problems but I did not see a standard mechanism to identify the requirements/goals of the passworded servers or to apply for access/whitelisting/password.

So, how should I choose a server that fits my needs? I assume there is a tried and true method?

For example, how could I find a server with these characteristics:

- Has a coordinated build plan, or as an alternative is a passworded but long term community approach.

- Actively managed against griefing or even good natured putzing that gets in the way of more serious playing.

- Be able to know in advance at what time a new game will start, so that I can join from the beginning.

- ifI am looking to do a specific achievement, how do I find servers that are currently working towards it?

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