What is the Difference of paying for a host vs you Hosting it yourself?

[The Dragon King]

I'd like to explain this to my Family but they dont understand so they think the $24.95 a month is a waste so if anyone out there can explain why is it better to pay $24.95 a month ( for a 50 slot server ) vs hosting the server in my own home?

If you guys can explain it better by all means please do.

[BART CHIMPSON]

Resources

[CorruptMemory]

Depending on your contract, if your tech breaks, the company your hosting from is on the hok to replace the damaged hardware.

Most likely a server rack company will have internet connections which can actually utilize a 50 person server (if you ever filled it).

Electricity Bills, Internet Bills. Usually they have tech support (good luck fixing your home server from work)

[Blank3k]

For a typical person having a "good" server in your own home means a computer running 24/7 that no one else uses and allowing players to utilize your home broadband connection, any downloading/streaming etc done on said connection will substantially degrade the performance on the server resulting in lag, this is when people leave the server. - not to mention the potential security issues involved with inviting the general public into your home network.

Having a dedicated host means running on hardware specifically designed for hosting online services (which is in itself better than hosting it on a consumer grade desktop pc) and you also get a healthy amount of bandwidth that is unaffected by other people downloading etc and can be left 24/7 without the fear of someone unplugging it to do the hoovering, plus they cover any hardware failures.

Edit: if you wanted to host a server at home in a way that works effectively you'd need a dedicated rig with hosting in mind, ie a lot of ram & xeon processor ($$$) + you'd need a second line put in for business use... that line would cost money, as would the electricity bills + any hardware failures you'd have to take care of at your own time/expense during which time your server would be offline and the player base will have moved on - where as a hosting company has the resources to keep you online should any of there hardware fail.

[The Dragon King]

keep it going guys the more explanations the better

[The Dragon King]

bump

[Red River]

you can rent one for as low as $6/mo

[BART CHIMPSON]

Take your mom to read this (no offense)

[Shane]

I actually would say host it yourself if its only for a few friends, I also wouldnt pay for a server so it can merely benefit a bunch of other gamers when honestly i would prefer to play with just friends.

If you wish to be seen by a bunch of strangers as a king because your a admin on a server your pay for then fair enough rent one. i play at times with a single friend so that aint worth renting a server, i probably will never manage to find 50 real life friends willing to play ark survival with me, and it runs great on a crap spare laptop as the host server.

serioulsy ask yourself why you want the server ?

failing this there are other ways, you can setup a tribe via a website or something, or even these boards and you will find that a good bunch will share the cost to run a server this happens so much in my gaming history, total strangers just send donations through paypal to the help pay for it.

I have a teamspeak server which my friend owns the server its ran from so he never charges me for it tbh, but you be surprised how many times when i have used it a total stranger asks if i want a little cash for it, i just dont take it...

why do you want one ?

Whats your reasons, its okay us trying to help convince your parents you need one. have you as we speak got 50 people who want to playark with you.. etc etc

But the main benefits are:

bandwith
servicing
activity

[Gravetech(Kane)]

Originally posted by The_Red_Dragon_Emperor:

I'd like to explain this to my Family but they dont understand so they think the $24.95 a month is a waste so if anyone out there can explain why is it better to pay $24.95 a month ( for a 50 slot server ) vs hosting the server in my own home?

If you guys can explain it better by all means please do.

mostly when you host yourself if you dont have the world up its not constantily running so it puts everything on puase tell you log back in.

[Flaax]

Originally posted by The_Red_Dragon_Emperor:

keep it going guys the more explanations the better

There is nothing more to say.
Calculate the costs of a 2nd internet line (2nd contract with ISP), hardware (acquisition /12 or /24), electricity, etc.
On average it will be you much more than just $25/month (btw you can have a rent very good shared servers for $12). If you don't already own a server and don't have the needed infrastructure it will be more expensive in first place.

Originally posted by Shane:

I have a teamspeak server which my friend owns the server its ran from so he never charges me for it tbh, but you be surprised how many times when i have used it a total stranger asks if i want a little cash for it, i just dont take it...

depending on your teamspeak license (there is a free license for 500 slots), you may not ask for money or other commercial objectives (advertising). But you can build in a Donate Button/Banner on the TeamSpeak, to cover the hosting costs or to improve uptime and performance.

[Shane]

its never down, uptime 99.9% in fact its been sat doing nothing with no users at all for more than 3years lmao

my point was get a bunch of people who all want a dedi server and all of you share the cost for it... then you just gotta convince your parents your only wasting a couple of dollars for a server.

and that is perfectly possible to achieve, as well as a cheaper server host in the first place. i actually agree with his parents its a waste of cash unless ark is going to be as second to nothing in your life in terms of importance.

NO way am i paying for a server just for the sake of it when there is plenty of alteratives around..

i have no problem with people who do rent one at the same time and in terms of just gaming your main benefit will be that everyone can be online whenever they wish to be, when i do play online we run on a spare laptop and when my friends not online i play my singleplayer game.

this of course for fifty people is not the best option, but has the OP got 50 peoples interest ?

I would suggest to him/her you try and find a cheaper one and get a couple of people to share the cost else pay for it yourself.

setup a website, get a nice group of followers, build up a gaming network, and stick a donation thread in your community forums and get the group to buy the server. more sense than a single person running one for the sake if you ask me.

when you ask a forum to give advice be prepared to hear advice in favour of your parents point of view, if you asked myself to pay for it i would tell you where to get off.

and sry i agree with your parents, you display no reason for me to agree that you need a server beyond just desire. but i have already given you the main benefits to owning one as well as other ways of getting one, etc..

[Desertworld]

Seriously? You want your parents to Pay 25€/month for a Server for a Video Game You May Play a few months.. Get a Small Server (no Need for 50 slots at the beginning), Start to host a Server at Home with an older PC and See if You Even Need one. There Are much better possibilities than just renting a 50 Slot Server... Vserver, Root server, Ask Other Admins and Stuff like that.

Originally posted by GameDovah:

Originally posted by The_Red_Dragon_Emperor:

keep it going guys the more explanations the better

There is nothing more to say.
Calculate the costs of a 2nd internet line (2nd contract with ISP), hardware (acquisition /12 or /24), electricity, etc.
On average it will be you much more than just $25/month (btw you can have a rent very good shared servers for $12). If you don't already own a server and don't have the needed infrastructure it will be more expensive in first place.

Originally posted by Shane:

I have a teamspeak server which my friend owns the server its ran from so he never charges me for it tbh, but you be surprised how many times when i have used it a total stranger asks if i want a little cash for it, i just dont take it...

depending on your teamspeak license (there is a free license for 500 slots), you may not ask for money or other commercial objectives (advertising). But you can build in a Donate Button/Banner on the TeamSpeak, to cover the hosting costs or to improve uptime and performance.

Why would You Need a Second contract? Just set up an older PC, Change Router Settings and host a Server. Electricity can cost a few Dollars up to 100 per month depending on the Location. Can still be cheaper than 25/month.

[Shane]

its not a contract its free, its just ran from a server of a friends for bandwith and to save me using the software of my personal machine. the server its ran from cost 500 a month and the guy who runs it uses it for his own business.

I was using it as an example of how sometimes strangers will show willing to help pay for a service is all i offered him money to do it, and i have never really paid it and he never asks for it or cuts it off lmao

if you want to use it let me know send ya details its doing nothing

[Digitrailz]

Do what I did when I ran survivors through hosting services. Split the cost with the friends you want to play with. If everyone pitches in then you only have to pay a couple bucks. The benefit is, they have the hardware to handle it. If it breaks, thier tech support can fix it often in minutes. and they tend to have a GUI that allows you to manage the server easily. The benefit of running at home is you control the tech, the downside is your internet has to be able to handle the connections, and unless you playing with a couplle friends, with a teathered surver, you will need a powerfull computer that is basically a server. Those tend to be more powerful then gaming laptops.

[margalus]

a host in your home is a LOT better than a rented host if you have a spare computer. It doesn't take much of a computer to run a server. Any old pc that has a somewhat modern cpu with 8GB or ram will work. I run 2 servers on an old i7-2600 with 8GB of ram in my home, performance couldn't be better. Rented hosts try to run 100 servers on one computer which causes poor performance and lag and rubberbanding. A host in your home that you control will be extremely smooth and lag/rubberband free.