MTA Server Review Service Idea

[codeluaeveryday]

-- Note this is just and idea and is open for lots of change. It's a big project and I would like the approval of the community before creating this project.

MTA Reviews

Hello MTA:SA community!

I am willing to bring a new free service to the players of MTA. This idea is suppose to help players find the servers they like and alert others of thieving "pirates". Unlike other services which have been offered in the past, you will come to notice that our service actually has done legal research and is well aware of how servers are suppose to be storing data. Did you know that their is few servers out their breaking the law and stealing your information right under your nose? Do you want assurance before registering on a server? Our idea is going to revolutionize the way we look at MTA servers.

If I decide to finish this service, it will not die until MTA dies, and I guess even then I wouldn't fully let it die, I would attempt to merge it in to another game. I have more than enough money to keep such a service running for a lifetime.

I believe that players are the top-priority of a server and deserve quality service and assurance. This service is aimed to help servers help players. Our service will need moderators in due time, but these moderators must understand what they are getting in to. This service requires legitimate verification of age and photographic ID. We may even want to call you on skype, this will help us ensure that our moderators will not abuse the features they are offered.

Below is a list of features our service CAN provide and if you want to read more about the following list, you can continue on.

• Look for servers based on location, registered users, player count, uptime, features and much more.
  
• Verified servers
  
• Certified servers
  
• Fraudulent servers
  
• Suspicious servers
  
• You can rate servers out of 1 to 5
  
• You can write reviews
  
• Upload videos or screen-shots of the server, even share youtube videos.
  
• I'm registered here button
  
• Server Verifier resource
  
• Claim ownership of a server
  

Filtering/Finding Servers:

The search feature allows you to search for servers based on:

• Location
  
• Popularity
  
• Features
  
• Resources
  
• Gamemode
  
• Uptime
  
• Maps
  
• Download size
  
• Server security (including #AC information and network encryption)
  
• More to come!
  

Verified servers:

Verified servers are servers which are running our server statistics script. Once a day it will collect information on the servers and transmit it to our servers, it will help with collection the following information:

• Popularity
  
• Registered accounts
  
• Maps
  
• Game-mode
  
• Resources
  
• Server security
  
• Uptime
  
• General server information
  

Most of this information will be reviewed and tested by our moderators. If we find servers attempting to submit fraudulent or false data to trick our servers we will put the server on our fraudulent list, this will still collect data from the servers, but they will not receive a certified status until our moderators see fit.

Certified servers:

Certified servers have passed all of our moderators tests. We cannot guarantee that all certified servers are non-fraudulent, but we can guarantee that their servers are offering correct information. Additionally claiming a server can help protect it from becoming receiving a fraudulent status, considering that we allow you to receive messages from players and help resolve issues.

Fraudulent servers:

Fraudulent servers have been confirmed via our staff or by community vote. Fraudulent servers may store passwords unencrypted and collect personal information which can be used for unethical reasons. They may also attempt to hide aspects of their servers which they do not want players to find out. We advise against using your normal password on these servers.

Suspicious servers:

Suspicious servers have been marked as suspcious when moderators cannot find enough evidence to label these servers as Fraudulent. Server owners have a chance to redeem themselves. This may be as little as adding a second resource which will scan the server completely for fraudulent data and if no warnings are returned then the server can be put as a Certified server. I understand that this resource may not be appreciated by everyone. Truthfully it will scan all databases on the server for unprotected users, non of this data will be sent back to our databases. It would be illegal for us to do that. Considering that my name, country and website is associated with this service, I would not abuse that.

Server ratings:

Players all over MTA have been wanting this in our normal server browser, but they simply cannot do it cause of game-monitor. This feature will allow you to rate your favourite servers out of 1-5 and this can help players finding the right server for them.

Note for MTA developers:

If I was to create a method for you guys to retrieve the servers ratings, would you add it to the browser?

Server reviews:

Finally you can speak your mind about the servers that you hate or love the most. Unfortunately for regional laws we must attempt to prevent swearing, we may add a feature to disable our swear filter.

Server media:

Yep! That's right, we're allowing you to upload videos to our website! We may even add an exception to download the video. We feel like this would make an excellent addition to our service as we do have infinite file hosting and bandwidth. Youtube videos may also been viewed via our site if you do not want to upload it to our site.

I'm registered here button:

Clicking this button will notify you if this server is found to be fraudulent. This will then pose a risk to your password safety. If you wish to change your password on some servers, but their is no features for it. Simply lodge a request with our moderators, detailing all the servers you want a password change for. If some of these servers are already verified, we will contact the server owner and ask for permission to change your password via one of our utility resources. Otherwise we will manually join these servers and attempt to speak to admins and see if they can assist you.

Verifying/utility resources:

These resources allow us to collect information, and with the permission of the owner we can alter certain information. This type of information may be for users passwords or other security issues. We will never change any information without the full permission of the servers creator.

Claim ownership:

You are able to claim server ownership, this will help you get a better reputation by allowing players to leave you messages and allowing our moderators to easily contact you incase of player issues.

About myself:

I am a student at Southbank Institution of Technology in Australia and looking forward to becoming a web developer in the years to come. I am studying a Diploma in Website Development and hopefully next year I will move on to my Bachelor of Interactive Technologies which is a really in-depth course about website and game development.

[Noki]

I was wondering why your activity here was dormant. I finally know why.

This is obviously the best suggestion I've seen for a long time.

[codeluaeveryday]

Hey Noki, I've been very busy with study lately, I still host my game-servers, but with limited updates. I've been looking for a project to work on for my professional portfolio, this would be a project worthy of getting me the job I want in life.

I really like this project too, but it's a massive project. I recognize that not everyone will trust a resource which collects information and scans the server for vulnerabilities, but I'll happily answer any question and reassure everyone that this project is as it seems.

** Our site will have ads displayed, unfortunately I need the site to generate some kind of income. **

[NeO_DUFFMAN]

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! You know i've always felt that something like this has always been missing in MTA. I for one find it quite annoying to find a server of my choice without having to join at least three to four servers before that. And this kind of happened recently when i thought about checking out a DayZ server but after seeing so many servers out there, i eventually gave up and continued playing at the server that i usually play in. So yeah, this is definitely a really good suggestion and i really hope it's taken into consideration

Btw, how about allowing players to vote for the servers and getting awarded with in-game prizes? Pretty much like how players vote for minecraft servers. I feel it's better this way to track the popularity and the likability of the server on a daily basis

[codeluaeveryday]

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! You know i've always felt that something like this has always been missing in MTA. I for one find it quite annoying to find a server of my choice without having to join at least three to four servers before that. And this kind of happened recently when i thought about checking out a DayZ server but after seeing so many servers out there, i eventually gave up and continued playing at the server that i usually play in. So yeah, this is definitely a really good suggestion and i really hope it's taken into consideration

Btw, how about allowing players to vote for the servers and getting awarded with in-game prizes? Pretty much like how players vote for minecraft servers. I feel it's better this way to track the popularity and the likability of the server on a daily basis

The script can be modified to allow that, but it would be the owners decision on what the player gets. I would have to add a feature to allow you to add your in-game account before voting.

[Lisa]

Great work Chris!

I love it!