Quote:That person is going to reconnect and get kicked and told that he is in a reserved slot.  He's going to find out that it's more work trying to get into the server and go somewhere else, thus losing a potential regular.  People that have never joined the server before will see that the server is full and not even bother connecting, thus losing a potential regular.  People with the server list filter on to filter out full servers will not even see it, thus losing a potential regular.

This is where I disagree. At the wee hours of the night when Mr. Tea is seemingly AFK, and the server is full, very few servers are populated at that hour, and even less that are available to the non-steam CS:S.

I've been running and admining servers for the past 7 years. I know what it takes to keep a server populated, and especially one throughout the night. From my experience, as I have stated before, having one to two slots taken up by an AFK isn't as much of a big deal as you're making it out to be. In fact, it actually helps a server out. People, at this time, and with the server being 42 shots, like playing in bigger servers. They are willing to wait to connect to such a server because it is popular.

Players aren't quitting because Tea is in spectator, and when Tea does catch and ban a regular for hacking, it's well worth the slot. Even if it takes hours of AFK time for Tea to catch that person, that's one less hacker, and the servers are still full.

Quote:So you're telling me when I see a server at 42/42, it means the server just hasn't kicked the most recently connected non-reserved slot holder out of the server yet?  Because, from what I've seen, no one, while playing, gets kicked to make room for a reserved slot.  I only notice I get kicked when I try to join at 40+/42 because I joined in a reserved slot.  If the former is false, then you contradicted yourself because, "technically," since you cannot join a server while it's full, no one will get kicked to make room for you.

From my understanding of the server, the 41 & 42 slots are reserved slots. If a reserved player (This is quite rare) tries to connect when the 41 & 42 slots are taken, the most recent player in the 42 slot will be kicked. I believe there might even be a "hidden" slot as well which allows for 43/42 players.

I'll state my original point. I don't see why this is a big problem. The servers are still full, and Tea is still catching hackers even if he is AFK at these times. The pattern of regularity of "being afk" lures regulars to believe that he is AFK, and therefore allowing them to be more blatant with their hacks.

In the end, it's just one slot on a 42/42 man server, of which we have 3 42 man slot servers active. Our servers are still full, and people are still having fun. If you want that slot Mr. Tea is in, and the server is full, then that person should donate and receive a reserved slot.

Edit: Zenk. I disagree. In such a large pub, having a 21 v 20 isn't going to magically stack the teams, and it's not a problem you should be concerned with. Should we be concerned when the server is 16 v 15? Is that unfair? Should we not let that 1 person play until they can balance the team's out? The point is valid to a degree, but doesn't hold much weight as it happens often.

You're taking "fairness" too far. Many admins don't bother with making teams fair, and they'll just switch themselves around, rather than other players, or they accept that "getting rolled" is part of the game.