Playing Unreal Tournament 2004 in college

[mojaam]

I can understand schools blocking file-sharing ports, but for games (such as my one and only game UT2K4) is it really that damaging? I wouldn't mind if there's something listed in the LAN servers tab but there isn't.

Sometimes I can play starting with pings under 60, then after about a minute ping increases to 200... 600... 999... Disconnected! This semester's boring, I need to play this game online. Any suggestions. I'm already emailing this post to any network admin I can find, if that doesn't work do I just say bye to online PC games for the rest of my years here?

 

[nweaver]

pay for your own cable/DSL

talk to the admins (with a case of beer/Dew depending on their preference) about this.


Realize, one person won't impact the network much, but think if 1/3 of the entire student body ate up 256K/s each night for a few hours. How many students go to your school?

 

[mojaam]

Yeh, about that Cable thing, I have it. Only problem is it's 120miles away from my campus and I have yet to figure out how to tap that. Is it even possible to do this (what you call it by the way?). And nobody plays this game besides me, it's a small and boring school. So eating up bandwith won't an issue.

 

[cleverhandle]

nweaver already gave you the only two options that people are going to present to you here. You're in a forum of a network admins - no one is going to help you break the rules.

Love your sense of entitlement, BTW.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: nweaver
talk to the admins (with a case of beer/Dew depending on their preference) about this.

This is by far the best option, or you could just play some people on the same switch as you, however...

Originally posted by: cleverhandle
no one is going to help you break the rules.

I'm not a huge fan of rules. I bet he pays for his dorm connection, and probably has no other option for net access, so he should be allowed to play his game.

Originally posted by: mojaam
Only problem is it's 120miles away from my campus and I have yet to figure out how to tap that. Is it even possible to do this (what you call it by the way?).

It is called tunneling. You can set up an encrypted tunnel to your house and use your cable connection to play games, you would lost some bandwidth and gain some latency, but it would be hidden from the network admin. I am not suggesting you do this.

 

[blemoine]

since its a small school i would make friends with the IT staff invite them to a keg party. When they are drunk ask them about hooking you up. that will probably be your best shot. an alternate to this would be to befriend a couple of cheerleader types and ditch the online games. good luck with which ever one you choose.

 

[Smilin]

FPSs dont' generate that much traffic really.

I think Quake 3 was like 2k/sec. We might be up to 5k/sec on more modern games depending on what's being passed.

It's the packets/sec that's a monster. Tons and tons of UDP.


I can understand admins blocking streaming media and file sharing but not games.

 

[nweaver]

So you think WoW or EQ2 is near 5K/s? I doubt it...

and if you have...small school, 1000 kids playing that, 5K X1000 is 5000 Kb/S...and that doesn't account for legit traffic.

I understand the want to game, bit, but understand, it's their bandwidth, and it's for EDUCATION no ENTERTAINMENT. Would I fault him if a case of Dew got his connection playable? not at all...although I'm a Dr. Pepper admin myself....

And the argument "he pays for that bandwidth" doesn't hold well, as he payed for an education, the b/w required for online stuff doesn't have to include b/w for entertainment.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Smilin
FPSs dont' generate that much traffic really.

I think Quake 3 was like 2k/sec. We might be up to 5k/sec on more modern games depending on what's being passed.

It's the packets/sec that's a monster. Tons and tons of UDP.


I can understand admins blocking streaming media and file sharing but not games.

each client uses between 128 and 320 Kbs for online games.

they can bring a school internet connection to it's knees.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: nweaver
And the argument "he pays for that bandwidth" doesn't hold well, as he payed for an education, the b/w required for online stuff doesn't have to include b/w for entertainment.

Well it doesn't _have to_ include bandwidth for entertainment, they could have the students sign a contract agreeing to use it only for educational purposes, but is that really fair? A dorm room is not an educational establishment, it is a home, and a place where entertainment should be allowed.

They don't limit the TV to discovery channel, they don't prevent you reading novels, they don't prevent you having friends in your room for purposes other than study, why prevent online gaming? Bandwidth reasons? Well limit them to a certain number of MB per month then, or maybe a certain number of packets, don't just deny it outright.

Students pay good money and they have no other options for internet access in dorms, therefore the school has a monopoly, and a monopoly has certain responsibilities.

 

[spidey07]

It is this line of thinking that is raising some spolied snot nosed brats that I see so frequently.

"you OWE me" "I deserve"

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is this line of thinking that is raising some spolied snot nosed brats that I see so frequently.

"you OWE me" "I deserve"

If I give my hard earned cash to someone in exchange for a service, then DAMN RIGHT they owe me, they owe me EXACTLY what I paid for.

 

[blemoine]

Why should a school have a responsibility to make sure that students are entertained. i am sure their view on this goes something like this: "These are our rules. If you don't like them you can leave no one is keeping you here".

 

[blemoine]

If I give my hard earned cash to someone in exchange for a service, then DAMN RIGHT they owe me, they owe me EXACTLY what I paid for

The problem here is that your giving your hard earned cash to the wrong place. give it to an ISP and they will be more than happy to supply b/w to play online games.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: blemoine
Why should a school have a responsibility to make sure that students are entertained.

I think the question is rather: Why should a landlord deliberately prevent his tennants from entertaining themselves?

Originally posted by: blemoine
The problem here is that your giving your hard earned cash to the wrong place. give it to an ISP and they will be more than happy to supply b/w to play online games.

Fair enough, but in a dorm room with only an ethernet port? There are no options other than to use it, it's a monopoly. They should (of course) restrict bandwidth, but not which applications use it. Or there should be an option to pay more for full access.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is this line of thinking that is raising some spolied snot nosed brats that I see so frequently.

"you OWE me" "I deserve"

If I give my hard earned cash to someone in exchange for a service, then DAMN RIGHT they owe me, they owe me EXACTLY what I paid for.

And that is what you are getting.

Their network, their rules. don't like it, don't live there

You are paying for an education, not to play games on their very expensive network and prevent real work from getting done.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: spidey07
It is this line of thinking that is raising some spolied snot nosed brats that I see so frequently.

"you OWE me" "I deserve"

If I give my hard earned cash to someone in exchange for a service, then DAMN RIGHT they owe me, they owe me EXACTLY what I paid for.

And that is what you are getting.

Their network, their rules. don't like it, don't live there

It would be extemely inconvenient for students to just change schools or move off campus... That's like saying "If you don't like the laws in your country, don't complain, vote, or protest, just go to another country."

 

[spidey07]

their network, their rules.

there is no argument against this whatsoever.

 

[blemoine]

It would be extemely inconvenient for students to just change schools or move off campus

Move off campus. now thats an idea.

i am sure though if you round up all of your fellow students who are being wronged by the university and transfer they would never bat an eyelash. They would be like "I wonder why the internet is running so smooth now".

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: spidey07
their network, their rules.

there is no argument against this whatsoever.

You have more admin experience than me, I'm more of a coder myself, but I have done some admin and I fully understand your point. In the case of a workplace, or free netwoks, I completely agree. But. What is the arguement _for_ denying access to games? Why not just allocate a price for a certain bandwidth/packet rate and leave it at that?

 

[nweaver]

because they are a school, not an ISP

Internet access (and tv for that matter) are a courtousy, not a right.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: spidey07
their network, their rules.

there is no argument against this whatsoever.

You have more admin experience than me, I'm more of a coder myself, but I have done some admin and I fully understand your point. In the case of a workplace, or free netwoks, I completely agree. But. What is the arguement _for_ denying access to games? Why not just allocate a price for a certain bandwidth/packet rate and leave it at that?

Because networks are expensive and you have to make judgement calls on what to allow.

Normally games are the first to go as there is no justifiable need to have them and they are one of the biggest hogs, second only to file sharing and just ahead of streaming media.

And just a little clarification. Universities and business come to be to assist them with overall policy and network strategy. The first thing we discuss is "how can we trim down all the frivolous use"

Once I show them the numbers on how much it is costing them the decision is quickly made.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Atheus
It would be extemely inconvenient for students to just change schools or move off campus... That's like saying "If you don't like the laws in your country, don't complain, vote, or protest, just go to another country."

We generally support users going to their admins and talking to them about easing restrictions. I don't think anyone here would say doing that is a bad thing.

Dialup over cellular is always an option.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: nweaver
because they are a school, not an ISP

Thay are a school, a business, a landlord, and an ISP.

Internet access (and tv for that matter) are a courtousy, not a right.

They are a paid-for service, I do not feel I am giving anyone a courtousy when they pay me for services, it is thier right to recieve what they paid for.

Originally posted by: spidey07
Because networks are expensive and you have to make judgement calls on what to allow.

Normally games are the first to go as there is no justifiable need to have them and they are one of the biggest hogs, second only to file sharing and just ahead of streaming media.

Yea... I guess... but there are other options for controlling usage than blocking specific apps.


I feel I am fighting a losing battle against more experienced opponents, so I will make a strategic withdrawal, however if it were my network I would either:

a) Prioritize everything over gaming/streaming/p2p/IRC/etc and only allow them to hog the bandwidth at times when no one else requires much of it. Such as late nights and weekends.

b) Block games, but allow students to upgrade their connection for a fee and use the money to buy the school more bandwidth.

 

[blemoine]

Thay are a school, a business, a landlord, and an ISP

stop at business and i think you have got it. They are not an ISP or Landlord. Internet access & housing are more for your benefit than the schools. They don't let anyone who is willing to pay for housing live in the dorm do they? They also don't sell internet service to anyone who is willing to pay do they? Its kind of like a private club that has certain requirements and dues. you can be a member but you have to follow rules.