From: spatter@netcon.smc.edu (Steve Patterson)
Subject: 2 backgammon servers
Organization: Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 22:59:52 GMT

Greetings to all backgammon players of the internet;

This is an initial call for unification.  I am a backgammon addict;
now that I have tasted the ease of learning and playing the game from the
comfort of my couch at home, I am also an addict of internet backgammon; it
is my belief that the two gurus who have donated their efforts to
provide the server in Germany and the server in Ohio, should be
canonized and even elected pope,if possible.  I know them only as
Andreas and Garrett, but I think of them as benefactors and patrons.

However, I think an unfortunate thing has happened between them -- I
believe they are detracting from each other.  This is unfortunate
because really what they should do is complement each other.  At first
it seemed like there was an even split of players and playing-time
between them, while the American server was in Pasadena.  A player
could log onto one, and if no games were to be found, the player could
switch back over to the other.  However, it seems like when the
Pasadena server was switched over to Ohio under unfortunate
circumstances, most players seemed to make a decision to concentrate
their playing time on the German server.

I didn't mind this much at first, because my main loyalty lies not
with either Andreas or Garrett, but with the game of backgammon
itself.  The German server has a nice move notation system, great
game-saving capability, and a helpful pip-count.  The Ohio server,
however, when it is not being switched from state to state, is about
10 times more stable for me (perhaps the European players could
comment on which one they find to be more stable as far as
establishing connections and maintaining them), partly because of the
networking inadequacies of my local server and partly because the
Ohio machine has a generally dependable amount of "up" time when it
can accept logins.

Right now the internet doesn't seem to be flooded heavily enough with
eager backgammon players that these systems should be operating in a
semi-competitive manner with each other.  I can't count the times I
have been able to use the Ohio server but not the German server, but
am unable to find players on the Ohio server.  Maybe in time the
backgammon culture of the internet will grow to where 2 or maybe more
servers are necessary allow everyone playing time, but I think at this
point in time the game of internet backgammon would be best served if
the servers could be rigged up somehow to work together -- a server
merger, if you will; a sharing of software, ratings, whatever, so that
each server serves as back-up alternative to the other instead of a
competitive alternative.

The question I pose to Andreas, Garrett, and the backgammon players of
the internet in general is, "is this sharing of server resources possible,
feasible, and/or desirable?"

In essence what I am asking is can we set up a system where the best
attributes of each server are mutually shared, where ratings and
matches count equally on both servers, where even a game aborted
because of a failure on one server could be immediately continued on
the other? (Maybe I am going too far, but you get the point by now, I
hope.)  Maybe it would eventually mean that the work of the two
administrators would be cut in half, as an added bonus.

Sincerely,
Steve Peterson
spatter@netcon.smc.edu


Newsgroups: rec.games.backgammon