What are some of your best memories from services like heat.net or MPlayer or dedicated servers in general?
My favorite was a time my best friend and I were on the second phone line talking and took on 15 to 2 in quake 2 CTF and won.
I a large part of my childhood, around age like 9-12, playing SW: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy multiplayer. Hanging out on a JAVA server with people I met over there, being part of a clan with regular practice that attended tournaments, but most of the fun was just chilling on the server, exploring the plethora of custom maps filled with secrets, and having a great time.
The experience is something I can't imagine in this day and age, epsecialy because matchmaking killed this kind of friendship between random players, and most of the social aspects of games. All of the Free For All servers were mostly about just chilling, with combat only done in agreed-upon duels that had it's own unwritten rules/etiquette that everyone respected. The community was amazing.
I'm really glad you got to experience that memories like that need to be cherished. Do you remember much cheating on your sever? Cause all i hear about is servers being a haven for cheaters but I don't remember that many.
I don't think I've ever met a cheater in any of those games (it was more than 15 years ago). And if I did, since it was one of the more active servers, there was usually an admin available. I don't remember it being an issue.