Can we please get some more options in choosing server location?

[Picchu]

So, say your idea goes through and the North American servers get split up into East and West servers. What if mine (Cactuar) becomes a West coast server and I live on the East coast? I'd really like to not have to leave my FC and static just because I'd have bad ping to the server now (as well as the other people in my static/FC that live on the East coast/Midwest). Would I just need to suck it up and cope or move?

[kyuven]

moving the servers means 2 options:
1) buying new servers and moving those, then switching during a maintenance. This is expensive. VERY expensive. They'd have to buy space at a new data center and the new servers. And people would still complain.
2) actually moving the new servers. They'd STILL have to buy the new data center location AND pay the fees to transport the servers AND you'd be unable to play on those servers until it happens. And people would still complain.

Unless you can give a more cost effective solution that doesn't involve the division going into the red for the quarter, it's just not happening.

[LalaRu]

Some time ago had read that server location is fine as is and players needs buy a better internet, when EU players complaining about being constantly slided by Titan EX.

But now, if the problem is within the U.S., then servers needs be moved. How the irony.

[Dhex]

SE has offices in Los Angeles....

[JimboTCB]

SE has offices in Los Angeles....

Offices are not data centres.

[KisaiTenshi]

The short answer is there really is no problem.

Montreal is "close enough" for West coast, East Coast and Europe. However because West Coast and Europe have to go through significant numbers of routing points, and those points can change over time.

The Speed of Light and the lack of optical switching along these paths is the real problem. Every hop involves being converted from optical data to semiconductor data, and then back to optical data.

From my location to the server I play on, I get 80ms. That's actually decent. But it's not ideal (Another MMORPG I played I got 20ms, because it was in southern California) It goes via Cogent.

If I trace from a northern California to the same server, same 80ms ping. It goes via
Telia and as6453.net

If I trace from Arizona, it goes via Level 3, same 80ms ping

If I trace from Montreal, it goes via Ormuco, 1ms ping.


So as you can see, short of putting the server in someone's backyard, you're always going to have some latency.

If they move some servers to San Jose (where many of the West Coast data centers are) that would improve the latency for those in the Western time zone, but it will make the latency worse for those who were already playing on it and don't live over here. Plus California has more expensive energy and taxes. But Vancouver BC would be more expensive because they lack Carrier Hotels, and it costs thousands of dollars to colocate a server in Vancouver versus hundreds for San Jose.

Literately, the cost difference is like 500$ in San Jose, 2500$ in Seattle, and 10000$ in Vancouver to host the exact same thing.

That's why VM's are so popular, and have such awful performance, because you can just shuffle VM's around data centers depending on who offers you a better deal that month. But games suck on VM's, having twice as much overhead as running on native hardware... but "oh look I can move stuff around at a moments notice".

[Dhex]

Offices are not data centres.

Yes but you tend to need an office space to house a server...

[Felis]

also, which NA server group should SE move?
To choose the servers that get moving to EU is easier, because they were designed for EU players since launch. But there is no seperation between east coast players and west coast players on the NA servers.

[tocsin]

Yes but you tend to need an office space to house a server...

office space =/= data center space.

Data centers are generally in secure, environment proof buildings, with lots of fault protection and a load of infrastructure. Every datacenter that I have seen was essentially a building made of steel reinforced concrete, and with internal air systems and internal power generators, designed so that a natural disaster could strike the area around the building, and the datacenter would never skip a beat.

Data center space is also roughly 50-100 times more expensive as office space, as well. a company that I worked as a help desk analyst for, had recently constructed and migrated into a new data center. It was a medium sized one in Oklahoma, and cost ~$120 million to construct.

In the world of big business, $12 million a month in income isn't a whole heck of a lot.

[kyuven]

Yes but you tend to need an office space to house a server...

I think you're sorely underestimating how much space is required to house a data center. These aren't PC towers you can stack in a broom closet. Each server IS a broom closet. Stuffed with electronic goodies.