TL; DR: We’re not in Kansas anymore. Enter the gaming universe and you’ll see it doesn’t look like it did a decade ago. New technologies have transformed gameplay and graphical processing, creating immersive and visually appealing gaming experiences. But these changes also require tons of resources for smooth gameplay. RAMShard helps gamers attain autonomy and a better gaming experience. We spoke with Erik Prinz, Managing Director of RAMShard, about the hosting platform and how game servers help solve user pain points.
To simply say gaming has changed is an understatement. The gaming industry has entered a whole new world of immersive imagery and advanced gameplay. Images that were once pixelated have become almost human-like. Gamers can now trek vast terrains to battle scores of in-game players and build fully functional lives as different characters.
But video games aren’t the only ones changing. Gamers have also changed. Not only has the description of a traditional gamer evolved, but people also want autonomy and control and are going out to get it. Technology has given gamers more options to boost experience, whether for flexibility, community, or performance, and they’re not letting the opportunity go to waste.
Many gamers have enhanced their gaming experience by leveraging game server hosting. Game servers allow users to go beyond the factory default settings crafted by game developers and design a gaming setup tailored to their needs. RAMShard is a web host that provides game server hosting to help gamers do just that.
“We’re big in the belief of play your own game servers because game servers controlled by the players have a lot more flexibility than ones that the game developer would set up,” said Erik Prinz, Managing Director of RAMShard.
With RAMShard, users don’t have to settle for home servers. RAMShard’s affordable and high-performing servers offer a reliable power source for popular games, including Minecraft, Terraria, and Rust. RAMShard allows players to build communities and setups that fit their needs.
Game Servers Centered on Solutions
Erik knows more than a thing or two about gamer needs since he is a gamer himself. His personal experience as a game server customer inspired his move into the industry. After running his own Minecraft server for a while, Erik decided to enter hosting so he could provide this service to other gamers looking for more out of their current experience.
Pain points associated with home networks drove his decision. Before Erik rented a game server, he had to navigate the common issues that came with hosting on a home network. Some of these pain points included DDoS attacks, performance issues, and reliability.
“That’s when I started researching a better way to run this from my own server. A lot of people aren’t aware that there’s something like this out there. Something that would be a lot better than what they’re doing on their home servers,” said Erik.
As video games become more resource-demanding, users will need robust and reliable servers to accommodate these new changes and enjoy all they offer. RAMShard allows users to have smooth and simple gaming experiences without worrying about downtime or complicated server setups. After all, the platform was built to be a solution and not to continue the trend.
The RAMShard team continues to deliver solutions by listening to customer feedback. Erik said the team runs a Discord server to engage with customers and gain insight into user experience and satisfaction.
“We also collect feedback through any support interaction and the control panel, which help us figure out what issues people are having or how we can improve,” said Erik.
Consistent With Power and Features
Many gamers have turned to hosting services to meet their performance demands. Premier games need a higher level of resources to increase responsiveness and reduce lagging. If players want to up their game, they need consistency. This is where RAMShard steps in.
“We’re constantly, at least every few years, changing out hardware to keep up with performance and updates in the industry. We also guarantee 100% uptime or provide some compensation, but we rarely have any issues arise,” said Erik.
RAMShard is consistent with its power and features, dedicated to providing reliable services for customers. The team understands gamers’ needs firsthand and works to ensure they get a smooth and powerful experience for every game it supports. This is why it includes DDoS protection, NVMe SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited player slots in its plans.
Erik said one of RAMShard’s core highlights is its intuitive control panel with a one-click plugin installer. Removing barriers to game server hosting is a priority for the team, and managing a game server can be daunting for first-time users. So making the control easy to use was nonnegotiable.
“From my experience of running a home-hosted server, using command prompts and having everything command-based is not super user-friendly if you’re not an advanced user. So our control panel being easy to use is one of our biggest features,” said Erik.
No matter your experience level, RAMShard can help you jump-start your game server journey. Its platform is affordable, simple to navigate, and powerful, offering everything you need to take control of your virtual world.
What’s Next: New Custom Panel and Website
RAMShard has a few new things on the way, including a custom panel and website. With this road map, the team looks to keep up with its customer requests and go beyond expectations. Its new website will feature various changes, including more game support.
“We’re trying to diversify our portfolio and continue adding games because there are increasingly more and more games that now support game servers. So we have to make sure we have a service for those audiences and something for anyone looking for a server,” said Erik.
The website release will come with support for at least 20 more games. Additionally, RAMShard will launch a new custom control panel, moving away from its partnership with Minecraft software, Multicraft. Erik said Multicraft has been great for most of RAMShard’s needs and Minecraft support but not conducive to its other games.
“When we launch the custom panel, it’s going to improve even things like load times or just the flexibility. We’ll get to design it the way we want and ensure it works as smoothly as possible. I think that’ll be an excellent feature for all our customers,” said Erik.
RAMShard’s changes are coming at a pivotal time for the game server industry. Game hosting services are seeing a massive increase as gamers seek more personalization and higher performance. “It’s just going to keep growing a ton, especially as more and more games come out. I think game hosting still has a lot of growth ahead of it,” said Erik.