Guides
Game Server Backups: What to Save and How
What actually needs backing up, why copying files from a running server can corrupt them, how often to back up, and the restore test almost nobody runs.
· 14 min read
522 articles
SweetMask
SweetMask is a gaming enthusiast and content writer covering gaming news, updates, guides, and online communities. Focused on delivering clear, accurate, and useful content, he helps players stay informed about the latest developments, game updates, and trends across the gaming world.
Articles — page 13
522 resultsGuides · FiveM
FiveM: ESX vs QBCore
ESX Legacy, QBCore and the Qbox fork compared on schema, script availability and migration cost, with a straight recommendation for each kind of owner.
· 8 min read
Guides
Moderating a Game Server Community
What admins really spend their time on, how to recruit staff without promoting the wrong player, why appeals protect staff too, and how to survive burnout.
· 17 min read
Guides
How to Connect to a Game Server by IP Address
Direct connect, game by game: what a server address is made of, why the port is not optional, and why an address can work for a friend but not for you.
· 15 min read
Guides
TeamSpeak, Mumble or Discord: Voice Chat for a Game Community
Three tools with genuinely different trade-offs around cost, control and latency, and which kind of community each one actually suits.
· 7 min read
Guides · Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Source Servers in 2026: Complete Guide
Counter-Strike: Source still runs hundreds of community servers. Zombie escape, surf, bhop and KZ explained, plus how to install it and find a good server.
· 16 min read
Guides
Funding a Community Server Without Selling Advantage
What a server actually costs, the models that do not distort play, and exactly where the line between cosmetic and pay-to-win sits.
· 7 min read
Guides
Surf Servers Explained
A physics quirk from 2003 that became a discipline with its own maps, tiers and world records. What surf is, and where to start.
· 7 min read
Guides
How to list your Discord server on JoinGG
Add our bot and the listing is live: no form, no approval queue. What the bot can see, where the numbers come from, and how the ranking works.
· 6 min read
Guides · Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS:GO Community Servers in 2026: What Still Runs
Counter-Strike 2 replaced CS:GO, but the community server scene did not simply vanish with it. What survives, who still plays it, and how to connect.
· 10 min read
Game Updates · Garry's Mod
Garry's Mod September 2026 Update Coming for Servers
Facepunch announced a Garry's Mod September 2026 update coming on 16 September at 3PM GMT, featuring backwards compatibility for dedicated servers.
· 2 min read
Guides · Day of Defeat
Day of Defeat Servers: The Complete Guide
Day of Defeat is a WWII class-based objective shooter with a persistent community. Classes, objectives, installing it and finding a server worth joining.
· 12 min read
Guides
Keeping a Game Server Running After You Close the Terminal
Screen, tmux and systemd solve the same problem differently. Which to use, and why the answer changes once the server matters.
· 7 min read
Guides · Day of Defeat: Source
Day of Defeat: Source Servers: Complete Guide
How Day of Defeat: Source differs from the GoldSrc original, what its community servers actually run, and how to install it and find one worth joining.
· 10 min read
Guides
Dedicated Server vs Listen Server: The Difference
Why the host advantage is real, why a listen server dies when the host leaves, and the point at which playing with friends becomes running a real server.
· 13 min read
Guides
Seasons and Resets: When a Wipe Helps and When It Kills
A reset buys back the early game and spends player investment to do it. Which servers survive the trade and which do not.
· 7 min read
Guides
Linux Basics for Game Server Owners
The dozen commands that cover almost everything a server owner needs, and the four mistakes that cost people their machines.
· 7 min read
Guides
Server Economies: Currency, Shops and Inflation
Every player-driven economy inflates, for a structural reason. The three sinks that actually work, and the inflows that quietly break everything.
· 7 min read
Guides
Dedicated vs VPS vs Shared Game Server Hosting
What each hosting model actually gives you, why single-thread CPU dominates most game servers, and how to tell when you have outgrown the one you are on.
· 16 min read
Guides
Game Server Hardware: What Actually Matters
Why single-thread CPU beats core count for most game servers, why RAM is the usual ceiling, when disk speed matters, and how to find what is limiting you.
· 13 min read
Guides
Moving a Server to a New Host Without Losing Players
Copying the files is easy. Keeping the address, the players and the search ranking is the work, and it starts a week early.
· 8 min read
Guides
Game Server Monitoring and Uptime: A Guide
Why a running process is not a joinable server, why to watch the query port instead, alerts that actually reach you, and when automatic restarts do harm.
· 13 min read
Guides
Garry's Mod Servers: The Complete Guide
Garry's Mod is not one game, it is a hundred. What each gamemode actually is, what downloads to expect, and how to find the one you want.
· 7 min read
Guides
Discord and Your Game Server: What Belongs Where
Discord is easier to be in than a game server, which is how communities end up thriving while the server empties.
· 8 min read