How is PC gaming free?

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

Deihmos

[QUOTE="Deihmos"]

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

linkthewindow

Because they advertise sometimes on servers to generate income, or a company might host the server to advertise, or clans donate a few bucks per month to rent out servers, or people are crazy and build their own servers for people to play on.

[QUOTE="linkthewindow"][QUOTE="Deihmos"]

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

mrbojangles25

Because they advertise sometimes on servers to generate income, or a company might host the server to advertise, or clans donate a few bucks per month to rent out servers, or people are crazy and build their own servers for people to play on.

Advertisement, sponsorship (if clan server), or just *i want my own* syndrome.

250$ a month may be pushing it for traditional games like shooters, i run a CS 1.6 & Source server with leftover parts from upgrades. It work wells and doesn't cost me anything, sure it's not uber great compared to the 8-cores Xeon monster but dedicated servers don't need that much.

the 250$ is mostly connection, personally i pay 60$/month for 10mbits and illimited upload/download (which are crucial to dedicated servers)

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

Deihmos

[QUOTE="Deihmos"]

I know we generally do not pay to game on PC but why? The dedicated servers for these games cost a lot of money a month so who pays for this and why? In Battlefield 2142 a ranked server cost $250.00 a month for 64 players and that is expensive.

linkthewindow