PkHonor

Rapsey wrote:

Jaaytee wrote:This is off-topic, but what exactly does Rapsey do? I literally just don't know lol. I've only seen him post a few times.. (I'm not trying to talk bad or anything about him.)

Well that's a very good question actually. Most people have no idea what a sysadmins' job entails.

A large part of it is being responsible for the infrastructure on which everything runs. Of course there's setting up the servers, which is no small task. Making sure everything is configured securely and optimized for performance can take quite a while, but it's essential to keep everything running smoothly. Once they are set up, it's basically my job to keep them secured against all the bad things that could happen. For one thing, servers do require maintenance. All the software on them needs to be kept up to date with the latest security patches, otherwise we are at risk of being hacked. Another common threat nowadays would be DDoS attacks, so I need to ensure that our setup can handle it. Of course the servers themselves can suffer from hardware issues. To cope with this we monitor them at all times so I can respond immediately, often even before something actually goes wrong. Frequent backups make sure we can't lose any data, and redundant failovers are created to handle a server going offline.

One of the things I'm pretty good at is optimizing things for performance and efficiency, so I also work on keeping the internals of the game running smoothly. The database in particular, which can easily slow things down catastrophically if not optimized correctly. I have also been known to design algorithms for the game, and one of my hobbies is helping Mike brainstorm when he's developing something that pushes the boundaries of our systems. I also make sure the web-based components of PkHonor are working well. A good example of this would be caching systems, which result in faster page loading times for everyone using our website and forums. I suppose that means in a way people see my work more than they realize. Another thing I work on is internal tools. Usually these are tools to help Mike and I do our jobs, or automate things so we can use our time more productively. On top of that these tools help us reduce the risk of human error. More reliable systems means less issues for everyone.

The forums take up quite a bit of my attention. It's true that I don't post all that much, but I do use them every day and I am way more active through PM's than I am through posts. I also take care of most administrative forum tasks, though I'm unfortunately not getting many suggestions done at this time. And of course there's always some staff involvement, though we prefer to let the team be independent. Lastly I like to innovate, so I stay up to speed with the latest technologies and apply anything beneficial to PkHonor.

I could elaborate for a few more pages but I doubt anyone would be terribly interested. Hope this gives you some idea of what it is exactly that I do.

Hashtag wrote:Rapsey has said before that a Dev. blog for what he does would only help hackers.

Rapsey wrote:

Jaaytee wrote:This is off-topic, but what exactly does Rapsey do? I literally just don't know lol. I've only seen him post a few times.. (I'm not trying to talk bad or anything about him.)

Well that's a very good question actually. Most people have no idea what a sysadmins' job entails.

A large part of it is being responsible for the infrastructure on which everything runs. Of course there's setting up the servers, which is no small task. Making sure everything is configured securely and optimized for performance can take quite a while, but it's essential to keep everything running smoothly. Once they are set up, it's basically my job to keep them secured against all the bad things that could happen. For one thing, servers do require maintenance. All the software on them needs to be kept up to date with the latest security patches, otherwise we are at risk of being hacked. Another common threat nowadays would be DDoS attacks, so I need to ensure that our setup can handle it. Of course the servers themselves can suffer from hardware issues. To cope with this we monitor them at all times so I can respond immediately, often even before something actually goes wrong. Frequent backups make sure we can't lose any data, and redundant failovers are created to handle a server going offline.

One of the things I'm pretty good at is optimizing things for performance and efficiency, so I also work on keeping the internals of the game running smoothly. The database in particular, which can easily slow things down catastrophically if not optimized correctly. I have also been known to design algorithms for the game, and one of my hobbies is helping Mike brainstorm when he's developing something that pushes the boundaries of our systems. I also make sure the web-based components of PkHonor are working well. A good example of this would be caching systems, which result in faster page loading times for everyone using our website and forums. I suppose that means in a way people see my work more than they realize. Another thing I work on is internal tools. Usually these are tools to help Mike and I do our jobs, or automate things so we can use our time more productively. On top of that these tools help us reduce the risk of human error. More reliable systems means less issues for everyone.

The forums take up quite a bit of my attention. It's true that I don't post all that much, but I do use them every day and I am way more active through PM's than I am through posts. I also take care of most administrative forum tasks, though I'm unfortunately not getting many suggestions done at this time. And of course there's always some staff involvement, though we prefer to let the team be independent. Lastly I like to innovate, so I stay up to speed with the latest technologies and apply anything beneficial to PkHonor.

I could elaborate for a few more pages but I doubt anyone would be terribly interested. Hope this gives you some idea of what it is exactly that I do.

Blahblahdie wrote: You can help me make my computer play Pkh better than it does now?

Mike wrote:

Blahblahdie wrote: You can help me make my computer play Pkh better than it does now?

I'm afraid client-sided optimization isn't really possible that solely depends on your computer setup. Rapsey does a whole lot of server-sided optimization though.
On a side note: Macintosh computers are apparently horribly bad at running Java. Which is the reason that PkHonor doesn't always run that well on Macs and crash every now and then. Nothing we can do about that, other than advise people not to buy a Mac in the first place.

And yeah, I told Rapsey to make more devblogs, but he doesn't want to mostly because he doubts people would be interested in all the technical stuff he does everyday.

Mike wrote: On a side note: Macintosh computers are apparently horribly bad at running Java. Which is the reason that PkHonor doesn't always run that well on Macs and crash every now and then. Nothing we can do about that, other than advise people not to buy a Mac in the first place.

Mike wrote:

Blahblahdie wrote: You can help me make my computer play Pkh better than it does now?

I'm afraid client-sided optimization isn't really possible that solely depends on your computer setup. Rapsey does a whole lot of server-sided optimization though.
On a side note: Macintosh computers are apparently horribly bad at running Java. Which is the reason that PkHonor doesn't always run that well on Macs and crash every now and then. Nothing we can do about that, other than advise people not to buy a Mac in the first place.

And yeah, I told Rapsey to make more devblogs, but he doesn't want to mostly because he doubts people would be interested in all the technical stuff he does everyday.

Ruler wrote: I am curious if the auto refund system will work like it should, it will save you a lot of time!

Ratonhaketon wrote:Hey now...PkHonor runs pretty damn good on my Mac.