User rented servers making official Battlefield 3 servers scarce

If you’ve been having serious difficulty in finding official Battlefield 3 servers run by DICE, there’s a reason: since the option to rent servers was implemented, so many servers have been rented that there’s nothing left over for official servers.

Since server rentals began, fans have complained of increased unprovoked kicks and bizarre server settings, such as playing team deathmatch to 500 kills or conquest games to 700 tickets.

In response to the rumor that DICE had been shutting down servers, Electronic Arts made it known that there were no server shutdowns. Instead, as the EA representative informed, ”If DICE-managed servers appear unavailable, it is because they have been rented and customized by players.”

EA went on to state, ”Custom Servers have always been extremely popular with Battlefield PC players. With Battlefield 3, we’ve introduced a Custom Servers program to console gamers. Response has been overwhelmingly positive. Custom Servers gives players the ability to tailor the settings and parameters of a given server, which directly affects gameplay. It also gives players more choice as they select which server and gameplay style they like best.”

What is the solution to those wanting to play vanilla Battlefield 3 games? ”As with any new innovation, there may be some confusion among players who are experiencing Custom Servers for the first time. We encourage players to use server filters and ‘favorite’ options to find the servers that best suit their play style” was the advice given by the EA representative.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t help players who want to play on official servers. The only suggestion by EA was essentially to ”wait til DICE adds servers.”