Also different data centers are going to have different servers that are better for somethings and worse for other things. So you should look at that also.

It is often hard to tell which company is actually a reseller sometimes.
You dont want to go through someone that is resellling services because at the end of the day, they dont have complete control over the servers.

Go with the original server provider to ensure you get maximum support.

If you run the server from home then you will own it. So even if the game dies you will still have an awesome server you can use or rent to someone else.

However if you buy hosting, you won't have to worry about alot of trivial things as well as setting it up from the ground up.

It would be almost impossible to run a Game server on the scale that ngoempire plans to run. On a home webserver. You would have to run a DS3 line to your house. The price of the loop alone would cost more than a 10mbps connection at data center.

What is the difference between a DS3 line and an OC3?

Think about what you have to do, if you own the server, you will have to do tech support and what not and it will also cost a lot to begin with. If you are serious about buying the server and willing to deal with people who are having problems, then be my guest. If you go with someone else to run it, then they fix it and it is no worries. By the way, I have never heard of that game.

I built and maintain my own server. I don't not have any problems. It really doesn't take much to maintain a server. Once you set it up, just keep up to date on the software and update when ever needed.

The yum updater has a setting so that you can have it automatically run each night.

Thats true but if it broke something why you were sleeping. You wouldn't know about it until the next day. I always make sure what ever yum updates is working as it should. Almost every program on my server has been modded one way or another. So if yum updates Apache why I was sleeping there is a good change it is not going to start. Just something to think about. ;)

I agree. Some day it could get me by something all of a sudden turn up not working but I would most likely forget to run the updates as often as I should so it works best for me. It would not be right for everyone but for some people it might be a good choice. There are always going to be different envirements and different things will work better.