Player servers should remain the same. So it's more of a fight to get stuff from other players.
Of course.
I'd take it a step further Exousia. I think that all servers should have a separate BW setup, Uploads and Viruses should be restricted to the current stated limit, but downloads should have it's own limit.
There are very few secret servers out there were someone could download the next level of software. When I first started out I found dozens of servers, all with software that I could have used. Not one though, was free of Viruses. Generally I was limited to 5 to 15 BW out of the 150 or so on the server. I ended up giving up trying that route.
I can see that. I vaguely remember someone suggesting that kind of thing at one point with a rather meager response.
However, it was decided at one point that having to disinfect the virii and such on Secret servers would inspire more PvP. It's kind of an on-going battle among the staff (and, honestly, among players in general) as to how to encourage PvP without sacrificing the Newbs and even the mid-level players. While it is a simple thing for a veteran (or top 20 player) to disinfect a lot of those virii on the Secret servers, the software on them are well below what they would bother trying to swipe, so it's really up to the mid-level players to do it and the cost-effectiveness of the process is in doubt for them. Really, it's the newer players who would benefit most and the veterans and mid-levels would have to give up a lot of virii territory right now. We were considering putting a minimum download BW at one point as well, so there would, at the very least, be some BW available to download the software, but there are also those pesky bulk deleters out there killing all that nifty software before most could download it. An issue I run into when starting out each round trying to improve my software selection by downloading it from Public and Secret servers.
We could put a cap on the virii level being installed, but that would hinder the veterans and mid-level players. I had proposed at one point, that the secret servers would not reformat and/or IP change unless the virii BW usage reached a critical point, but I have yet to receive any concrete yay or nay on that.
So, really, there is no simple answer to this dilemma on the Secret servers, and the unlimited BW overload on the Public servers is a bit of a compromise.