Building Server List

[Asja]

I would like to build a list of servers to display to a client to connect to one of them (this is for a game btw). Most games have a master server that keeps a list of all active servers so the client can just receive a list from there and when you start a server they all register their presence with a master server.

I would like to do this without a master server. Obviously the server will have to advertise it's presence somehow so the client can receive that information and construct a server list. I would like to know how to go about advertising a server so that any client on the internet can detect it. Is this even possible? I don't so much need code, I really would just like help with the methodology. Thanks for any help.

[tlhintoq]

I am by now means experienced at that sort of thing... but it almost sounds like how the BitTorrent protocol works, doesn't it?

You have a lot of 'servers' out there (every BitTorrent client is also a server).
Nobody is keeping a central list of all those servers.
Yet they are all communicating with each other, sharing data and so on.

Whether the data is file packets or game packets is up to how the client program deals with them, right?

So maybe researching P2P file sharing schemes would give you some ideas of P2P game schemes.

[Asja]

Thanks

Thanks, that is actually what I was trying to copy for my game. I have begun to research this already but will keep looking for more info.