We have been receiving incoming reports of Battlefield 3 console players (limited to PS3 users at the moment) that private servers are being unexplainably removed from the hands players even after having paid for them.

Upon further investigation into the Battlelog forums, thanks in part to Mark for sending in the tip, it seems that there is indeed an issue surrounding these private servers. Battlelog user Marticus100 has compiled a post detailing some of the issues console players are facing as well as some potential reasons behind the disappearance of private servers.

It was originally thought that EA/DICE has been taking servers away from those who tweak the server rules to certain extremes or who kick players from the server too often. Speaking to an EA representative, Battlelog user lucas8181 learned that administrators are, in fact, allowed to be able to freely kick/ban players from their servers.

As for server rules, EA does reserve the right to remove servers from users who enforce rules that involve weapon restrictions, for example. However, this rule only applies to ranked servers. Nevertheless, it is important to read over the rules of conduct that pertain to these matters. This excerpt was taken from the EA’s official BF3 rules of conduct, thanks to Battlelog user miamiblue:

If you are an administrator of a ranked Battlefield 3 server (referred to below as a “Server Administrator”), you must also comply with the EA Online Terms and Conditions.

Server Administrators are in violation of the EA Online Terms and Conditions if they enforce server rules on ranked servers that prohibit or severely limit players from using any roles, kits, weapons, vehicles, or other features of the game while playing on their server. Examples of such rules that would violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions include:

• Running knife / pistol-only servers
• Preventing players from using certain weapons or items (such as flash bangs or C4) or enforcing a “pistol only” or “knife only” server rule

Server Administrators may implement and enforce rules that result in minor changes to gameplay behavior or styles as long as these are clearly stated before a player starts playing on a server. These rules typically introduce minor or limited restrictions on how a certain aspect of the game can be used, but do not create or promote an environment that would allow abuse of the scoring/award system. Examples of such rules that are acceptable are:

• Disallowing repeated main base camping/attacking of bases that cannot be captured.
• Limiting the use of mortars to a particular region of the map.

Server Administrators will also violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions if they (i) use offensive server names, server art or clan tags; or (ii) encourage other players to violate the EA Online Terms and Conditions while in game.

Additionally, it now seems that it is a technical issue plaguing these private servers, causing them to unintentionally disappear. EA has stated to be looking into the matter. Lucas8181 shares what he has learned after speaking with officials:

I don’t know that they are taking servers away due to people being kicked. At least, according to the security team we are allowed to, thus the kick/ban options. He told me that mine was down because of all of the changes I made. The servers go into a que and are restarted after major changes are made. That process took a while in my case so a temporary public server was in its place until it was back up. They are hoping to speed that process up over the next few weeks. This is also the reason that they are slowly introducing more servers instead of all at once. Its a new technology for consoles so they are still working out the details.

We’ve contacted DICE for an official word on the matter and will update if we receive any. At the moment, if the problem does lie in banning players for tweaking certain rules, we would hope that information like the rules of conduct would be more easily accessible to server administrators. If it is a technical issue, we hope to hear from DICE or EA in the near future and see some sort of improvements made.

For the moment, if you are planning on purchasing a server and heavily tweaking the settings, may we suggest holding off until these issues are resolved. We also suggest calling Electronic Arts Tech Support at 866-543-5435 if you believe your server has been unintentionally or unrightfully removed.

Have you been experiencing private server issues in Battlefield 3? Let us know in the comments below.