Queue
The queue is a proxy server used to connect to the main 2b2t server. It serves as a queuing system for housing players wishing to join 2b2t when it exceeds its capacity. The queue was initially created during June 2016 to manage the enormous flood of players brought on by the arrival of TheCampingRusher and the subsequent Rusher War. The queue (and total players online) can be monitored on 2b2t.io with a graph that updates every two-three minutes. The queue is subject to massive influxes, such as the Mass queue influx of 2020. It should be noted that there are two types of queue, one with premium access, and a former addition that has since been removed (see System for more).
History
On June 1, 2016, a popular Minecraft YouTuber known as TheCampingRusher uploaded his first 2b2t video. This caused a massive rush to the server as thousands of his fans attempted to join at once. This wave prompted Hause and Rusher to implement a queue system to keep the server systems afloat. The queue was added in mid-June 2016 and required players to continuously reconnect every few seconds to maintain their queue position, thus encouraging the use of hacked clients with AutoReconnect. Rusher then offered to buy 2b2t from Hause. Hause declined and Rusher suggested a new queue system. Within this system, all players that joined before June 1st, 2016 were given priority over the newer players. This would enable them to join in minutes rather than hours. A paid priority system was also added where a player could buy priority for $20 per month, with the money raised ostensibly going towards maintaining the server. This and the basic queue is the system that is still used to this day.
During the early days of this new queue, players could be kicked for being AFK and were forced to stay on their computer and check the queue regularly as to not get kicked.
A major change to the queue later came on December 4, 2017, when Hause removed the veteran queue system. This change was not popular with the community and caused many oldfags to quit. According to Curtis, the owner of the queue proxy server, it was "100% Hause's idea". The queue now only has a basic queue and a priority queue to this day. At VidCon, Fit confirmed, when he met Rusher, that Rusher and his associates were still getting a cut of the priority queue income as of July 2017. It is unknown and unlikely, however, that they still receive a cut, as the Archon was sold in April 2018.
During large amounts of players joining the server, such as during incursions, or an invasion of the server by a popular YouTuber, the queue can get very long. In addition to English speaking YouTubers, a recent influx of Taiwanese YouTube Videos in the late summer of 2019 led to the queue to be nearly equally as long during the midnight of EST as the Afternoon of EST, due to opposing time zones. In addition to YouTubers from Taiwan, content creators from Israel, Turkey, Spain, France, and Russia also came to the server.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the queue in 2020 and 2021 has spiked as high as 1200.
System
Queue types
There are currently two types of queue membership. There was formerly an additional queue.
- Basic
The basic queue is the queue that all players are given unless they pay for the priority queue. It has the lowest level of priority, and also has the largest population. When the veteran queue still existed, the position for basic queue players would increase due to the higher queue levels' reserved slots.
- Priority queue
The priority queue, also known as the prio queue or paid queue, has the highest level of priority. It has reserved slots on 2b2t itself, meaning customers who pay $20 USD for priority queue can enter 2b2t much more quickly than those without.[1]:0:23–0:31
- Veteran Queue (removed)
The Veteran Queue was given to all players that joined before June 1, 2016. This queue was removed on December 4, 2017, to increase incentive to buy priority queue. The queue was a system requested by TheCampingRusher during the height of the Rusher War so that the original community could still participate in the server in a meaningful way. It was a standard non-reserved queue, but they were ahead of all the queue members.
Queue server
The queue was situated on a server of The Archon, but the queue is now its own server owned by Hausemaster. It is an empty single end dimension chunk, that puts the player in Spectator mode. It used to be a box of end gateways with the player fixed in the center in spectator mode. Even this used to not exist, instead kicking players with a queue message.
Controversy
The queue is a very controversial subject on 2b2t for a variety of reasons. One of the major reasons is that Rusher uses the queue as a way of milking the server for money. Rusher has shown that he can add or remove anyone from the veteran queue list, which he did with Torogadude. This action was later reversed and Rusher promised never to do this again. Rusher denies that he created the priority queue system just for money as many people had emailed Hausemaster beforehand, asking if they could buy queue priority.
The queue can be many hours long at peak hours, effectively rendering 2b2t a pay-to-play server for new players. This also spawns a lot of hate for 2b2t YouTubers such as FitMC, who bring their subscribers to the server and increase the queue times for regular players. Some even say that Fit has a deal with Rusher where he brings his fans to the server in order to increase the number of people buying priority queue, however, this is little more than speculation.
The existence of reserved slots for paid priority players is a controversial topic as this means a queue can exist even when the server isn't completely full. This raises questions that the queue actually has little to do with lag prevention as the server could easily accommodate more players. During non peak hours, it is not uncommon to see the server have only around 180 players, out of the 275 cap, but still have a 200+ people long queue.
In a video by Toro, he has talked about why the queue will most likely never be removed. He claimed Hause is continuing to use the queue to make enough money to spend on the server. It's paying his bill and so would lead to why he will continue to keep it. It only takes 13 donators to pay off the $250 fees, 5 to pay for the general payment of $90, that is required to pay off for the server each month. It is unknown how much money is given to Rusher from this and Toro criticized in the video that Rusher never talked about the fate of the money he gains from the server since his drama video about #FreeToro and the queue itself.