We all know that not that many people play 3.x anymore, so you are definitely gonna come across empty servers. But Nelson has helped us with server filters to exclude empty and full servers from the list. That’s good. But the issue is… Why tf are there servers that say “1/24” on the server list, but when you check the details of the server, it’s emptier than the Sahara Deser on a hot summer. And this doesn’t apply to just a handful of servers, there are literally HUNDREDS of servers that say “1/24” (excluding them from the empty servers) but still being empty at the same time.
These servers are using plugins to fake the player count.
One solution to this is to make sure that a plugin can’t change these values. Here is a little example(Some programming knowledge is required to understand this):
Server info is stored in class A.
Plugin is a class B.
Class C and Class D are part of the game and they are supposed to change the information.
Classes C and D both have a private variable (boolean) with a get method that permits them to change values in class A.
When a class C or class D wants to change a variable in class A using a set method, It sets it’s “write permission variable” to true and then uses a method to change the variable in class A. Class A checks if a “write permission variable” in either class C or class D is set to true. If it is, it changes the variable. If it’s not, it will not change the variable.