Warning for new players: Admin favoritism

If you are a new player looking for a fair, long-term home in ARK: Survival Ascended, steer clear of the Salty Zombies cluster. The server rules and economy are completely dictated by a toxic inner circle of veteran shop owners who lobby the admins behind closed doors to eliminate competition.

I witnessed the entire administration fold to a handful of whiny veterans. Here is exactly what happened:

* The "PT" Crisis: A veteran player threw a massive tantrum in global chat because a new player was gifted a basic starter flyer (a Pteranodon), claiming that free items "ruined player progression."
* The Hilarious Hypocrisy: These exact same veteran shop owners regularly host free Alpha boss fight carries for new players. Taking a beach-bob to an Alpha boss instantly unlocks endgame Tek engrams, gives massive Element, and shatters the game's actual progression. They only care about "progression" when a giveaway threatens their player-run shops.
* Admin Corruption: The admins promised a community meeting to discuss the issue. Instead, they met with their favorite veterans in secret before the meeting even started, bent the knee, and quietly added "Rule #4 under general rules" to ban player generosity.

Don't waste your time grinding on a server where the admins will literally rewrite the rulebook overnight just to protect the financial monopolies of a few power-tripping favorites. Check the r/ARKServers subreddit to see the full global chat screenshots of them bragging about the closed-door rule change.