Missed this one on Friday but there's a new Battlefield 2 community update over on the EA website. Mainly it is going into detail about the server's being ranked and unranked.

Ranked Servers : Ranked servers will be where the hardcore bump heads and clash knives. All Ranked Servers will be configured to provide the definitive competitive Battlefield experience. Friendly Fire is on, and TK will be punished by default, so all players will need to use their tools wisely and watch out for the tools that have been deployed by their teammates. If, for example, you have a hankering to be the best sniper to ever stare down the sights of an SVD in Battlefield 2, these are the servers on which you will have to walk the walk. If you'd rather not spend your time trying to figure out where the world's #1 sniper is popping your melon from, see below. Ranked servers will be heavily administrated and have Punkbuster on. The integrity of the stats system is of paramount importance to EA (and of course to those participating in it) and so we will be monitoring things constantly. At the end of the day, Ranked servers will be a safe, regulated environment on which the most competitive players will be spending their time. If this environment doesn't sound right for you, that's great. That's what Unranked servers are for.

Unranked Servers : These servers are the wild cards – every one will be different, set to suit a specific part of our community (that part can be an individual player turned server operator, whole clans or even fan websites). The one thing these will all have in common, however, is the lack of pressure to meet the high standard of play we will expect on Ranked servers (i.e. don't be a nuisance, don't break EA's Terms and Conditions and strive to be a team player). Unranked servers will be the best environment for new players to learn Battlefield 2, though you will need to find a server that best suits your learning needs. Peruse the settings that we highlight for you on the Internet browser when you select a server – we encourage new players to learn the game on servers that have Friendly Fire set to off. On these servers, you won't need to worry about your Commander's errant artillery strikes, or the mines your buddy left covering each route out of a base. Even if you screw up, nobody's likely to care more than a couple of seconds – after all there are no long-term consequences. That said, always be aware that there will be Unranked servers that are configured with more hardcore settings. Choose your server wisely.

To play online you need to create an official account and as such you are accepting EA's Terms & Conditions