I recently posted a thread where you are able to ask me anything you may want to know about building a successful server. I decided that I would write a detailed thread here to try cover the more common aspects I see a lot of servers fail in.
The thread will cover server content, quality, management, donations and other useful tips I have picked up along the way.
It is targeted at those that have a server experiencing growth or people wanting to start a server that aims to grow to a large size. It does not go in to details of how to do everything but is rather a look over my mistakes, victories and things I have learned.
SERVER CONTENT:
This is possibly the most fundamental base of a successful Minecraft server but is so often rushed.
Guys, relax. Your server doesn't have to be out tomorrow for it to be successful. You don't need to have an ad up as soon as you generate the world. Take the time to make sure you have quality content.
By this is mean be original and fresh. Prisons, factions, survival games, UHC; These are all very heavily competitive server types. A lot of people start up these types of servers and for that sole reason, a majority will not receive nearly half the attention they deserve. You may put blood, sweat and tears in to building the best damn server you have ever seen, but if it doesn't have that x factor then people won't stay.
When you build your servers content, take a step back and ask yourself "If I played for 1 hour on this server, would I want to play more? Would I come back tomorrow or next weekend?". Player retention is MUCH more important than getting players through the door. I would rather have 10 players that play a few hours a day than 1000 that play an hour then get bored and never log back on. While this may not look good for your player count, it does wonders for your reputation as a reliable quality provider which is exactly what you want.
You will find a lot of players come from being invited by friends that like the server, so if you get just 10 people that really want to stay they will bring their friends to you! You don't have to advertise as heavily either because your players will grow exponentially. 10 loyal players where each brings 2 friends takes you to 30. And again to 70 if their friends do the same.
You do not need custom plugins to make a custom server. Spend the time learning how plugins work and how to manipulate them to fit your specific requirements. Invest time in learning as it will allow you to put together a much higher quality end result. Keep tweaking plugins until your server has a feel that is unlike no other server, or does it better.
tl;dr: Quality content that keeps people returning will help build a successful server much more than just focusing on getting players to log on.
SERVER QUALITY:
Server quality refers to how playable your server is. For players in the USA a server hosted in Australia is going to result in much more ping time and lower the QoS (Quality of service) for players far from the hosting location. I suggest researching your market and identifying a target market. For example, when I ran my server I targeted 15-25 year olds in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and NZ. For this reason, I hosted my server in LA as it was about as central as I could get to my target markets.
Spending the extra money for a server that runs on an SSD is well worth it too. Little things like that can really affect the smoothness of the server. Laggy servers will drive away players and tarnish your reputation.
You don't have to spend an arm and a leg at the big hosts, who I will not single out, as some of them charge well more than they should. I will generally go for a smaller but clearly stable host that won't flake on me. This means I often end up with great customer service as it is normally just a few regular people providing support so they learn my needs and I learn how to work well with them to keep the whole operation smooth.
If you have the money and the know-how a fully dedicated server is great. This means you have full control over allocation of resources and can truly tweak every last bit. This will allow you to boost server performance where it is needed but take heed, managing a server can be a very timely task. Always prospect your options and their most likely and worst case outcome. Manage your risks and do what will be best for the server, not your wallet. Players do notice the effort you put in and appreciate it much more than you will ever be told.
tl;dr: Scout a host that will be reliable and responsive. Host your server in a central location to your target markets for an even quality of service, and be open to spending a bit more on quality gear such as an SSD.
MANAGEMENT:
This was my largest downfall when I ran my servers. I was rather young at 16 to be bossing a staff team around and organizing them all to run my server while I was sleeping or at school. I didn't have the balls required to manage them effectively and this lead to a few dramas... Hiring staff is easy. Hiring good staff is not so easy. Keeping all staff working together smoothly and delegating effectively - very intimidating and daunting.
My biggest tips to being an effective owner is to realise YOU are the boss. Everyone that is listening to you is there because they want to be and just because they may be doing it as a volunteer doesn't give them a hall pass to abuse their powers. If someone is messing around and causing you trouble, don't be afraid to put your foot down and reprimand them. If you do that then they have two options - fall in line, or leave. If they leave, then they were not as loyal to the server as they should be and not someone that you want in your staff team. If they show respect and listen it shows a great deal about their character. Keep these people around, they will have your back even through the roughest times.
You will find staff members that take their job so seriously they may even do more in game management than you. Don't forget to reward these people. I don't necessarily mean monetarily, but store credit, rare items, even a personal message thanking them and letting them know you appreciate them will go a long way. I have a quote by Mary Kay Ash that goes "Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people" and I honestly think this carries such an important lesson. Show your staff and players your gratitude and you will earn their respect. Once you have their respect, you have the components to make a well-oiled staff team.
Players can be nasty. So can staff. Go into this knowing that words will be flung with hateful intent at times and know that whatever is said must be acknowledged rationally. Over the life of my servers received more messages telling me to kill myself than I have toes and fingers. At first they did cut deep. I read them over and over and they made me feel sick. So how do you handle that sort of stuff?
My suggestion is to realise that the person sending you the hateful words has become so hung up over something YOU created that they have resorted to lashing out aggressively. They are more than likely having issues of their own or are jealous and angry that they don't have what you do or can give them. Surprisingly often I looked in to these messages and discovered a lot of the deep seeded hatred was not coming from things to do with me, but with them. I have spoken to many players on my server about the horrific messages I was sent and ended up talking candidly with them about their personal problems from drug abuse to depression, anxiety, family violence and even suicide attempts. Don't always take hate messages for their face value, because it is never the way it seems, so take it with a grain of salt and be the positive owner all servers need.
See and treat your staff and players with respect and they will respect you. I found the friendlier I was with players the more people would jump at the chance even just to talk to me. Don't ignore this. If players want to talk to you, take some time out of your day and talk to them. It may be a bit boring for you, but for the player it means a lot and will earn you their loyalty.
tl;dr: Speak with confidence and people will listen. Don't be afraid to confront people about things you aren't happy with and whatever you do, realise you are the one in power and use it wisely and carefully. Treat staff and players with respect and everyone around you, including yourself will benefit from it. Hate messages will happen; you have to learn to look past them. Often it will not stem from what the message addresses and the people sending them often need help so don't be afraid to offer it.
DONATIONS:
Ah, the heavily debated "donations". As far as I see it, donations are something that happen as a result of immense effort and energy. If you own a server that is receiving donations that money technically is yours (Don't forget that in a lot of countries this income is still taxable and could result in tax evasion charges if you do not report your income to your local revenue department).
Firstly, I will cover what is appropriate and inappropriate in the donation store. With the updated EULA Mojang has made it clear what can and can't be sold but with a majority of servers ignoring this I will cover this from a neutral ground. Yes, some servers charge a lot of money for their items, sometimes hundreds of dollars, but this does not mean you should too. If packages are very expensive players will start to get the feel you are milking them for cash rather than running the server out of passion. While money is a universal motivator, don't let being able to set the price make you greedy. Price things so that people from modest backgrounds are not going to be destroyed by another player just because they have rich parents. Balance what can be obtained and make sure that game play remains enjoyable for those that can't afford to make a donation or don't wish to. You are there to provide a fun server for all, not just for people who line your pockets.
I would like to cover some basics of managing your money as I made many large mistakes with this too.
Donations are not a given, they are a luxury. If you get too comfy with having your server run itself because you're making money you will fall. I did it, and I fell. I got to a point where I was averaging $350 - $450USD per day in donations. I had just finished school and was on summer break. I thought sweeeeet, off fishing I go. I spent my money like it was made of the same kind in a game of monopoly. Many days would pass without me logging in to the server and I started to run it through my staff via Kik. While this worked for months and seemed flawless. Unfortunately, what I didn't realise is that my players were seeing less and less of me and updates started coming more and more slowly. This built up until a point where players started leaving groups at a time. This hit hard to my server's reputation as well as my income. By the time I was back at the controls I was already in a nose dive and had to ride the server to its untimely demise.
From day dot, keep a folder of every expense you ever have. This means server’s bills, website subscriptions, artists, developers, etc. Keep them ALL. I found myself needing to hire an accountant due to the unexpected amount of donations I received. Not having these made it living hell for me trying to find a years’ worth of bills in a day and balancing my books. Ultimately if you can't prove your expenses, you pay tax on it, so it only really affects you. (Also handy if you are audited)
Watch players’ donations carefully. Look for large donations from new donors. Message them and confirm they had permission for it. I have been stung with a total of near $5k in PayPal chargebacks and having this sort of information can sometimes help you in the near futile attempt to win the cases (As sales of intangible goods do not qualify for seller protection) .
tl;dr: Use the donations to better the server and give back to the community. Pay for custom plugins that players request, hire guest stars which treats your players and draws in new ones, upgrade your server, website or teamspeak. Put money back in and more will come back out. Don't get hung up on making a profit and don't skimp on things that require money. Your players are giving you their hard earned money, so give them the best possible service you can and don't lose touch with your own creation.
Handle anything to do with money with absolute caution and detail. When it comes to money hoard every expense receipt for if a tax return is required.
CREATING A COMMUNITY:
Having players on your server is one thing, but building a community is another. If you are in the position to, don't be afraid to invest some money in a good website. A well-built and easy to use website is the keystone to any online gaming community. I ran all of my websites through Enjin and had a designer make the site look completely custom to my exact specification for $150 in 4 days. This allowed for my forums to flourish as by the time the gates shut there had been over 1,000,000 posts and 200,000 threads with 8,000 members.
Were I to do this all again I would look at investing more in the ballpark of $400-500 and having a professional site built using Xenforo for the forums and Buycraft for the shop. For lower budgets and less experience I still recommend Enjin just because of it's drop dead simplicity and ability to look unique so easily.
Make sure you are active in your own community. You don't just own the server; you are also a leader. You control what happens and when it happens, so lead by example and engage with your players as you want them to engage with each other. If things get nasty, step in and assert your power and resolve the situation. Be generous and compassionate, but know how to use force when it is needed.
Keep the forums light hearted and fun. Have sections unrelated to your server as it keeps people on your site even when they aren't playing on your server. Things like forums games, popular games people in the community are all playing and whatever else is related for you. For example, my server ran the Pixelmon mod and we had a Pokemon for NDS section in the forum which was actively used by players that had long since played the server. This kept my site looking healthy and gave me additional direct exposure to past players when updates were pushed. This often brought back a lot of players and gave the server a good boost. People will play other games - it's a given. Rather than fight them and try make them play your server, join them, have fun and show you care about the community, not just stats and numbers.
tl;dr: Build a good looking and enjoyable website experience. Keeping your players active in the community outside of the actual game is the best way to keep good player retention and satisfaction levels in game. Don't be afraid to spend some money this.
GENERAL ADVICE:
Tell your staff when they do things well, not just when they make mistakes. People like seeing that they are appreciated, so show it.
Don't be stingy. Give stuff away, have fun, let loose. You want to try be "the cool uncle" to your players. For example, I used to get in teamspeak with 10 or so players and we would all get on tinychat and have a big laugh at matching the faces to the voices we had known for so long. It really builds a much more personal connection and I had all of those players by my side for 3 years until the day the server shut. Drop parties, competitions and giveaways also work well. Organise regular scheduled events and build the hype train all week long every week! It keeps players coming back at least for that and may re-spark interest as they're thinking about leaving the server.
LISTEN. If you players are all saying they want a change, look in to it and give them what they want. Your server is only as good as your players think it is, so let them help you direct its future.
Be wary who you take help from. I had many attempts from various people to cause deliberate harm from the inside. This was from builders working on large group projects on a build server, saving a schematic of it, deleting it all then running away right up to people from other servers trying to poach my staff for cash (up to $5000 in one case - He said no). Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Be wary who has permissions to valuable intel.
Don't use flashy names in chat. The '&k' colour in your title just because you're an owner is not okay. If I log on to a server and see that, it screams "I need attention gimmie gimmie gimmie" and shows immaturity, which is not desired in an effective owner. Keep it classy guys. Don't try be better than your player, you want to be able to connect with them, not control them.
Thanks for reading and I hope a few of you are able to see value in what I have to say. If you have any questions or would like me to go in to more detail, don't hesitate to ask!
Excellent guide. By far the best one I have seen about creating a server. If every minecraft server owner read this we would have good and unique servers around.
This is an absolute must have for anyone looking to create and maintain a server. Thanks Kiwi for making this. Some awesome, clean cut, well put information that I know I'll surely be looking at constantly in the near future.
Excellent guide. By far the best one I have seen about creating a server. If every minecraft server owner read this we would have good and unique servers around.
This is an absolute must have for anyone looking to create and maintain a server. Thanks Kiwi for making this. Some awesome, clean cut, well put information that I know I'll surely be looking at constantly in the near future.
Hi guys,
I recently posted a thread where you are able to ask me anything you may want to know about building a successful server. I decided that I would write a detailed thread here to try cover the more common aspects I see a lot of servers fail in.
The thread will cover server content, quality, management, donations and other useful tips I have picked up along the way.
It is targeted at those that have a server experiencing growth or people wanting to start a server that aims to grow to a large size. It does not go in to details of how to do everything but is rather a look over my mistakes, victories and things I have learned.
SERVER CONTENT:
This is possibly the most fundamental base of a successful Minecraft server but is so often rushed.
Guys, relax. Your server doesn't have to be out tomorrow for it to be successful. You don't need to have an ad up as soon as you generate the world. Take the time to make sure you have quality content.
By this is mean be original and fresh. Prisons, factions, survival games, UHC; These are all very heavily competitive server types. A lot of people start up these types of servers and for that sole reason, a majority will not receive nearly half the attention they deserve. You may put blood, sweat and tears in to building the best damn server you have ever seen, but if it doesn't have that x factor then people won't stay.
When you build your servers content, take a step back and ask yourself "If I played for 1 hour on this server, would I want to play more? Would I come back tomorrow or next weekend?". Player retention is MUCH more important than getting players through the door. I would rather have 10 players that play a few hours a day than 1000 that play an hour then get bored and never log back on. While this may not look good for your player count, it does wonders for your reputation as a reliable quality provider which is exactly what you want.
You will find a lot of players come from being invited by friends that like the server, so if you get just 10 people that really want to stay they will bring their friends to you! You don't have to advertise as heavily either because your players will grow exponentially. 10 loyal players where each brings 2 friends takes you to 30. And again to 70 if their friends do the same.
You do not need custom plugins to make a custom server. Spend the time learning how plugins work and how to manipulate them to fit your specific requirements. Invest time in learning as it will allow you to put together a much higher quality end result. Keep tweaking plugins until your server has a feel that is unlike no other server, or does it better.
tl;dr: Quality content that keeps people returning will help build a successful server much more than just focusing on getting players to log on.
SERVER QUALITY:
Server quality refers to how playable your server is. For players in the USA a server hosted in Australia is going to result in much more ping time and lower the QoS (Quality of service) for players far from the hosting location. I suggest researching your market and identifying a target market. For example, when I ran my server I targeted 15-25 year olds in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and NZ. For this reason, I hosted my server in LA as it was about as central as I could get to my target markets.
Spending the extra money for a server that runs on an SSD is well worth it too. Little things like that can really affect the smoothness of the server. Laggy servers will drive away players and tarnish your reputation.
You don't have to spend an arm and a leg at the big hosts, who I will not single out, as some of them charge well more than they should. I will generally go for a smaller but clearly stable host that won't flake on me. This means I often end up with great customer service as it is normally just a few regular people providing support so they learn my needs and I learn how to work well with them to keep the whole operation smooth.
If you have the money and the know-how a fully dedicated server is great. This means you have full control over allocation of resources and can truly tweak every last bit. This will allow you to boost server performance where it is needed but take heed, managing a server can be a very timely task. Always prospect your options and their most likely and worst case outcome. Manage your risks and do what will be best for the server, not your wallet. Players do notice the effort you put in and appreciate it much more than you will ever be told.
tl;dr: Scout a host that will be reliable and responsive. Host your server in a central location to your target markets for an even quality of service, and be open to spending a bit more on quality gear such as an SSD.
MANAGEMENT:
This was my largest downfall when I ran my servers. I was rather young at 16 to be bossing a staff team around and organizing them all to run my server while I was sleeping or at school. I didn't have the balls required to manage them effectively and this lead to a few dramas... Hiring staff is easy. Hiring good staff is not so easy. Keeping all staff working together smoothly and delegating effectively - very intimidating and daunting.
My biggest tips to being an effective owner is to realise YOU are the boss. Everyone that is listening to you is there because they want to be and just because they may be doing it as a volunteer doesn't give them a hall pass to abuse their powers. If someone is messing around and causing you trouble, don't be afraid to put your foot down and reprimand them. If you do that then they have two options - fall in line, or leave. If they leave, then they were not as loyal to the server as they should be and not someone that you want in your staff team. If they show respect and listen it shows a great deal about their character. Keep these people around, they will have your back even through the roughest times.
You will find staff members that take their job so seriously they may even do more in game management than you. Don't forget to reward these people. I don't necessarily mean monetarily, but store credit, rare items, even a personal message thanking them and letting them know you appreciate them will go a long way. I have a quote by Mary Kay Ash that goes "Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people" and I honestly think this carries such an important lesson. Show your staff and players your gratitude and you will earn their respect. Once you have their respect, you have the components to make a well-oiled staff team.
Players can be nasty. So can staff. Go into this knowing that words will be flung with hateful intent at times and know that whatever is said must be acknowledged rationally. Over the life of my servers received more messages telling me to kill myself than I have toes and fingers. At first they did cut deep. I read them over and over and they made me feel sick. So how do you handle that sort of stuff?
My suggestion is to realise that the person sending you the hateful words has become so hung up over something YOU created that they have resorted to lashing out aggressively. They are more than likely having issues of their own or are jealous and angry that they don't have what you do or can give them. Surprisingly often I looked in to these messages and discovered a lot of the deep seeded hatred was not coming from things to do with me, but with them. I have spoken to many players on my server about the horrific messages I was sent and ended up talking candidly with them about their personal problems from drug abuse to depression, anxiety, family violence and even suicide attempts. Don't always take hate messages for their face value, because it is never the way it seems, so take it with a grain of salt and be the positive owner all servers need.
See and treat your staff and players with respect and they will respect you. I found the friendlier I was with players the more people would jump at the chance even just to talk to me. Don't ignore this. If players want to talk to you, take some time out of your day and talk to them. It may be a bit boring for you, but for the player it means a lot and will earn you their loyalty.
tl;dr: Speak with confidence and people will listen. Don't be afraid to confront people about things you aren't happy with and whatever you do, realise you are the one in power and use it wisely and carefully. Treat staff and players with respect and everyone around you, including yourself will benefit from it. Hate messages will happen; you have to learn to look past them. Often it will not stem from what the message addresses and the people sending them often need help so don't be afraid to offer it.
DONATIONS:
Ah, the heavily debated "donations". As far as I see it, donations are something that happen as a result of immense effort and energy. If you own a server that is receiving donations that money technically is yours (Don't forget that in a lot of countries this income is still taxable and could result in tax evasion charges if you do not report your income to your local revenue department).
Firstly, I will cover what is appropriate and inappropriate in the donation store. With the updated EULA Mojang has made it clear what can and can't be sold but with a majority of servers ignoring this I will cover this from a neutral ground. Yes, some servers charge a lot of money for their items, sometimes hundreds of dollars, but this does not mean you should too. If packages are very expensive players will start to get the feel you are milking them for cash rather than running the server out of passion. While money is a universal motivator, don't let being able to set the price make you greedy. Price things so that people from modest backgrounds are not going to be destroyed by another player just because they have rich parents. Balance what can be obtained and make sure that game play remains enjoyable for those that can't afford to make a donation or don't wish to. You are there to provide a fun server for all, not just for people who line your pockets.
I would like to cover some basics of managing your money as I made many large mistakes with this too.
Donations are not a given, they are a luxury. If you get too comfy with having your server run itself because you're making money you will fall. I did it, and I fell. I got to a point where I was averaging $350 - $450USD per day in donations. I had just finished school and was on summer break. I thought sweeeeet, off fishing I go. I spent my money like it was made of the same kind in a game of monopoly. Many days would pass without me logging in to the server and I started to run it through my staff via Kik. While this worked for months and seemed flawless. Unfortunately, what I didn't realise is that my players were seeing less and less of me and updates started coming more and more slowly. This built up until a point where players started leaving groups at a time. This hit hard to my server's reputation as well as my income. By the time I was back at the controls I was already in a nose dive and had to ride the server to its untimely demise.
From day dot, keep a folder of every expense you ever have. This means server’s bills, website subscriptions, artists, developers, etc. Keep them ALL. I found myself needing to hire an accountant due to the unexpected amount of donations I received. Not having these made it living hell for me trying to find a years’ worth of bills in a day and balancing my books. Ultimately if you can't prove your expenses, you pay tax on it, so it only really affects you. (Also handy if you are audited)
Watch players’ donations carefully. Look for large donations from new donors. Message them and confirm they had permission for it. I have been stung with a total of near $5k in PayPal chargebacks and having this sort of information can sometimes help you in the near futile attempt to win the cases (As sales of intangible goods do not qualify for seller protection) .
tl;dr: Use the donations to better the server and give back to the community. Pay for custom plugins that players request, hire guest stars which treats your players and draws in new ones, upgrade your server, website or teamspeak. Put money back in and more will come back out. Don't get hung up on making a profit and don't skimp on things that require money. Your players are giving you their hard earned money, so give them the best possible service you can and don't lose touch with your own creation.
Handle anything to do with money with absolute caution and detail. When it comes to money hoard every expense receipt for if a tax return is required.
CREATING A COMMUNITY:
Having players on your server is one thing, but building a community is another. If you are in the position to, don't be afraid to invest some money in a good website. A well-built and easy to use website is the keystone to any online gaming community. I ran all of my websites through Enjin and had a designer make the site look completely custom to my exact specification for $150 in 4 days. This allowed for my forums to flourish as by the time the gates shut there had been over 1,000,000 posts and 200,000 threads with 8,000 members.
Were I to do this all again I would look at investing more in the ballpark of $400-500 and having a professional site built using Xenforo for the forums and Buycraft for the shop. For lower budgets and less experience I still recommend Enjin just because of it's drop dead simplicity and ability to look unique so easily.
Make sure you are active in your own community. You don't just own the server; you are also a leader. You control what happens and when it happens, so lead by example and engage with your players as you want them to engage with each other. If things get nasty, step in and assert your power and resolve the situation. Be generous and compassionate, but know how to use force when it is needed.
Keep the forums light hearted and fun. Have sections unrelated to your server as it keeps people on your site even when they aren't playing on your server. Things like forums games, popular games people in the community are all playing and whatever else is related for you. For example, my server ran the Pixelmon mod and we had a Pokemon for NDS section in the forum which was actively used by players that had long since played the server. This kept my site looking healthy and gave me additional direct exposure to past players when updates were pushed. This often brought back a lot of players and gave the server a good boost. People will play other games - it's a given. Rather than fight them and try make them play your server, join them, have fun and show you care about the community, not just stats and numbers.
tl;dr: Build a good looking and enjoyable website experience. Keeping your players active in the community outside of the actual game is the best way to keep good player retention and satisfaction levels in game. Don't be afraid to spend some money this.
GENERAL ADVICE:
Thanks for reading and I hope a few of you are able to see value in what I have to say. If you have any questions or would like me to go in to more detail, don't hesitate to ask!
Check out my free plugin to merge mobs, saving your server and players from lag!
These tips are amazing! Thank you for making these, I think these should be pinned under servers sub thread section.
Thanks for the kind words Glad you liked them
Check out my free plugin to merge mobs, saving your server and players from lag!
Excellent guide. By far the best one I have seen about creating a server. If every minecraft server owner read this we would have good and unique servers around.
This is an absolute must have for anyone looking to create and maintain a server. Thanks Kiwi for making this. Some awesome, clean cut, well put information that I know I'll surely be looking at constantly in the near future.
Thanks my man!
Thanks guys Glad you like it
Check out my free plugin to merge mobs, saving your server and players from lag!