How do I make my Survival Server even better?

[Jasmine]

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Hello, I am currently looking for some feedback & some constructive criticism for my survival server. It'd be greatly appreciated if you gave feedback on a few things such as gameplay, artwork, balancing, economy, & overall in-game aesthetics

SERVER ISSUES​

#1 Low Player Retention
One of my main issues is that people are not hooked with the gameplay, is there
anything to make people more hooked/engaged with gameplay?

#2 Easily burnt out
The few that do stay and don't leave in under a day get burnt out extremely quickly
and don't come back. Is there a way to make gameplay seem less grindy and more
rewarding?

#3 Toxicity
Definitely for HuabaCraft there are a bunch of toxic gameplay that goes on that has
caused many of our server members to leave. Is there a way to make gameplay less
toxic and enforce it? Camping, Backstabbing, etc

OVERALL GAMEPLAY
Currently the gameplay on Mystical Realm (Our Currently opened realm) is very similar to Vanilla Gameplay with the exception that the end is completely blocked off from players entering. In addition to the vanilla gameplay we offer a wide variety of balanced custom enchantments to the gameplay.
Our progression system currently is measured in a rankup system (/rankup) and every level you rankup you will get a singular star to show for it. Currently we have 90 of these open and ready for players to get pretty decent rewards & donator perks. There's a bunch of other features such as a boss world for more endgame company
For my question, what would make the gameplay even better & even more enjoyable.


Overall what would you guys change about my server, it can range from how it is run and advertised to overhauling the entirety of gameplay. I wanted some opinions from outside of the Huaba community. You can join with the ip play.huabacraft.com (Bedrock & Java)

Notable Mentions:
Angel_ - Being my co-owner & partner in making Huaba a reality
Diz - Being an amazing partner for Huaba and making the Solar Series come alive
Skins, Sets, Duck, Blaze., Violet - Being a few amazing MC-Market members that do/did play Huaba making it a better place.

- Jasmine

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[Jasmine]

Aren't you a setup specialist who should know answers to these type of questions?

No? I am perfectly capable of making the required content and have received a lot of feedback on my content. The issue mainly isn't the content but the advertisements. Advertising is for a manager not a configurator/setup specialist.

 

[Jasmine]

So you need help buying and/or finding better advertisements for the server?

Exactly! Definitely one of my weakest abilities. So I'm looking at potential better player/community engagement ideas & advertisement ideas. Out of all the people who have left my server, almost every person said the server was not the issue but the community itself.

 

[Cristaf]

Hey Jasmine, I love your server and I love your configs. Their amazing so I know one day you will have an amazing server.

To retain players definitely have a story in your server. For example, lore, quests, events, monologue, etc. Maybe players have to find out why they're in this mystical world and why they are so fond to survive in it. How did they get there? Why is it so majical? Is there a hire being?

Unforatunyl, that's Minecraft nowadays. Faction servers have maps that can last a month or even 3 days. I've heard of skyblock servers having a 24 hour map. This is why minigame servers are massive. A constant flow of new players will keep the server populated though. I think once you figure out your player retention issue this will be fixed.

Toxicity! Ugh... With my servers, from launch day, I would harshly punish anyone that was toxic to make an example out of them. Show the community that if that's how they want to act they can go somewhere else. Sure my player count goes down because people get pissed but that's how it goes. It's worth it when the dust settles. When the dust settles I do a bunch of unbans as well to bring back the old player base. Works %100 of the time.

Twitch is full of survival streamers. Spend a couple hours a night for 4-5 days finding the best of the best streamers. You'd be surprised how many will stream for free. Exposure for exposure. That will keep your player count way up.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lighteds]

I think a good way to keep player retention up is to give them something to come back for, for example maybe playtime rewards that they receive every hour or something. Something they can be excited for and big enough for them to come back. Additionally, maybe if you gave them lots of rewards for them to open such as keys it will make them interested in the server making them stay on for longer.

 

[Zoraak]

Hey Jasmine, I've always had this idea in my head about making a survival server but never really got around to doing so. Not sure if this is what you're asking but you could try making it realistic, like the way we live our lives. Let me give you a couple examples, breaking trees will damage you meaning it's slightly harder to achieve wood without tools, passive mobs runs away from you if they are not tamed, add an in-game currency where users can trade/buy/sell off of each other so that encourages the community to interact with each other, you could even try removing the virtual /shop so players can create they own shops. I think this is a large-scale project but if completed well, it can really strive.

 

[adamawesome135]

Add Proximity Chat personally think this is a thing not many servers have came across and it would be a unique experience

 

[Zugirf]

Sounds great.
I Do think you need more dungeons/quests to get the players hooked to the server!
Maybe add unlockable items that would make the "grind" more fun.

As of survival, no idea, don't usually play on vanilla servers but keep trying, and good luck!

 

[EviLDeEdZ]

At one point most Survival servers become stale for those who stop competing for baltop or lose itnerest in building. Player retention needs to be "moderate", but players will definitely leave down the line, the main priority should always be to get new players. Now having said that, I have learnt from a server owner of a Network that reaches 70+ peak everyday and he has taught me that there are two main models that video games use in general to keep players retained:

1) Reach The Destination To Finally Start Playing - A typical example is World of Warcraft for this, where you have to grind and grind until you hit nearly max level to finally do more dungeons, get better loot. This is still easier to do than the second model. Minecraft servers make newcomers grind and grind to achieve lets say a kit, or some enchants, or some starting money that they can invest in auto farms / mob farms to finally get going. You need to be clear what goal players on your server can have. Some good questions to ask are: If players only want to earn, do I provide a good gameplay for them like spawners, earning through maybe shops trades /sell voidchests ? If players only want to hangout and build, do I provide good gameplay like pets, buildings, discoveries, custom mob spawns and be online / have staff online for them to chat with?

It is needless to say that even when they reach destination, there should always be more stuff for them!


2) Make The Journey Amazing - FFXIV is yet another example, but this is more for RPG servers where the storyline matters more. For this type you need to make sure that starting players get the same advantage as players who are at the top. For example, I coded a spawners plugin where spawner prices increment with each buy. This makes sure that user experience is fair to both who start and those who stay. This takes a lot of work and planning. You need to make sure that players feel that they are making progress and are achieving milestones every step of the way unlike the first option where milestone is when you have reached the point where game will "truly" begin for you that is at the destination!

3) Maybe your server is good, but players who join do not stay because they do not have anyone to communicate with - When starting out a new server, it is yet always important to keep new players coming, but it is important to know only a few stay. It is always hard until you get around 15 players on your server and then it grows exponentially from there on out. You have to be online to chat with players and play with them. A mistake is owners / staff thinking that they are only there to moderate. You NEED to be with your players especially when you have just started the server, at least until the current playerbase invites new playerbase. You have to be on for at least 5 hours when your players hit the peak of the day, then bump server on voting list and get new players around on that time.

Again starting a server and hitting that 30 average is where we should aim for as it picks off from there, hope it works for you and all the best! ^^​