How not to buy snakeoil - McMarket Tutorial

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Stefatorus

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I've noticed many futures or present server owners buy stuff that they're not requiring, that's overpriced or advertises features that are over-exaggerated.
This is a simple tutorial in which I'll list a couple of possible red flags which usually require more looking into:

Red Flags:
  • Used by [LARGE NETWORK IP]
    Doesn't mean anything. I personally work for a 2000 player server as a sysadmin and developer and one of our past developers coded a vote fly plugin which took 50% of the processing power. That wasn't because of the plugin being complex, it was because the developer didn't have any idea how to properly work with databases.
    Keep this example in mind. If a 2000 player network allows a really bad dev to work for it and that dev can use this to advertise his products (even if he was thrown out), does that mean you'll get a good quality product?
  • Amazing performance Gains
    Proof? I've seen many "custom paper forks" brag about they're amazing performance while that's usually some extremely false advertising. Don't expect a 200-1000$ fork to improve too much. Large networks try to avoid custom forks for a reason: They are hard to maintain (1.13.2 paper is still developed and you'll miss out on new features), cost a lot and usually don't improve anything except maybe change some gameplay.
  • Amazing Custom Jar
    Yet again an example of people's lack of knowledge in an area being used to make somebody throw his money on the line. Feature in server jar != well-implemented feature. Those custom knockback jars usually don't offer anything more than a free plugin. The only thing you'll get is a plugin fewer in your plugins folder and a couple of $ bills out of your pocket.
  • Expert Developer / Expert Configurator
    Nobody with actual knowledge brags about himself being an expert. This is because IT is vast and knowing something in a set domain doesn't mean you'll be as good as in another. If I personally know how to do an anti-lag solution that doesn't make me good at making minigames and vice versa. The only actual way to quantify knowledge is via past projects. If a person did something in the past, he must know how that's done.
    For example, when looking for a plugin to be done, ask the dev about similar plugins he did in the past. If the plugins he describes don't look to the same level or are unrelated, this means the dev didn't do the thing you want him to and there's a chance he will not know how to properly do it.
  • Amazing Mc-Market Resource
    Something I've noticed with mc-market and I personally am guilty of is posting low-quality plugins on mc-market. For example, I've posted my EpicRewards plugin (which wasn't accepted on spigot due to it using too much statics which decreases code quality and the looks for it) here strictly because it's allowed. People can sell anything here, low quality or high quality. Don't expect such a strict treatment as on spigot and only trust after you do a swift background check into the individual.


How can I say this?
I had been selling a lot on mc-market for a while before the off-site image issue. I've also worked with many influential people in the minecraft business including some large players.
This is my CV for reference. Don't trust anyone until you're sure they aren ot lying.
 
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Stefatorus

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You talk about custom jars being bad, yet they can provide numerous benefits on top of regular spigot.
I don't think they are worth extortionate amounts, but they are worth buying for larger servers.
Paying over 200 on a server jar is completely overpriced as long as it's not custom tailored. This is because the work on jars is not that extensive and any developer will learn to do in less than 5 days. It won't take that dev more than 6 hours to actually implement the features the client wants and he'll get paid handsomely for it.

Paying under 200 on a server jar is fine if there are no other free alternatives and that jar is done properly. Many networks that buy custom jars don't have the knowledge required to see alternatives that may be cheaper and thus advertise the most in their face way to fix issues instead of the most efficient one.


If you don't mind me asking, do you personally own or work for a large network? I'm asking because this allows us to put our opinions into perspective related to our experience.
 

Stefatorus

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I've owned various, and sometimes they have made some performance improvements in cannoning and such.
$200 is completely overpriced, I tend to keep it around the $50 mark for jars.
Cannon fixes are found for free. Performance improvements in cannoning are usually not required as i don't think more than 2 factions will have huge cannons on a 100 player server. It scales up properly so for a 300pb server it would be around 7 cannoners.

Here's your free cannon fixes jar for reference.
https://github.com/VictorML11/FluxSpigot
Some people precompiled it and posted it here on mc-market, but it takes less than 5 minutes for a dev to do it
 

Stefatorus

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I just prefer a more exclusive revision where I can ask for proper support.
Well, it's up to you if you're going to pay 50 EUR for the exclusivity. I personally wouldn't mind being paid that much for a strange name and some plugin features incorporated in a jar. It's your money, I don't care how you spend it.

Just showing the smart spenders how their money can be going to better scopes such as purchasing plugins on spigotmc or even here on mc-market or maybe purchasing a theme to make kids stay more on the forums.

Also, can you give some average player base statistics so people reading our discussion know our past experience and don't get false ideas?
 
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