Let's Talk: Why is THIS the #1 pain server owners face?

[stifflered]

I've done well over 100 interviews with servers owners, ranging from 10 players/month to 100,000+, and I often ask them, "What is the biggest pain that you experience?"

When I talk about pain, I'm not talking about a "challenge" or "problem", and the difference is important. A "problem" is a single event or activity that impacts the server in some way, but is generally easily solvable by adjusting a few actions or pieces of tech. A "pain", on the other hand, is stuff that keeps you awake at night. It causes you stress, depression, and, well, pain. It's personal and can often last longer than a problem.

Problems are, "I got raided by bots" or, "My account was stolen". They can be hard to overcome, and definitely can impact the pains, but challenges and problems are usually one-off events that are temporary.

A pain is more like, "I can't sleep at night because I feel like a failure" or, "I get irritable with my loved ones because the server puts me in a bad mood". It's caused by a series of problems, or maybe no problems at all, and can stick with a person for a long time.

There are a lot of different problems that get described, but very few pains, and the one pain that comes up repeatedly is one that I'm gonna guess many of you also share. The words may vary, and emotional reactions definitely do, but the answer I've heard most often is some form of this:

"I'm not a good leader because I can't motivate my staff team to do good work and stick with the server."

Let's talk about this. Do you feel the same way? Have you beat this somehow? Do you have tips for other server owners that feel this way?

Why do you think this specific pain is the one most server owners share with me?

 

[Ivan.]

I've done well over 100 interviews with servers owners, ranging from 10 players/month to 100,000+, and I often ask them, "What is the biggest pain that you experience?"

When I talk about pain, I'm not talking about a "challenge" or "problem", and the difference is important. A "problem" is a single event or activity that impacts the server in some way, but is generally easily solvable by adjusting a few actions or pieces of tech. A "pain", on the other hand, is stuff that keeps you awake at night. It causes you stress, depression, and, well, pain. It's personal and can often last longer than a problem.

Problems are, "I got raided by bots" or, "My account was stolen". They can be hard to overcome, and definitely can impact the pains, but challenges and problems are usually one-off events that are temporary.

A pain is more like, "I can't sleep at night because I feel like a failure" or, "I get irritable with my loved ones because the server puts me in a bad mood". It's caused by a series of problems, or maybe no problems at all, and can stick with a person for a long time.

There are a lot of different problems that get described, but very few pains, and the one pain that comes up repeatedly is one that I'm gonna guess many of you also share. The words may vary, and emotional reactions definitely do, but the answer I've heard most often is some form of this:



Let's talk about this. Do you feel the same way? Have you beat this somehow? Do you have tips for other server owners that feel this way?

Why do you think this specific pain is the one most server owners share with me?

The fact that you can get compromised and have your server nuked and that you could’ve done something if it didn’t happen at 3am

 

[zArrowTan]

I've done well over 100 interviews with servers owners, ranging from 10 players/month to 100,000+, and I often ask them, "What is the biggest pain that you experience?"

When I talk about pain, I'm not talking about a "challenge" or "problem", and the difference is important. A "problem" is a single event or activity that impacts the server in some way, but is generally easily solvable by adjusting a few actions or pieces of tech. A "pain", on the other hand, is stuff that keeps you awake at night. It causes you stress, depression, and, well, pain. It's personal and can often last longer than a problem.

Problems are, "I got raided by bots" or, "My account was stolen". They can be hard to overcome, and definitely can impact the pains, but challenges and problems are usually one-off events that are temporary.

A pain is more like, "I can't sleep at night because I feel like a failure" or, "I get irritable with my loved ones because the server puts me in a bad mood". It's caused by a series of problems, or maybe no problems at all, and can stick with a person for a long time.

There are a lot of different problems that get described, but very few pains, and the one pain that comes up repeatedly is one that I'm gonna guess many of you also share. The words may vary, and emotional reactions definitely do, but the answer I've heard most often is some form of this:



Let's talk about this. Do you feel the same way? Have you beat this somehow? Do you have tips for other server owners that feel this way?

Why do you think this specific pain is the one most server owners share with me?

I was a server owner for like 10 months and sure I did have similar "pain" issues where I felt insecure about my capability of owning a minecraft server but it was only for a while as when I had seen a few of my staff members try to make their own servers they didn't really work out which made me feel good thinking I was better than them. Thats what made me feel like I was capable of something better and never made myself think I was a failure.

Probably got more to it but ya.

 

[High Hopes 5]

I would venture a guess that the reason this is the one most often shared is it's also the one most often felt outside of Minecraft.

I imagine 99.9% of server owners have or do work for a bad boss. A bad boss makes you feel unmotivated and makes it a greater challenge to stick around. Which means if you feel your servers team isn't sticking around or doesn't seem motivated then it seems your are what you swore not to be.

I'm not saying these owners are bad team leaders but that their escape/hobby is reinforcing an issue their trying to get away from.

Alas making an excellent server, being a great developer, etc doesn't make you a great leader. Add that too that doubting is considered natural but over confidence is narcissistic. How does one determine whether their on the right path or get help staying the course?

 

[BOOP]

My account was stolen

these things only happen if you fail to use basic safety with your account

 

[stifflered]

The fact that you can get compromised and have your server nuked and that you could’ve done something if it didn’t happen at 3am

Yeah that example was brought up a few times by different people.

I was a server owner for like 10 months and sure I did have similar "pain" issues where I felt insecure about my capability of owning a minecraft server but it was only for a while as when I had seen a few of my staff members try to make their own servers they didn't really work out which made me feel good thinking I was better than them. Thats what made me feel like I was capable of something better and never made myself think I was a failure.

Probably got more to it but ya.

Super honest response. Thanks! Since you said "was", does that mean you aren't a server owner anymore?

I would venture a guess that the reason this is the one most often shared is it's also the one most often felt outside of Minecraft.

I imagine 99.9% of server owners have or do work for a bad boss. A bad boss makes you feel unmotivated and makes it a greater challenge to stick around. Which means if you feel your servers team isn't sticking around or doesn't seem motivated then it seems your are what you swore not to be.

I'm not saying these owners are bad team leaders but that their escape/hobby is reinforcing an issue their trying to get away from.

Alas making an excellent server, being a great developer, etc doesn't make you a great leader. Add that too that doubting is considered natural but over confidence is narcissistic. How does one determine whether their on the right path or get help staying the course?

Good point. I was thinking something similar. This is a human problem. Server owners just happen to be in positions of leadership and can feel those doubts more directly. That balance between narcissism and too much doubt is tight and I struggle with it, but it seems to me like just being aware enough to ask that question is a good sign that you're on the right path. A narcissist wouldn't even care.

these things only happen if you fail to use basic safety with your account

To be fair, Minecraft accounts didn't even have basic safety features until recently with the migration to MSA. But your point stands, and that's why this was listed as a "problem" not a "pain".

 

[Raven Stone]

When I started reading this - I couldn't help but scoff a little, once again falling into a little trap that my own mind likes to throw me in. The obvious root of this question falls around leadership ability and management - something that I like to imagine myself being good at. Its easy for me to fall into this, having been working with servers for many years, and countless hours (just kidding - 197.3 hours) of formalized leadership education through accredited sources like Military Service and College Seminars - yet when I look back at all my projects, servers, and other things that I've been involved in, I can't help but recognize the steady streams of failures and blowouts I've had along the way.

Around 5 or 6 years ago - I was a Manager for a Towny server called CraftYourTown, at the time they were dying and on their absolute last leg and I kinda just threw out a plan to overhaul the entire server and do something a little different just to get some of those older players back. It took almost 2 months of heavy development - pushing people to their limits and constantly following up to make sure things got done. Between myself and my partner - we did maybe 80% of the overall work, and pushed the rest of that 20% off to others in the staff team. At the time I felt that was pretty fair - asking inexperienced staff members to complete tasks for the sake of rebuilding the server and give them one on one training for things they didn't know how to do. Its probably one of the biggest successful projects I've ever done, we peaked nearly 50 odd players overnight and held those numbers steady for several weeks as content pushes released and bug fixes came out, but I was already gone by that time. Looking back - I'm still very proud of the work that I did there, despite hard feelings with the ownership, I can't help myself but to believe that I might have played a major role into why that server is still successful to this day. Yet it also harbors my biggest failure both as a manager and leader.

While my partner and I did the majority of the work - we held that same expectation of quality and care to everyone else. Despite treating it like a true development environment, I was still a very new Marine and held too much of a chip on my shoulder. I pushed people further then they were comfortable with, and asked people to do things that they simply didn't want to do. Did the project release successfully? Yes. However I as a manager and a leader failed the team - and ended up leaving the server shortly after the launch. This project defines a lot of how I run my teams and servers today. Small centralized staff groups, with strong bonds and close working relationships. Everybody has their role, and that doesn't mean that everyone has to be skilled at everything. I know enough about server managment and operations that if someone wants to learn something - I can either teach them or guide them to resources.

When we look at the countless servers that pop up over time, everything from MMORPGs, Factions, Towny/Survival, whatever genre you want to fill the blank in with - often times these are peoples first times in management positions. I refuse to use leadership here as there's a major definitive difference between the two. As a manager, you have to understand what every one of your team members is capable, and comfortable with. While someone might excel at microsoft excel, that doesn't mean that they are willing to do that kind of work for the server. Managers are meant to guide and align the team towards an end goal. Where leaders excel is exciting the team to get there - and this is where I fail the most. I would argue, based on my own experiences that I am a very good manager. I've come to terms with practicing empathy and understanding more then I naturally find the aptitude for (without conscious effort) and applying that to the places where I find myself. I've worked hard to become better at understanding others and I'm especially keen on picking up the skills and intentions of others. This does not make me a leader, and its why no matter what - I can't be the CEO/Owner/Boss/etc. Reflecting back on my experience with CYT - the Owner there was not a good manager at the time (I can't speak for now, but the server is doing well so we can assume someone has their pants on straight) however they have always been an exceptional leader, and good at pulling a community together.

In no way am I saying that You can't become a good leader, or a good manager. They're both skills we develop individually, and I hope one day that I can correct my own deficits. Its easy to be a good manager. Determining skills, understanding the scopes of projects, and enabling positive communication and teamwork. There's countless hours of tutorials and tricks and lectures on it; however, being a good leader is something that you have to work very hard to become. Empathy, Sympathy, Loyalty, Trust, all concepts that are simple in nature however take years of practice and hardship to really understand and embody. Never forget that while servers are rooted in professional skills and abilities - at the very core is still a game. The moment it stops being fun - you've failed somewhere.

Stifflered! Thanks again for a good post to challenge the brain to think a little! Keep it up, and hopefully these little questions help someone out along they way

 

[zArrowTan]

Super honest response. Thanks! Since you said "was", does that mean you aren't a server owner anymore?

Being a server owner was fun but every admin I've had backstabbed me and killed the server so I kinda just quit as i had lost interest in having my own server. Plus the only free way to get players was inviting your friends from the server you previously played with which I did but now that community just doesn't want to play any server of mine as they think it was my fault the server was killed all the time. Aka nuked.

Well now I sometimes think of making a server but have no playerbase to join. Kinda hard to get players in 2022.

But ya I kinda started being a server owner for money and later it was fun seeing players play on it so I kinda changed the motive of being a server owner there.

But i enjoy making setups now. I earn enough as i wanted to a year ago so ya.

 

[Sloth]

The pain I always had when I still ran servers was honestly trying to find some enjoyment. People treat you completely different when you own a server and the vast majority of people simply want to kiss your ass in some vain attempt to receive something. Not to mention there's always the fun possibility of having yes men constantly surrounding you. Sometimes if I had nothing better to do I would use one of my many alts to get the actual player experience that I could never have on my main account.

 

[FlameNice]

This particular pain is caused by a simple fact: staff members don't agree with the changes/way in which the server is being led. It's obvious that decision making should NOT come from members who are not the server managers, but that doesn't mean that everyone's opinions should not be heard.

OBS: I'm brazilian. My english is rustic!

 

[Shaff]

I can surely see this happening on smaller servers (20+ PB shouldn't really be a problem anymore).
Staff being mostly a voluntarily position, it needs to be recognized as a rare perk that someone would actually want, giving motive to actually fight for it. People want recognition, and a staff rank would do exactly that. If you go around and give staff to a lot of people, the interest for the rank would drop - this also happens when your requirements for staff are too low and it gets too easy to get it. I would appreciate a rank more if I stayed online numerous hours and worked for it rather than if I just recently joined and randomly applied for staff.

I'd try to organize game nights & more interactive events so I and the staff can learn more about eachother. If the relationship between the staff members is tight, it would be hard to suddenly leave the friendships you've made and never look back. This also works for preventing abuse, the % would drop significantly.