Questions for experienced server owners (coming from a newbie)

[Sparko]

Alright so I've been "making" servers on and off for 2-3 years but I never bothered on actually searching about things to make a decent server, I was just another one of those people that made a server, and shut it down after a month due to lack of players & donations to fund the server. I recently opened a survival factions server and I want to take it seriously this time so here's my questions:

1. How did you go about planning the server & putting everything in place?
2. What were your goals for the server and how'd you achieve them?
3. How long did it take before you received donations/payments?
4. Could you show the break-down of the server cost when it first started? (hosting, website, advertising, etc)
5. On the first few months of the server what was the average player-base, how was this possible?
6. What are some advice you'd give a newbie like me?

I hope my questions don't seem too personal or specific, I'm just trying to get the general idea of what I should do, and if I'm doing the "usual" things you're supposed to do.

Thanks

 

[aag4]

1. Think which gameplays do you like, think which gameplays do people like
2. -/-
3. Depends on community you get on your server.
4. Hosting should be a problem for a starter, 4-20$ for VPS SSD services on OVH.
Website depends what you like, if you like Enjin, then just start with free one and see if the community wants to use them, if you wanna go full prepared go for XenForo (expensiver but good looking).
Advertisement decide how much to spend on it, if even spend on it. (You can contact me about something smaller)
5. 1-2 months 15-40 players (Network), 3-6 months 50-120 players (Network)
1-2 months 15-40 players (Single server)
Possible? By getting traffic from advertisement I have and offer to others
6. Never expect to much, be thankful for everything, build community, choose good staff, don't give free items, don't do useless drop parties, get proper banner for vote sites, get a domain, don't download builds,...

Hope it will help you at least a bit

 

[Sparko]

1. Think which gameplays do you like, think which gameplays do people like
2. -/-
3. Depends on community you get on your server.
4. Hosting should be a problem for a starter, 4-20$ for VPS SSD services on OVH.
Website depends what you like, if you like Enjin, then just start with free one and see if the community wants to use them, if you wanna go full prepared go for XenForo (expensiver but good looking).
Advertisement decide how much to spend on it, if even spend on it. (You can contact me about something smaller)
5. 1-2 months 15-40 players (Network), 3-6 months 50-120 players (Network)
1-2 months 15-40 players (Single server)
Possible? By getting traffic from advertisement I have and offer to others
6. Never expect to much, be thankful for everything, build community, choose good staff, don't give free items, don't do useless drop parties, get proper banner for vote sites, get a domain, don't download builds,...

Hope it will help you at least a bit

Thanks, how long did it take you to prepare everything before launch?

 

[aag4]

Thats quite hard to say, because from what I have... I can say this...
- 3 gameplay network (2 days) --> Later on adding gameplays
- Solo server (2-3 hours)

 

[Sparko]

Thats quite hard to say, because from what I have... I can say this...
- 3 gameplay network (2 days) --> Later on adding gameplays
- Solo server (2-3 hours)

Dang I feel like I'm too slow at doing things, it took me ~5 days to sloppily setup my server looks like I've got a lot to learn!

 

[aag4]

Dang I feel like I'm too slow at doing things, it took me ~5 days to sloppily setup my server looks like I've got a lot to learn!

You'll get experienced, don't worry

 

[Unknowncall]

1. I just put features onto my server that I thought players would like. I necessarily didn't plan anything out. If the community liked it, I kept it, if they disliked it, I removed it.
2. My goal for my current server is to get 50 players constantly online in the first 3 months. Right now we are at about 20-30 players online. This might seem small but 50 player servers churn out a lot of money.
3. It took me less than a day.
4. Server hosting: http://www.fragnet.net/ $13.67/month Website: $8.99/month Advertising I used all free advertising until I had money to spend on a few slots. Right now I am advertising on this site.
5. This is my first month, we have 1,300 players joined and about 20-30 players online at all times. We have a website, but only about 100 users are registered for it. We are trying to get players more involved and more attached to the server.
6. Some advice? Just go for it. Make it your life. Think of features that you would enjoy on the server. Players will come if you have a good server.