Server Owners, what advice would you give to people who are starting out?

[KaptainKitsune]

Just kind of curious

 

[solo]

it is not nearly as easy as it looks.

 

[Configx]

Don’t rush it. It will take time and you have to like it for it to work. There is always room for improvement and most importantly don’t give up. Patience pays off

 

[ChickenDinnr]

Before starting make sure you set a budget for things such as hosting, plugins, etc. Good luck!

 

[Eccat]

The costs add up quite quickly.

 

[Yoda]

Don't use service teams, 99% of developers don't know what they're doing and are trash and won't finish the project. All builders are the same at a certain level so don't go to the most expensive and expect the best builds. Can get the same quality from a Brazillian builder who doesn't want hundreds of $ for a single small build.

Don't hire managers just get admins and don't pay them. 9/10 of the managers are just trash all "good" managers don't advertise themselves on mcm or any other forums.

 

[Cal]

Advertisements. Use them. The best server in the world is worthless if no one plays on it. Also, you would be surprised at how little gameplay matters when you have a good ad.

 

[inferno]

Don't use service teams, 99% of developers don't know what they're doing and are trash and won't finish the project. All builders are the same at a certain level so don't go to the most expensive and expect the best builds. Can get the same quality from a Brazillian builder who doesn't want hundreds of $ for a single small build.

Don't hire managers just get admins and don't pay them. 9/10 of the managers are just trash all "good" managers don't advertise themselves on mcm or any other forums.

lol you can say this by experience you should've added.

 

[The_Nesko]

Find a good team of people that will actually work hard with you on making the server, you cant do everything alone and even if you try you will get overwhelmed with all the things you need to do and manage.

 

[TellTale]

its 2020. start a real business

 

[Sloth]

One thing I see happen a lot is an owner that isn’t actively involved in their own community. Actually take the time to get to know players on your server and potentially play with them. They’re going to have a higher respect for you if you make an effort to be involved. Don’t be that one owner that hops on once a month to make sure the server is still running and then bail for another long period of time.

 

[mitunesman]

Always. Listen. To. The. Players.

 

[Nykorrin]

Be organized. Literally. Create excel sheets of all your expenses and plan before you pay. It will help you so much so you don't miss payments and it makes it a lot easier to save money by knowing what you've spent it on, when, and how much you have left.

 

[Chrisspy]

Be organized. Literally. Create excel sheets of all your expenses and plan before you pay. It will help you so much so you don't miss payments and it makes it a lot easier to save money by knowing what you've spent it on, when, and how much you have left.

Completely agree! Also, make sure you engage with your community. Also, do not for the love of god do not consider donations as profit til you get big enough. Save everything till you can afford to start paying yourself. Working with a Co-Owner who can either contribute, contacts, dedication, or financial support can take a huge load off your shoulders and help you big time.

 

[Taiga]

Don't.
And if you do, quickly place yourself in one of these two categories: For money or for passion.
If it's for the money, get a popular server setup and advertize the server to the moon. Quality of the server doesnt matter, it will only last for max a year anyways. Suck the whale players of money through P2W perks in the shop and close the server when the outrage is getting too big and repeat. It might sound heartless, but thats business and it makes bank if you do it right.

If it's for passion, save money wherever you can and get people that share the same passion as you to help you. Usually any other forum then this one can help. Spend time to make creative concepts that will help gather public interest in your server.
Passion projects have turned highly profitable before, but those are usually exceptions rather then the norm. If you aske a bragger from a passions server about how many hours he spent making 200$ in profit, hes usually gonne land way below the minimum wage worker.