Why you shouldn't make a Minecraft server

[Andy B.]

Your idea isn't Unique
Okay first let me cover some ground... if you think you have a "unique idea" you don't. There are over 26 million accounts that have played Minecraft [Source] and most likely at least ONE person has thought of that idea and tried to make a server out of it. Just because you haven't seen your idea become popular on 20 different servers, doesn't mean it has never been tested before. Your idea may sound fun, but don't advertise it by saying "An idea that has never been done before".

Waste of Money
First, we shall just cover the basics starting a server (not bungee). Let's say you want to start a factions server. Here is a list of cost for a 20 player factions server (if you get that lucky with player count):
----------------------------------------------------------
GGServers...
3 GB Server [GGServers] - $9/Month
Additional Cosmetic Plugins (Recommended) - $5-$100
Unlimited Slots (Optional) - $2
Dedicated IP (Recommended) - $3/Month
Advertisement (Strongly Recommended) - $100-$500
----------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL... $119 - $614
Note: This price is only the first month and will only get you to a 20-100 player count server normally.

Now, of course, you could ignore this and say "Well I'll just choose a cheaper host because GGServers is expensive anyway". Most of the money you'll be spending will be going towards advertising so no matter what host you choose, the advertisement fee will never go away.

Already Lots of Servers
You can easily read several Planet Minecraft articles just to find out that there are over millions of server (alive or dead) that are running. So let's take the ratio 1 server : 26 players. That's fair, but just because 26 million accounts have been made, doesn't mean some of the accounts aren't alts or the owners of them don't play Minecraft anymore. In my opinion, the more logical server ration would be 1 server : 3 players. In all fairness, the chances of you maintaining a player count of at least 20 players are 1 in 35 and you're 1 in 500 to ever get any money spent on a server, back.

Review
Overall, it's not impossible to get a good player count going on a server you've started. Although, it is very unlikely and will most likely take more than 1 try to do it. Do me a favor and save your money and avoid making a Minecraft server. Thank you for reading this article and have a wonderful day.


Sidenote: This article was made to have you save your money and be careful about what you invest in, not to destroy your dreams and make you wanna quit on a Minecraft server.

 

[Aries]

Well... I disagree cause I get money ;p

 

[Andy B.]

Well... I disagree cause I get money ;p

Like I said, it's not impossible. Although I'm sure lots of other people have tried to be in a position you've gotten into and failed.

 

[Aries]

Like I said, it's not impossible. Although I'm sure lots of other people have tried to be in a position you've gotten into and failed.

No, I gain money from people trying to make a server. People need plugins

 

[sighsleepy]

My server is only $6 a month to run, plus $7 for buycraft. I released yesterday and made over $100 so

 

[Andy B.]

So your saying us serer specialist (creators) shouldn't do it too make money to make a business ?

I'm saying that when you plan to make a Minecraft Server, you're jumping into a business that isn't unique at all and has been started millions and millions of times.[DOUBLEPOST=1497899473][/DOUBLEPOST]

gg.
In all seriousness, allow the people to dream, I think everyone should have this type of experience

Sidenote: This article was made to have you save your money and be careful about what you invest in, not to destroy your dreams and make you wanna quit on a Minecraft server.

Please read the whole article.

 

[Andy B.]

Yes but , i doubt there have been 26 million servers created out there by 5 year olds and up do you ?

No, but I can guarantee there have been close to a million.[DOUBLEPOST=1497899668][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yes, I did read it. If someone wants to make a minecraft server, let them make a god damn minecraft server.

This is a recommendation, not a forceful action.

 

[Taiga]

No, I gain money from people trying to make a server. People need plugins

in war, gun manufacturers profit.

A healthy amount of realisme is pretty important too. Alot of people who turns succesful will happily tell their tale, while people who fail would rather keep quiet about it. This turns into a lotto effect, where people think they have a high chance of being the lucky one because they hear more about other people bragging about their luck rather then their misfortune.
Ofc, people are free to throw their money at anything. I dont really tell a lottery player that their wasting money, and so I dont tell potential server owners the same. having a fight with someones dream isn't a fight worth having if it doesnt effect you anyway :shrug:

 

[Andy B.]

in war, gun manufacturers profit.

A healthy amount of realisme is pretty important too. Alot of people who turns succesful will happily tell their tale, while people who fail would rather keep quiet about it. This turns into a lotto effect, where people think they have a high chance of being the lucky one because they hear more about other people bragging about their luck rather then their misfortune.
Ofc, people are free to throw their money at anything. I dont really tell a lottery player that their wasting money, and so I dont tell potential server owners the same. having a fight with someones dream isn't a fight worth having if it doesnt effect you anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This is what my article is exactly trying to say, thank you for posting this.

 

[MostlySnakes]

I actually understand the point you're trying to make but you could say the same thing about any basic business model such as making a game, starting a clothing line, starting a website, etc. It's just about standing out within the crowds to be successful.

 

[Aries]

Without people who try there would be nothing... There is a quote I know,
"In a world of followers, Be the leader"

 

[Andy B.]

I actually understand the point you're trying to make but you could say the same thing about any basic business model such as making a game, starting a clothing line, starting a website, etc. It's just about standing out within the crowds to be successful.

I understand that, and I'm glad you brought this up. It just frustrates me because failing a startup on a Minecraft server is so easy while failing in a restaurant is common, but not as easy to start up in the first place. You have to do lots of research to even get going in starting a business such as a restaurant or a super center, while with a Minecraft server you just have to do a simple google search and you could be spending almost $500 in a few days.

 

[Errota]

Well, okay yes I agree that there's a lot of servers and yeah most ideas have already been done, but why just give up without trying you never know you might get lucky, if not? Well you have gained experience which is somewhat usable in the real world. Team leadership, marketing, finance management, the list goes on. But regardless why just because there's a chance to fail would you not bother?

If everyone had that attitude then quite a lot of your everyday products would simply not have been invented... after all of 200 years ago people were happy enough and didn't have a need for a computer, but if it wasn't for that one person to do it we wouldn't even be on this website now.

Look at MC-Market for example, there was already loads of other forums, Spigot, Minecraft-forum, Planet-minecraft all big and have the majority of MC players signed up. If Chris the founder had just thought 'well there's already loads of other forums I won't bother' then we wouldn't even be discussing this because MCM wouldn't exist.

To end this off, you got to try to succeed.

 

[Andy B.]

THIS IS MY TALE OF MY SERVER! !

Spoiler: MY tale

If you are completely lucky and now how to make proper advertisement, know how to make the server and what kind of servers does people like you will surely get shit ton of money in donations and get the server popular

I owned a server called CoreHQ Surprisingly enough I didnt payd youtubers and it was opfactions, instead the players shared the server to their friends and communities etc, and the playerbase started growing in a week from 10 - 20 to 30 - 40, the server was a Replica of CosmicPVP with some custom events to enhanced the pvp experience.
After a while that i received around 400 Dollars in just donations because the players donated for Keys, Gkits and cases, I decided to make a revamp or a new version, with that being i made a Bungeecord, and decided to make a spin off from the opfactions and decided to make a SECOND opfactions server and name the first opfactions ''OPGangs'' and decided that for the second opfactions i would go for a normal factions server and see how it would go, surprisingly enough again, it was a 50/50 bet whenever it would go well or not, instead it did half of the players of opfactions played in the normal factions BUT i decided to add some new event in opfactions so i added bosses and tried to add implement some hcf things in the opfactions which this event and the implementions absolutely demolished the Normal Factions server playerbase and make a huge impact in the server for opfactions this growed up the server pb to a higher pb from 30 - 40 to 40 - 90(When it reached 90 players it usually crashed and tps would go down so hard.) + It incremented the donations INSANELY i made around 1.2k - 3.0k to the point that i had no need to pay anything else? people liked the server, and they didnt want to change it cause i asked frequently do you guys want me to add something new to the server? they asked me to add a new server, it was HCF which i did added, but failed miserably Lol cause i have no idea what was hcf back then, Take in mind that i didnt spend a single PENNY in advertisements, we used a shared hosting and a really cheap one but that host could fucking handle 50 - 70 players without lagging until it reaches 80 - 90, i had a lot of money to spend that i could upgrade the slots, the ram, the connection but i had no idea how to do it neither knew about mcmarket lmao, the server didnt even use custom plugins loool, it used premium plugins + randompackage plugin for the enchantments.

but in conclusion If you know what you are doing, how to properly spend a host that will meet your budget EVERY month, now what kind of plugins to use, you will surely have a big chance to get the server popular and known

And this isn't the only server i have made and was succesful .
there was a revamp a 2.0 version which was called ''venomhq'' but it failed miserable because it was completely different to the old server and it was a server with a 5 months gap after corehq closed so everyone kind of forgot about corehq, lol there is also hclands an hcf server that reached 50 players in the sotw with only 1 youtuber ''jaisin'' but i payed jaisin because he was an ex member of paintrain so i knew it would get me youtubers in fact it bring me Open(LOL), Regrets (he was streaming 4 free), Milksales and glory pm lol

Here's the thing though, lots of people think they "know what they're doing", and just go along with their plan and end up failing miserably. This article is to also give you a heads up and make sure you double check your plan and to fully know if you know what you're doing. Everyone has a different defintion of "starting a Minecraft server" and I want them to understand the basics before moving on.

 

[Cal]

What is wrong with this:

Your idea is not unique:
My idea may not be unique, but as long as it hasn't been done on the scale you build it on, no one will care!

Pricing:
3 GB Server [Aquatis] - $4.50/Month
Plugins - As much as are willing to put in.
Unlimited Slots (Also not needed) - $0
Dedicated IP (Not Needed) - $3/Month
Advertisement (Strongly Recommended) - $1-$5,000

Already a lot of servers:
Yes, there are lot of servers. But, the majority of them are run by 10 year olds who just want to own a server. There are not very many servers that reach players per day, the ones that do are much more rare.

From what I have observed from approximately 10 seconds of research on your twitter. Andy B. owned a small server which failed, after being annoyed that his perfect idea of a server failed, you got upset and writing this piece here. You know that old saying, it isnt about how many times you fell down, it's about how many times you got back up? I think that is what you need hear.