How to attract players to play your new server?

[vip53041]

Hello rAthena community,

 

 

I have some question hope to be answered:

 

1-How do you attract players from other servers to play yours?

2-Why people quitting from server and want to try other one?

3-How to make your server adv it self?

4-How to make people happy on playing your server for long term?

5-Should i be objective driven?

 

 

to be honest i have opened my server 2 times and shut down and didnt last long.

[Yudax]

From my own perspective, I dont know if others have the same way as me. so please respect

1 = To attract players your server must be unique from the others. Uniqueness is one of the factors that affect the growth of you own server.

2 = They quit maybe because the server is not well maintained by the administrator and staff / lack of update.

3 = If 'adv' means advertise then it will take a long time before it advertise itself, your server must be ranked 1 if not on the top 5 so that players will try your server and be amazed why.

4 = Events events events and more events. Custom / donates are obtainable from quests

5 = Just dedicate your time and your self in your server, believe and if your server goes down just keep going, until you learn how to make it go up again.

[ranz]

I'm a player.. just want to answer question no 2.

i think i'm the most suitable candidate to comment this..

5 years playing various private server..

the reason i change to others server :

 

1. Connection problem, include = lag, long loading time etc..[ u need fast vps ] 

2. Unfriendly Admin and GM staff's, the main reason why i change to other server..

3. Lack of communication between staff's and player.

4. Imbalance donation item.. if someone donate and suddenly got imbalance stuff, i quit..

5. Lack of quest, quest item and events..i'm very happy if custom event handled by staff..

6. No new change's, tht's mean the server is not introduce new quest,new items etc..

 

I hope you guys the server ppl need to survey ur player itself to know what they want and what they dont want..

Edited April 29, 2013 by ranz

[ToiletMaster]

Here's my point of view of answering your questions.

 

1-How do you attract players from other servers to play yours?

 

Firstly, advertising in RMS, xtremetop100 is a great way to start, but aside from that, imagine if you have a default FLUX CP theme compared to a great website theme, which will you prefer? And also a forum that's always look the same with lacking features compared to a forum that's really beautiful and full with features. That's something to think about. To me, in order to attract people in, it's always the First impression that pays off. Aside from that would have to be customs that other servers doesn't have. Example custom maps, items, events, and perhaps storyline as well! just like the one i'm writing

 

2-Why people quitting from server and want to try other one?

From the many reviews I've read, it's not because your server is horrible (aside from connectivity issues) it's always the GM that plays the major part of a server. If you give an item to your friend and other people realize it, you're gonna have a hard time and people will end up not trusting you as you'll be labeled as a *corrupted GM*.

 

Donations also play a big role! so don't abuse it just to earn a quick buck!

 

(Trust me, i've experienced this during close beta, when I had GM powers for the first time, I was giving items like it was free and the server went into Chaos, thank god it's only close beta!)

 

 

3-How to make your server adv it self?

 

Again this comes back to RMS and xtremetop100, but still, best advertisement comes from word of mouth. As long you're dedicated to your server and the player realizes it, they'll spread the word eventually and your server will be advertised by itself.

 

4-How to make people happy on playing your server for long term?

 

Updates! This is the main reason of people playing your server. putting in new quests that is hard to finish will really bring the fun of your server! Having new events, GM events, and also new quests will really spice up the fun. If not, players will be coming in and telling you, "GM I'm bored".

 

5-Should i be objective driven?

 

To me at least, what you require most aside from an Objective would be dedication. Whether you want to continue even though your player counts go down to a 1 digit number. Take it as a lesson and continue, as sooner or later you'll strive!

[vip53041]

Thanks for quality answers.

 

How many staff you need to run a new server?

What are the major task to distribute between the new staff?

 

such as following up:

1-bugs (Graphics,Scripts)

2-Fourm

3-Screening Data base

 

other?

 

 

Please contribute to answer

 

Thanks,

[ranz]

Thanks for quality answers.

 

How many staff you need to run a new server?

What are the major task to distribute between the new staff?

 

such as following up:

1-bugs (Graphics,Scripts)

2-Fourm

3-Screening Data base

 

other?

 

 

Please contribute to answer

 

Thanks,

 

You need a team at least.. 2 or 3 ppls.. i'm running my server on my own..myself...alone..

but its depend to you actually..if you dont want headache a lot..find a partner.. maybe 2 or 3 person..

 

The task is depend on skill's and discussing in a team..

 

*if you alone then u need to do all task yourself..

Edited May 1, 2013 by ranz

[ToiletMaster]

Thanks for quality answers.

 

How many staff you need to run a new server?

What are the major task to distribute between the new staff?

 

such as following up:

1-bugs (Graphics,Scripts)

2-Fourm

3-Screening Data base

 

other?

 

 

Please contribute to answer

 

Thanks,

 

From my experience, i've started developing it since last year september more or less around there. My team gradually grown to 4 people including 1 person who has no knowledge/interest in RO but helped me out on the PHP part.

Basically i did alot of things as i used that time to experience every major role, eg scripting,mapping, hexing, source edit. However i gradually grew to Storyline Scripter + Mapper. With these 2 combined i can create the looks i want though!

 

my 2nd friend who's still in the team was a scripter. Right now he's focused on 1 Script at the moment that's custom made for the server. He made private servers before and more or less he's helping me out wiht my scripts but he's busy at the moment though,

 

my 3rd friend is the php person where he helps me out on CSS and HTML codings for the forum/website if required. He's really helpful when it comes to his category of PHP.

 

Lastly i had a graphic designer but due to his work he had to leave the team which resulted in me looking for outsourced Graphic Designers.

 

Basically we met up once every week to discuss our findings and progress from there. Communication is the key here, no communication = no work. It's as simple as that.

 

Right now my server's finally going to launch on June which is next month! We've come a long way but not far enough though.

 

Hope it's an insight for you on a team. Basically if you wanna take things into your own hands and do it yourself, trust me it's possible. The only thing you need to worry about is finding someone to look after your server if you're working/sleeping during that time.

[vip53041]

Thanks alot for sharing your experiance. it will open my eyes!!