How2makegoodserver?

[Tyler66]

-snap-

Damn Democrats.

[Ad Bot]

[Hk1242]

put free admin in th title

[funinabox]

Im thinking about a DM. But can't really think of what theme.

I have this idea, but i dont have the time too build it, i was thinking a large Iron Foundry with a bunch of swords and iron-ish weapons scattered about, with tubes pouring out lava emitters and red water with damage events.

[ipodmemorizer55]

Put in "free beer". That will get them in

[Thorax]

There are two basic kinds of people that play Blockland, we'll call them the noobs and the pros.

The noobs generally join servers with no real "gaming" value. They want a "casual" experience.  These servers are generally sloppy and managed poorly. They are usually RP's, free builds, zombies or any server offering free admin. These people usually don't know much about the in's and out's of Blockland and have poor spelling. They think that a lot of people in a server means that they have fun little add-ons to mess around with or there are a lot of people RPing.

The pros generally join DM's, TDM's, jump/click challenge, and anything that tests their skills as a gamer. They are usually picky about what goes on in the server, how well it is managed, and expect the host and admins to know how to do more than just the basics and have proper spelling and grammar. They try to steer clear of a server they think might be run by a "noob". They think that a lot of people in a server means that it is run well and poses a challenge.

If you aren't known too well in the community for awesome builds or sweet add-ons, most pros will overlook you in the server list. Noobs will overlook it if your server doesn't look like it has instant fun. Both will overlook it if there are under 3 people in the server. And your server will remain that way because nobody wants to fight 1-on-1 in a server meant for there to be loads of people. So they don't join and the cycle repeats itself.

Now, lets say you want to to have an awesome TDM, so you download perfectly balanced weapons and other add-ons. But you want players do have more freedom than just runnin'-n-gunnin'. So you decide to let players build their own bases and manage their own teams. Now you have a basic "Fort Wars". Now all you need is people to join. You decide to name your server "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars!"

Lets say that there are two other Fort Wars that are also in the server list. We'll call them "haLoSONIcmArio777's fOrTwArZ!!1!" and "Thorax's Fort Wars". haLoSONIcmArio777's fort war isn't doing so well. The weapon selection is crappy, the builds are spammy, and random admins are banning people. Thorax's fort war has the maximum amount of players, but on top of that, players such as Space Guy, Ephi, and Badspot are all in it and having a good time, meaning more people are flocking to it. This leaves your server in quite the predicament.

Now lets pretend we are a player named "WeponGui". WeponGui really wants to play some Fort Wars today and noticed that there are 3 servers for him to choose from. He decides to check out "Thorax's Fort Wars" first because there are so many people playing and well known members seem to be enjoying it. WeponGui notices that the server is full but decides to try joining anyway, hoping that someone will leave. After a few minutes of trying to join, he decides that nobody will and moves on. He decides to try "haLoSONIcmArio777's fOrTwArZ!!1!" as it has a decent amount of people. After spawning he runs into numerous problems. People camping the spawns, overpowered weapons spawned randomly, and poorly made builds. He eventually gets mad and is about to leave, but is banned instead for the reason, "Y u soOoo m4D??" WeponGui then sees your server and sees the lack of players. At this point, he is frustrated he can't join a good Fort Wars and is not in the mood to be the only other person playing in a server.

Now, this happens with many people before you realize that noone wants to join your server. So you ask yourself, "How will I get them to stop by?" Well here is your answer.

Assuming that you aren't well known in the community, pros won't want to join your server right off the bat. Noobs see your server and think it will be too "challenging" and "unrewarding" for them, so they don't want to join. Now, your target is to get your server filled with pros, so how do you do that if they won't join right now? The answer is player count. You need a lot of players in your server to give it the illusion that it is very successful and well run, no matter how it is being run in reality.

Your first step it to get noobs to join. You already have your server set up for Fort Wars, so you don't want to abandon all that just to get a few noobs to join, so how to you persuade them? You need to advertise your server in a way that noobs will want to join. By changing the name from "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars!" to "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars! FREE ADMIN!!", noobs will flock to your server in an effort to become admin. You don't actually have to give it to them, you just want them there to add "value" to your server and to give it a try. Feel free to kick/ban noobs that spam chat and bricks, but be sure to give warnings to them first so you build a reputation of being "fair".

By now, you server should have decent players in it who are just building little bases and shooting each other. Try to get them happy so that they stay. Your goal is to keep players that want to play. If someone is killing someone else who is wanting to build and the builder is getting upset because they have to keep walking all the way back to their base just to put the roof on it, give the builder protection. Tell the person shooting the builder that the builder really would like to finish his build and you would like to impose a temporary ceasefire until he finishes. This should keep both players happy and your reputation should go up. If the builder keeps getting killed anyway, warn the shooter and threaten to kick him the next time. If it happens again, kick them. The builder will appreciate it and your respect will go up more. Also, the more respect you have from other players, the more likely it is that they'll come back to your server in the future, despite the amount of players you have.

After a while, you should have accumulated a fair amount of players who are playing by the rules, having fun, and posing a challenge to anyone who joins. This is when pros will start to join. Your main objective is to try to keep them happy so that they'll stay and invite their friends. But don't just abandon the other players in hopes that a few pros will play.  There is nothing a pro likes more than to see a noob start to become a pro. Be willing to teach the noobs in your server how to play the game efficiently and give them tips. Be polite and try using correct spelling and grammar as much as possible. By now, your server is pretty much a success. Keep managing it in a fair, fun and helpful way and your servers will be a hit!

TL;DR -  If you really want players in your server, you'll read it.

[Block Box]

There are two basic kinds of people that play Blockland, we'll call them the noobs and the pros.

The noobs generally join servers with no real "gaming" value. They want a "casual" experience.  These servers are generally sloppy and managed poorly. They are usually RP's, free builds, zombies or any server offering free admin. These people usually don't know much about the in's and out's of Blockland and have poor spelling. They think that a lot of people in a server means that they have fun little add-ons to mess around with or there are a lot of people RPing.

The pros generally join DM's, TDM's, jump/click challenge, and anything that tests their skills as a gamer. They are usually picky about what goes on in the server, how well it is managed, and expect the host and admins to know how to do more than just the basics and have proper spelling and grammar. They try to steer clear of a server they think might be run by a "noob". They think that a lot of people in a server means that it is run well and poses a challenge.

If you aren't known too well in the community for awesome builds or sweet add-ons, most pros will overlook you in the server list. Noobs will overlook it if your server doesn't look like it has instant fun. Both will overlook it if there are under 3 people in the server. And your server will remain that way because nobody wants to fight 1-on-1 in a server meant for there to be loads of people. So they don't join and the cycle repeats itself.

Now, lets say you want to to have an awesome TDM, so you download perfectly balanced weapons and other add-ons. But you want players do have more freedom than just runnin'-n-gunnin'. So you decide to let players build their own bases and manage their own teams. Now you have a basic "Fort Wars". Now all you need is people to join. You decide to name your server "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars!"

Lets say that there are two other Fort Wars that are also in the server list. We'll call them "haLoSONIcmArio777's fOrTwArZ!!1!" and "Thorax's Fort Wars". haLoSONIcmArio777's fort war isn't doing so well. The weapon selection is crappy, the builds are spammy, and random admins are banning people. Thorax's fort war has the maximum amount of players, but on top of that, players such as Space Guy, Ephi, and Badspot are all in it and having a good time, meaning more people are flocking to it. This leaves your server in quite the predicament.

Now lets pretend we are a player named "WeponGui". WeponGui really wants to play some Fort Wars today and noticed that there are 3 servers for him to choose from. He decides to check out "Thorax's Fort Wars" first because there are so many people playing and well known members seem to be enjoying it. WeponGui notices that the server is full but decides to try joining anyway, hoping that someone will leave. After a few minutes of trying to join, he decides that nobody will and moves on. He decides to try "haLoSONIcmArio777's fOrTwArZ!!1!" as it has a decent amount of people. After spawning he runs into numerous problems. People camping the spawns, overpowered weapons spawned randomly, and poorly made builds. He eventually gets mad and is about to leave, but is banned instead for the reason, "Y u soOoo m4D??" WeponGui then sees your server and sees the lack of players. At this point, he is frustrated he can't join a good Fort Wars and is not in the mood to be the only other person playing in a server.

Now, this happens with many people before you realize that noone wants to join your server. So you ask yourself, "How will I get them to stop by?" Well here is your answer.

Assuming that you aren't well known in the community, pros won't want to join your server right off the bat. Noobs see your server and think it will be too "challenging" and "unrewarding" for them, so they don't want to join. Now, your target is to get your server filled with pros, so how do you do that if they won't join right now? The answer is player count. You need a lot of players in your server to give it the illusion that it is very successful and well run, no matter how it is being run in reality.

Your first step it to get noobs to join. You already have your server set up for Fort Wars, so you don't want to abandon all that just to get a few noobs to join, so how to you persuade them? You need to advertise your server in a way that noobs will want to join. By changing the name from "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars!" to "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars! FREE ADMIN!!", noobs will flock to your server in an effort to become admin. You don't actually have to give it to them, you just want them there to add "value" to your server and to give it a try. Feel free to kick/ban noobs that spam chat and bricks, but be sure to give warnings to them first so you build a reputation of being "fair".

By now, you server should have decent players in it who are just building little bases and shooting each other. Try to get them happy so that they stay. Your goal is to keep players that want to play. If someone is killing someone else who is wanting to build and the builder is getting upset because they have to keep walking all the way back to their base just to put the roof on it, give the builder protection. Tell the person shooting the builder that the builder really would like to finish his build and you would like to impose a temporary ceasefire until he finishes. This should keep both players happy and your reputation should go up. If the builder keeps getting killed anyway, warn the shooter and threaten to kick him the next time. If it happens again, kick them. The builder will appreciate it and your respect will go up more. Also, the more respect you have from other players, the more likely it is that they'll come back to your server in the future, despite the amount of players you have.

After a while, you should have accumulated a fair amount of players who are playing by the rules, having fun, and posing a challenge to anyone who joins. This is when pros will start to join. Your main objective is to try to keep them happy so that they'll stay and invite their friends. But don't just abandon the other players in hopes that a few pros will play.  There is nothing a pro likes more than to see a noob start to become a pro. Be willing to teach the noobs in your server how to play the game efficiently and give them tips. Be polite and try using correct spelling and grammar as much as possible. By now, your server is pretty much a success. Keep managing it in a fair, fun and helpful way and your servers will be a hit!

TL;DR -  If you really want players in your server, you'll read it.

I read that all.I'm going to use it.Here's a cookie 

[burnness99]

Block box, it would save space if you just did this:

-snip-

Just saying. Also, Thorax's great wall of text makes total sense. If only more people considered doing that.

[Mr.PickleberryMan]

stuff? Really? How can you call mah server stuff if you just heard of it? :s

Owned.

[Thorax]

Thanks Block Box and burnness99.

Now-a-days, all I see are tons crappy servers with minimal amounts of players. I remember back when I first started playing, every server (There weren't many) had a challenge to it and I could easily spend hours playing in that one server. Now people just enter, look around, then leave without even asking what the server is about.

[laremere]

Thorax's approach is an interesting one, but I don't think it's the best option.

First, when starting a server decide what you want your server to be all about.  Decide on the theme and what you will be doing within that theme (such as just making a static build, making a build with lots of events, or making a build to be used as a minigame.)  You may think making a sever a freebuild will attract more players than having restrictions on your build.  In fact the opposite is true.  Having no theme will result in people being lazy and un-inspired, who get bored and leave the server more quickly.  Having a theme restriction, especially an unique one will get people inspired and want to build.  One reason for this is that instead of having their thought process start thinking about what to build from nothing, you give them a big head start in thinking of something to build.  For instance if a player joins a server and sees a small desert cubescape, a house, and a race track, they are left pretty uninspired.  However if a player joins a space colony build and they see a spaceport, a living quarters, and a power plant, they may immediately start thinking about what else the space colony needs and are more motivated to build.  Another reason is that it makes the server unique and players will want to return to the server later in order to see how the build has progressed, to see how their build is part of the larger server build, and most importantly to continue on making the build even better.

Second, limit your add-ons.  When someone decides to join a random server that has little to no players in it, if they see the loading going quickly, they're much more likely to stay.  Taking your theme into account disable any weapons and vehicles which are not required for the server.  Next remove any duplicate weapons.  You don't need 10 guns which do the same thing, so limit it to the highest quality add-on for any type. For example you don't need 5 different sniper guns, chose your favorite.  If it is a building/eventing server only, disable all vehicles, weapons and projectiles which you don't need for your events or decoration.

Third, name your server appropriately.  Proper spelling is always good, and a title which explains what the server is all about will attract people who are curious or interested in the server, which are people who are much more likely to stay since they know what kind of server they're getting into and they know they want it.  Also make sure you're server title isn't long, so that it doesn't get cut off.  Using a unique and descriptive name that is also the name of the build you're making works very well.  For instance naming a server "lava dm" isn't nearly as interesting as "Lavaland Battle."

Fourth, start your server and get busy.  Don't worry about tricking players into joining, because eventually a random person will join.  If you named your server nicely and had a short load time, you're likely to attract people who will want to check the server out in enough quantity to get the server population off the ground.

Fifth, ever heard the saying "location location location"?, well, in Blockland the phrase really is "content content content."  Get building boy.  If you start building a strange thing happens in Bl.  People start looking at your build and like to see how your build progress comes along, and many will want to build themselves.  A player who is just hanging out may leave after looking over the build, but a player who is engaged building will likely stay for long periods of time.   The first few people may come slowly, but if they're in the server and building and staying, since less people are leaving it takes allot less people to build up to the tipping point where your server becomes very populated.  Unique content also plays a role here.  If you host a server with a default save your server has no value to return to later than any other server which is also hosting that save.  A unique build can be loaded many times and makes your server worth returning to.

Sixth, make friends.  THIS IS NOT GIVE PEOPLE ADMIN.  By making friends and having a growing list of people who are interested in your servers, your servers are much more easily populated in the early stages.  People love to join a friend's server even if it has few people.  They also make great people to help create larger builds which attract more people.


Well, that's all for this wall of text of a post.  Are people interested in a longer version which goes over more specifics?  If so I may write a more prepared and in depth topic.

[Orion]

OffTopic : These text-walls are really helpful. I might use these strategies.
OnTopic : What Thorax said is true, I was hosting my Platform Knife TDM the other day with about 15-22 people, then popular people started to join. It was very interesting and fun.

[phflack]

The pros generally join DM's, TDM's, jump/click challenge, and anything that tests their skills as a gamer. They are usually picky about what goes on in the server, how well it is managed, and expect the host and admins to know how to do more than just the basics and have proper spelling and grammar. They try to steer clear of a server they think might be run by a "noob". They think that a lot of people in a server means that it is run well and poses a challenge.

sounds like what i do :o

also, that is very true

[Thorax]

-snip-

We shared a lot of similar points (Proving that those points go towards a winning strategy), but I really liked how you described theme builds. I was going to mention something like that, but I'm pretty scatterbrained and forgot. Anywho, what I was going to say was that your server should ALWAYS have a theme. Always. It doesn't matter if it's a freebuild or a DM, themes get people thinking, like laremere said.

Using my example of Fort Wars, instead of having random add-ons from different eras, try restricting it to one era so that you don't have people with builder's block (lol pun). Try restricting it to Old West Fort Wars or Space Fort Wars. Then once you start getting good at balancing things, try doing crossovers. Have Cowboys fight Spacemen. But always have a theme.

One other tip is to write down a theme you think is interesting and add-ons that would be good with it before hand. Write down everything you think you'll need. For example, if I was going to do a Space Class-based TDM, I would write down the names of the class and what weapons they would have so that everything stays balanced.

Don't be afraid to write down weapons that don't actually exist in BL, you want to make sure you remember what kind of weapon it is. For examples sake, lets say that you are making a CQC class that has a laser shotgun. Now, lets say that nobody has actually made a shotgun yet. Instead of totally abandoning that class, find a way to create a substitute until you can find a replacement that better matches up. So you download Ephi's sawn-off shotgun. Now lets say that 3 weeks later Ladios released his laser shotgun. Instead of waiting 3 weeks to start hosting your server, you have already let people try it and now that you have everything you need, people will enjoy it more.

Oh, one more thing. Follow my suggestion if you want people to join your server ASAP. Otherwise, use the method laremere posted as it works also.

Actually, one more thing again. If your following my suggestion, you would have changed your server to "(Your name here)'s Fort Wars! Free Admin!!". After you have quite a few players in your server, change your name back to normal or even add the name of your theme. If it was a Space fort war, name it "(Your name here)'s Martian Fort Wars". This will also help to gain more pros.

[Br4nd0n]

for most the time ive played blockland my server was always a freebuild now idk what it is anymore

[LFOO]

List of (good) stuff:

• Only use necessary add-ons
• Be/Have fair admins
• Have an original idea for the server

• Have a good, funny server name.
• Make sure you offer something, that helps (e.g. '____'s ___ RP/Freebuild (etc.) FREE ADMIN WHEN YOU _____!)