r/admincraft • u/CraftWorksReloaded • 13d ago

Help/Question Sunk a ton of time into developing our server, only 2 people joined

I'll keep it short and simple, we basically revamped our old server with new mechanics, newer update and a TON of fully custom plugins. We sank probably 2 whole weeks just in developing everything and getting it ironed out.

We went public with a "playtest" phase last night and got 2 people to join... That's all in the last 13 hours who have joined.

Feeling a little lost here because back when we launched our first server back in 2011 we had a ton of people flowing through within just the first 2 hours of posting on server lists. What's the secret here? What's changed?

30 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

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u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

That was also the problem, they joined, they left. Almost immediately. We're not trying to be an instant gratification dopamine driven server just something with a more "classic" feel. I'll just wait around and keep advertising where I can! Thanks for your response!

24

u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPO Admincraft Staff 13d ago

something with a more "classic" feel

I'm going to be extremely direct with you: the market for servers that are vanilla or "classic" is oversaturated and played out.

Players can get that experience literally anywhere, because doing so is easy. This isn't like Oldschool Runescape or Classic WoW where the old thing is gone and inaccessible despite being beloved.

Vanilla Minecraft is the default that every player gets the second they click the play button on their launcher. If they want that with other people, they can open a LAN world, and if that's not enough, there are bigger and more populated servers than yours they can join, like DonutSMP or any one of hundreds of established SMPs.

The draw to Vanilla Minecraft SMP-style servers is the emergent gameplay: the interactions with other players and the results of those interactions. You can't just polish a Vanilla SMP server with nice UIs or commands or claims or whatever other "on top" features and win market share, because those are not the things that players want, and those are not the things that players look for in a server.

Proceeding down the Vanilla SMP path isn't just an uphill battle, it's a battle on a sheer cliff face.

When a new player joins, you have about 2 minutes to show them that they want to try the server, about 15 minutes to get them started enough that they feel like they are making or can make progress, and about 2 hours to reward them with a sense of satisfaction for having logged on. If you can do that, they will usually come back the next day.

Vanilla SMP servers fail at step 1 of that: it's impossible to show them that they want to play on your server if they're constantly thinking "I could just play on Donut" or "how is this better than Donut?"

People run servers for a lot of different reasons. Some do it for profit, some because they simply like creating, some to make friends and share in an activity with them, some to see people enjoying what they made, and some because the server they wanted didn't exist yet.

Figure out your reason for running a server, and decide if running a Vanilla SMP (despite the immense difficulty you are facing in getting players) is worth it for your goals.

If it isn't, I'd recommend that you reconsider this endeavor.

If it is, then you need to disconnect your willingness to continue from the validation you get from having players. In this market, the players come slowly and it has nothing to do with whether you made a good server or not, and everything to do with the temperament of your early adopters, however few they may be.

It takes a very special kind of player to pick a not-yet-alive server that depends entirely on emergent gameplay and choose to invest in the server before it has taken off, knowing that their involvement will catalyze its success.

Reward that player by working your ass off advertising it. Youtube shorts are best, and you have to GRIND at making videos for a long while. A Discord server with members allegedly "waiting" for a server's release is not enough.

I've posted tips for that process before, so if you're sticking with this path, I can link to my old comment chains on the subject.

3

u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

This is great, thanks for the in depth response. It all makes sense and just put some new perspectives into play here. Link me what you got I'll definitely go down the rabbit hole.

2

u/putin_my_ass 13d ago

My thoughts also. I've noticed a lot of posts lately with this exact problem: "We started a vanilla server, and we don't have enough players". There's nothing differentiating vanilla servers from each other except the names of the people playing on it, so if so many people are running servers with no players it seems to me the obvious answer is that most of them should stop hosting servers and all agree to go play together on a server.

16

u/BetaChunks 13d ago

Bloat. There's a lot of people who host servers now, so you really can't expect the same numbers as the "early days"

1

u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

Understandably so, I'm just curious if there's another avenue people are going advertisement wise.

2

u/Xemorr Developer of Superheroes and other plugins 13d ago

Become a near full-time content creator, that's the only way. Enjoy!

2

u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

lol I already do this full time so what's another 4 accounts to run

6

u/mcverse-city 13d ago

Advertise. (Make content). Build some hype. Show proof that your "fully custom" stuff was necessary and worth it. Adding more features adds complexity - how are players supposed to know and learn what to do?

I mean 2011 was 15 years ago..... everything has changed.

2

u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

This was actually on my to-do list today. Going to get an X account IG and TikTok setup and start making some content to drop on there. As well as YouTube ofc.

3

u/ColdDelicious1735 13d ago

I host a server that regularly has 1 guy on it with2 to 3 others who drop in each update for a few days.

I consider it a win

3

u/CraftWorksReloaded 12d ago

Win in my book

2

u/Rlcraftpro 13d ago

Send me the ip so that I can join it am server dev myself as well

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

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1

u/admincraft-ModTeam 13d ago

Post removed for Rule 7:

Posts and comments may not recruit server staff or partners, nor offer your services as one. Do not try to hire or recruit people to join your server staff, work for you, or collaborate on a project together.

Posts and comments containing an advertisement, portfolio, website, or Discord server offering your services as a developer, admin, builder, moderator, etc are not allowed, regardless of whether your services are paid or unpaid.

To prevent future removals, please read over all our rules. Do not repost.

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2

u/TheCrowWhisperer3004 13d ago

Nobody uses those serverlists. Honestly servers aren’t as popular in general.

You have to actively seek people out or come in with a pre existing community.

1

u/AssistantMany521 13d ago

Share the discord. Let me take a look. Cheers x

1

u/CraftWorksReloaded 13d ago

Appreciate you - discord.gg/e2hnJxmnR7 after joining and goofing around please provide brutal feedback and recommendation

1

u/EuroZoneEsports 13d ago

We did 2 months of closed development and now 6 werks of developing while server open. Tiktok and youtube shorts brings most our people

Server lists dont really do much any more.

A good website with ai code for chat gpt to read helps massively 30% of our players come from chat gpt reccomendation. 30% from shorts and 38% from reddit 2% from server sites

2

u/Gabin293 12d ago

I find it absurd that today, there are this much people asking chat gpt to find minecraft server

1

u/EuroZoneEsports 12d ago

I 100% agree but it seems people just ask and join what ever it says like its gospel

1

u/Ereditha 12d ago

A friend of my friend released alpha version of his skyblock server he is making with other people. It was supposted to be beta but there was barely anything. Quests did not even work lol. But I keep logging in almost every day to play for at least 1 hour so he won't abandon it because he is doing a good job at making his own plugins.

1

u/R3VD4L 9d ago

I´d also recommend advertising but also better branding? i´ve looked trough your previous posts and your main site is AI developed, i also prefer a domain to join the server i.e play.domain or just domain. also in my opinion seeing the main site being made by AI i would also think that the plugins are too, and those arent always fully optimized and you wont see it before you get a little playerbase.

But mostly its just advertising, word of mouth, establish community or welcome others to be apart of the start. many ways to go about it

1

u/Licqurish 8d ago

Mood, we have like 5 people if.. but feel free to check us out https://www.goplaymc.net/home

-1

u/Cool_Imagination_466 10d ago

Come join on Play.GrooveMc.org Im just a player but we got around 10 to 40 people online ant given time fun plugins and a nice comunity

1

u/OhhYeahMrKrabbs 4d ago

“Custom plugins “ means nothing to a player. What do those plugins genuinely offer that are any different to other servers.

A few major things:
The server doesn’t even have a domain or 25565 port
Your website is a vibe coded loveable website
A cursory look at your website just shows it’s a “Vanilla+” server with no real selling points