As I’m sure you’re aware, there are too many Minecraft servers out there to count. If you’ve been running your own public server, you’ll have some idea of the fierce competition out there. Perhaps your server isn’t quite as popular as you’d like? Fortunately, there are a few good traits you can implement to attract more players. Here are three of the best.
First of all, make it unique, but not too unique! These days, a vanilla survival game would turn a lot of heads! There are so many servers out there which are completely oversaturated with mods, that for some people it ruins the experience. However, if you make your server too similar to others, it’s not going to get popular very fast. I’m not suggesting you should spend days and days crafting a completely new game type. However, your server should have a few things which sets it apart. Roleplaying servers are usually a good way of achieving this. There are so many different scenarios you can play around with, and it’s fairly easy to manage. Do something to make your server stand out, just don’t go overboard!
My next tip is to be active and make sure there are no technical issues. This is one of the biggest things that will send players fleeing from your server. Imagine you found a really fun server, but you lagged out every time you played on it. I bet you wouldn’t spend much longer bothering with it! No matter what game you’re playing, most people have no time for lag. Be sure to find a host like this one: https://apexminecrafthosting.com/ and to track the performance of your server. Set the whole thing up to be as helpful as possible for new players, too. If you were dropped into a server, and had no idea how you were meant to play the game mode, I bet you wouldn’t stick around for long. Anti-griefing plugins (http://dev.bukkit.org/) are a must too, which brings me onto my next point.
Make sure your server doesn’t get invaded by trolls and griefers. This is especially important to consider when you’re making players admins. When your server first sets up, you’ll probably get a lot of new players looking to be admins. It can be pretty easy to say “yes”, because you want them to stay on your server. Resist this urge with all your might! There are an unfortunate amount of people who try to become admins simply to ruin the experience of others. As soon as you log off, these subversive griefers will get to work. The next time you log in, there’ll be TNT craters everywhere and very few players brave enough to stick around! You’ll have to assign admins eventually. However, you should take your time getting to know and trust your new players.
Take this advice, and you’ll see your server becoming more and more popular. There’s still a lot more to learn about being a good host. However, you won’t learn much without any players!