This is more of a In Depth addition to my other blog post. Its the same topic but with more detail and more "helpful" guidance. Each Phase will cut into smaller steps, so follow the ones that you think apply to you. DO NOTE, this guide will NOT guarantee you 100+ players in a day and it will not guarantee you players if you dont have the right mind set.




Planning Phase:

- Gamemode: There are many games modes to chose from, Factions, Prison, Skyblock and so on. Of course, the more unique your server is, the better it can be, to a certain extent that is. You can make any gamemode you want, but you have to keep in mind competition that you're going against.

- Plugins: If you're making a Vanilla server, then this doesn't apply to you. Plugins are what make servers more interesting, unique. Choosing plugins that compliment your server mode can boost the fun that players have. No point in having 20 Chat related Plugins that do the same thing nor is it good to have a Factions plugin for Survival Games server. Using pre-made plugins is perfectly fine but having custom coded server or some plugins can give a boost to how unique your server is. If you are going to use pre-made plugins, its best to learn them on a Local Host server and change them around to make them seem unique.

- Host: Now this is a tough one. What host you chose can lead to a thriving server or to a heap of lagging disappointment. Plugins can and will affect the performance of the server. But what host you pick is entirely down to you and your research of the hosting company. Different Price can offer different results. Buying a shared host is fine for starters as they are more cheap than Dedicated Servers. Also, don't bother making a Network straight up without a 100-300 player playerbase. You will be wasting your money and high chance is, people will only join the server where everyone else is sitting in.

- Time: How much time you will spend a day/week to get your server up and running smoothly. 1 day is not enough I am afraid, unless you want to have an extremely badly made server, then go for it. Of course, the quicker you make the server and the quicker you fix everything, the better. But we are people who have other things to do, you may grind out on the server for 1 day, then the next day you may only spend 30 mins. It all depends on the mindset you have and how dedicated you are to pull it all off.

- Mindset: Why are you making the server? "To get money!" Don't make a server, you wont make it far. "Because I want to lead an outstanding community of players and have a welcoming environment for players!" Now that, that is an excellent mindset to have. What mindset you have when going into server making will result in different outcomes.

- Money: This is not about donations, but how big your budged is when starting. Starting with only enough money to host a server for a month is not worth it, high chance is that you wont be getting players in the 1st month. Save up enough to host for a few months is a good plan, or try to get sponsored.



(Please note: If you're hosting the server yourself, Money/Host don't apply to you.)




The Big Plan Phase:

- Set Up: 2 words, Local Host. Make a server on your machine and use it to set up and configure your plugins. It's better as it costs nothing and you can take as much time as you need to configure everything to your liking.

- Building: If you are a very good builder and can build interesting things, then you can do it on a Local Host server also. But if you're not that great, you can find other people who would do it for you, for a price if they are good builders. Be ready to pay money to them as offering a rank/op/items may not appeal to them that much.

- Putting everything together: Once you have your builds and plugins, put them both together and configure plugins to match the builds if needed Protection/NPC's etc etc.While you're at it, you could set up a Voting plugin to be prepared for the release.




The Release:

- Opening Day: Once you upload your server to voting/advertising sites, people should start coming in within 1-2 hours. You will have to keep your cool and be welcoming/friendly with them. High chance they will come in and ask for OP/To be Staff. Deny both them offers, I will cover Staff next. Now depending on the gamemode/spawn/plugins, players may stay for a while longer, or leave. If a player joins, DO NOT give them a rank/items, as that is showing Favouritism, will be covered later on.

- Staff: You DO NOT need staff when you start out. Keep in mind the Staff:Player ratio. You dont want to have too many staff members as players will start feeling anxious about their actions. But at the same time, you dont want to have too little staff, as players will see this as freedom and start breaking rules due to lack of moderation. Picking staff from a playerbase that you have is the best method, how you collect their information is up to you. I would suggest using Enjin/GoogleDocs (Or whatever its called) for them to fill out the application form, AFTER they have met your requirements (Certain Playtime/Rank etc etc). Book & Quill is an option, but its easy to lose it.

- Favouritism: DO NOT have any favourite players in the server. Treating someone differently because they are your friend is not fair for the other players. You need to have the mindset of treating everyone and everything equally, rank/age/race/relationship/player/staff none of those matter. If a rule is broken, punishment must come, no "I will overlook it this time." Then someone else may break a rule and say "Why dint you overlook mine?!". Bam, few players gone.


Now you have opened your server, got a few regular players there and there, few staff members. Now you may ask "What's Next?". That part, is up to you, but I can advice on few other things.




- Updates: You need to keep updating your server with new Features to keep the players interested. Players can get to end game and decide to leave the server and not come back. Updating with new Features - Maps/Items/Ranks is a good option. You need to make the players stride for a goal to achieve, be the #1 player from the server.

- Website: Now that you got a few active players, you may want to set up a website to allow players to interact with other. Enjin is a very good choice for beginner servers but you need to make sure it looks good and its well made. Using themes that already have been made is an option, but spending time and making your own is better. Some custom HTML/CSS/Java Script can make a website more interesting and unique.

- Donations: Choosing wrong will lead to players leaving your server. Pay 2 Win element will drive players away. Pay 2 Progress is an option, but it depends how well it is pulled off. Paying for non gameplay changing features is a good option to keep the playerbase happy. Now when you do get donations, put the money towards the server and its necessities, not towards a new game you want.

- Expansion: 1 gamemode not enough? Thats fine, only if you have 50-100+ players. You can buy more servers and BungeeCord them together to make a network to give players more options to play on, but still being part of your network. Planning Phase comes back into this again.




Keeping in mind all these points, you should be able to make a decent and maybe more than decent server. I may of missed a few points so if you want me to talk about a certain point or to add another one, then do let me know.




Good luck and layta.