Recently I have noticed a rather large BOOM in the amount of people hosting servers on minecraft. Most of them are PVP faction servers or "one of a kind" (this is sarcasm) hunger games servers. I don't really mind them but they can get tedious. In this blog I will give you a step by step guide on how to make it good. I hope you enjoy.

Step 1:You need an idea. Do not just copy one that has already been done but think of your own idea. You don't have to be the same as everyone else. By being the same you become less noticed and just become 'one of them pvp faction servers' No one remembers your names. Once you have an idea keep your mind set to it and don't keep changing your mind. If you change your mind it limits and makes it harder for you to develop on your ideas and you soon become frustrated with yourself because you can't make your mind up.

Step 2:You need a hoster. This is probably the most vital part of hosting a server. Without a hoster your server will be laggy and unprofessional. People will not even consider donating to a server that is not 24/7 and hosted of some pc. They are good for being private but not for public. I would recommend setting up your server with StuzzHosting. The owner Joel Nichols is very helpful. He manages to reply almost instantly to problems and this is the kind of server support you will need when you are running your very popular server. It is also probably the cheapest server hoster I have found. The website is here. Once you have the server hosted and paid for you will be ready to move on to step three.

Step 3:The config of the server. You need to configure the server as well as you possibly can to suit the idea that you have stuck inside you creative head. The tools you will need for this are craftbukkit and the plugins that can be used with it. If you are hosting with stuzz then you won't need to bother with basic installation as this comes as a default with your package. However if you are not you can get plugins here. You can get craftbukkit here. Install craftbukkit onto your server.

Step 4: Now for the more in depth explanation of plugins and how to use them along with what they do. Plugins are lines of code that change how your server will operate. They could maybe add permissions or the ability to fire creepers rapidly at some sheep that are flying to different dimensions using a button that talks to you and allows you to have virtual money that makes you rich and the most powerful person on earth. Some plugins I would recommend are group manager (It allows you to use permission nodes from plugins and only allow certain people to do certain things) and essentials (it has a load of command that do different things).

Step 5: Now you have all of your pluginy magicy server configery stuff all sorted. Then next thing to do is test. Just test your server to see if it works.

Step 6:The map. Every server needs a custom map to go along with their server that matches their theme. If you have noticed server that have small pyramid spawns made of diamond blocks never do that well. This is because people want something to give them pleasure of the eyes. If they see a pool of lava with some diamonds they think "Noob". If they see a massive mountain with a city carved into the side of it with an EPIC water fall spewing out the side into a stone fish they think "Hmm this is nice". So the better it looks the better your server will perform the more members you get and the more money rolls in.

Step 7: Staff. You need more than one staff member to keep things like admins shops maintained. Manage restless players and kick the Badass jerks who grief back to the hole that the came from. Staff keep the server safe whilst you (the owner) are gone.

Step 8 (optional): Donations. You may want your server to be able to maintain itself because you cant pay for it on your own. I know I struggle. The way to do this is special ranks that you have to pay for. These cant just be a change in prefix. They must have something that is unique. Something that makes the other members go "Oooh ahhh very special". This will make it appeal to the people with the money and make people without money look up to them so the people with the money thing "YAY I'M LOVED" so they keep donating.

Step 9: The advertising and presentation of your server before people even get on. You need need a good memorable name that people will remember (seems pretty simple right? Well many people fail at this with names like 'minecraft pvp' or 'Noobcraft'). TIP never include the word 'craft in your name. Its too common. Think of something good. My server name is tacoaria. Original right? You can't have mine but you can think of your own. You also need to get some good pictures of your server that does it some justice. Not a picture of a guy hitting a zombie with the HUD still open. A proper cool one with sonic aethers and edited with photoshop. This will make people stop and look. You also need to advertise in more places than just PMC. Yes PMC is good but its nice to have a website or a forum or something else.

Step 10: Enjoy your fully tweaked masterpiece with the world of minecraft.

Hope that this blog helped you and your server problems. If you liked it Diamonds and subscribers are nice. *HINT HINT*

If you want the hoster link again go here. members.stuzzhosting.com/aff.php?aff=014

~tacoman500v1

I likes the blue highlights :L