Right...

I have seen many servers, specifically small servers.
Shut down due to no players joining or donations.
Okay... Fair enough if you can't afford to do it or you don't have time to do it.

However, owning Minecraft Servers can be a life-changing moment for you.
As long as you have the time, effort and money. This could be the ideal Hobby for you.

You guys owning small servers give up too easily.
Your time will come. I know it will.

You guys out there owning bigger servers I wish you the best of luck.
However, smaller server Owners. I suggest you read on (Bigger server owners can still read on).

Things you can do to get players:

1) Show your staff and players you care about them. What I mean by that is give them free stuff (not overpowered though) here's a suggestion, create Admin Items, random items in the Creative Catalog. Like a stick, name it anything you want then Enchant it with any enchantment that may enhance players gameplay. However, making it Overpowered may cause issues that players don't like so they might leave. So instead of doing Knockback 10 or 20 etc, do 1 or two. Anything below 5 is a great place to start!

2) Find/Become a successful YouTuber that is willing to record/Livestream on your server, at a price. Usually, aim for 1k subs or more they sometimes charge high prices, not all the time.

3) Do events (One Day Of Hacking or A Maze Event etc..) I see servers use Envoy plugins, events that aren't as easy as making a maze that's different all the time or make parkour that could earn you an In-Game cosmetic that stays with you forever instead of an item that will soon be lost.

4) Have helpful, active and non-abusive staff. I see a lot of staff take this as an opportunity to abuse their powers/commands. As myself being a server owner, I check all staff homes and keep them under control. If they are inactive for a week give them a Notice point. A Notice Point (or whatever you want to call it) is a warning, that doesn't show up on their Minecraft History, just for Managers and higher up positions, if they are still in-active tell them they may have a possible demotion due to being inactive. Helpful staff? Of course, they need to be polite, willing to help at any time they are required. I normally state that as an application question/mark because I want the best staff.

5) Don't ruin your players' experiences. As Manager, I have seen all positions abusing their commands and Force Tp'ing themselves to a player to troll them. This will just make the players leave and they may possibly never return unless the staff member was demoted.

5) Interact with your community... I never really see Owners interact with their community, I personally like the Owners who record/stream events or playtime with the players. Most owners sit in front of their computer screen either configuring or moderating the players.

6) DO NOT EVER!!! I MEAN EVER RUSH DEVELOPMENT!!!! Seriously the number of servers I've seen rushing their development is insane. Some servers put their IP on a Minecraft Server list before they even have Essentials, the Essential plugin you need (haha see what I did there).

7) Have social media (Twitter, Discord etc..). Discord is just so useful, it's like Teamspeak and Slack to become one. You can announce updates and events on Discord, same with Twitter.

8) Put your players first...

9) Always... Always make sure you update your server, do updates at least once a week. This will show players you're active and love to help the server.


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If this helped you please share it as it took me a while to produce this ==+==