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Keeping a server alive is really an easy task if you're fine with keeping it despite having low/high population.
As a server owner of a 5 year old+ server. These are few tips you can use to keep your server alive for as long as that(or even more).
1. Do what you want and give it love!
When you do what you want, be happy with it. Don't think about negative stuffs that will happen because you're doing what you like/love/want. The most important things in keeping your server alive is to keep you alive and healthy, if you are stressed a lot, then it will affect your server and shorten its life just as it shorten yours.
I know some might say, what if the setting I like is very unusual that no one would like it? Well, I'd say, would you want it if no one would like it? you probably want it cause you think it has the potential to be something great, cause if you don't think its great then why want it? why would anyone else think its great?
2. Listen to your players but not to everything they say!
When they give you suggestions, some of them are things you like some are not. When you see something you do not like, before rejecting it completely try to see every aspect of it, and if its really not a good thing for your server or you don't like it then don't do it lol. If you implement too many things you don't like, then you might end up just leaving the server or closing it down due to depression.
3. Learn a lot of things!
Don't just hire a developer to do everything, learn a bit. That way you know what your devs are putting in your server. I know its painful and all, but you could eg. give yourself 15 minutes a day or less or even more to study about scripting etc and best if you learn a little bit of c programming too. Learning few mins a day is better than not learning at all. If you're not that lazy then just learn everything in 1 week or 2 its possible, just believe in yourself and your capability as a human being. If this guy can do this, then you can too.
4. Donation System
If you're making a server for some donations or you can't sustain your server alone then it is fine to put a donation system. Whether you want to put balance donations or not is up to you really. There are people who plays server with OP items there are people who do not. This goes us back to #1, do what you want and give it love! I've seen servers who've put OP items yet even stayed longer than 5 years, servers reported doing bad stuff and yet still alive for many years. I am not saying put OP stuffs because you can, but just put them if you want them, if you don't then don't.
5. Don't give up
When you just started, don't give up, some servers took 1 week to gain a decent amount of players, some took a year or even more. But if you see any of those servers now. It is because they didn't give up, they kept on developing. When your server didn't have any player after months, or even years it doesn't mean you failed. It means you have to do something and giving up is not the right answer to that. You could change the rates if you like, or add something. + if you don't give up, you get to brag that you didn't, it makes you a survivor
6. Keep yourself healthy
Cause it contribute to your stress level. But if you will spend 2 days straight setting something up then do it positively. Don't stay up late complaining and telling yourself how bad it is to do what you're doing, cause you will only get more stressed. Again, if you will do something, love doing it. Give yourself love and only then you can give love to other things and people.
You might notice there's nothing about advertising and other stuff. Those are really easy stuff, you can have all the money you can spend on your server to be advertised/fully developed but if you're not in the right mindset, and you get depressed often then your server will be depressed as well and give you bad result.
These are not all the tips you need, but I hope you find them useful. Follow the ones you agree on, and disregard the ones you don't. Live happily and your server will be a happy place as well
As a server owner of a 5 year old+ server. These are few tips you can use to keep your server alive for as long as that(or even more).
1. Do what you want and give it love!
When you do what you want, be happy with it. Don't think about negative stuffs that will happen because you're doing what you like/love/want. The most important things in keeping your server alive is to keep you alive and healthy, if you are stressed a lot, then it will affect your server and shorten its life just as it shorten yours.
I know some might say, what if the setting I like is very unusual that no one would like it? Well, I'd say, would you want it if no one would like it? you probably want it cause you think it has the potential to be something great, cause if you don't think its great then why want it? why would anyone else think its great?
2. Listen to your players but not to everything they say!
When they give you suggestions, some of them are things you like some are not. When you see something you do not like, before rejecting it completely try to see every aspect of it, and if its really not a good thing for your server or you don't like it then don't do it lol. If you implement too many things you don't like, then you might end up just leaving the server or closing it down due to depression.
3. Learn a lot of things!
Don't just hire a developer to do everything, learn a bit. That way you know what your devs are putting in your server. I know its painful and all, but you could eg. give yourself 15 minutes a day or less or even more to study about scripting etc and best if you learn a little bit of c programming too. Learning few mins a day is better than not learning at all. If you're not that lazy then just learn everything in 1 week or 2 its possible, just believe in yourself and your capability as a human being. If this guy can do this, then you can too.
4. Donation System
If you're making a server for some donations or you can't sustain your server alone then it is fine to put a donation system. Whether you want to put balance donations or not is up to you really. There are people who plays server with OP items there are people who do not. This goes us back to #1, do what you want and give it love! I've seen servers who've put OP items yet even stayed longer than 5 years, servers reported doing bad stuff and yet still alive for many years. I am not saying put OP stuffs because you can, but just put them if you want them, if you don't then don't.
5. Don't give up
When you just started, don't give up, some servers took 1 week to gain a decent amount of players, some took a year or even more. But if you see any of those servers now. It is because they didn't give up, they kept on developing. When your server didn't have any player after months, or even years it doesn't mean you failed. It means you have to do something and giving up is not the right answer to that. You could change the rates if you like, or add something. + if you don't give up, you get to brag that you didn't, it makes you a survivor
6. Keep yourself healthy
Cause it contribute to your stress level. But if you will spend 2 days straight setting something up then do it positively. Don't stay up late complaining and telling yourself how bad it is to do what you're doing, cause you will only get more stressed. Again, if you will do something, love doing it. Give yourself love and only then you can give love to other things and people.
You might notice there's nothing about advertising and other stuff. Those are really easy stuff, you can have all the money you can spend on your server to be advertised/fully developed but if you're not in the right mindset, and you get depressed often then your server will be depressed as well and give you bad result.
These are not all the tips you need, but I hope you find them useful. Follow the ones you agree on, and disregard the ones you don't. Live happily and your server will be a happy place as well
Thank you