How to make a server seeker stay on your server

[superja]

In no particular order, here are some things that will help a potential player judge you positively... because you know they are going to be critical about every little thing. There are a bajillion servers out there, why should they play yours?

Firstly.... finding out about the server. If you use a forum, it is to YOUR benefit to allow guests to read topics containing server information. Sure, hide the topics related to "omg gm he stole my itamz' or "damn the server's been laggy lately" But don't make me register to read "this server is just like every other 5x/5x! come join us" All you have gained is one more unused forum account.
If you use a website... taste is king here. I don't expect you to be an html wizard, but please use colors that compliment each other. And avoid flashing, spinning, or otherwise unnecessary animated grfs. This makes your website appear to have been designed by an elementary school child who has just discovered power point (and we all remember those days). Not a flattering way to present your server, so don't do it.
Please spellcheck. I'm not going to leave in disgust over a few errors, but if I can't determine what you are trying to communicate, or if this is supposed to be English, I'm going to assume your entire server is done this sloppily and leave.
So now the next fun step. Downloading. I'm not going to demand that you .rar a chunk of files instead of making an exe that is way bigger than it needs to be for something I could simply drag and drop.But I DO demand that you make your download easily accessible. The "Download" link should be posted somewhere I can see it. Don't hide it, I'm TRYING to play your server, not stalk you. If you are going to choose a crappy upload site that demands that I wait 5 mins to start my 20mb download, please offer me an alternate mirror.
Next on the list... DATA FOLDERS SUCK! Make a grf!  If you've rar'ed the data folder, it takes me approximately 10 minutes to extract. Now, if you can't make a grf, I'm going to assume your server sucks. Protip: learn some basic skills before you attempt to open a server. But anyways.
And more about this download... update it once in a while. If I can download sakray in the time it takes me to update using your pathetically slow patcher (which I just did this morning. I won't name names because I'm nice, but seriously.)
Which gets me started on patches. The smaller you make them, the happier everyone is. I'd rather download 3 million small patches than one massive patch. I know they end up being the same in the end, but the tiny patches slow me down less. If I'm updating for an hour, I'm going to use my computer to do other things. Such as type a rant on how hard you fail.
Alright, just a few more quick points now. Don't have an excessive amount of gms. This makes your server look suspiciously like "Hey, me and my friends wanted to be gms, but nobody would let us, so we made our own server and now we ALL are! Make sure you download our new data folder! We added one palette that you will never use, and the folder is already excessively huge, but why not?" GOD FORBID YOU UPDATE!
Oh, and here's another side note. Expect to pay for the server yourself until the end of time. Get a dedicated hoster. Nobody is going to donate their $10 to a server that lags like a beast because it's hosted on an Apple II that your kid brother is also playing Word Munchers  on. If you're attempting to pay for college by hosting a Ragnarok server, you'd better be willing to put a lot of money in it, or you'll never get any out. Even if you offer all the gross wings and helms that can be found for free on every super-high rate.
What you SHOULD offer for donation items are things like Elven Ears and the Boy's Cap... people LOVE these and they don't give any stat bonuses, so it keeps everything in balance. When you can pick up LKH or the Ahura Mazda for $20, your population will be made up of nobody but donors. Now, this COULD be good, because you want the money, and the free player does nothing but lag up your server (which has a pathetically slow connection to begin with...) but the donor is not going to be happy on a server with 3 players. Note that the vast majority of private server players will never donate. Why? Well, if they wanted to pay to play, they'd go play official.

Well, I think this is about it. Let's recap:
Don't make me register on your stupid forum.
Spell-check, and don't let your little brother make your website.
Use a grf.
SMALL PATCHES!
A private server is a labor of love. Do it for the LOVE.

Now that my patch has finished updating (1hr 39 mins for ONE patch, sakray took me 1 hr 20 mins... who wins? oh burn.) I'm going to play (finally).

[NikitaDarkstar]

Mind if I add some stuff to that, well ingame stuff atleast.

Don't have a s*** of NPC's that do the same thing. Instead of having one warper, one special areas warper once custom map warper and one "I don't know what it does but I'll put it here anyway" warper, combine them into ONE.
 
Don't have TONS of palettes. I'm a fan of them, sure, but seriously when you have 500-700 for clothes and 300 for hairs then you've overdone it. Also make sure they all WORK, broken palettes are jsut frustrating and makes you look incompitent.

On the same note, have a stylist that WORKS. Don't make me use @commands to change my hairstyle and my dyes. A stylist is VERY easy to set up if you got a decent script, the least you can do is modify it to work with all your unnessicary palettes.

ORGANIZE your NPC's. This goes hand in hand with the "Don't have unnessicary NPC's" note, but seriously make them easy to find, and put them where pepole are (such as central prontera) but don't put them right in the middle of a huge crowd. (Side walks are excellent for NPC's.)

Don't make me go to your website just to see what a custom item does, learn to add custom descriptions ingame instead, again if you fail something as basic as this you look VERY incompitent.

Have a mature staff. This goes without saying, but still so many servers fail at this. When I'm playing I don't want to get spammed with server wide broadcasts about whats happening in the super bowl, if I were interested I'd turn my computer off and go watch it.

Use good looking customs that atleast color-wise match RO. Seriously, is this so hard? Neon-pink gigantic angel wings does NOT match RO, and they're even more annoying when there's 50 of them in the main town and about 100 more oversized, badly recolored customs in said town. Customs are great, but only if the one implementing them has some taste!

[superja]

amen.

and I have yet another... it's shocking how many servers have an incorrect DATA.ini file.
Most casual Ragnarok players are just going to assume the server is down and give up, rather than play around with that file... because they really shouldn't have to >.>

[Pandora]

+1 to all that's been said

However what do you mean by "Don't make me go to your website just to see what a custom item does, learn to add custom descriptions ingame instead, again if you fail something as basic as this you look VERY incompitent." Do you mean the item description or that there should be a npc telling you all the stuff on custom items? The first is obviously basic, I don't think I ever seen the second. When you don't posses the item, it's very useful to be able to go read the description on forum/website, provided it's easy to find and not hidden somewhere.

[NikitaDarkstar]

I mean that I've seen a few servers that instead of an item description when you right-click the item either has "..." or "See website for information.". I shouldn't have to go to a website just to read the stats for an item.

And yes it is sad that some admins actually are that lazy. >.<

[Itakou]

Not so...

I break most of those rules and I turned out quiet well... :b

[Kylee]

Oh how I wish admins would think before their actions.

I agree with all of this. So true. Oh, and I can't stand when an admin thinks they are a god and use the "It's my server so gtfo" excuse

[mark_sanbeda]

All server seekers will stay if there are no Bugs or errors on the server its that simple as long as the admin takes his time fixing those errors then the people will also take time to adapt to your server

[Ansuz Isaz]

Another thing to add. xD Kind of.

Before ever starting the server, always ask: What makes my server worth attention?

Honestly, I've found that while a lot of low rate servers recently are trying to make as close to the original iRO / kRO / pRO as possible. While this isn't truly bad, I've rarely seen one of these servers work without having SOMETHING that makes the atmosphere of the entire place feel unique. If it feels like the last five servers you just left, why stay in that one? Especially in regarding RMS, which has players that have generally played for a while by now, and want something different and interesting to at least some degree, having these 'we're just using the entire set up that iRO used. No more.' What fun is that? Also, what's the fun in going a server that copies another server to such a dot that you might as well have joined said other server?

I dunno. I guess it's from personal experience, as I tend to join almost every new server that's advertised here just to taste it's worth, but it's very rare for me to find a server that truly stands out, and makes itself worth giving note of. I don't see the point of making a server that thousands of others have made, and of which fifty or so of them still exist. The ONLY change I find in the mass majority of servers when compared, save maybe their rates? The positioning of their NPCs. Sadly, I'm not joking at all. Hell, half the time, all of them are similar in that, too.

[mark_sanbeda]

Its all about how dedicated the admin's are.. if they're like "Ow this bug causing problems to the players o well im tired maybe ill fix it next week zzzz.."

[Uniqueness just plays a little part of it  dedication and professionalism are the ones that stands out coz even w/ a unique server if the admin's aren't dedicated enough then its useless]

[NikitaDarkstar]

Its all about how dedicated the admin's are.. if they're like "Ow this bug causing problems to the players o well im tired maybe ill fix it next week zzzz.."

[Uniqueness just plays a little part of it  dedication and professionalism are the ones that stands out coz even w/ a unique server if the admin's aren't dedicated enough then its useless]

Actually there's more to it then that. If an admin is dedicated as hell but still completly incompitent, the server will still suck. (And thats not an intierly uncommon scenario either.)

[mark_sanbeda]

Its all about how dedicated the admin's are.. if they're like "Ow this bug causing problems to the players o well im tired maybe ill fix it next week zzzz.."

[Uniqueness just plays a little part of it  dedication and professionalism are the ones that stands out coz even w/ a unique server if the admin's aren't dedicated enough then its useless]

Actually there's more to it ten that. If an admin is dedicated as hell but still completly incompitent, the server will still suck. (And thats not an intierly uncommon scenario either.)

Well gotta admit you have your point there since not every admin is not that of a genius to solve all problems on one go 

[NikitaDarkstar]

Another thing that bugs me (and most likley bugs alot of pepole) is when the server admin dosn't have a test server of any kind at all, and just uses the normal server isntead, and when pepole find something buggy use the "Oh we're still testing that/it's new/should be working" - exuse. I mean seriously, atleast run basic tests on your scripts, sprites, maps, etc. before putting them up for public use.

@mark_sanbeda, All problems in one go is sometimes asking to much, but when you try and try and try and still can't fix a simple thing like a bonus on an equip, or an item description or pack a .grf and till can't figure it out using all guides avalible to you, then it dosn't matter if you're didicated. And sadly I've seen that far to often. (That or they're not deidcated at all and just lying.. making themselfs look even worse. ^^; )

[mark_sanbeda]

True there are times that they test it on the servers were the players are playing and usually this is were the bug starts...

[well idk if there are any servers like that anymore coz i think all admins have their test servers for safety measures]

[Skotlex]

But you know.. even without anything unique about the server, the mere fact that there's no established "normal server" gives a chance to all servers to be this.
What I mean is...
If we had a kRO-style server with excellent uptime, lagless, and well ran, it would cater and hold most RO players. As long as there's no drama, wipes, and all that sorta ugly things, it would be a "perfect" server that would satisfy the basic RO needs for most players, and then all other servers either have to be innovative somehow, or fail since they can't compete with an already established hallmark. The thing is, there's no private server that's large enough and manages to come out clean, therefore, a lot of people who launch these "just like any other" servers are probably doing so in hopes their server will pass the mark.

Well, all this holds assuming the owners know what they are doing and have their goals clear... and didn't just started a server for the heck of it thinking it would be a fun experience. Starting a server for fun may be a very educative thing... but as a player, I would not like to join a server that's not gonna be taken seriously by the owners.