No idea what to do anymore :\

[Kisuka]

*sighs*

I seriously have no idea what to do anymore....

I been running my RO server since 2005, and since then it has never once went over 150 active players :\

Now it's down to 15 - 25 active people daily... I seriously have no idea how to attract new players anymore.

Seems like all these new servers are getting all the players, which just doesn't seem fair to people that have been dedicated to running a server for almost 6 years now.

Any suggestions or thoughts? Cuz I have completely run out... *sighs*

[DeePee]

Make it a midrate, give it a fancy website, say you only started a month ago, , profit!

But yeah I hear ya. It's really really hard these days to get people on a lowrate. You really need something unique to attract players.

[Kisuka]

Make it a midrate, give it a fancy website, say you only started a month ago, , profit!

But yeah I hear ya. It's really really hard these days to get people on a lowrate. You really need something unique to attract players.

Well I did have some ideas, but I've pretty much lost all motivation after 6 years

Things would be so much more fun and exciting if some people actually worked on that open source ragnarok client :\ then customization would be fun.

I find it kind of annoying that all these new servers just come along, download Flux CP, slap on a theme, throw some customs into their eAthena, and boom have 300 people in 1 month :\

[DeePee]

Yeah... that's exactly the thing. Running a RO server is far too easy now, sorta, haha. And people just keep joining new servers that they know will die within a few months. Whenever the next "big thing" is announced and opens in a month or so, people will massively join it and hope it will stay up, I guess. Mainly because everyone starts at the same point again so they all level up equally.

[Kisuka]

yeah back in 2005/2004 u had to at least have SOME knowledge to run a server, not its just point and click :\

I've closed my server now after six years

[DeePee]

Sad to hear that Another long lasting server biting the dust. I'm lucky that after almost 4 years, my server is actually going pretty well now. We've also had really bad times (lowest I counted was 8 non-vendors like 2-3 years ago) so I know how frustrating it can be ._.

[Kisuka]

Sad to hear that Another long lasting server biting the dust. I'm lucky that after almost 4 years, my server is actually going pretty well now. We've also had really bad times (lowest I counted was 8 non-vendors like 2-3 years ago) so I know how frustrating it can be ._.

Ya Good luck, hope you last longer then I did.

At least I have RO2:LotS to look forward to.

[yC]

Well sad to hear that Kisuka.  Take the server off your mind for a while, then think what you want to do next.

[Skotlex]

Yeah, running a server is all about inspiration and motivation. If you feel burn out after so much effort and so little rewards, perhaps it is best to just go elsewhere, at least for a while.

Hey, I am not complaining, despite having an almost seven year old server that never broke the 30 population count barrier, and is currently at two online players

And I am still working on it :v mostly because I just like to play on it. I kinda wish I had more friends to play with, though. Most of the old friends I played with already moved on to other things :B

Also, the server is now ranking like 46 in RMS because only the three last reviews were made in the last six months. Talk about a low activity season/phase... ^^;

[MeowyMeow]

Ohwell damn, it's 2011.

You should've got yourself into what's happening in at least 2010 or maybe late 2009ish. People progress, they don't stay on kawaii PvM servers, even if your server isn't one, everyone ~moves~ on with the times. As stated obviously, WoE is what make RO revolutionary in some sense though.

[l2ue]

ZONK.

[DarkDevine]

This is the result of what happened the last 4 years.
One crappy server after another has been stomped out of the ground and went down after 2 weeks of bad administration.
Now people won't waste their time in low rates and servers where you need to work hard for your stuff.

If you want to create a successful RO server, give it 1000+ Rates, all downloadable customs you can find and call it something like "DevilAngelHeaven(omgwesoawsoem)RO". You will have tons of players.


Or, do it like many other people do, just let it die. If you don't touch RO, it will eventually die slowly and a new game will replace it and its community.

[MickyRO]

ye it's hard to get a players these day since those noob owner that open server only for cash keep close down after 1 month or 2 so they all go to high populate server because server there live longer

[Chemical Crush]

ye it's hard to get a players these day since those noob owner that open server only for cash keep close down after 1 month or 2 so they all go to high populate server because server there live longer

That is not true.  High rates do not last the longest.  You just don't have to work as hard for your stuff unlike low rates.  So people just move to high rates cauase they're like ' why not play something I know I can get all my stuff faster than a 3x rate server'  I've seen more high rate servers die than low rate servers. 

[Leamee]

Yup, turn it into a midrate. I don't like midrates that much (I honestly get bored after 2 weeks and MVP drops ruined RO > satan morroc in particular) but you'll get more people. If the server I'm on wipes right now, I won't feel that bad because even if I worked hard for the stuff I have, all in all I didn't spend more than 40 or 50 hours hunting things (which is a lot I know, but on a low rate it takes 10x as much time).
Low rates used to be the norm and they'd run for years but after a wipe or two people get tired, even if they're playing a midrate.