How do you get an initial population anyway?

Started by Skotlex, Jun 29, 2007, 04:00 AM

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Skotlex

Hmm. I was wondering. My server has existed for pretty much three years (or more? Its been a long time), yet it has never gone above an average of 10 people online. Surely, there must be something I am doing wrong! :B

I know one of the biggest battles for any new server is to get some sort of initial base population that will make new-people stick around (most people don't want to play in an empty server). How do you accomplish this anyway? I've had the server up in a few top 100/200/500/etc RO server listings, and the few people who stick around seem to encourage friends to stick around. But what more can I do?

I've discussed with others the creation of a banner for the server, but some doubt it would help that much.
I don't think GMs would help much as some of the players that stick around do help the new people (some have been around long enough to have a lot of junk to give away for free from their storages to new people), and others do have characters which they can use to help new people (however, these people also have a life and can't be expected to be online all the time!)

Is there anything else that can be recommended? I'd be easier if I had a few dozen friends to invite over to play, but it seems all of my friends are already busy :B

As someone else in MouRO's forums said... is not like we are trying to aim at hundreds of users, just a small base that would make it easier to find a party when you feel like hopping online to play (even an average of 10~20 would be awesome). But what is the secret to getting this initial population?

(RMS reviews)

Pow

Initially the server I play on and help staff right now, was filled with players - enough to warrant people playing. This all died however after some.. not so good decisions by a "third party" <-- Yes.. thats what we will refer to him as.

So I can't really help you with the initial population, but we have had to rebuild for a couple months, and will have to again soon *sigh*. So its kind of the same thing. For us, I guess it is a little easier since we have been around for a while and the name is somewhat known.. for all the wrong reasons mind you, but its still known.

For the most part, its word of mouth that gets people to pay - kind of like a pyramid scheme. Although if you have a small player base like you state you have - this can be somewhat difficult. Its the same with TOP 100/200 lists, if you can only bring in 10 votes a day, its not that much and you will get easily buried :(.

If you are the same skotlex from eA (Which, from the way you present yourself, I think you are ;) - sorry for jumping to conclusions :P) maybe you should try advertising abit around there. You know yourself there is umpteen thousand threads for that kind of thing - and I guess thats a good place to start, even though most of the people on the eA forums aren't there to play =\.

Once people start coming (even if it is the extra 10-20 people you would like) , the friendliness of the community will do the rest and your pyramid will build itself.

Oh and just because you don't have players, doesn't mean its your fault  :D
Divided we stand, together we fall.
There isn't any god that can save us all
So don't pray on your knees, just beg on your hands
There is no belief in this promised land

dook

as i said before, midrates do seem to be unpopular. They just dont seem to get the interest that LR and HR do. also when you have a small population you get the reverse snowball effect ( player comes on, realises servers empty, leaves = low population etc etc) whereas when u start getting alot of players people stay because of that. All i do is go on every voting site i can find and on RMS and get a steady stream of new players. but then again my server is a 99/70 and people like that. I wish you all the best skot. after all the effort you put into eA and your server, you deserve it :P

Transcend

lawl and point is,a server ran by skotlex is probably,techniqualy and staff wise ...the best lawl?

Skotlex

Quote from: Transcend on Jun 29, 2007, 09:50 AM
lawl and point is,a server ran by skotlex is probably,techniqualy and staff wise ...the best lawl?
Best is a subjective term. I have my own idea of how I'd like a MMORPG to be, MouRO has evolved over the years to approach that idea. It is highly different, so it isn't just "RO". The people who stick do so because they actually have fun with all the changes, but I am pretty sure there may be people who don't like it because of the exact reasons others like it: because it's too different.

Advertising in the eA boards is not allowed :B I was thinking that just getting a banner that catches your attention, and have all the current 'loyal' users wear it while they go around in different internet boards could help. And I need to get back into working on eA, but my svn access is still broken and the svn maintainer can't fix it >.<;

(RMS reviews)

Transcend

Give me some info,i can make you a captivating banner ,youl just have to embeded it with a link.

Pow

Quote from: Skotlex on Jun 29, 2007, 11:58 AM
Advertising in the eA boards is not allowed :B I was thinking that just getting a banner that catches your attention, and have all the current 'loyal' users wear it while they go around in different internet boards could help. And I need to get back into working on eA, but my svn access is still broken and the svn maintainer can't fix it >.<;

:o I could have sworn those umpteen thousands threads were for advertising o.o.


or is it just for those countries listed =o.. Anywho - I don't think you wanna pay for that little measly ad space they will give you =\
Divided we stand, together we fall.
There isn't any god that can save us all
So don't pray on your knees, just beg on your hands
There is no belief in this promised land

yC

wow you are the eA Skotlex, i used see your name everywhere in the eA changelog so i admire you in a way xD

This is an interesting topic, but since my server failed i can't help much.

Well first thing would be friends, and friends' friends etc word of mouth like the guy said.  Your server has been around for 3 years i think you have been done with it ... and then once there are constant average ppl on ppl will not come and go because it's not an empty server anymore.

But that doesn't answer your question ... the plan is to get bunch of ppl to ur server instead of just 1 or 2 at a time.  I have seen ... well not recommend doing this the ugly way ... but there are always server going down maybe getting players from "to be down" server is another way.  If you can do it nicely, such as private messaging the owner of the "to be down" server asking if they can recommend the players to ur server or get permission for advertise before opening a topic in their forum ...

The problem is there are too many servers these days, i see a trend nowaday that ppl dont play on one server.  They spread their "investment" so when one server goes down they play the other.  Maybe due to the fact that servers go down/dead too often and ppl are scared.

The "third party" effect ... i think you mean a lot of time a whole guild leaves a server because they got owned in woe or they feel they were treated unfairly and if you have a small population it hurts the growth a lot.

ok what i am saying ... i dont know ... this is a hard problem...

Transcend

#8
that s why i said that  a server ran by him would be very well made
also even you Yc ,second hope was not succesfull because of it s bad timing (euph comming back) but HopeRO was nice to play on :)
but i get that,get a bunch of players
Means do it with the ugly way.will start doing that tomorow lol ;p
@skotlex tell them who you are lol?!!
Ah seriously,RO stopped being fun since eAO :(

Akira

#9
atractic players is hard specially with few boards to advertise and the high competition between servers, specially because ragnarok dont have a bunch of new players joining servers but mostly people jumping from server to server.

i may try to play there tho, need a place to play for a bit in my server all know my legits xD (no privacy)

p.s.
I should add, a nice website always catch players attention, usually (not always) but in good aprt something that gives newcomers a good/bad impression of your server.

P.S.2.
*mad fan scream* omg is Skotlex waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! :o *fades*

Pow

Uh-ohs..

I think I stepped in it when I asked if it was him, I never thought that Skotlex probably came here to be treated as a normal person and wanted to get away from eA kiddies being all over him.


Skotlex, I'm sorry if I've let the cat out of the bag, so to speak  :-[
Divided we stand, together we fall.
There isn't any god that can save us all
So don't pray on your knees, just beg on your hands
There is no belief in this promised land

yC

offtopic:
we aren't eA kiddies dont be scared lol ...

and hey! who are you that know the name of my failed server T_T nop i didnt regret it the 2nd time, i rarely get involved in the 2nd run, was too busy/lazy, riot did most and he got sick and tired of it so it was my fault maybe but i wont admit it anyway ... running a server takes a lot of time and money i dont understand why ppl keep jumping in to the bandwagon when i can't wait to get off it.

on topic:
maybe we need to expand the RO community in order to get new blood, gravity need to do more advertising really, the world wide kind.  Maybe if they advertise RO2 well and cheap ppl that don't want to pay will come to us to play RO1 lol

It's not completely one way out and no one in, there are friends that drag friends never played official server to play RO, so there are still new ppl coming in .. just too little compare to the amount of servers out there.

dook

yeah i often meet players that have never played before, and its usually word of mouth, friends etc, that got them to play.

Transcend

Humm,I am one who has assisted to the ragnarok history :)

aquameep

you could always advertise on newgrounds.com for 650USD a day.