How much $ can a good server make?

[ccash]

On average how much money do you think a good server can make?  Including donations and the kafra points servers sell now.

[Luna~]

r u dumb?

[Final]

r u dumb?

Oh no no he isn't dumb, He is just like those really really REALLY good server owners who only want money so they go and become corrupt so they can get even MORE money to spend on themselves!! Wooo Isn't it awesome!?

[ccash]

I have a really good gaming pc I made recently, and am thinking of investing like $1000 or so on starting up a server.  I use to run a private server and made some custom gear and stuff, so I know the basics.  Thinking about starting a new one, advertising, etc.  Obviously I don't want to invest any money if I'm going to end up losing more than I make.  Hope you guys understand  .  I am asking a serious question btw

[Habuka]

You will only make as much as you put into it. If your a good admin and dont do stupid things, you will make lots of money (In time) but you hafto remember, that money is made for the server and so it can become better then the other ones. Once it's the best, money wont even be a problem anymore. You will have more money then you can deal with. Ask AnthemRO, they are going to have loads of money now that there an eathena based server. Good luck and dont be corrupt.

[ccash]

Yea if I'm going to do this I would give it 110% and wouldn't do any of the corrupt bs.  The start up money won't be a problem either.  Other then work I pretty much have the whole summer to try and develop the server.  A random question, but are their any servers where you level primarily from quests (like WoW)?  I'm trying to think of what could make my server stick out, and make it popular.  If I removed all the traditional classes and instead put in custom stuff, how do you guys think that would go  ?

[Habuka]

There has been a few but I have only seen them fail. You can give it a try if you want.

[ccash]

I'm just brainstorming but here is what I have come up with so far:

-ELIMINATE vending.  Make everyone buy/sell through the auction house.  I would have to do something to make it popular though.
-Create enough quests for people to level from around 10-99, quests would include:
         -Item hand ins (like the one in official servers now, but maybe make them not repeatable)
         -Kill quests (like the one in official servers now, but maybe make them not repeatable)
         -Item Forging (hunt for specific items, then make armor/weapons/useable items,etc. from them)
         -Assassination (Find a mvp/mini boss on a map, and kill them.  I would create a lot more mvp/mini bosses)
         -Getting to the end of a dungeon and talk to an npc their for exp.  After you talk to the npc you're warped to your save.  (repeatable)
-Keep normal classes
-Have mini bosses/mvps drop GOOD gear for their level range.  Since most mvps/mini bosses drop useless garbage I would have to change things up.
-Really create a whole new forging system, where anyone can collect drops and turn them into good gear/potions/etc.  How would I improve blacksmiths/alchemists though?
-Remove a lot of maps that no one ever goes to.
-Eliminate monster specific cards and create maybe like 20 basic ones (20% extra dmg to monsters, etc.)
-Somehow give good incentives to those who party with each other, but not make it unbalanced

People have been playing the same game for so long.  Maybe their's different custom gears on one server but still.  I don't know, if I was going to play I would want something i'm familiar with yet have it be a new experience.

[LemonCrosswalk]

Bad question. Most servers don't make money.

[Habuka]

Most servers are stupid and the admin sucks.

[ccash]

Let me ask a different question...How much would it cost a month to run a server with an average population of 500+ people?

[Habuka]

Dont expect to get 500 people and it is up to the host.

[ccash]

Well say it costs $350 a month to run a server with 500 people on average.  I would think most of them would agree to pay $1 a month.  I would be able to make a profit, and not have to sell any unbalanced donation items.  The server would probably grow since a lot of people probably don't like the whole donation = unbalanced items stuff.  How hard would it be to implement a system like that?

[LemonCrosswalk]

Well say it costs $350 a month to run a server with 500 people on average.  I would think most of them would agree to pay $1 a month.  I would be able to make a profit, and not have to sell any unbalanced donation items.  The server would probably grow since a lot of people probably don't like the whole donation = unbalanced items stuff.  How hard would it be to implement a system like that?

Lol. This is like the funniest post of the month.

No way. When you do run a server, you usually have a handful of hardcore donaters that make up your funds if you don't have donation items. People are not going to pay to play a server. You're being grossly unrealistic.

[Orme]

Do you realize that earning big money on Gravity's back will only cause them to launch a whole platoon of ninja-lawyers after your « donkey » like it was the Holy Grail ?

[Descent]

Well say it costs $350 a month to run a server with 500 people on average.  I would think most of them would agree to pay $1 a month.  I would be able to make a profit, and not have to sell any unbalanced donation items.  The server would probably grow since a lot of people probably don't like the whole donation = unbalanced items stuff.  How hard would it be to implement a system like that?

Seriously, guy...stop talking profits where RO is concerned.

It'll be better for *everybody* in the long run...

[Meimiko]

Unless you were working with an official Gravity server like iRO there's very little profit to make without being a corrupt owner. While your players might (Probably only 10-20% on average every month) donate to help keep the server alive all the money you make has to go into the server to keep it going. Not only do you need to invest in the server hosting you would have to invest in advertisements and a nice website to attract new players. You might have to search for some top notch scripters to help set your server apart from others with some unique features. Not to mention the countless amount of hours you'd have to spend on your server making sure it's secure and your players are happy. Although I've never owned my own server, I'm pretty sure it's like a full time job to own one.

If you're after a quick buck you're looking at the wrong business. You'll most likely lose money anyways. Last time I checked server owners that made/currently have great servers weren't doing it for the money, they were doing it simply because they loved RO and wanted to go above and beyond to create an amazing server.

[Habuka]

And once they made those servers and had there fun. They rack in the 100 donators money and close down or act super stupid and sell hidden items so they can make even more money.

[LemonCrosswalk]

By the way, I charge a 10 dollar consultation fee per post. You will receive my bill in the mail.

[DarkDevine]

If you have that s*** of money to keep a server up without getting paid, do something for the community and make a GOOD server without donation stuff and payment.
That would be the only thing that could make your server popular.

Serious, RO is a f*** Game, not a place to talk about srs bsns.

[Mushu]

Step 1, Look at anthemro or talonro donation site and copy paste. Step 2, advertise. Step 3, get ALL DA MONIES.

No but seriously, I think the best way to make a profit is to have donation items that can be obtained through a very long and tedious quest, which I think the younger age players who don't have money will do to get the items and the older age players who have money will do the donation

[Astraliche]

no matter how good you are, your gonna get busted soon enough.

either by the players

or...no one, they'll leave you alone.

unless you have backup.

like LRO, the owner's nice, and they have a good record so far.

it'd be better if you have no intention to make money at all.

LRO...?

[Skotlex]

Aw, if only I had seen this when it was still a hot topic.

A lot of responders missed the point.... here's a "business man" which also happens to enjoy RO, and was considering making a server and spending time/cash on it as long as the turn-out was good. He was just asking how feasible that was.

Someone did point out that you can't outright make a server for profit because that gets you in hot-steam with Gravity. Therefore, no server will outright say they are in for making money (and because of this, no-one is going to reveal how much they are making). Instead, what servers do is claim to be "donation-based," but then these donations don't all go into the server (as most players would expect out of a "donation"), and the admins do what they can to reap the most money out of their user base, which in turn gets to be called "corruption" by the latter.

So no, you can't really get the numbers because it's like asking what's the income level of working in the mafia.

[Cupid]

no matter how good you are, your gonna get busted soon enough.

either by the players

or...no one, they'll leave you alone.

unless you have backup.

like LRO, the owner's nice, and they have a good record so far.

it'd be better if you have no intention to make money at all.

LRO...?

If you're talking about Limit RO, no, the server owner ain't "nice".
Last time I checked, he was in the GM Hall of Shame.

[DarkDevine]

Someone did point out that you can't outright make a server for profit because that gets you in hot-steam with Gravity. Therefore, no server will outright say they are in for making money (and because of this, no-one is going to reveal how much they are making). Instead, what servers do is claim to be "donation-based," but then these donations don't all go into the server (as most players would expect out of a "donation"), and the admins do what they can to reap the most money out of their user base, which in turn gets to be called "corruption" by the latter.

So no, you can't really get the numbers because it's like asking what's the income level of working in the mafia.

To earn donations you must be a public charity, at least that's what the law says, I wonder which is the situation with the law having a donation-based server, I think the income of this server is illegal as well, though I don't know exactly.

OP, you want to have numbers.
The PornRO admin once told me, he earned about 9000 USD the first three days when PornRO opened back in...when was it? 2005?
I heard about servers earning about 60.000 USD a month, though I don't know if it's true, no names.
Ecchi-RO currently has about...10 players? and earns enough money to be up for a few years now with the admin having a new Win7-High-End-PC.

So yes, you can make money with RO and obviously more than you need, some people out there just have too much money, want to be OP in a game so they steal the credit-cards of their parents and donate 1000$ in a bunch, this actually happens, other people have their normal income and can provide about 20$ USD a month for fun without problems, so why not donating in to a game they're playing.
The thing is, you need players. You will never get players having them paying 1$ USD/month, they could just copy the server and let it run for free, everyone could do that. The first thing when making a server shouldn't be "how to make money?" or "how much money will I get?", it should be "how will I get players?". If you have players, money will flow anyways.

[Astraliche]

no matter how good you are, your gonna get busted soon enough.

either by the players

or...no one, they'll leave you alone.

unless you have backup.

like LRO, the owner's nice, and they have a good record so far.

it'd be better if you have no intention to make money at all.

LRO...?

If you're talking about Limit RO, no, the server owner ain't "nice".
Last time I checked, he was in the GM Hall of Shame.

Lu****RO.

the owner's nice (to people, as far as i know.), and they did donate the money to some people who needed them =/

[Habuka]

To awnser your question, there is NO such thing as profit in a Ragnarok Online Private Server.

[AquarRO]

my previous server that i open for 200 days i had about 12,000$

[Descent]

I'm surprised that this hasn't been said yet....

A good server isn't made for money.

[Habuka]

Better yet, a good admin doesnt make money.

[adhelle]

Do not come with lame attitudes like some people that build a server with plenty of OP donation items then close the server at will to scam people.
But if you do not want to scam people...
I do not recommend RO for making money because even being a good admin and having a good server does not guarantee safe money, oposite.
It's pretty hard to build a solid community (let's be frank, RO is old), and building a solid community does not guarantee donations, and having donations does not guaratee you will keep to have them.
Also you should worry about making a good and balanced server for players to have fun and not about that, because money-maker servers depend on OP donations, which suck, and 99% of these servers eventually die.

[ore0s]

blackout RO makes a lot of money.  i know the admistrator/owner make enough money to pay for his rent, server, AND college funds.  1k+ players back when i was on it and almost every known players i knew were using donation items.  they had an economy that revolves around trading donations for zeny and vice versa.

[LemonCrosswalk]

blackout RO makes a lot of money.  i know the admistrator/owner make enough money to pay for his rent, server, AND college funds.  1k+ players back when i was on it and almost every known players i knew were using donation items.  they had an economy that revolves around trading donations for zeny and vice versa.

It also pays for his jet pack and his flying car.

[Descent]

blackout RO makes a lot of money.  i know the admistrator/owner make enough money to pay for his rent, server, AND college funds.  1k+ players back when i was on it and almost every known players i knew were using donation items.  they had an economy that revolves around trading donations for zeny and vice versa.

He said good server. Not crap.

[ccash]

Iv'e been playing iRO for a while, even before 2-2 came out.  Not every month though.  I wouldn't make a server and lose money every month just to let everyone play for free at my expense.  The idea of running my own server still interests me.  Donation items that you could either pay for, or get through a long quest sounds like a great idea since their would be a pretty even playing field.  And i'm not looking to run the server into the ground just to make a quick buck fyi.  I'm only asking how much I could make since I rather not throw the money away.  I think I would make it in between low and mid rate, and expand upon what iRO has done and add more monster drop/kill quests.  Keep everything pretty similiar though.  The startup money wouldn't be much of a problem either as I've said.  Would anyone else want to be a part of it?

Edit: Maybe make some minor changes, like adding a slot or something to a blacksmith weapons.  If I was going to do this, I would really make ragnarok online a better game and include changes players have wanted on official servers.

[LemonCrosswalk]

If you don't want to loose money, don't bother.

[ccash]

How much do you think it would cost to host to have someone else host an eathena server with say 100 players?  I could try it out for a few months, grow the amount of players, etc. and test the waters.  Worst comes to worst I have to shut down.  Even if I am losing a little bit the first couple months that would be fine.

[GorthexTiger]

Step 1: Make a High Rate: Set high levels and do 3rd jobs.

Step 2: Download everything that works off eAthena and cram it into your server and claim it's "custom".

Step 3: Make VERY OP donations and claim they are "questable" and make 1 impossible quest that will give people donation items.

Step 4: OVER HYPE YOUR SERVER. Lie, cheat, steal, draw pretty banners, do and say anything that will give your server more attention. "Hack" your server, create false other servers and report them here on RMS to say they are "advertising on your server" (PROTIP: You are secretly advertising your server ) and have someone from your staff come and play "admin". Do whatever it takes to give your server attention, but remember not to overplay it: make sure that the drama is unpredictable, but still is believable: you don't want a new crisis every week.

Step 5: Hourly - 30 minute broadcasts of RMS Reviews: Nothing is more annoying than getting hounded about it: create a script that will pester people to review your server: hopefully they will get the picture.

Step 6: Place a donation meter or something that will announce how much money you have or how much your target goal is: if you get people hooked soon enough, you can make them scrimp and save and eat ramen while you coerce them into donating because "we only have $20 in the donation account QQ" when you really have $200. And remember: ALWAYS CHANGE IT. If people donate, remember to add their donations to the counter (especially if it's at the beginning of the month). If it's near the end of the month (roughly, 23~+) you can justify not updating it, but it gets harder to do the further away you are from the end of the month.

Step 7: ??

Step 8: PROFIT!!!!!

Srsly gaiz, di's gaiz a trollz, go way nao plz, ev3ry1 k/\/00z u cna't mak3 zneiz en RO.

[adhelle]

you forgot telling him to secretly sell angra manyus for 500 bucks each

[Kiyoshiro]

Hey now. Don't forget the Ahura Mazdahs <3

[Descent]

Here, just ask this guy how it's done. I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you.

http://www.eathena.ws/board/index.php?showuser=7775

[Kei]

OnTopic: Zero.

[ore0s]

I think server owners on good servers actually lose money <---knowledge bomb O_o.  Like someone said, they gain something much more valuable; the joy of doing something they like and bringing it to the rest of the RO communities.