How does one draw in a community for their Minecraft server?
I'm kind of withdrawn and I don't talk a lot but I want to curate a community of chill people to play with. I just started my server and I've got 3 people whitelisted, of which 2 have shown up and those two are family members. And one person who tried to join but wasn't whitelisted, but idk how they got the ip since they're not in the discord.
I have around 300 subscribers where I posted the link, but only 3 people joined the discord (one being another subscriber, bc one of my family members hasn't accepted the discord invite yet but is whitelisted anyway bc duh). I'm just kind of feeling like the kid who invited his whole class to his birthday party but only 2 people showed up. I'm not sure what I've done wrong or if I missed an important step.
The best servers I've played on were official ones from subreddits that I frequented on. The one I'm thinking of right now was the official /r/Linux server. The nature of the subreddit attracted a lot of older and more technical people that I really enjoyed talking to and playing with.
I'm not really sure how this comment helps but I guess what I'm saying is that if you can find a community that you enjoy and post it there, you could grow the server. I'm not sure of the rules here but posting it on tildes might get you a decent crowd.
Thanks for the help! I posted it to my community where I post resourcepacks. I ofc haven't finished the server resource pack yet, but I'll get it up soon.
You could put a link here, I'm sure a bunch of people still play Minecraft on Tildes and are willing to drop in.
I wasn't sure about the rules on advertising/putting links here, but I'll put the ip. And I'll at least temporarily remove the whitelist. I just don't want someone griefing stuff ofc. The link to the discord is in the MOTD if anyone wants to join that, too.
IP:
173.240.145.124:25565
I always had decent luck with the reddit.com/r/mcservers. Some days we'd post our server and get no hits at all, others we'd post and get a few people to hang out with and play.
We also had no whitelist or waiting period, basically no hurdles other than actually running across the post on Reddit, clicking the link, and obtaining the IP. Sounds weird from an admin perspective I know, but it worked well for the years we ran the server. This is only possible if you are on top of moderation though, of course.
I've at least temporarily removed the whitelist, and I'll try that subreddit :) thank you!
Do you have any sort of requirements for application? Age limits, technical/building experience, is this a vanilla or modded server? Being a bit more specific about these will help find players and curate the experience you're looking for.
No real requirements, just willing to play nice with others. It's a semi modded server with QoL stuff mostly, and some fun stuff like hats, sitting anywhere, etc. Nothing game changing. Here's what I wrote on the reddit submission:
A server that is brand new, and needs more members. We have a cool seed where there's almost all biomes near spawn, and a dedicated shopping district. No whitelist (hopefully I wont have to have one). The spawn area building is temporary and I'd like for the server to collectively build a town of starter bases there. 1, so we have our own area to run to in case of death w/o a bed set, and 2, so we can have a cool mishmash of styles to see and neighbors to interact with.
Most mods/datapacks are quality of life and perks like nicknames, hats, sitting anywhere, timber mod, etc. We also have server friendly recipes for items like shulker boxes (spire template with 8 planks), duplicating pottery sherds (same way you would with trims but with a brick and 7 copper), and more. There is a main focus on resource packs that add some aesthetic blocks like carved wood, colored cobblestone, glazed terracotta patterns, new colorful designs for pottery sherds, and more. (Resourcepack is still in progress, and hasn't been implemented yet, but will be soon)
Also looking for mods (0/3 spots filled) to help for when I'm not able to be online. Preferences are that you are at least 20 years old, and have some experiencence being a mod of a server. Feel free to apply even if you don't have these qualifications, as I'm sure we can work together on getting you up to speed. Perks for mods include getting 1000 extra claim blocks (claim system coming soon) as well as all recipes unlocked, access to /nickname and /hat as well (hats coming soon, too), and a special rank indicating mod status (ranks also coming soon).
Server IP
Osland.mcserver.us
Discord
https://discord.gg/a2mMpnbC9x
I think you won't go far at all without a unique domain. If people can't tell their friends about this really fun server they were playing on earlier because they can't remember the IP then you'll fail.
Morgan Freeman said it best in an interview discussing why Shawshank Redemption bombed at the box office on release.
Likewise, a server will only grow organically through people inviting their friends and their friends inviting their friends. You may see some new faces here and there from server listing websites or whatever, but unless people can talk about your server and how great it is it'll probably fall flat.
Word of mouth isn't just people telling their friends though, it's also influencers telling their following about it. It doesn't even have to be a big influencer either, if someone with 1,000 subscribers posts a video (or better yet a recurring series) on your server and just 5% of their fans try it out that's 50 new players. You'll probably have an easier time getting your server in front of smaller content creators. And like anyone else streamers and YouTubers talk to their friends which very well could also be creators that have a larger following.
Just found out how to get a domain name, thank you! :)
It's okay to feel embarrassed, but don't take it to heart. Having subscribers who consume content does not necessarily mean that they are active participants in the game. It also does not guarantee that they play nice. You might have a better time joining public servers and recruiting players who seem chill to your server.
I don't play Minecraft, but that's how I was invited into a Discord game server (which I'm still in) years ago. I was the rando "in the wild" joining the instance of two people who were in a private group. I found that most members had been brought in by someone else.
Good luck!