oh boy here we go again
I haven't played Minecraft regularly in, what, two or three years now. I can't really say I know what's going on with the game any more. What I can say is that watching the various Minecraft servers that have tried to get off the ground in this community and elsewhere in those last two or three years, I've formed some semblance of an opinion as to why they've all failed.
Let's take a quick look at the situation we're in right now.
I'm pretty sure in three things:
a) Minecraft is still a fairly massive game,
b) it's easy to set up a server for Minecraft,
and c) for various reasons, many players are interested in setting up their own server.
That means that:
a) there are more servers out there than is really necessary,
b) any unique idea you can think of for a server has probably already been done, and more times than you would expect
and c) if you want to get any new players at all, you're going to have to set yourself apart from the masses of generic SMPs.
When you look at the two latter conclusions together, you can see a certain problem starting to emerge. How do you set your server apart from all the rest, if it's probably not that unique? I think it's possible, but it's going to be a lot more difficult than just making a good server and thinking that's going to be enough.
Here's what you need for a successful server, one that not only draws in new players, but also retains them and the players that are already part of this community:
Firstly, exceptional quality. It's not good enough to simply be good, you have to be better. The server has to be polished, the bugs fixed, the gameplay exciting, the looks pretty. The server has to be finished before you launch it. And it's all doable, but it's going to take effort. I believe that the people in this community are capable and even willing to put in that effort, but it's not going to be easy.
Secondly, advertising. It has to be there, it has to be inviting and it has to make a good first impression that already sets the server out from all the rest.
Thirdly, a friendly, welcoming playerbase and staff that is not rude to newcomers, but is also not overly sensitive. We have to be able to not fall into technicalities, but rather judge every situation separately and according to the spirit of the rules, not the letter of them.
Fourthly, and I can not stress this enough because this is what Minecraft fails in on its own, gameplay that doesn't get repetitive after a few days or weeks. I think it can be achieved, for example, perhaps a progressing storyline told through quests and events that get released every now and then, or maybe new dungeons every few weeks. The point is, if you want this to work, I think you have to constantly give players new things to do, otherwise they get bored and you're left with a declining server.
And finally, which I think is the most important bit, and something this particular community struggles with especially, is that you have to stop trying to cater to the people that are already here. It's unsustainable. No one is going to stay here forever. Of the people who were here back when this was still TheOnes, how many are still here? Of the people who have left, how many are actually going to come back? Times change, and we have to be able to change with them. Normally this would be the point where I'd start asking the same questions Rune asked, like "Why haven't we still really done the overhaul?", but Jolt is right in saying that this isn't really the place for it. Instead, I want to tell you to start thinking about what you can do to bring new people here and retain them, not what you can do to bring old people back and retain them, because, honestly, for some of us, I think our days of playing Minecraft are simply over and there's no amount of quality servers that can change that fact.
Ultimately, I think that luck also has a part to play in any potential server's failure or success. You can make a shitty server with almost no advertising and the most generic gameplay imaginable, and it can still be successful, for a time, and you can make a completely unique, polished, well-advertised, friendly server and it can still fail. But there are things you can do to tip the scales ever so slightly in your favour, and I hope it all works out this time, if only because I can't even find it in myself to mockingly laugh anymore whenever I see an announcement for a new SMP in this community.
