[Guide] Running A Succesful Private Server

[Dr. Livingstone]

Hello MMOwned! I've spent a lot of time on these forums and I've noticed the mass amounts of private servers that people create that are doomed to fail miserably. This made me decide to create a guide that would help people who are really ready to commit to making a server, and would also show people who don't want to commit all their time to a server that this isn't something you can really do without spending a large amount of time working on it. Hopefully this will help someone out.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

The Leap in the Dark

Starting your private server is a big deal. You need to have some emulation skills. Every once in awhile a good admin comes on the scene that has no emulation skills at all. Normally that leads to more issues in the long haul though. If you want your server to succeed you can't try to ease your way into things. Hamachi/Repacks are a bad idea. Avoid them at all costs. Private servers cost money. Don't try to fool yourself. You will end up eventually forking out some money. You might be better off getting a dedicated server from the start. By doing this you prove to people you are serious about what you are planning. Along the same lines, get a webhost and a webdev. Your website is the first thing most people will see when they are looking at your server. If your website doesn't look good people will be less tempted to join. Go out of your way to find good devs. I'm going to be honest here. Most devs you find on MMOwned are unskilled. Go find good ones. Don't give just anyone a job either. This is a sure fire way to screw yourself over. These are just the first steps to creating a private server. You aren't even close to opening your doors yet. Oh and one more thing. Expect to be in the red for quite some time.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

The Honeymoon

The development phase is really the honeymoon phase of your private server. Everything looks like its going good, and everything looks promising. You are happy with your staff, and you feel like it will just be a week or so before the server is online and hundreds of people will be online. But things inevitably go wrong. Your launch date will get pushed back time and time again. That week until launch turns into a month, and in that time you are getting no donations. You will be supporting the server entirely out of your own pocket. Not to mention you will see that some people you thought were good devs turn out to be crap. They can't do what you ask and you are forced to let them go. Find some more devs, and again. Don't just hire anyone. It might look like the more devs you have the faster things will go, but massive dev teams lead to massive drama. You will probably end up launching your server with less finished than you hoped. This is okay to an extent, but don't let this be an excuse. Towards the end of this phase its good to make sure you have a good GM staff. GM's are your PR guys. If they are terrible it reflects poorly on your server. Just like with your devs, make sure you have good GM's that speak fluent English. And by fluent English I mean if you ask them a question there is no leet speak or abreviations. Your GM shouldn't be asking "Wat is ur prblm?". They should be asking "I received your ticket. Can you please go into further detail about the problem?"
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

The Tribulation

When players start to come on your server things get stressful. That GM that seemed like a cool guy turns out to be an idiot. He's built a GM Hideout somewhere and summons players just to .kill them. He doesn't even know how to answer a ticket. There is almost always one of these guys on a startup server. You need to have zero tolerance for this stuff. Fire him right then and there. I'm sorry to say, but you need to make an example of him. Prove to the other GM's that if they want to keep working on the server than they need to do what they are asked to do. You need to remember that development must keep up the same pace it did during the development phase. I advise you make a second development server that the players cannot connect to. Developing on your live server is very risky. If a dev messes up, which one is sure to do, you don't want to screw over everything you have worked on over the past months. Now you will be seeing people come online and offline. Don't be suprised if the most non-GM's your server sees online at one time is in the 5-10 range. This is normal. Give them rewards for voting and maintain a friendly community. These first customers are vital to your server. If they like what they see they will tell their friends. If they don't... They will tell their friends... Remember that the community will grow exponentially. Things may seem slow at first, but as you grow things will pick up. Not every server will see things pick up. Some servers don't survive this trying little time. If you don't think you can put up with this stress then don't start a private server. Its that simple. If you are one of the few servers that come out of the first few months with a solid community then you are in a good position, but remember, this is very very rare.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

Purgatory

After your months of hiring, developing, and struggling to survive you come to a point where you aren't doing well, but you aren't doing poorly either. Most likely you are still in the red, but you aren't losing as much money as before. People are starting to donate and you are climbing the ranks on XtremeTop100. This all sounds good, but at this point you are tired of this whole thing. You are constantly losing money and don't know if you will ever get it back. Your devs will most likely begin to get boring with what they are doing. They will want to start new projects. You need to try to keep them on track. Don't start another realm until you are out of the red! If you start another realm you will split your population and kill your server. Make sure your GM's are holding events. This keeps the people on your server happy. They like to do things, and they like to see GM's operate... who knows why. Just like with your devs your GM's will get bored. They want to do new things too. Frustrated and bored GM's spell disaster. You need to keep them inline. You will probably end up pushing your staff to the breaking point. If it looks like your staff might start quiting then you need to appease them. If your devs need a new project give it to them. If your GM's want to start new events let them. This phase is stressful. Very very stressful.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

Success or Failure

You've made it! Or so it seems. Donations are coming in and you feel like everything is going to be okay. Most likely you are seeing some profit. The temptation to spend this money for yourself will be growing. Do not become that greedy admin who uses the money for themselves. If you are making a WoW Private Server to make you money then get out. People like that are the ones who are hated by the community... WoWscape anyone? Sure. Go ahead and reimburse yourself for the money you lost at the start, but don't go buying plasma screen TV's and iPhones with the money. For most admins this won't matter. Most servers will fail and make no money. Actually you will probably lose money. this is something you have to be ready for. This period that you are in is the final period. You can go either way. Your server can crash and burn, or continue to grow. If it keeps growing you are one of the lucky few and deserve the praise you will receive, and if you fail... well it might not have anything to do with your server in the end. Making a private server is a leap in the dark, and it has risks. There is a large matter of luck involved in if you succeed or not. You could make the best server ever and still fail. You need to remember that. If you make it to the success point it doesn't mean your server is the best. It could still suck. I myself don't understand why people gravitate to certain things, but they do. And you need to realize that there is always the chance that they won't gravitate towards your server.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||
I made this post because I was becoming frustrated with the amount of servers and projects popping up. I know it feels a little depressing (So I livened it up with some color ), but I wanted to show how most servers fail. I'm going to post some tips to make your server a success in a little. I don't want to just say you will fail, I want to help you succeed.

[Dr. Livingstone]

There are a lot of different ways to have success in this game, but here are some basic things which you will need to have/do in order to even have a chance at being successful.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||

Get A Dedicated Server
You must get a dedicated server even though it is expensive. You cannot succeed without one. Get it from the start and you will be better off.
Get a Good Staff
Getting a good staff is very important to your success. No matter how good you are as an admin your server will fail if you have a poor staff.
Fork Out The $$$
As an admin you have to be willing to fork out the money to keep the server alive. This includes getting a good dedicated server and webhost. You will LOSE money!
Get a Good Webhost/Dev
You need to go and get a good webhost and a great webdev. Like I said earlier, you need to fork out the money, and your website is one of the most important parts of your server. It better look good or you are in for a struggle.
Create Unique Content
Your server most likely won't be the most bug free server. Atleast not for a long time. That means you need to figure out something that makes your server special. Unique content is key to your server's survival. And by unique content I don't mean a teleport NPC/stone or a morpher. Those are things every funserver has. You need something truly unique.
Maintain Ties With The Emu Community
Don't think that once your server starts to get going that you should just stop paying attention to MMOwned. You want to be supported by the community here. It will help you in the long haul. Tell your devs its okay to release stuff here. You don't want to become too isolated... It will destroy you.
Be Involved In-Game
As the admin of the server people want to see you in-game. Go on a raid every once in awhile. Show them that you enjoy the community. Your GM's are huge for public relations, but if you go in-game let don't keep control of your words you will see your server die... FAST. You need to be controlled.
Have Server Rules
You have to have rules for your server. And you have to uphold them. If your best friend breaks a rule you have to punish them the same way you would punish someone else. You might even want to go a little hard on your buddies. Like when you are coaching your kids sports team... You gotta be rough on them so no one thinks your playing favorites.
Be Committed
If you aren't ready to spend hours and hours a day working on the server then don't make one! Running a server takes time... a lot of time...
Keep People Updated
You need to keep your forums/website up to date with the latest information. This is crucial to the server and its population!

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Hope some of this helps, and sadly... I also hope this might discourage some people that aren't really committed to running a server from starting one up.
Thanks,
Dr. Livingstone

[Ground Zero]

Good guide for newbies starting a New Private Server. ^^ +Repx3

[Aznex]

Awesome guide and hopefully it will keep the "bound to fail" servers out. +2

[Dz The Rage]

LOL! He stole my color for each paragraph I used in my thread!

Good Guide +Rep

[Dr. Livingstone]

DZ. Those are the only colors you can read And thanks guys. Glad you like it.

[Ofdeath]

ty so much very helpful

[Vindicated]

Thanks for giving common sense to those who have none +rape


Btw - Isolation is the smart thing to do economically, but you wouldn't have the server without the community, so give back to it.

[Fireblast]

epic guide.

[captainspam]

wow nice guide man

[NWeaver]

Great Guide, Making a server with my friend now. Maybe you could PM me your msn and we could talk? Cheers! +Rep

[TheZaronz]

Very nice guide, +Rep for that. Currently my server is at the "The Tribulation" But everything still looks bright.

[Hellskahra]

~clap~ Bravo good sir, especial on the "If you are making a WoW Private Server to make you money then get out." Line..

Now, all I have to do is learn to make the preparations to set up my own.

+Rep

[runiker]

A few more points i would love to add make sure your forums are up-to-date meaning post about the bugs move them to a subfolder called complete so people know you work on the bugs make sure the forums get pruned and hire a mod for your froums because you will need one. Also ads are a big thing kinda like the its not how good but its who you know therory you will want to be known the best ad is word of month and worst ad is word of mouth. thought i would add mu 2 cents in because im tired of people pming me to join there server as a dev when its run off ham or dont have a website or somthing that makes it seem as if they dont want to run a server advice to you people is if you are going to make a server make it local because it takes time and too many servers are out there now that it spreads the general pop.

[Dr. Livingstone]

Updated with some new information and what not.