How to NOT Screw Up Your EO Pserver

[shadowcat7879]

How to NOT F**k Up Your EO Private Server

MMOR Private servers are a dime-a-dozen these days. As a player, however, finding one that they may feel comfortable and be able to have a great, fun and long lasting playing experience seems to be a never ending quest. Having played at least 10 private servers myself, as well as two different servers from the retail game, here's collectively what I've noticed that brings the downfall of MANY servers. Perhaps it can help some new and future server operators help provide maximum playing experience to help them rise above, and not fade away into obscurity as yet another dead one.


1. Don't make your game publicly available until you have a stable, nearly constant connection. If people can't connect, they're not gonna play.

2. Choose your staff carefully - If you have have a bunch of *immature teens or rude, mouthy, and unresponsive staff, those are the types of players that you will attract. Good, honest players want good, honest staff. Avoid having GM/PM's in player legions and on war maps. This provides the opportunity for cheating and possible false accusations. I can't tell you how many servers I've seen go down hill because the staff are rude or simply because the staff cheat their way to the top.

3. Avoid cliques. Just because someone's your friend or cousin, doesn't mean that they will make a good staff member. If your players feel that they are "outsiders", it's less likely that you will get more players. Pserver adverts usually go best through word of mouth, and worse yet, through spamming other servers.

4. Respect players' privacy - Don't eavesdrop or punish for what is said in the whisper channel unless there's an issue of harassment. Asking someone in a private channel
"Hey did you play on the James Bond server" is not the same as telling people "Go play on the James Bond server at blahblah.com".

5. Be VERY clear about the rules. Trust me - There's always a hundred jackasses that will push the envelope on what's acceptable and what isn't. If your rules are all posted in the forums, be sure to put a disclaimer about "All rules are posted in forums" or post it in-game with the GM announcements. Not everyone will keep up with the forums, and if the rules are posted in only one place, it's best to let them know blatantly that they are posted in only one place.

6. If you take donations, keep the playing field moderately level. There are many people who will donate, but there are many people who play and bring players to your server, but for whatever reason, they can't afford to donate. Some suggestions are: Not installing (+255) eq, but instead using (+15). A full set of +(255) offers a ridiculous advancement, and it may make those who cannot afford to donate no longer want to play, because no matter how hard they work, it's unlikely that they will be able to compete with an extra 255 potency/bp. Do you take donations for EP? Perhaps charge $5 per 2M EP, but put a limit of 4M EP per month, or a limit of $50 per month that a person can donate for items that will advance their character. For example, if you take a donation of $25 for a special attire, and a player wants to buy 2 attires for $50 and 2M EP for $5, that's cool. But if they want to buy 10M EP for $25, put a cap of only $10 per month per person can be spent on EP or gears.. I think that you all get the idea here.

7. Maintain the server regularly. Do maintanences AND data backups on a regular schedule. Post that schedule on game as well as an in-game GM announcement. I've seen great servers go straight downhill because they did maints literally only when they felt like it. In some instances, there would be only one maintanence every 14 to 20 days. People cannot build their legions or player characters very well like this, and it tilts a huge advantage to some players and a severe disadvantage to newer players. Simply put, if you don't want to keep up your server, find someone who can, or don't waste the time and make players feel like you're taking them for a ride to get donations.

8. If you or your staff are going to have an attitude problem and play favorites and do it noticeably, you're probably not going to keep players for very long.

9. If you plan to accept donations, set up your payment acceptance method plenty in advance. Don't wait until the last minute. Make sure that you're VERY clear on the forms of payment that will be accepted, and the type of currency that you are planning to accept the payment in.

10. Don't rely wholly on donations to keep your server going. You, as well as the playerbase you've gathered, may find yourself sorely disappointed. If people feel that they are going to be ripped off, the staff disrespect them, your server isn't stable, etc.... are going to be much less likely to donate. Also, if your playerbase is primarily teenagers, are located in countries that do not have Paypal services, or are in bad financial situations, they too are less likely if not totally unable to donate. Don't make them feel like shit over it as I have literally seen some server staff do.

11. Cheaters beware - There ARE precise logs that show the owner what commands GMs and PMs enter =)

12. Teach your staff their position and commands, ffs! There's NO sense in giving someone a position of authority and no means to excercise it. Are you wetoddid? Pass them a list of commands, let them know which ones work and dont, and which ones they're allowed to use, and not use. Your GMs and PMs should have a minimal working knowledge of the game. At a bare minimum, teach them muting, jailing, kicking, and banning commands for god's sake.

13. Be prepared for people to diss your server and probably your staff too. If they're not insulting
your kids or your dead momma and using generally nasty language.. Who cares? Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and if you start kicking or banning just because a player whispers "I dont like this server because the drops suck"... You'll soon find your server getting dissed even more. Players might quit logging on or feel that you're just being a jerk and doing it whenever someone says something that you don't like, whether it's actually bad or not.

*So... here's my advice as both a former staff from various servers, as a player at many servers that have failed or become boring in less than 48 hours of hardcore playing, and having played where most of the good people left after some of the above became the norm in those games.


* Denotes an edit from original post

[DEADP00L]

your post is well thought out..infact i am going to sticky this because to be honest it is somethin that every server owner should be aware of wether they take it or not meh.

[shadowcat7879]

Lol Glad you liked, Deadpool... well thought of after an hour of teaching a GM how to be one...

[King_Arthur]

I believe that the information is okay, but the presentation of it could be a lot better. We have more stickies then any of the sections with 50k posts and up, so I honestly don't see why this was stickied. Alas I am not in charge, so congratulations anyway.

[Necron33]

Originally Posted by shadowcat7879

2. Choose your staff carefully - If you have have a bunch of young teens or rude, mouthy, and unresponsive staff, those are the types of players that you will attract.
Good, honest players want good, honest staff. Avoid having GM/PM's in player legions and on war maps. This provides the opportunity for cheating and possible false accusations.
I can't tell you how many servers I've seen go down hill because the staff are rude or simply because the staff cheat their way to the top.

So, take the advice, leave it, laugh at it, I don't care.... Just offering up my opinions and advice.

one thing only, young teens, no. not really.
whatever age can take very good responsibility, I've ran Alpha-0nline for 3 months, me(14 years old that time, now 15 ), spy520(14 years old that time, now 15 :P), Crusher(14 years old that time, now 15 :lol).

one thing else, PMS are not more than 3 or 4 at max, GMs are maxed of 2.

I love this part =D.

3. Avoid cliques. Just because someone's your friend or cousin, doesn't mean that they will make a good staff member. If your players feel that they are "outsiders",
it's less likely that you will get more players. Pserver adverts usually go best through word of mouth, and worse yet, through spamming other servers.

Lost friends for it, but they are very selfish and didn't understand the situation.

afterall, Alpha-0nline is not 0ffline, I'm in the position that i can give advices on how not to screw you eo server.

thanks, and bye!

[shadowcat7879]

Necron.. Not sure you understood or misunderstood what I said about cliques. There are some people that make all of their friends family etc staff only because they are a friend or family, even if they are nasty, mean, and cheat. That's what I was talking about with the cliques. Telling a family member or a friend no, if they are going to end up scaring people away from the game just because they're naturally obnoxious, is not at all selfish, it's smart. The biggest problems with cliques and playing favorites is that it sets up a plainly visible line of inconsistency. And if I'm the one who misunderstood what you were saying, I'm sorry. I also wasn't meaning that if it's all teenagers no one will play - Kind of depends on the maturity level of those involved. Unfortunately, there are MAAAAAAAANY who aren't mature. Been to one server where one of the staff members would throw literal temper tantrums, rig things in their favor, and harass anyone that would surpass their player characters on any level. That was the type of garbage I was talking about.

The amount of staff should roughly be based on the amount of active players. Getting a bilingual staff that's on at various times of day, too, also makes a big difference. I've been on a couple of servers where all the garbage goes on at a particular set time of night from a certain hour to a certain hour, because there were no staff (who were actually monitoring anything) around.

Honestly there shouldn't have even been the thought or need in my mind to have wanted to write that, but with the amount of servers that have failed for non hardware/software issues.. there's reasons why, and most of it, sadly, is from failing common sense.

[.Ash]

Nice post!

[Necron33]

Originally Posted by shadowcat7879

Necron.. Not sure you understood or misunderstood what I said about cliques. There are some people that make all of their friends family etc staff only because they are a friend or family, even if they are nasty, mean, and cheat. That's what I was talking about with the cliques. Telling a family member or a friend no, if they are going to end up scaring people away from the game just because they're naturally obnoxious, is not at all selfish, it's smart. The biggest problems with cliques and playing favorites is that it sets up a plainly visible line of inconsistency. And if I'm the one who misunderstood what you were saying, I'm sorry. I also wasn't meaning that if it's all teenagers no one will play - Kind of depends on the maturity level of those involved. Unfortunately, there are MAAAAAAAANY who aren't mature. Been to one server where one of the staff members would throw literal temper tantrums, rig things in their favor, and harass anyone that would surpass their player characters on any level. That was the type of garbage I was talking about.

The amount of staff should roughly be based on the amount of active players. Getting a bilingual staff that's on at various times of day, too, also makes a big difference. I've been on a couple of servers where all the garbage goes on at a particular set time of night from a certain hour to a certain hour, because there were no staff (who were actually monitoring anything) around.

Honestly there shouldn't have even been the thought or need in my mind to have wanted to write that, but with the amount of servers that have failed for non hardware/software issues.. there's reasons why, and most of it, sadly, is from failing common sense.

you understood me wrong, i was with you on the cliques, but on the age of staff, I'm not.

the text is bold: not necessary true.

[DEADP00L]

actually i have found in my years of doing this it is kinda true.. i mean you dont want to have 15 staff members for 3 players..thats kinda over kill....in the same effect you dont want to have 3 staff members for 50+ thats kinda a overload of work fo rthe staff best way to do it is basically a 5 or 6 to one ratio..least in my opnion

thats 5 or 6 players to 1 staff member (and i suck on ratios but you get my point)

[Necron33]

Originally Posted by DEADP00L

actually i have found in my years of doing this it is kinda true.. i mean you dont want to have 15 staff members for 3 players..thats kinda over kill....in the same effect you dont want to have 3 staff members for 50+ thats kinda a overload of work fo rthe staff best way to do it is basically a 5 or 6 to one ratio..least in my opnion

thats 5 or 6 players to 1 staff member (and i suck on ratios but you get my point)

Meaning if i had 50 players, i would need 10 staff members, when i have a thousand, i need to have hundreds.(I don't understand your point.)

[keithbell1234]

Originally Posted by Necron33

Meaning if i had 50 players, i would need 10 staff members, when i have a thousand, i need to have hundreds.(I don't understand your point.)

i have 1 GH and 1 GM and only me as PM and works out good for me u dont really need alot of staff well thats all i need cause i only get just about 20 on a day :P

[ProSkyZ]

Originally Posted by Necron33

Meaning if i had 50 players, i would need 10 staff members, when i have a thousand, i need to have hundreds.(I don't understand your point.)

nah Necron lol I will try to tell you what he means
Lets check acme website
chars: 42140

If we did as you understood necron then Acme has to get more than 1k Staff Member

DEADP00L Means
We check our Server Max Online so if we got 100 Max online this may need 4 or 5 staff members atleast to support them

But in my opinion the Most important Part for supporting is
PMs Must have the Same or Near Time Zones to each others ( 5 hours Different as Max)
GMs must have DIFFERENT Time Zones so they player find Staff online 24/7

Regards
ProSkyZ

[keithbell1234]

PMs card be on 24/7 they need to have sleep aswell every server cant have staff on 24/7 sleep comes first before server because lots of us have jobs and stuff to do

[ProSkyZ]

Originally Posted by keithbell1234

PMs card be on 24/7 they need to have sleep aswell every server cant have staff on 24/7 sleep comes first before server because lots of us have jobs and stuff to do

PMs Shouldn't be for Supporting Live in Game
They should Support on the Forums Only

GMs Should be Supporting Live in Game
Thats Why i said they should have Different Time Zones
If we said we will get 4 GMs then we have to get 6 Hours Difference between Everyone of them

Regards
ProSkyZ

[DarkHuntress]

I agree on most every point that has been made. I have been on numerous servers as a player, staff and co-owner. I have seen a lot of what was said going on in pservers.

I think staff should be consistent. If some staff is not on and doing their job then they need to be replaced. I think there should be rules for staff just as there are for players and they should abide by the rules. I have seen a staff position go to peoples heads and drive players away. I was on a server for a day and was pk'd while composing. (I like standing above market between the guards to avoid crowds) When I asked the PM why they pk'd me the answer was "I am bored". All good an well but I just dropped all my stuff and everyone picked it up.

I have had staff as young as 12 yrs old that you would not know they were that age because of the maturity they show. They take their responsibilities very seriously. Of course I have had players that were close to that age and well beyond it act like mini tyrants and cuss out everyone including staff. It depends on the person not the age whether it be player or staff.

I have seen Owners get on the game and be completely rude and obnoxious to players and I have seen Owners that give out special gear and such to people they know. Then have people asking staff why another person is getting special treatment and not knowing how to reply to such a question. I have seen the same thing with staff and wondered how they got the position.

I think it comes down to consistency and having trustworthy people with people skills. If as an Owner you aren't a people person then do not come in game and interact with the players. Same for the Owner that is trying to be everyone's friend. You can't have it both ways. This goes for Staff also.

This is just my opinion but I have left many a server because of these issues and not having a level playing field.

Just wanted to add my two cents.