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I actually think there's a wide variety involved in what makes a good server, and hopefully that doesn't come to a big surprise.
First, what does UN do so "right?" UN seems to be the only leftover of what graal used to be before P2P, when it was classic. Even if it isn't as good as we all think, it has something. It has the mindless quests, the useless, but fun to obtain NPCs, the overworld riddled with playerhouses, and moreover; the community of people all looking for more members in their guilds, which makes the other people who join feel like they have a reason to come back. But the only reason UN excels so much at it is because no other servers offer that much on such a simple scale of just diving in.
Anyways, I think you need to look at what other MMO's do instead of what the "best" graal server is doing. Like said, you need to get people interested. That means something that looks different than all the other servers, that is the first attraction. If you show a screenshot that looks interesting, good, and all that stuff, you will get your initial wave of people to come check it out. Then after that, you need to have something to draw people in, besides the looks(sure, looks aren't anything, but it will really help you in getting past the initial step of getting people there in the first place), you need content to keep them interested. Then after that, you need a community(which you should have formed from the first two steps), to keep them there until there is more added.
But that's easier said then done, the bulk of the problem people come to when trying to make this happen is that it's all done sloppily and rushed. PLAN this crap first, and I mean actually plan. Before you even try to tackle a project like a server you need to have everything planned beforehand, to make sure it's even worth wasting your time on. Draw out a map, even if you can't draw, sketch. Sketch the areas, make the names for areas, create a world. Most of the people who do fantasy books, games and so on do this kind of stuff before even starting their books. Of course every server is probably going to be fictional, so you need to fill in the seemless blank spaces that come with having a fictional world. Make lists, and lists of events. These events can be pieced together to make quests. And don't keep quests small either. Have quests for single people, whether it's just talking to one NPC then another. Have chained trade quests too, they're always fun(as long as you help them along the way enough). Have quests that involves groups, groups tackling giant monsters or dungeons. And moreover, quests that involve the whole server. This is the best way to introduce new content. Have a new island you want to add in? New cave or some such? Instead of just slapping it in there and saying, hey, we added a new place! Involve the people. Have an earthquake happen that gets everyone looking for something different.
It's true though, that population make a community sometimes, like UN. But you shouldn't think on a mentality like that when making a server. Community will keep people together for sometime, but you, as a dev, manager or whomever, should be thinking that it's the content that will keep people there. Or else you'll get lazy and hope the people do the hard work for you. Community is never a sure fire thing, you should aim to keep people there no matter who they are. Some people like to do things on their own, community isn't going to help keep them there.
Which goes along with planning, plan a crapload at the beginning. But don't release it all at once when you first let the server out or whatever. Release enough to keep people interested the first week, then let one big thing out at a time everyweek. Keep those updates there every week, or one big update a month, small things every week. This will keep people happiest the most.
And there goes my disorganized two cents.
In summary.
Plan, plan, PLAN.
Get people interested. Oasis did a good job on this.
Pull them in after they're interested with content.
Rely on community just to keep them there until the next update.
Keep those updates coming. |
03-07-2007, 03:18 AM
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