Attracting more users
As many of you know, our activity has been reasonably low lately. It wasn't always this way, as we once had over twenty users on at a time. There is however a solution, and it requires the effort of many of us. Judging by previous posts made to reddit by Uncovery and I, we have concluded that it is a moderately successful way of attracting new players.
So what am I trying to say here? Well, im asking you to contribute, by posting your builds, and promoting this server on the various minecraft-related sites. I believe that this could really help get this server back on course, and lead us back to the good old days, where we consistantly had over 20 people online at once.
Here are some places you can go to post your builds, and promote Uncovery Minecraft:
-Post your builds to Minecraft Reddit
-Post your builds to Gaming Reddit
-Post your builds to Minecraft forums
-Post videos to Youtube
-Vote on minestatus
-Vote on Mcserverlist
-Post to Planetminecraft
Please do your part in keeping this server alive!
Also if you have anymore suggestions in terms of where to advertise, please post here.
Let's just come out and say it, were's plutomaster, and how can we get him back?
Azk's right, and IRL/personal problems are beyond the scope of what we should be discussing. We need to talk about things we can actually maybe fix. Maybe listing some things we like about this server that have made those who are still here want to stay, and some things we see as weaker areas that have maybe led some to look elsewhere/quit would be a good place to start.
I'd wait to advertise until unc gets back from his holiday. This is what he suggested.
I am skeptical of this anyway. You say to post our builds, but what good does that do? What can people build here that they can't build elsewhere? What do we really have to offer?
I think the bigger problem is: Where are the people who used to be here? Where did they go and why are they leaving? We need to fix something, and unless we know what it is, we can't. You don't fix an oil leak by adding more oil to the car. You need to plug the hole. We need to retain users first, or attracting new ones is pointless.
I agree with Azzy^^ I have noticed that the players that were here 7 months ago are no longer with us. Therefore something may be wrong.
Now personal problems may be a conflict.
-family issues
-moving houses
-school
-tired of minecraft
These seem to be some main reasons for leaving.
We need to identify the culprit before we take action.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, HCP. I'll just show myself out of this conversation.
Azkedar you bring up a very good point. We definately do need to figure out what is keeping (many)users from staying. I'm sure there are a number of reasons for this, and it would be great if we thouroughly debated them sometime in game.
You brought up an interesting analogy with the oil leak. I do agree that advertising our builds to people will not fix the problem indefinately, but I believe it will at the very least, help a little bit. This may sound ridiculous, but at least we can temporarily fill the gap that we left behind, while we think of a solution.(essentially, keeping the car running until we can figure out how to plug the hole).
Advertising may sound pointless. It partially is for the time being. Though, by attracting more users to the server, we will at least more easily be able to find out why they leave. Anyways, I strongly agree that advertising our builds is not a long term fix, but at least it will generate small amounts of traffic, and hopefully replace SOME of the lost users.
Also as Sockso said, It probably is a good idea to wait until Uncovery returns, so the few that do decide to stay as a result of our posts, have their applications processed quickly.
hi there... just a short note from my holidays...
we need to do both. people leave for good reasons too, so we need to advertise to get new members. reddit posts help a lot since people want to see that the server is working well and people here stay around and behave. please dont advertise before i am back since approval of a lot can take some time. also consider that its easter holidays in many places and people are away from home. i will see what we can do to make the server more visible next week.
I would say that Uncovery is absolutely right. Essentially advertising will easily bait new members; however what we need to work on is hooking them.
Ok, well I thought of it this way:
The glory days of Uncovery-
Not to long ago(few months) we had up to twenty players at a time. These were before all the updates and what not screwed with us. Also, back then everyone continually voted keeping us at around 20-30 on minestatus. If I'm correct(didn't check) we are pretty far back in the count. I miss these days just like everyone else.
What I think: obviously the server is outdated right now so we have to wait for Uncovery to return from his holiday. Once that happens, I say we commenciate operation "vote everyday, advertise, and get more players."(that's what I'm calling it)
Ways to do it: we'll lets just start out at gettig updated to 1.2.5. The. After that we need to make sure we vote vote vote...everyone needs to vote at a constant rate to keep us high on the server list. This can be done effieciently around the the begginings of the month. Also, maybe we can make the reward higher? That could lure more people to vote.
2. I've noticed that the server's description page is outdated too. We could use a new banner and some new description.
3. Videos would also help get the server out. So maybe some of us can create some videos of the server?
4. Essentially, all we really need is a serverwide/community effort to keep this server going. I believe if we all participate, and come together, we can reall get this server going again. So let's all combine ideas and get it started.
5. Maybe we have some well-trusted players travel from some of the top servers to see how they get their server do popular and whatever. This could give us some ideas.
Things need to change around here, and maybe that's why people arent playing as much. It's time for change, and it needs to happen. Everyone needs to get together and make this happen. Because again, don't you miss having twenty people online, or 10 people in teamspeak? Because I sure as hell know I do!
HCP~~~
I'll get back into the swing of making videos for the server and try and generate more users. Every new user counts!
The server isn't outdated. Technically, yes, it's on 1.2.4, but this time 'round the newest version is actually compatible - if you upgrade to 1.2.5 you can still connect to uncovery. Most of the top servers are actually running 1.2.4 right now.
As far as voting goes, we simply don't have the numbers to compete with the big servers any more. We are what rank we are because there truly are that many servers ahead of us in population. Uncovery MC is actually getting a ton more votes recently than it ever used to, but so is every other server. That's not to say voting more wouldn't help - it probably would and we do still have room to improve. One thing that some servers use to motivate players to vote is a monthly vote counter, visible on the front page of their site - the player with the most votes at the end of a month wins an additional small prize and gets his name in a news post or whatever. That could work well here i think.
Most of the big servers don't have as much to offer as Uncovery. For example one server that uses a similar plot system for protection only allows 1 60x60 plot ever, no matter what rank you are. This server has several thousand active users monthly. However they do have some advantages, like a dedicated mod staff to deal with issues (slightly more power than our elders have), more trusty uptime (Uncovery MC has been known to go down for some hours at a time here and there, mostly due to weak plugins that aren't fully tested), and the things that we all hate - item spawning, flying, godmode, etc.
I don't want those things that I pretty much consider cheating, but tons of 14 year olds (one of mc's biggest age groups) do. In one way, we may have to accept that we are never going to be a huge server, simply because our preferred players are few and far between in mc. Now what I think we need to consider is how to attract more of those players - the minecraft 1% if you will =). The things that set us apart are our monthly contests, mature community, and overall high build standards. Advertise these things above all and maybe we'll see some interest from those more accomplished builders.
Even though i am still somewhat young(16), I still would rather have a bunch of adults or mature players then a bunch of 12 year olds spamming and what not. I do agree with you luk, we may just have to accept it.
I renamed this topic. I do not think we have a problem as such (anymore) and I am worried that the name of the topic will give new users the impression that the server is dead - which it is definetely not.