Just another failed server attempt.

Discussion in 'Bukkit Discussion' started by Ridog, Mar 6, 2013.

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  1. Offline

    Ridog

    Hello,

    I come to the bukkit forums with my tail tucked between my legs and feeling like I have failed as a server admin. I believe that like many, I have followed the path of the server admin newbie and consequentially what little of a server I have is now dysfunctional. I have randomly installed many plugins to try to make the experience better for my users, and instead I made everything much more complicated and hard to understand. While it lasted, I really enjoyed hosting the server but I feel that I might need to start over. I really need some help here. I'm not quite sure how to ask but any advice you guys could give would be very appreciated.

    Eventually I would like to get a nice community of my friends on a simple community based server set in survival mode. What do I need to do to achieve this? Does anyone have something similar? If so what plugins and configurations do you use? Should I get a website started so I can communicate changes I make to my users? If not what should I use? How do I get feedback? Do you think I, as the admin should be in creative mode in order to properly administer? How do you detect and punish greifers? All of these are questions and problems I have had. Sorry if it's a little much for one thread.

    Please help me and thank you so much for your assistance.

    - Ridog
     
  2. I sweare I've seen this post before.... Anyways why does it say tekkit in the title? We are bukkit, not tekkit.

    1. Create a server.
    2. Make a symple website with webs.com

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2016
  3. Offline

    Ridog

    I assure you this post is quite original, and I am here because tekkit servers are essentially modded bukkit servers. So I figured you might have some knowledge on the subject.

    -Ridog
     
  4. Offline

    eamon12

    You could try making it more interesting, I had this trouble when I started my first server, I know what you're going through, except I had to pay the server bills, yet in 2 months I got 25 cents in donations

    Also the only advice I can give you is patience, if you want to go get more players, you can go on PlanetMiencraft, or minecraftforums, or any of those sites, but half of the players are just trolls that hack/ask for OP, you can get at least 4 legit players from PMC a day, but if your server is fun, has players, somewhat donators, non-abusive staff, they will start playing and say, hey this is a good server, I'm going to start playing on it.
     
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    Minecraftnewbie

    I'm not a professional server admin or anything, but I do own a very small server, I find it more useful, if you have your server based on something... mine is a very unorganized and its just... everywhere... and it does create a lot of chaos... its hard because my server is both creative and survival with no permissions, although I only allow friends or friends of friends in... and just from that I'm having a really hard time controlling everything. So I do think basing a server off something does help, also as XlegitXcrazymanX said, making a website does help... also making videos also would really help, its something I'm thinking about doing. Just kinda explain the latest plugins and how they work, or new things that are coming to the server. stuff like that probably would improve things.
     
  6. Offline

    Ridog

    All very good Ideas. I can really relate the the chaotic feel of my server:
    It's even harder to control because I have to keep a steady economy. As far as permissions goes, I tried installing group manager but It hasn't been functioning right. Is group manager the right way to go as far as permissions is concerned? or should I be using a different plugin?

    I really like the idea of making a video, just to better communicate server changes to the users.

    Thank you so much for your responses!

    - Ridog

    Thanks :)

    If there's one thing I learned from this, it's that servers are very time consuming. I will defiantly work on the patience part of being an admin.

    Thanks again!

    - Ridog

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2016
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    batbat

    Why not ask your player what they want or why they left? Answer that and you will probably know what you need to do. Definitely set up a web page with some way for you and your player base to communicate. I have a rather simple site with a blog for news, a forum, and a world map. The few people I have on my server (small because it is just some of my friends) use the site quite a bit.
    Communication is key.
     
  8. Offline

    bradgillap

    We have a nice webpage but I find that my users aren't likely to use it. They only head there for the dynmap link even though the commands are in tables and there are videos explaining the finer points of different plugins. I have spent a considerable amount of time trying things and failing on this front.

    It's important to acknowledge that players not knowing how to play the game on our servers is fault of the server admins and not the player. So answer their questions in the meantime with some class and grace.

    What you're talking about is a big looming issue with bukkit and minecraft. How do you educate your users on the plugins, commands, and different world mechanics available in a way that makes them want to learn about it?

    The best setups are highly customized configurations with in game help and web based options. Some servers use a special spawn area that outlines all of the server info right off the bat but I feel this is too overwhelming. I want them to spawn in a wilderness and start doing what they already know how to do while interactively engaging them to show them the things that can help them along the way. The same way you learned how to play minecraft. Only when they see something interesting, do I want them to seek more knowledge from a wiki or webpage or other user? Just like minecraft.

    In my opinion the best plugins already are the ones that do not require the users to type any commands at all. Things like tree assist, griefprevention, quickshop,. These plugins have their own hurdles and issues with trying to keep users off the chat line though.


    You can write 100 pages of in game help but nobody is going to read it. I use helpplus which does a good job at parsing commands my players can use based on their permissions level and only showing them which commands they can use. Once upon a time before 1.4 I used to write a help file for each group myself. Helpplus does a better job than I have in the past.


    My dream is that one day I can plant a sign down that just says "Tutorial" in front of something and when right clicked loads a youtube video with a picture in picture style display at the top right of the client. That way the players can stumble onto features and still get detailed information quickly. Many games use this same idea now with their own built in help and it seems to work pretty well. A narrator explains how the mechanic works while you view video of the mechanic working so you know what to expect.

    So I guess minecraft won't be truly fantastic for server Admins until we can modify the client assets on the fly

    When installing new plugins I ask a few players if they would use feature x provided by a plugin I'm thinking about and let them shape my opinions on whether we should add it to the server or not. This weighs in with plugin maturity, developer support, and performance concerns of course. You have to be picky.
     
  9. Offline

    mbaxter ʇıʞʞnq ɐ sɐɥ ı

    I have edited your title to avoid confusion, as this topic seems to have nothing to do with any server mods (which we don't support here anyway) :)
     
  10. Offline

    Ridog

    Alright, I suppose weather its running tekkit or not doesn't really matter. Thanks :)


    Wow, thank you very much for the detailed reply. You are completely right, my users have been getting very confused about all of the new plugins and such. I should pay more attention to communicating my changes to my users. It is after all, their server, as much as it is mine, and they put a lot of time into it. I will put some thought into that, and definetly get this Helpplus plugin.

    Thank you!

    What did you use to power this site? I didn't think of a world map, good idea, thanks. :)

    EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 31, 2016
  11. Offline

    batbat

    Sorry for the late reply. Had Jury Duty.

    The world map is created by the Dynmap plugin. If you know how to set up a Minecraft server and install and manage plugins then you should be able to figure it out.
    For my site I just used Wordpress but you can host it anywhere and point to the IP address.
     
  12. Offline

    bradgillap

    Just wanted to leave this here as well. If you do have any spout users this could possibly help as well. You can setup controls based on groups of permissions. Pretty slick stuff, probably what I'll spend my weekend doing.

    http://dev.bukkit.org/server-mods/gui-creator/
     
  13. Offline

    Mausterio

    Do not overcomplicate the server, or players will not want to learn how to do anything and leave.

    Help players out, Dont just tp them around. Actually visit them from time to time and give them tips and admire there work, even if its crap.
     
  14. Offline

    bradgillap

    LOL

    Good Guy Mausterio. Supports his users, secretly thinks they all suck but keeps it to himself.
     
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