Before we get into the suggestions, I would like to take a moment to explain the Roman Server Syndrome (RSS). This is a case effect, much like the Roman empire, where the server in question begins to decline in popularity and attendance due to its stagnant nature, stretching its resources too thin, lack of social media (ie semi-popular Youtubers), or unwillingness to change. Many players are also likely to leave due to "pay to play" standards set by donor players. To reverse RSS, one will have to dedicate a lot of time, effort, and creativity into different methods of revitalization. One system might be something as simple as attracting Youtubers or have players tag the server whenever they're recording themselves playing. This is a form a free advertisement that anyone could profit off of. The next idea might be to expand the number or variety of minigames offered on the server (I get that a lot of you like SG all the time, but I personally despise with a passion). Adding in new games that test parkour abilities, use new items added to Minecraft, or even bloodbath coliseums against bosses and mob waves will surely entertain any type of player. Regulation might also drum up a bit of interest. If certain towns have gone out of their way to have some specializations (ie arenas, mass farms, or casinos), why not regulate the larger ones by sponsoring tournaments, linking farms to the sponsored events (like giving them special vendor perms to sell at the games), and oversee that casino odds meet a certain chance percentage. If all these options fail, it might be time to cull the server. While this might seem drastic, this option will help eliminate the dead clutter of inactive, if not gone, players who once ruled over the server. This option should be used as a nearly last effort. If all these options fail, this means that RSS has set in too far and it's time to say farewell to a once great world. As sad as this is, it tends to be the fate of most. Let's change the fate of ECC. Let's beat RSS. Let's make it rain again!
From my personal experience here, ECC is a sever that sticks to what it claims to be. A hardcore economy experience as close to vanilla as you can get. Players will unfortunately lose interest if their goals aren't long term. A quick fix may be fun but ECC is a completely different beast. The lack of features and lack of easy pick up playing style makes it unique and challenging. More mini games would be very fun. I agree. But as it is the current "team" consists of two people working way longer than they should fixing code and problems with the server. A larger team of dedicated people who are experienced would definitely benefit the server. Also, Minecraft itself is in decline. Add to that the increasingly strict enforcement of Eula and the push towards MC Realms. However, advertising would be great and I agree with you on that. But is it worth the time and effort? The sever is 5-6 years old now right? It's had its glory days. Now we sit back and enjoy the consistency of maybe a few hundred regular players. New players are nice but it seems like for every 10 you get, only 1 is worth sticking around. Anyways that's my two cents.
Right, gonna use an old trick learnt from MCF (Minecraft Forums). Responses in bold. Nearly all your ideas have already been stated or don't have a snowball's chance in hell of happening. -1.
We do. Assuming "dedicated" either means "the town is designed as an arena with spectators" or "the whole 200x200 town area is within a PvP zone", I can tell you that such towns actually exist. Most of the points have already been addressed before, I am therefore going to reply to one specific point. Assuming you are referring to completely wiping all worlds: Great, this would remove all traces of inactive players, but also everything the active players owned. Losing the work of multiple years isn't really a motivation to continue playing. Old players would leave and new players would know that everything they do could be wiped on the following day, no matter what they try to prevent it. That is exactly the kind of feeling ECC doesn't need and probably one of the reasons why the idea of a full reset has been denied multiple times in the past.
I apologise for my ignorance, but they are mostly inactive and rarely talked about, hence the fact I haven't seen any. I have edited my post to reflect that.
I feel that my word "cull" was rather confusing. I do not mean that world's should be wiped, but rather cities and towns. Many of them seem to have no activity whatsoever. Rather than keeping them and simply cluttering the world's, why not remove the dead towns with no block activity? As far as features, I am not saying add new plug-ins. Policing could be as simple as random admin/mod check-ups on casinos. City owners could collaborate to host server-wide events. Advertising does not have to be legitimate paid advertisement. Word of mouth travels further and faster that a posted Google ad. Youtubers don't have to be external players. If enough dedicated players post on Youtube or Twitch just while they're on the server, other players will investigate and do likewise.
This has been suggested a few times. It's not likely to happen anytime soon due to the tedious work that it would require (Andrew's not going to do it himself and he's not likely going to pay a game developer to do it), and also because there's still a metric fuck ton of open land left in both worlds (Legacy has been up for nearly six years or so and is still barely half claimed). If you want more active towns, make one. I agree with all your other points tho, a more dedicated youtube channel might go a long way in cheap advertising.
About a year ago I estimated the land usage of Legacy and Rising, this data tells me that a town wipe isn't really necessary. Much of the available world space is still unused, removing those old/inactive towns wouldn't affect the majority of future town applications. However, this would effect a major break with ECC's history. For example, Legacy's spawn towns are some of ECC's oldest towns and are - at least in my opinion - an important part of the server's history. Let's see what other options we have. Advertising on other servers: Increase in players who were unhappy with their previous server. Morally questionable. Negatively affects the server's reputation. Promoting exactly the kind of behavior we do not allow on ECC. Recruit-a-friend campaigns: Rewards active recruiters. Possibly above-average player retention, difficult to predict. Possibly exploitable via alt accounts. YouTube/Twitch/etc. videos: Questionable player retention. Very low number of views for small channels. High cost for major YouTube channels. On a side note, I don't think ECC has the correct system for such videos. Earning money is a major part of ECC's economy - which is actually the server's most remarkable feature - but nobody would want to watch someone else farming melons or mining for hours.
In that case: Unless they voluntarily decide to do it, in which case they would most likely search for a dedicated PvP/SG server. If they join after watching the video(s) they are most likely going to try SG first. Well, SG immediately introduces those new players to kits and creates a bad first impression of the server. That's not really the intended goal.
I've personally got contact with a few youtubers. $/view makes it absolutely useless except for the massive networks. Sorry guys, but this all boils down to straight cost. We are a very niche server, and we advertise best by word of mouth.
Its monthly there are ways to advertise tho but like others said we need to make it so we can keep the players first.
Well what have we changed sense we had the higher player numbers?? What were we doing right before that we arent now o-o?
Minecraft was more popular back then, and the current EULA scare/mess caused for issues in players joining servers. The other problem, is back in 2014/15 when we had peaks of 300-400 - we had a lot more disposable income to use for advertising. We no longer have that degree of income.
Honestly, I'm projecting close to $50k USD per month for a decent advertising campaign, andrew would know more, but with our current playerbase, that's not something we can push. I appreciate the optimism and thoughts, but realistically what we need is new developments for the server. We have things planned, and once we have them all lined up it'll be a fast job to get them all done. We'll be able to return to 200~ player peaks sometime, whether that's soon or not is up to the future. There's a lot that's behind the scenes that has to happen, and those things take priority over others.
