How can I afford a decdicated server?

Discussion in 'Bukkit Discussion' started by wizard7611, Nov 17, 2013.

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  1. Offline

    wizard7611

    I've been wondering how people can afford these dedicated servers. These people have like 3 networks each.WTF!?! Why can't I do that? I know a dedicated server costs over $100/month. What's your best suggestion for me to make enough money for my network if I'm 14 and don't have a job besides working for my dad in the summer? All I want is a network that has 3-4 servers on it. ;(
     
  2. Offline

    Lolmewn

    Most of these servers run these servers with money made from donations. I used to, anyway.
     
  3. Offline

    theearlypc423

    They have playerbases and donations coming through pretty fast. I'd recommend using OVH or SecuredServers.
     
  4. Offline

    thomasb454


    Just a tip:

    Don't start out with the intention to get big (that's what she said *tehe*) - anyway, concentrate on make your server fun, unique - a place where players feel welcome and want to return - this is how you will build a player base, when you have said player base, ask them what they want; what types of servers - do they even want a network - a hub?

    This is how I do it - it works very well, anyway, hope I helped,
    Thomas.
     
  5. Offline

    rguz10

    Get the OVH SP2, its only $90/mo and has a pretty good cpu, ssd's, and 32GB of RAM. I have 3 of them (had 6 or so in total) ans they are great. Expect them to hold 200-300.
     
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    pilvimaa

    We can afford those because we're not 14 and have jobs.
     
    NathanG_, MikeA, tyzoid and 3 others like this.
  7. Offline

    Mike1022

    Start with a 10 player or so server. Then just work your way up until you really need a dedicated machine. If you start with say a machine that can host 1,000 players, and you get like 20, you will be wasting hundreds of dollars.
     
  8. Offline

    wizard7611

    My plan right now is to start out my server as a regular server that costs $6.50, and then later buy a dedicated server with my money and upload the maps so that I wont have to rebuild everything :D
     
  9. Offline

    XD 3VIL M0NKEY

    wizard7611
    My story, in a nutshell:
    Started back in mid 2010 with a small home hosted server, running off an old Core 2 Duo (#pro) at a mere 2.4GHz, and I think 8GB RAM?
    Did alright, held 30 players quite well. Began to get more popular (keep in mind Minecraft was newer back then) I used to fill it quite often.
    January 2011, I moved on to a small shared hosted server with 1.5GB RAM. I then started accepting donations where users could purchase VIP, it came with a few perks and I didn't charge much (maybe $5?)
    That eventually added up to a decent sum of cash.
    September 2011, I moved to a different shared host, this time with 3GB RAM, double the last one! Things went good, 60 slots full. Started selling more. Got more cash...
    August 2012 Moved to A different host with 32GB RAM, (I got an amazing deal, 'twas a 128GB machine though) Same thing, Got BuyCraft premium installed, started selling kits and whatnot.
    February 2013, Moved onto a dedicated server, 32GB RAM, Quad core Xeon, only paying $89/mo.
    Currently still on this machine.

    Well. That's my story folks,
    I would just be original. It worked for me.
     
  10. Offline

    jorisk322

    The problem with that though, is that if you DO have a really good idea, but not a lot of money, you might set up one small server for your idea, which people might like, but it's full all the time/too small. Bigger servers will probably start stealing your idea at this time, and with their resources, they will be able to get much better servers. It's not fair at all, but that's what I think would happen.
     
  11. Offline

    thomasb454


    Well, if the idea is loved, why not let "donors" overflow the player limit = more donations = better resources. :)
     
  12. Offline

    jorisk322

    You're probably not going to get a lot of players/donations immediately though. Big networks will.
     
  13. Offline

    Maximvdw

    Just start simple... buy a small lowend VPS (lowendbox) (1GB RAM) and play with 3-5 friends.
    Ask your friends to contribute some money to help you expand. Get an original idea that does not uses
    allot of resources (f.ex dont start with creating a Hide and seek server or something like that).. just start small
    with 1 idea that you keep for the rest of your (server)life. Choose something you like to do, because the main reason
    servers stop is because the owners stopped playing minecraft.

    When you are ready, upgrade your VPS (2GB RAM for example) just to attract more people.
    Dont ever EVER EVER push people to donate, personally I HATE donating perks near spawn. Just cover it up
    its better to give players normal features, and donaters extra features.. then removing 'default' permissions from players and give them to donators. Choose features that can HELP them.. for example I once played on a server where I really was tempted to buy a donating rank where I could use /home. This does not seem like allot, but it was a PVP server with a very large map so...

    EDIT: Less is more, if you really want to use 'ranks' do not charge 20$ or something. Most people buy something because they have a few dollars left in their paypal.

    Do this over and over again, until you have enough money from donations to buy a nice server.
    But keep in mind, never ever ever push people to buy donating perks, and keep your main server idea. If you choose creative then stay on creative, if you choose pvp then stay on pvp.

    gr,
    Maxim
     
  14. Offline

    LEOcab

    Alternatively, you could build your own epic box and host it at home. That is if you're lucky enough to live in an area with high speed fiber, which I'm not.

    >10mbit upload
    >dat intermittence
     
  15. Offline

    andrewkm

    Players/Donations
     
  16. Offline

    wizard7611

    I was thinking of making ranks where people could buy them and get more higher ranked guns. The dollar limit of ranks is at $80.
     
  17. Offline

    moldyspore

    If you have a fast enough connection, then you can run it from home. Then it is just the one-time cost of the server hardware to incur. If you have an upper-tier cable connection or a fiber connection, chances are you can run a server off your home network, given you have the correct hardware to secure yourself (hardware firewall) while allowing for incoming connections to a box that sits on your inside network. Unless you are trying to have hundreds of players on your server, running a home server is the most cost effective option if you are already paying for a good internet connection.

    As for having 3-4 servers, you're on your own for that one. I'd suggest a donation system, but that is dangerous since you can easily run into a situation where the bill is due and nobody is donating. With your only source of income being a summer job, I'd advise against this.
     
  18. Offline

    Syd

    Honestly, you are 14, so why do you try to make a big server network?

    To host and maintain such a big network you need time, money and experience. Especially the last one.

    If you really want to make a MC server, start small and don't try to imitate networks of a size of a small company...
     
    JaguarJo likes this.
  19. Offline

    obscurehero

    Never start with 3-4 servers doesn't make sense. Start with one and see how it goes. You can do that for quite cheap.
     
    JaguarJo likes this.
  20. Offline

    LEOcab

    That's pay to win. People hate that. Donation perks should never give in-game advantages on a competitive server. Give them color nicks and block hats.
     
  21. Offline

    wizard7611

    yea they get those too
     
  22. Offline

    Maximvdw

    Like I said 80$ ranks is not-done. There was a Voltz server once by zCarl and it was good.. but he only had like 1 donator (I bet it wasn't bought) and he stopped the server due to a lack of funds... I prefer 4,99$ dollar for a rank cuz for some reason that is all what I have left on my paypal at the end of the month... and 14 ... like the other guy said, you need experience, not only in minecraft but networking and security aswell.
     
  23. Offline

    wizard7611

    Trust me I'm making about 30 different ranks XD
     
  24. Offline

    MetalGearDaner

    Well, usually owners do not pay all the money the server costs. I have a Minecraft Community and we are using a Hetzner Dedicated server that costs about 60€/month. We pay it every month with quarterly donation campaigns.
     
  25. Offline

    Jake6177

    Usually you receive donations that *help* to pay the costs, notice I said *help*.
    You won't get a dedicated server merely on *just* donations. People afford these because they aren't 14, and because some or most of them do have jobs. They also afford it because when they're paying for 3 servers in at > $100-150 each, then it's more than a hobby and more like a second job, and they treat it as such (if you notice, you'd hardly see a big server owner playing his own server, he's behind the scenes managing his "business" which honestly I have no problem in calling it a business.)
     
    JaguarJo likes this.
  26. Offline

    Maximvdw

    30 different ranks... that is even worse.. you should keep it to one rank.. else no one will buy those diff ranks.
    Please note Donating is for Support not to pay of your hosting.

    Example:
    You are in a store and they have 3 processors (100$, 200$ and 400$) the first one is as slow as your current, the second one is good enough but the last one really rocks.. it is however very expensive.

    I bet you would hesitate a few hours before making the choice between the last and mid cpu.
    --------------------

    You are in a store and they only have the middle processor (250$). You have nothing to compare it with, so you pick it.

    In this situation you won't hesitate since it is your only option, if in the previous example the user had enough money for the 400$ processor he would prob. bought it. But if he hadn't he would've bought the middle one for 200$ (and most people will).

    However in this last example you have a WIN WIN.
    --------------------

    Im not good in making example :S but what I want to say is.. keep it to one rank, maybe make it a bit more expensive then your cheapest but more people will buy it.



    The first year you have your dedi server you will have to pay it from your own pocket.. maybe the next year you can have 50% payed by donations if you are lucky.. and in 2 years maybe even 100%... but its that first year where you will need 120$/mo

    EDIT: Just like the other guys above me says.. if you are holding on to the idea that you will get enough money to keep up hosting then forget it. Even those big networks have bad month where they have to pay their hosting from their own pocket.

    gr,
    Maxim
     
  27. Offline

    paully104


    Reason To Start Small​

    Truthfully i wouldn't try and rent servers for 100 dollars a month especially in your financial situation. My younger brother back in 2011 made a server for a couple hundred dollars and used that off of our homes internet connection. We have the low grade business speed for downloading and whatnot. However more then likely your best bet would be to make a business model and expand. You can rent a server spot on a machine that runs reasonable well for 10-15 dollars a month for a gig or two. Now instead of being a sole proprietor(running it all by yourself) maybe you can nab some friends or talk with some people who would be interested in renting the server with you. A 2-3 gig server that's 30 dollars a month split by 5 people is only 6 dollars. Once you create a server and bug fix and get some programmers going then you can start charging people for VIP or however you want to run your server. Once you get your income level to your goal you can work on expansion. I'm just using a blanket coverage of the process because im not so sure how dedicated you are to the idea of running and up-keeping such a massive server. I am also not sure what your server admin experience is either. The point im making is start small, make some profit so you have actual income, not just breaking even with maintenance cost,t hen expand and keep the wheel turning.
     
  28. Offline

    wizard7611

    Maximvdw >.< you don't understand. I'm not a freaking idiot with money in real life because right now I have $400. I'm just trying to find a way I could save money and not spend it all. I think it's best to make more than one rank though because where's the fun when there is only one rank and your forced to choose it? I think that when you have one rank, you'll barely have any donations. If you look at for an example the Mc-war network, they have multiple donations and multiple ranks. Basically, I'm not going to listen to that comment and move on. I know I can make this work. ;)

    EDIT: oh yea and if you've ever played on the Mc-war network you would know Orange451 spent a lot of time making his custom plugin. That's exactly what I'm going to do (not make the same plugin) and I'm also going to take time on building the server. Also about the processors, I would choose the best one even though it costs more only if the situation is really important.
     
  29. Offline

    Tanite

    I think the idea of running a giant server with tons of players and donations will in almost all cases exceed the reality (as far as enjoying doing that).
     
  30. Offline

    mazentheamazin

    rguz10
    Well, almost all of OVH's products have been sold out for like a month. I think you can get it in Canada though..
     
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