I'm thinking about setting up a pay-as-you-go minecraft hosting server. Who'd be interested?

Hello everybody,

I am thinking about setting up my own minecraft hosting service with a pay as you go system.
It'd work like this: You'd pay a small amount per month as a base price and then a certain price per hour you play on the server. (It'll automatically boot when somebody tries to connect and shut down if it hasn't been used in the past hour (the system'll check every whole hour)).
Your price would be based upon the amount of ram you use. (anywhere between 128Mb (=1 slot) and 768Mb (=6 slots) (although I'm not exactly sure how I'd handle allocation...))

It'd be ideal for those who just want to play Minecraft with a few friends without the hassle of hosting it yourself.
I might even make it so that you can select any bukkit version 1.4.2 up and until the latest. (Note: due to technical restraints I won't let people downgrade unless they reset their map (or restore it from backup)).

• RAM/CPU: 1 or more VPS/dedicated servers (depends on how many people would register) would provide slots (1 slot = 128Mb, cpu power would be distributed as needed).

• FILES: every server (VPS/dedicated) would have a folder where files can be stored, these'd be shared to the central server (using either sshfs or nfs) who'd tie them together using unionfs (or aufs) into a central access directory which is then shared using either sshfs or nfs to the other servers who'd in turn run the bukkit servers off of that central directory. TL;DR: All servers provide storage which is then tied together as one and used to run the servers off.

• SLOTS: A custom program would listen for minecraft connections and forward them to their respective slot (probably hostname based). If a server is off it will be allocated a slot and then started. (The client would receive a kick message saying the server is booting and to try again in a few seconds). A watchdog would periodically check every server's usage. If a server hasn't been used for the past hour, it'll be stopped.

• BUKKIT SETUP: You'd get a bukkit server of a version of your choice (Minimally 1.4.2; Upgradable later) with worldguard (/stoplag would be turned on at boot and you are advised to keep it on), worldedit and several anti-grief plugins. All of which you can turn off (except for worldguard, stoplag allows me to keep the server cpu-usage relatively low). There are hardlimits (enforced with ulimit) to the cputime and ram you get.

• ADMINISTRATION: Clients would get full (s)ftp access to their own server directory. They can change anything (even the startup parameters using a special config file, except for the RAM parameters, those are set by the slotmanager to prevent you from allocating more than your slot (if you did, your server would be kill -9'd)) except for their server port (which'd be set by the slotting software on boot to match the slot you're in).

• BACKUPS: I'd probably have them backup daily to my local servers (my private ones) every day. Forced save-to-disks every 15 minutes.

• SUPPORT: People could message me on Skype or send me a mail if something's wrong and I'll try to help via either email or Skype. I charge 1 euro per hour.

• PAYMENT: Probably using PayPal (am still thinking about that though). If you don't pay within a week your server would be blacklisted and anybody trying to connect would get a message telling them the server owner refused to pay his/her bills.

Technically, I *could* oversell servers (probably won't though, depending on how many people are interested) since people would only use their server for a limited time during a day, leaving empty slots most of the day (and night) which I could probably reuse for other servers.

I would start with one VPS initially with 4-6 slots (i need some space for the slot management software and the PS, for a starter I could only afford a 1G ram VPS).
Or maybe I'd collect funds using Kickstarter first to get a respectable setup going first? (Everybody who donates over, say, 10 euros would get a server slot).

MY QUESTIONS TO YOU:

• Do you think I could earn some money like this? (Initially it'll be a project so I can earn some extra money.)

• Would you host a server with me?

• What price would you be willing to pay for 1 slot/h? (I'd probably ask a monthly fee of somewhere between 1 and 2 euro to keep my servers running, the slot/h would be purely profit for me.)

• Should I first gather money using kickstarter? (more slots & clients = less monthly fee)

• Where should I host my servers? (I'm personally thinking about PhotonVPS)

• Any other notes/comments about my plans?

• How should I go about advertising/selling my service?

 

1. If implemented correctly, possibly. Its the whole carshare/bikeshare/etc concept taken to minecraft servers. It sounds great in concept
2. I wouldn't; Doesn't mean others won't.
3. I agree, I think the membership fees should cover your bottom line at least, but they should be low enough that you're not competing with a more dedicated shared hosting system. For example, some shared hosts offer $4/GB/month which is quite low.
4. I'm not sure as I haven't used kickstarter.
5. I'm not sure that you should be hosting these off of VPSs as you're not very scalable that way. Try http://www.phoenixnap.com/ or OVH (OVH has excellent prices in Europe) or https://www.staminus.net/; You really should get one dedicated server to start with and go from there.
6. I think you need to think pretty hard about how you're dedicating resources to these servers. I can see resources going under and over utilized. There should be some sort of lease period that makes sense and allows for your server to utilize its resources properly. I might also consider a more KIDDIE friendly system of hosting as its more likely that's who you'll get. That is, your hosting system has only a few plugins that they can set up with little textbox forms to fill in their basic permissions and who gets what. Maybe just the basic plugins configured modularly. Giving clients full FTP access is nice, but your target customer-base seems like they'll have a lower expertise level. Your biggest headaches will be the incessant flood of customer complaints and requests for help. My real concern is that you wont be able to offer an enticing price point that produces any significant revenue without scale. Scale requires at least more money in the beginning and possibly more staff/help.
7. Minecraftforum and planetminecraft?

 

So you want to re-create Realms?
https://mojang.com/2013/03/what-is-minecraft-realms-anyway/

 

obscurehero
I agree with you on most of your points, but there are several things I wish to remark regarding your points:

• Dedicated is indeed better, however I need a certain amount of guaranteed subscribers to make ends meet were I to do this (dedicated ain't cheap). What I'll probably do is start based off VPS's and once I have enough clients to afford a dedicated, I'll certainly go for it. And the slotmanager can also access systems across machines and networks (if I used sshfs with the setup from the FILES section of the OP and tunnel the internal connections over SSH) so more computers/VPS/dedicated servers = more slots = more servers making the system scalable either way (I could even mix up dedicated and VPS).
• Regarding setting up, you get a order-n-play system. All servers are based off a common template which is instantly playable (no setting up required). Initially I wanted to use an existing minecraft controlpanel, but I haven't found one that is compatible with the setup I have in mind (and largely described, the parts I didn't describe are about how the slotmanager's gonna work).
• Plugins are a problem indeed as most won't know how to use them or set them up themselves. Maybe just put the most used ones in the template? Installing plugins isn't very hard (in most cases literally drag 'n drop it in the plugins folder).
• I don't really mind the support requests. (I make money off those, remember? (Heh, I've gotten quite a bit of money already off of friends and family this way))
• Oh and regarding the last part of 6, this is why I'm making sure to have at least a certain amount of guaranteed customers. (I'll probably have people register their interest, assuming 10% of the people will actually follow up on it I'll put the system in place when I have 100 people (or something like that) registered and then open official registration).
• Like I said, as long as my base price covers my costs and is below what others ask, I'm good. From there on everything's profit.
• My motto/motivation (don't you just LOVE how google images can find you an inspirational picture for every quote you enter?): http://www.scottiehobbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/success.jpg

TnT
Kinda, but with Bukkit servers (maybe (a very far away goal) even mcpc+ servers) and for a low price.
I'm pretty sure mojang doesn't offer that.
(Funnily enough, the whole MC Realms thing was my inspiration for this.)

 

I'm going to be a little harsh.

If someone is going to want their own Bukkit server, they're going to want to own the server (and I mean this is the sense that they have as much control over the Bukkit part as possible). I'd rather pay for a $5 server I'd keep for a whole month whether I use it or not.

Don't even think about charging for support for a product people are already paying for. Large companies can get away with that, but do you think people like paying for support? Granted, you aren't charging much, but the hassle involved is enough for people like me to stray away from support and never bother with you again.

Decide who your main target customers are. And I mean seriously detailed. I doubt many people with a technical background, $15 in cash in their account (that they are willing to spend on a monthly server), and anyone over the age of 16 would be interested in using a service like this.

 

In This case i would indeed recommend using kickstarter, its an experimental plan and you should check if there's in fact an interest.

I'd personally rather choose a VPS than this, but that's just because I dont like 'just' FTP acces to my server.

 

The controlpanel gives console access as well, so all bases *should* be covered (if that was what you were thinking).

Might I note I'm going to try to ask much less than 5$ a month? (I did note this in the OP)

 

And you meight want to take a look at with what hoster you are going to use, maybe different locations, 1 server in Europe and 1 in America. I personally would never buy a server without knowing what location it's hosted.

 

TnT rewbycraft

I feel dumb. I didn't know about Realms and thought this was an original idea. smh...

 

obscurehero realms is for MCPE only, so it still is kinda original...