Hey Facepunch nerds, Ive just made a TTT Server, its pretty chill, but now I'm asking advice on how to populate it. I'm not gonna be one of those scumbags who goes onto another server and plugs, so what do you peeps recommend?
A Stable Administration System with the proper commands (ULX as example) and an already existing playerbase of at least a couple of people maybe 4 up.
There is no guaranteed 100% effective way to populate a server. The best thing you can do at this point is get some of your friends to get on with you and just play for a while.
Suppose you get you and two of your friends on the server. Yes, it will be boring at first and more often than not you'll just turn it into a FFA. But eventually, players will see that there are 3 people on a server, and jump in to help get it started. Then that eventually turns into 5 players. Then 7, then 10, etc.
The hardest part for this will be consistency. Servers aren't going to just populate themselves, so you'll have to do the grunt work and try to populate it day after day, week after week. This is when most owners stop trying, since they'll usually want to do other things that just walking around a map for an hour waiting for ricardo.gonzalez to connect, idle for two minutes, then leave. It's mind-numbing boredom, but that's the price to pay. (also, in case you haven't tried yet, spamming bots in your server doesn't contribute to the player count in the server list)
Also, when a new player connects, please welcome them, and make them feel welcome. Say hello, ask how their day is, if they're new the game and would like some pointers. That's what sticks in people's minds and makes them want to stay. On the opposite end of the spectrum, don't be a tryhard. Don't expect everyone who joins to be good at the game, so don't curbstomp them and mock them with a "git gud" every time they die. Tone down your playstyle a bit, kind of like how parents play games with a child. Make them feel welcome and accomplished.
There are also a few sites where you can advertise your server sort of like a Craigslist post, but these usually don't do much, considering how many other people are trying to advertise their server as well. It usually gets drowned out quickly, and nobody will see it.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer them.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
