Subscription based Minecraft servers? Best way to monetize your server? (Read before voting)

[arduent]

Would you play on a Minecraft server that charged you a few dollars each month if the gaming experience was ideal?


Imagine you are a server admin and you do this:
You charge players a monthly fee that is calculated based on your server's hosting/maintenance costs. Say it amounts to each player paying about a few dollars a month to the owner.

Positives:
+ Allows the server owners to easily pay for their server's hosting and maintenance costs
+ You will easily weed out those who aren't going to be die hard server members
(We all know that the standard whitelist questionnaire is rarely good enough in the above, players put their money where their mouth is)
+ You get rid of those who will grief (griefers are less likely to pay to be whitelisted somewhere, they are looking for a quick fix)
+ You don't have to beg for donations
+ Those who want to donate still can
+ If someone doesn't pay you can easily ban them and save their .dat for when they renew their sub
+ If a server is growing this allows admins to easily accommodate better server hosting dependent (budget growth = server performance increase)
*+Post other positives in the comments below if you desire.

Negatives:
- You loose a larger audience of potential players
- Greedy admins can charge too much for a subpar gaming experience
- It's on the admins to work hard to match the expectations of the paying players
*-Post other negatives in the comments below pls thx<3!


Is it just me? Or is this an extremely efficient way for Minecraft's online world to be improved?
We all know how hard it is to find that perfect server. IMO This will make everyone's life much easier.
Why isn't this being done? Is it being done and am I just unawhere?
It can be applied to any server type such as modded, vanilla, factions, you name it.
Please share your thoughts.

*When you vote, consider that the hypothetical server you are playing on is one you enjoy the gaming experience of.

Thanks

 

[Azzanine]

I would but it depends on the rate and the level of service has to be impeccable.

I can't vote on this, as it is very dependent on the server performance and staff. So it's yes, but also no as I have NEVER been on a server worth subbing to.
But if a server can provide a service worth paying for I am not against the idea.

 

[the_j485]

People will want to try before they buy. They have to take your word for it that it'll be great, but they don't know you're not lying or wrong. And then, if the server stops, or something gets worse about it, then people will complain, because there are plenty of other servers for free which are high-standard.
You'd have to make a massively high standard to make it acceptable.

Also, does this not go against the EULA?

 

[arduent]

People will want to try before they buy. They have to take your word for it that it'll be great, but they don't know you're not lying or wrong. And then, if the server stops, or something gets worse about it, then people will complain, because there are plenty of other servers for free which are high-standard.
You'd have to make a massively high standard to make it acceptable.

Also, does this not go against the EULA?

Mojang said it was allowed.

Quote from: https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation-the-follow-up-qa/
"Can I charge for access to my server?
Yes. How players join a server is up to you. Single entrance fees or subscriptions are both allowed."

I would but it depends on the rate and the level of service has to be impeccable.

I can't vote on this, as it is very dependent on the server performance and staff. So it's yes, but also no as I have NEVER been on a server worth subbing to.
But if a server can provide a service worth paying for I am not against the idea.

Thanks for your replies guys!
I believe that a service such as this is possible. I had a survival FTB server where the more dedicated players would regularly donate sufficient amounts. This is different from a sub system of course, but not too far off.

 

[Azzanine]

Thanks for your replies guys!
I believe that a service such as this is possible. I had a survival FTB server where the more dedicated players would regularly donate sufficient amounts. This is different from a sub system of course, but not too far off.

TBH I think the best and most legit thing a server could provide is land rights, protection and service. Like a player can build anywhere they want but if they want to claim something as their own and have the benefit of protection plugins they pay per plot they claim. Also reserved player slots if feasible.
If you want to be lame you could charge this as a sub.
Anything past that is a lame cash grab.

I want to reiterate my point of the quality needing to be impeccable; Soon as money changes hands even in a donation scenario, expectations quadruple, your average fun server just wont cut it. It needs to be "lagless" within a 200ms margin and no more (players regions will have to be accounted for for a yank > 100ms might be unacceptable) and downtime has to be very minimal and scheduled if needed. The "staff" would also need to be super reliable and react to emergencies promptly, no "can't reset the server there's no mod/admins".
As I said I would pay a sub for an exceptional server but I will say I have not been on a server yet where it has been worth paying monthly for, even single digits and I'm even talking about the servers I've really enjoyed. Soon as money changes hands monthly the standard needs to skyrocket, at least for me. Same goes for any service that has been traditionally free, I mean would you pay a sub for access to YouTube? most will say no and those that say yes will want to see more then their moneys worth.

 

[arduent]

TBH I think the best and most legit thing a server could provide is land rights, protection and service. Like a player can build anywhere they want but if they want to claim something as their own and have the benefit of protection plugins they pay per plot they claim. Also reserved player slots if feasible.
If you want to be lame you could charge this as a sub.
Anything past that is a lame cash grab.

I want to reiterate my point of the quality needing to be impeccable; Soon as money changes hands even in a donation scenario, expectations quadruple, your average fun server just wont cut it. It needs to be "lagless" within a 200ms margin and no more (players regions will have to be accounted for for a yank > 100ms might be unacceptable) and downtime has to be very minimal and scheduled if needed. The "staff" would also need to be super reliable and react to emergencies promptly, no "can't reset the server there's no mod/admins".
As I said I would pay a sub for an exceptional server but I will say I have not been on a server yet where it has been worth paying monthly for, even single digits and I'm even talking about the servers I've really enjoyed. Soon as money changes hands monthly the standard needs to skyrocket, at least for me. Same goes for any service that has been traditionally free, I mean would you pay a sub for access to YouTube? most will say no and those that say yes will want to see more then their moneys worth.

Are you aware of the EULA changes? https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/ and https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation-the-follow-up-qa/
Owners can no longer charge players for things that affect gameplay such as plots or protection. This has made it harder for many servers to stay funded. This is one reason why I'm bringing a sub system up.

And to your point about service needing to skyrocket, I agree completely that the quality must meet the players' expectations and then some, but I still think it is possible for a server such as this to thrive. There are players who would pay for the better experience and the pluses mentioned above just as there were players who would pay to win on servers in the past.

 

[trajing]

IDGAF if it is an amazing server, I cannot convince my parents to let me pay. Even if I could, I am NOT paying for a server that is for a game I already spent money on.

 

[Azzanine]

Are you aware of the EULA changes? https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation/ and https://mojang.com/2014/06/lets-talk-server-monetisation-the-follow-up-qa/
Owners can no longer charge players for things that affect gameplay such as plots or protection. This has made it harder for many servers to stay funded. This is one reason why I'm bringing a sub system up.

And to your point about service needing to skyrocket, I agree completely that the quality must meet the players' expectations and then some, but I still think it is possible for a server such as this to thrive. There are players who would pay for the better experience and the pluses mentioned above just as there were players who would pay to win on servers in the past.

Hmmm, it appears the people at Mojang just don't know humans well.

They think that people will fund a server out of the goodness of their hearts... Pay to win aspects and kit I agree are lame but protection perks and claim space was the only thing I could think of that I agree could and should be charged for. You are essentially leasing a part of your server to a player to do what they please within reason, the chunks they are building in and having fun in are being ran on the very physical hardware that is the server you bought/ leased. Every new player takes up ram/hard drive space, every player you take in raises the cost of hosting.
I don't this this will kill the multiplayer scene (might improve some aspects) but it must be difficult, hopefully people realize that servers cost money and chip in, otherwise we will find more and more hosts opting to not start servers.
It's an expensive hobby to run a Minecraft public server, time consuming too if you do it right. Trust me I've done it and it was an Aussi based one too so take the cost you yanks pay and quadruple it, stopped it for financial reasons too.

 

[ThatOneSlowking]

IDGAF if it is an amazing server, I cannot convince my parents to let me pay. Even if I could, I am NOT paying for a server that is for a game I already spent money on.

This. It is correct that you lose a potential audience. If it costs a monthly fee I am not playing, there are definitely SOME free servers that are high quality.