why do fan servers fail

Booklat1 · 2021-09-10 02:52:43

I think we all know this game is dead AF at this point and I think we all know why

Having said that, there used to be hope that players could at least make their own servers and get rid of the annoying mechanics Jason added to the game. I think the community has arrived at a consensus that the game played better before rifts, homelands, restrictions became an obsessive endeavor to fix what was never broken.

But my point here is, What happens to player servers that they seem to never be able to fill the vacuum?
Server owners, what stopped your servers from running? Can there be any hope for a comeback of this community without Jason? (or worse, with him?)

DestinyCall · 2021-09-11 16:16:14

I can't speak for all fan servers, but the main reasons I've seen servers fail is either lack of new players or lack of maintainers. As a game, the player experience is fundamentally changed if your average server population is low - one or two people on at the same time - compared with a higher server population - 10 or 20 players online at the same time - or an even higher population - 50 or more players. Personally, I find the higher population is more interesting and generates a wider range of experiences. Smaller fan servers tend to have a hard time attracting new players and retaining older players, because the gameplay loop on low-pop is not very dynamic.

The other side of the problem is sever maintenance. You must keep your sever running 24/7 to allow players to live out their one hour lives and to ensure that players in different time zones can connect and play at all hours. You must have a way to communicate with your playerbase to identify problems and ways to improve the user experience on your fan server. You must update the server occasionally to fix problems or add additional features. All of that takes time and money and skill. If you are doing it as a side project, you probably have limited resources to dedicate to the project so progress will be slow and imperfect. It will be easier if you have multiple people working on the project together, but then you have to coordinate people to work together for free. If the server goes down for any length of time, you will lose players. If the gameplay is stale or broken, you will lose players. If the server is poorly maintained or improperly maintained, you will lose players. Unless you have a steady influx of new players to offset those loses, you will likely go from having a small playerbase when you launch your fan server to having a non-existent playerbase.

A big part of the problem when it comes to getting new players for your fan server is .. where do they come from? OHOL is a niche game with a very small playerbase itself. It is not well-known and even the main game has struggled badly with player retention. A fan server is a niche within a niche. Even if you have a great concept for your custom server and you are able to deliver on your promises by creating a unique and well-maintained server, you are only going to be able to attract so many people to play on your fan server. And where will they even learn about it?

Games like Minecraft and Rust let you search for custom servers in the game client, so simply by playing the main game you are encouraged to explore and discover new multi-player servers beyond the basic game. It makes it easy to find a wide variety of different servers hosted by players who were looking for a different experience than what the base game offers. And this, in turn, allows those servers to survive and grow in popularity. For OHOL, I find it much harder to locate fan servers, because you basically either have to host your own server, know a guy who is hosting a server, or see the server advertised on Discord or in the forums to even know it exists. There's no central location to find all the active custom servers. There's no searchable list of fan servers and what they offer. It is really hard to join a good server if you don't even know it exists.

In a perfect world, I would love to see a multiplayer server list added to the main OHOL client. In the real world, I think it would be great if we complied a list of active fan servers here on the forums or wiki and made it a sticky thread so new players could use it as a resource for locating active servers.

Gomez · 2021-09-12 18:20:16

Community too small to support splinter cells tbh. Game is also quite technical and minor server changes can mean big differences in play style to the point of having to relearn a meta, at least the game is static now and has a workable meta.

Last edited by Gomez (2021-09-12 18:22:06)

DestinyCall · 2021-09-13 21:57:57

I don't agree with the idea that the community is too small to support fan servers. In fact, I think different ways of playing OHOL would make it attractive to a wider range of players which could potentially lead to a larger player base. As it stands, you either like the way the base game works .. or you stop playing. There's not really another option. Even with a good way for new players to find them, most servers would naturally not draw much attention or retain many players. But the good ones would rise to the top and develop a loyal userbase because they offered something that vanilla OHOL does not.

For example, I would be very interested in playing on a server that removes many of the garbage mechanics, like race restrictions and homelands.

Spoonwood · 2021-09-13 22:10:09

DestinyCall wrote:

I don't agree with the idea that the community is too small to support fan servers. In fact, I think different ways of playing OHOL would make it attractive to a wider range of players which could potentially lead to a larger player base. As it stands, you either like the way the base game works .. or you stop playing. There's not really another option. Even with a good way for new players to find them, most servers would naturally not draw much attention or retain many players. But the good ones would rise to the top and develop a loyal userbase because they offered something that vanilla OHOL does not.
For example, I would be very interested in playing on a server that removes many of the garbage mechanics, like race restrictions and homelands.

2HOL does this (they never *had* those things to remove). Though, I think you knew that for at least one point in time, if you had forgotten such. They also have unbreakable yum now, with different default values for foods. And a fast ostrich. And a peacock.

DestinyCall · 2021-09-14 17:13:38

Yes, I am aware of 2HOL and enjoy playing it. My point is that many players don't know about other OHOL fan servers or what they have to offer and can have a hard time finding them even when they know that they exist.

arkajalka · 2021-09-15 09:00:51

i've never played any mod servers, or used any of the mod. Just played the vanilla game.

Imo all the unofficial servers and version of the original game just eat out from an already small player base. I think its basically one of the main reasons this game is dying at the moment. The player base is split. I still see people talk a lot about the 2HOL. What i've seen its just a super cluttered version of the same game. You just go do some niche thing that you cant do in the original and abandon it.

If the base game dies and someone tryes to pull out something of their own what i would love to see is

HC One week one life.

-Really long life spans 3day/1week?
-All the carebear mechanics removed (cursing, groups needed for killing, elder peace/war)
-Race restrictions
-Codelocks for doors

This would encourage a meta where you have to build up a shelter for you where you sleep when you are offline. Maybe everyone would have their own lockable house. Also love the idea of getting 6day old character stabbed to death... the drama. Would bring so much more long term value and new kinda of play styles. Also would create a totaly diffenret kind of bond between the players in the same family line.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2021-09-10 02:52:43

why do fan servers fail

#2 2021-09-11 16:16:14

Re: why do fan servers fail

#3 2021-09-12 18:20:16

Re: why do fan servers fail

#4 2021-09-13 21:57:57

Re: why do fan servers fail

#5 2021-09-13 22:10:09

Re: why do fan servers fail

#6 2021-09-14 17:13:38

Re: why do fan servers fail

#7 2021-09-15 09:00:51

Re: why do fan servers fail

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