Minecraft server: Is long term player engagement possible?

Intro​

So, I have been modding the crap out of a spigot/paper minecraft server to play with my friends locally. I am debating whether or not I should adjust the server for a large population and host it online. I have had this server for a long time, constantly updating and adding more plugins/features. I figured with all the time I put into it, maybe other people would appreciate it. We all saw how SMC didn't last. Once players beat the game, they felt like there was nothing left to do. Without factions or some sort of competetive aspect, what would make you want to return after you have an elytra and 10 sets of diamond? One of the questions that needs to be answered first is: Is long term player engagement possible? What I mean by this is, what would the server need in order for players to keep coming back over an extended period of time?

The main reason I am making is thread is due to my inexperience with online minecraft servers. There's a lot of information I still want to find out. I have been playing minecraft since the beta or alpha (sometime around 2010 or 2011) and absolutely love the game. I have never been able to get into online play due to how most servers are set up. I don't know why, nothing ever appealed to me. I always preferd pretty standard survival, and a lot of servers seemed to mess that up in a way that made it not enjoyable as a game to me. I want this server to be a difficult survival server that is accessible to a lot of players.

The Solution​

I have been thinking about a solution to this problem and I think I have a pretty good plan to make a minecraft server that's more interesting for players in the long run. Basically, players would be able to form Guilds similar to a factions plugin. Guilds would have tiers that allow benefits such as buffs for guild members, a guild stash/bank, guild land protection, etc. I havent decided how the tiers would increase, perhaps have some sort of upgrade system where players must pool together money to purchase very expensive upgrades for their guild? The main point of the guilds is to create competition between groups of players.

When I was brainstorming about guilds, I ran into a small problem. How do I prevent the first/most powerful guild from dominating the entire server? If raids were set up (not even possible with this plugin), it would probably end up being 1 guild dominating and pillaging the rest of the server. In place of raids would be tournaments. Basically, guild leaders coordinate with other guild leaders to have PVP events (using custom pvp arenas) which would be set up alongside some sort of ranking system. This way, you could have a tiny guild, but still be number 1 in pvp if you are good (kind of creates a quality over quantity aspect to recruiting). There would be multiple arenas with differences in min/max players for different guild sizes. This would hopefully satisfy the pvp players, while not restricting or ruining gameplay for the non pvpers.

Now, we talk about the non pvpers. this server has Mcmmo installed alongside Mythicmobs. I have created abunch of custom mobs, such as; flame zombies that cause fire damage, gravity creepers that pull you closer to them, frost skeletons that slow you down when they hit you, etc. That list is just scratching the surface, right now I have over 50 custom mobs, including multiple bosses with their own AI and special attacks. Mobs have levels (levels which increase the farther you get away from spawn) that make them do more damage and have more health. In order to beat the high level mobs, players must kill weak bosses in order to gain custom legendary weapons (weapons that have randomized stats, depending on the level of mob killed). This creates a system where players need to farm mobs as they move away from spawn, or else they will end up getting killed by mobs that outlevel their loot. This, combined with the guild and mmo system, would hopefully be able to satisfy the pvpers and the nonpvpers in a way that makes players want to return regulary.

Features​

Here are some features that I have already implented for local use.
- Mcmmo
- Economy
- Mythic Mobs
- Custom items
- Tons of performance tweaking plugins
- Toggleable PVP in normal world
- Mobarenas
- PVP arenas
- Multiworld with custom worlds (custom default world w/ OTG and biomebundle, custom skylands that's in the nether and spawns ghasts along with higher rates of Mythic Mobs, and a pvp world that has a higher XP drop rate at the risk of being pvpd)

Features I would need to add/setup
- Guild system
- Plots for possible creative world (if the server can handle it, already have 3 worlds)
- More custom mobs/bosses/items

Questions​

1: Anyone who has had experience running minecraft servers, can you expect good performance with 3 or 4 worlds running on one server. I have heard of people using Bungeecord to connect multiple servers together, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that. So let's say I have 20 people on a server that has 1 world. Compare that to a server that has 20 players spread across 3 worlds. Is the performance comparable since the same amount of chunks are loaded/running in both situations? Or is the 3 world server going to take a performance hit?
2: would minecraft players be interested in this type of server?

will post screenshots tomorrow

​

 

Many would probably disagree with me when i say the answer is simple, but let me preface it.

Why do people come back to Gmod, Tf2, things of the such, WoW, yadda?

If there's an end game to them, it's so far beyond your reach that you'll find complacency in playing the base game because it's enjoyable. Sure it gets repetitive at times but that doesnt mean people would entirely stop playing it. If you have a brain and at least a grade 6 education you'll understand that if the game has an end and you make it so your users can reach that end as fast as they want to VIA money, luck. . . (AKA Shortcuts) then once the game is beat who the hell wants to play it anymore. You get more a more consistent player base with games like that, but at times you may reach a bigger peak if you have a game that's beatable but it will peter out sooner or later and faster than games with an end game so unobtainable.

Which fits Gmod, Tf2, WoW, yadda.

Therefore it's entirely possible to make a minecraft server that can sustain a player base, you just need to not be a dickweed about how the players reach the end game if there is one or just make it into a pseudo version of gmod tf2 blah.

Here's my issue with this: it's an idea that's great there's an end goal that's great but the problem is if your bait is to get people to play for that reason not many people will take the bait. Offer something unobtainable first and make this an addition to their journey to reach the end goal (which can still be unobtainable). In english: What im saying is add this on later down the road some way some how whether it's "you have to have XXX points from these games to enter guild wars or XXX time" THEN you have an interested user who wants to keep playing your servers. If they're having enough fun with everything else and you introduce this later on it's something for them to work towards and then it's something for them to enjoy. Unlockables are one of the most enticing concepts to anyone who plays games because it gives them incentive to play.

You dont. It's inevitable.

I only care enough to answer this much so ill answer the remaining after the last quote later.

 

If the server goes live hit me up fam.

 

I'd prefer something survival and community oriented but that's just me

 

skyfactory best

 

Minecraft is trash. 1v1 me on goldeneye 007 and we'll see who's the real deal

 

I mean a few people have been playing the SMC FTB server that's hosted on my laptop for quite awhile now. I think that a modded server would do well (especially with an actual host) cause it provides a lot more to do than vanilla does