Thanks very much for the reply and the tips.
Things that are important for launching a shard:
Advertising build up hype so there is a decent population from the start.
UO shards generally bleed players the longer the shard is live, starting out with 14 clients on day 3 is basically a dead server.
While I agree with this, it is not always the case. UOSecondAge and UORenaissance are examples of servers that started out with a very low population and grew. Our shard goals are very similar to these servers and we hope to grow in the same fashion when people see we are dedicated to scripting a quality server. The problem I have seen in the past with many servers is they launch, and then nothing really changes after that. I literally breathe this server, I spend well over 80 hours a week working on it personally and don't plan to stop.
Nobody wants to play an empty server, its against the very structure of a sandbox.
You need crafters, pks, sheep and bank sitters. Without even 1 of those groups it will negatively affect players perception of it.
Yes, you're right. It's a chicken and egg situation though. People see the server and the low population, so don't start. Right now we need people players willing to put in the groundwork on a low population. Some people do like this. We do have players working on craft skills, fishermen and people who have gone directly to the "let's get farming" route.
Players need to know the server and it's owners are stable. You have no donations to support longevity.
Even if you're a clone of every shard in existence you offer something the others don't and that is a fresh world, tons of land and an opportunity to make a name for yourself.
If you're a retired millionaire, great! Let people know the server is worth spending time on without the fear of the plug being pulled because you got a flat tire one day or that you cant support a 1k+ population because you make minimum wage and the server costs would bankrupt you.
Honestly, the reason we don't have donations is because I feel like we are in a very early state. I don't want players to feel like we are begging or in this for profit. Both of us running the server have full time jobs and don't have a problem supporting the server by ourselves - we will likely put a donation link later. I will make it very clear on our website our goal, and that I am not going anywhere. The low population does not bother me at this stage, of course we do advertisements on Reddit and are creating website content to raise our Google SEO.
The fact I had to Sherlock Holmes to find the server is bad.
I'd also suggest you have a clear view, stated on your website what the server is intended to be and how you plan to go about it.
You're not too far in to reboot and do things right.
Uo an corp had over 1k people to start and was shit. Right now all those players are hanging around waiting for their reboot.
As the route we're taking is the one that UOSecondAge and Renissance took, things like our Google SEO being low will make the server hard to find. We have been advertising on Reddit and gaming forums where we can, as well as voting sites.
Although it's possible releasing the server at a later date would have been a better idea, we won't be rebooting. We are here as a stable shard.
edit:
As a side note, we will be patching on Friday. Other than fixing bugs relating to T2A vs RunUO default, we will include things in this patch to keep people sticking around long term, and encouraging them to stay logged in. It will help with the online count a bit and help with player retention, in terms of endgame stuff to do.
