What populates a DayZ server?

[Serious Stan 202]

I voted other,

what populates a dayZ server is history and stability that ensures a healty playerbase.

Meaning posessions and a raeson to play there, once some players are regulars people will come just because there are other people there.

Edit: double post, please delete it? or can i delete it? i dont know....

Edited April 4, 2013 by Serious Stan

[Azrail (DayZ) 211]

the same logic applies to every game server, i've been through this multiple times, and it all comes down to one simple rule:

to populate a server, it needs to have an initial amount of players in it. noone will join an empty server if there are so many more packed with players.

one common technic is to have multiple players idle, it might work, but unless the server fills up fast, it's not gonna work that way, since there is no action going on.

also, usually you don't have enough folks at hand, willing to play on your server only, at any given time of the day.

you need to attract foreign players, and there is only one possible way to do that, you need to offer something that is rare or not yet available.

once you have your idea, build your community around that. see the private hive section for examples - some offer assloads of vehicles, others offer custom loadout or special loot tables. but you will need a bit more then just mixing up gameplay elements, you need something unique to really stand out from the crowd.

but if you can achieve that, players will eventually become regular players and if you have enough of those your server population will basically maintain itself.

like the server Grain mentioned, 3rd person OFF alone is so rare these days, that it's actually a good way to attract hardcore players.

(and btw, check it out, it really is the best possible dayzmod server to play on these days. period)

granted, BMRF has more ressources to do stuff, they add custom buildings on the map and add additional mods to enhence gameplay experience (sound mods, etc)

running a game server is hard business, competition is brutal. if you really want to get into that, be warned. you'll definetly need alot of motivation and patience.

[terrorizer33 131]

As far as I know a server keeps its status on how well it's being maintained.. Imo a DayZ server doesnt necessarily need 40 players to become interesting. A lot of players simply look for an empty server so they can loot hot spots without being sniped or attacked all the time.. As long as you can give your playerbase the feeling that your server is being maintained and adminned well (no admin douchebaggery) they will keep coming back.. Imo this is what sets DayZ apart from eg. a Counter-Strike server. Normal FPS games NEED players to be interesting.. A DayZ server doesnt necessarily have to have many players on it . Just my 2p.

[rn_max 202]

Vanilla DayZ. The point of the mod is software testing.