Making a profit hosting mmo games?

[FernandoAleixo]

I've seen many dedicated servers offering cheaper goods and even better servers, but do admins really make a lot of money hosting? There is always the risk of being sued by the game company, if the game is not that really old...

 

[Zwielicht]

Thread Moved​

 

[FernandoAleixo]

Thanks, mod!

 

[yaska]

Most of them are resellers so they do make a profit by selling.

 

[MatthewGraham]

Any examples of the kinds of servers that you're asking about?

 

[SirLouen]

You can profit but is a hard job meant for people interested in the game beyond profit

 

[RobertTheShark]

Do you mean "private servers" for games like WoW?

Server maintenance costs a lot of money and getting things to run is hard, because there is no official documentation or support. So you will need knowledge not only in server administration but also in development because trust me, you will have to fix certain things yourself. A dude I knew ran back in 2009 a WoW server but after some month he shut it down because of the reason I said. Was simply not worth it for a few players to keep all of that up.

 

[plottsch]

I've seen many dedicated servers offering cheaper goods and even better servers, but do admins really make a lot of money hosting? There is always the risk of being sued by the game company, if the game is not that really old...

I'd imagine it would only be profitable at scale, AKA big budget.

 

[Finez]

Well you gotta create an atmosphere just like in these forums and get those leads to your donation button.

 

[GMBListings]

Are you talking about Private servers ? i used to own one and had a couple GM's i did make around 4-5k monthly but alot of expenses also

 

[MAG WEB DESIGNS]

Start an old school Ultima Online ( UO ) Sphere server and sell castles. Those red robed GM's were taking bribes the whole time.

 

[RA1NMAN]

just become a GM and then snake your way into selling max lvl accounts and gear and gold

 

[FernandoAleixo]

Any examples of the kinds of servers that you're asking about?

Yes, of course! The servers I was wondering are older mmo games that nowadays are mostly alive because of such private servers. Some of what I could quote are Ragnarok Online or Mu Online.

 

[FernandoAleixo]

Do you mean "private servers" for games like WoW?

Server maintenance costs a lot of money and getting things to run is hard, because there is no official documentation or support. So you will need knowledge not only in server administration but also in development because trust me, you will have to fix certain things yourself. A dude I knew ran back in 2009 a WoW server but after some month he shut it down because of the reason I said. Was simply not worth it for a few players to keep all of that up.

Well fortunately I already have a server hosted in Canada, it's idle so I've been thinking what to do with it and a online game seemed like a good idea... But yeah WoW competition is just too big, I was expecting to find some better alternative...

 

[macdonjo3]

Well you gotta create an atmosphere just like in these forums and get those leads to your donation button.

No you don't. Years ago when I played, they would sell in-game items.

 

[FernandoAleixo]

No you don't. Years ago when I played, they would sell in-game items.

Donations can be useful after I build a steady community, but yes! I was looking for selling in-game items and VIP accounts, I wanna make a different experience by providing events and such as well.

 

[pocketttt]

I think is very hard to profit with mmorpg server, because is already exist alot of famous servers, and most of the server are free , so the only way to profit is with donations and i think is hard to someone donate to a server

 

[FernandoAleixo]

I think is very hard to profit with mmorpg server, because is already exist alot of famous servers, and most of the server are free , so the only way to profit is with donations and i think is hard to someone donate to a server

Donations do happen, also items, what is needed is to build a nice cash system and a trustworthy item shop.

 

[macdonjo3]

Donations do happen, also items, what is needed is to build a nice cash system and a trustworthy item shop.

Lol let's be real. Back on planet Earth. Most people will not part with their money unless they have to, to get what they want.

 

[FernandoAleixo]

Lol let's be real. Back on planet Earth. Most people will not part with their money unless they have to, to get what they want.

Welp it can be donation for VIP exchange, once again, donations are only good after you build a steady community.