Launch your Minecraft server successfully

A server's first hours decide its reputation. A server that opens with twenty players and a blocking bug keeps three; a server that opens ready, with a set date, keeps half.

D-30: a server that's ready

• Core gameplay is finished, plugins configured, the anti-lag configuration applied, the world pre-generated.
• A spawn that shows in thirty seconds where to start, and a name checked everywhere.
• A closed beta with 10 to 20 trusted testers: in a week they find what you wouldn't see in a month.
• Automatic backups are running and you have already restored a backup once.

D-14: the announcement

• An open Discord, with simple channels: announcements, rules, chat, support.
• A precise date and time. "Soon" brings nobody.
• A trailer or a few screenshots: they'll also serve for your listing.

D-7: visibility

• List your server with a complete listing: highlights, gallery, trailer, languages spoken. Your listing's completeness bar tells you what's missing.
• Publish the opening event on CubeVote: it appears in the events calendar and players who follow your server are notified.
• Prepare the opening MOTD and check it with the server tester.

Launch day

• Open at the announced time, not before.
• An event from the very first hour: race to the first diamond, building a community spawn, a gift for the first hundred players.
• The whole team online, one eye on Spark and the Discord support channel.
• Invite players to vote from day one: opening votes kick off the month's ranking.

D+7: the first review

Publish what you fixed and what's coming. Opening players come back if they see the server moving. Your dashboard statistics (and, with Premium, cohort retention) tell you whether the opening week's newcomers come back the following week.

D+30: keep the promise

An update announced at opening and delivered on the planned date is worth all the advertising. It's also the right time for a second event.