I remember when Minecraft first appeared on the scene. The early alpha version was a far cry detached from the Minecraft we know and love today. It didn’t have half of the blocks and mobs in it. Multiplayer was little more than co-op survival. And the graphics were a lot more simplistic, which might come as a shock considering how simple Minecraft looks overall.

These days Minecraft is the most popular game on the planet. It overlooked Tetris for the top spot not too long ago and chances are it will remain in that spot for years to come. It is so popular it is used in schools as an educational and creative outlet tool. And the game has shifted from being a primarily single-player experience to put a much larger focus on multiplayer.

Minecraft Server Variety

You just need to look on any Minecraft best servers list to see just how popular multiplayer Minecraft has become. There are hundreds upon hundreds of game modes such as bedwars, island survival, tag, wacky racers, zombie apocalypse, and much more. And there are thousands of servers hosting these games.

Minecraft is consistently one of the most popular games on Twitch as well. Millions of people tune in to watch their favorite streamer playing some Minecraft. And many viewers revel at the chance to hop onto the streamer’s public server and play with them.

There is no greater feeling than running your own Minecraft server. The creative freedom that comes with it. Having a space to hang out with all your friends and play some fun games. But it isn’t always as simple as just setting up the server and going. If you want it to become popular you have to keep improving it. So today we are going to look at how to improve your Minecraft server to make it better for your players.

Boosting Server Speed

Online gaming changed the way we play. It allowed us to play our favorite games with our friends whenever we want, even across the planet. Where before we had to rely on split-screen co-op. But there is one downside to online gaming. The most agonizing thing for any gamer to experience. Lag.

Latency issues are common in any machine. When the demand on the processor or the internet connection is greater than it can supply, things start to slow down. And nothing kills a Minecraft server than poor connection speeds. No one wants to play on a laggy server. If you want to succeed in this competitive world you need a fast server to optimize your gameplay to ensure people keep coming back to your server.

There are a few ways of doing this. If you’re operating your server out of your own home you could look at upgrading your internet package to include faster download and upload speeds. If you are renting a server you might want to consider upgrading your deal with the company to get faster connection speeds.

Cooling is another issue that can impact the speed of your server. Servers run hot, especially ones that are on 24/7. Without adequate cooling, they can become damaged or just slow down. If overheating is an issue facing your servers you will want to look at adding more fans or maybe even a liquid cooling system.

Hiring Good Moderators

While there are plenty of technical ways to improve your server, you also have to look at how to improve it within the game world. Public servers are a lot of fun. You meet new people and enjoy some fun game modes. But there is one type of player everyone dreads meeting. Griefers. These are trolls who only seek to ruin the fun of other players. If griefers make it onto your server it can put people off returning.

Beyond that, arguments do happen. Players end up disagreeing with one another and things can get nasty. So you need to make sure you have a good team of moderators. You can’t be online 24/7 to be dealing with disputes or banning griefers. So you need moderators to do it for you. A good moderator should have great conflict resolution skills, remain impartial, and not let power go to their heads.

But be warned. If you have bad moderators on your server we can guarantee your server will fail. Power-mad moderators are worse than grifers. This is a common opinion amongst nearly the entire gaming community. Whereas griefers can just be ignored and banned. A bad mod has all the power and the only way to avoid them is to leave the server altogether.

Adding Fun Commands

A basic server will do a few things. It will allow you to host different game modes. It will let players join and interact with each other. It will let moderators ban griefers and settle disputes. But a great server? That will do so much more.

A good way to spice up your server is to look at adding some fun commands. There are thousands of server add-ons you can look into using. Some range from simple stuff like allowing users to add specialized tags to their name, while others are a bit more advanced letting players unlock fun cosmetic changes like giant heads or invisibility. Server commands like this are particularly great on creative servers where it doesn’t matter too much if players are doing crazy things.