Hello everyone,
I have a few question to all thoes people who had experienced with gaming business.

Is it a good business to go into?
What type of worke is needed?
Is it easy to advertise?
Does it cost a lot of money to even start it?

Tell me what you think about this???

Thank you.

Hi,
Well... Lets see. Game servers require alot of work to do right. If you can set aside upwards of 18 hours per day or hire staff to do this for you then come up with several thousand dollars for top shelf equipment and put it on the best bandwidth you have a good start. Then of course you have to deal with the endless barrage of support tickets and kids bugging you at 4am because they uploaded the wrong ini file or deleted their map directory (actually happened;) )
It is a whole lot of work for even the most tireless people. We employ 4 full time staff and generally our days start around 8am and sometimes don't end until 3-4am the next day if we are lucky... That is 7 days a week 365 days a year. No holidays no vacations. Chances are holidays are the busiest since that is when the kids are off school.. So I guess you have to ask yourself. Do I want this for my life? Because trust me if you get into this for just money you will not be satisfied at all... You have to really love the job or don't waste your time. My advise would be try to find a job at a game company and stick around for a few weeks. You should get a pretty good idea of what it is like..

I would like to point one thing out. If you remember one thing from this post or even forums please remember an internet business is no different then any other business. It requires hard work, dedication and alot of time and money invested. Please do not think you can rent a SM or rackshack server and all of a sudden you are on your way to making money. This doesn't work in life and it will not work on the internet.

Hope this helps :)

Just wondering do you need game license to run game server?

Originally posted by Wako
Just wondering do you need game license to run game server?

Not sure what you mean by that..

Do you mean license as in an owned copy of the game that you will be running on your server?

Most case the game will come with a dedicated server install you can get for free from the company who makes it. If not you will need to go buy it from the store.

YOu need software of this game to run a game server. '
Do you need to buy this software?

WOW.. Thanks for all the info you shot me.

Makes me think if i can hang or not. I know the basic of linux and installing games, but not a lot. I understand on what you said about buying server from rankshack haha. If i'm planing to even trying to opening this business I'm gonna need a partner that knows what he's doing. I got another question for, do most gamer look for cheap prices? or do they look for the prices that are high? Because to me the cheaper it is, the shity serivce you get, and the more you pay the better serivce you get.

Thank you.

All of the old-guard GSPs began with gamers hosting their own servers and subsequently renting space to others. If you're looking at this from a business/investment standpoint, then no, you can find much easier and more profitable ventures than game servers. If you love gaming and want to live it 24/7, you can make a living on game servers, but don't expect an early retirement.

Most gamers look for cheap prices and demand premium performance, which leads to a great deal of frustration on both sides. Not too different from web hosting, I suppose, just with thinner margins. There's market available at both the high and low end, but don't expect much loyalty at the low end.

Pricing is a weird thing and yes you are right. People see cheap prices they think cheap quality which generally is true but on the other hand I know of a few companies that have pretty high prices but still offer lower quality so I guess it is hit and miss..

But yes hiryuu is pretty much on mark, If you are looking to get rich this probably isn't the right business for you.

Ok,
Thanks for all your info, I want to start a business but i'm still not sure where i wanna start. Do you know any?

Originally posted by kambodlans
Ok,
Thanks for all your info, I want to start a business but i'm still not sure where i wanna start. Do you know any?

Well I would advise doing a bit of research first. Don't jump into things too fast. Look around at what others are doing and educate yourself as much as possible. Most often the companies that fail are the ones that do not plan ahead. I am still learning everyday about different things. It is an ongoing process. I took about a year off and researched everything I could about the hosting world and all the different things that go with it before one dollar was spent, This saved us alot of headaches down the road but even that hasn't eliminated all of the problems that can and do crop up.. So take it slow ;earn what you can first. Then you can make good choices.


Hope this helps!

I only have 3 machines online and am already looking for support staff to help with the barrage of time consuming support tickets.

Originally posted by X-Gaming
Hi,
Well... Lets see. Game servers require alot of work to do right. If you can set aside upwards of 18 hours per day or hire staff to do this for you then come up with several thousand dollars for top shelf equipment and put it on the best bandwidth you have a good start. Then of course you have to deal with the endless barrage of support tickets and kids bugging you at 4am because they uploaded the wrong ini file or deleted their map directory (actually happened;) )
It is a whole lot of work for even the most tireless people. We employ 4 full time staff and generally our days start around 8am and sometimes don't end until 3-4am the next day if we are lucky... That is 7 days a week 365 days a year. No holidays no vacations. Chances are holidays are the busiest since that is when the kids are off school.. So I guess you have to ask yourself. Do I want this for my life? Because trust me if you get into this for just money you will not be satisfied at all... You have to really love the job or don't waste your time. My advise would be try to find a job at a game company and stick around for a few weeks. You should get a pretty good idea of what it is like..

I would like to point one thing out. If you remember one thing from this post or even forums please remember an internet business is no different then any other business. It requires hard work, dedication and alot of time and money invested. Please do not think you can rent a SM or rackshack server and all of a sudden you are on your way to making money. This doesn't work in life and it will not work on the internet.

Hope this helps :)

I have been running game servers in the UK for 2 years and I have to agree with everything X-Gaming has said. There is little ROI and there are very few thanks at 3am, my days are again as X-Gaming explained, espacially in the school holidays.

Think Long and hard, make sure you have a good understanding of the game servers and have a good amount of cash ready, we own all our own kit and racks and it don't come cheap.

I quit selling game-servers..

there's just too many *new* companys out there selling the service's for less and there support is all nothing but kids answering questions..


I think the main companys are

GriffinRUN
GameDaemons


And i'm sure there's others out there that have good support and very good performance..

but to me its just not worth it unless you know what your doing.

Like anything else. Only the strong survive :)

Game server hosting is a more technical job and requires more time and effort. It's more of a intermediate level, you'll need to know the Linux commands, and knowlegde on how to install the server, run it, and maintain it.

Gamer servers also require high performance machines, so be prepared to spend more money then you would to open a webhosting company.

ok so what would be the differance from selling gameservers on a server you rent verses a server you colocate. Bandwidth comes withe the one you rent and if the servers go down its the companys problem to fix it. Just wondring

Colocation:
Pros:Cheaper when wise
Better bandwidth
More assets

Cons: Expensive Initially
Hardware Responsibility

Dedicated:

Pros: Less initial cost
Less to worry about (hardware failures)

Cons: More Expensive
Lower Quality Bandwidth
Lower Quality Hardware



In my opinion, colo is the way to go. You can get cheaper prices for better quality hardware in the long run. For example, if you can manage to get 4Us of space and a 10mbit line at Peer1 for ~$500 (If they're even still running that special), thats about 125 dollars per server if you get 4 dual xeons whereas its ~200+ a month for dedicated servers of equal quality. You can charge higher prices for the higher quality, make more money, and have a better foundation for the growth of your business.

So the bandwith I get for my servers is less qaulity?

generally speaking, yes.

Most gaming server companies use these hosts, its kind of rediculous:

East - ezzi.net
Chicago - 2hop (or something along those lines, i dont care, they're garbage)
Central - ServerMatrix or EV1
West - Managed

People always get the same results when they use providers like this (with the exception of servermatrix), and that is lag. It really saturates the hell out of the budget game server market.

I think what 2uantuM is trying to say is unless you have enough $$$ to shell out for quality don't bother.

the money initially, yes. 16 year old kids are looking to get rich quick and usually arent willing to shell out money for their own server.

I don't agree, I'm 16 and I am ordering dual & quad opteron servers, these arn't xeons even, although I am looking at some cheaper bandwidth like he.net, which I have tested, and so far it seems good, excluding that outage, which is the first time anything of the sort occured.

Wholesale contacts are a beauty to have, you can get cheaper hardware, with the same quality, assemble it yourself, and there you have your own co-lo.

Ok I use the Planet, Gnax, and Nac. I havent seen any problems with lag, however I dont put that many games on one server. I dont know how many games my servers will hold. So im taking it slowly, and Im in the middle of the road as to colocate or just to rent. I do know what Xgaming was saying about customer service and the hours...cause I find myself doing server work more than anything else since Ive started and I can only imagine what you guys that have lots of customers must go through.(most my customers are from word of mouth) Anyway I appreciate your input as the only way to find out is to ask. Also Im not a kid taking run at getting rich quick. I started out cause a certaing gaming company upset me. So 6 months later here I am.

Im already planning on diving into the business. With a gameserver, you really dont need to have the best of the best equipment. As long as you have a powerfull proc, alot of memory (brand name like corsiar, crucial, or muskin), fast stable motherboard(asus, gigbyte, abit, shuttle,tyan) and a good drive you are set.

Fancy memory modules (low latency, overclockable), fancy motherboard with slots and things you will never need just drives up the cost. And probably the most expensive is a fancy website, with flash and all that. its attractive but i know the gamers prefer lower pings than a flashier website(can cost $500 or more). im a gamer myself so i know these things.


Im already getting a:
Dual AMD Athlon 2600+ (512kb cache)
Tyan Motherboard
1 gig Corsiar Value 2100 (266mhz, matched with FSB)
Antec Case with good 350watt PSU
Western Digital 80GB 8mb cache
Red Hat Linux OS

*Costs me around $900
*Colocation in dallas is $60/month (200gb i believe, ive tested their pings and is excellent, 17-20ms for me colo4dallas.com)
*Excellent Server Admin $20/month (when i need help or when im not available, this guy used to be the person i rent my CS server from)

Im not really trying to make a profit, mostly i want to do it because i can but if i do make profit then thats great.

rates: 2.50/slot private, 3.00/slot public

i can probably fit 4-5 or 6 servers (i might need more memory for 6)

so yeah, this is an example of costs. one thing though as x-gaming mentioned, alot of n00b kids are a pain in the butt, so myself wont sell a server to them. kids in "clans" arent stable, in a few months they break up then they have to lose the server as well. i wont give much customer support, thats why my rates are low and its too easy to do configurations a average, mature CS player can manage himself with FTP.

im 17 and a 2nd yr college student at UTA trying to get a degree is computer science eng, so this is a great experience. btw the other guys just say that servers are expensive because they get those dual xeon's. im a AMD fan and AMD's are cheaper and owns Xeon's clock for clock. AND, AMD's already have been tested to be much better gaming machines then Intels.

Hello cs_gamer,
Hey thanks for all the information, i know theres gonna be little kids like that. Comes and go from clans, do you think co-location is cheaper? what specs should i get for my first server? To all everyone that have been posting here thank you all for your support, sorry i havn't been replaying its MOTHER DAYS :eek: lol.
Cs_gamer hit me back up about thoes questions. Thanks

Is 200Gb per month enough for your 4-5 servers? ..

you think co-location is cheaper?
IMO in the short-run it is, it saves you time from getting a server, colocating then setting it up so you can try to make profits faster. but, in a few months, you have probably paid the server hosting company more than what the server is really worth.

I really do prefer colocating, because you get to choose what specs you want for your server. most of compaines use cheap motherboards, memory modules and harddrives. you always see them advertising the processor but never anything else.

Also with colocation, the server is yours, and what ever profit you make is kind of like paying the cost of your server. im guessing within a few months my server would have been paid for and almost everything dollar coming in by then is profit besides paying the $60 for colocation.

Estimated Cash Flow: $250/month - $60/month(colo) - $40/month(2 server admins) = $150/month profit.

Not much really, but i dont care, i'll use it to get another server.

what specs should i get for my first server?
*Stable motherboard (nothing fancy, because it just drives up costs, needs to upgradable for the future though)
*Good processor (i prefer AMD because their cheaper, better for gaming and better than Intels clock for clock)
*Lots of memory (nothing fancy, but needs to be brand name and stable)
*Should have very good air circulation, because this thing will be running 24/7, we dont need heat to damage $900 worth of equipment

And you should do a "burn-in" for 24-36hrs straight. this makes the server run at full capacity and if it doesnt crash or hang then your server will be very stable.

Is 200Gb per month enough for your 4-5 servers? ..
Yeah, a Dual Xeon with 3 CS servers and a Ultima Online Server(seems to be very bandwidth extensive because it handles a few hundred players at any given time), uses only 100GB. I already asked my Server host about this.

Not to mention not all server are always 24/7 full, especially Private servers, which only gets used a few days a week. Mine though was a 14/player CS server with WC3 mod was 23/7 full every month. So 200GB seems to be enough at the moment.

cs_gamer. Do you actually have any servers you co-lo? I was under the impression from your first post that you were getting ready to co-lo.... One word of caution for you, Numbers on paper mean nothing. You can run the numbers all day they never add up. especially after you tack on another $100+ for the extra bandwidth you are going to need...

One other question for you. You stated you are not going to sell servers to kids in clans? Who do you think will be your customers?

Answer= KIDS in CLANS....

Not so sure of your business strategy especially since you won't be selling to kids and by all accounts last I checked 17 wasn't exactly a mature adult age. (no offense of course) point is somewhere above 75% of servers rented are by "kids" that is meaning under 21.

Yeah, a Dual Xeon with 3 CS servers and a Ultima Online Server(seems to be very bandwidth extensive because it handles a few hundred players at any given time), uses only 100GB. I already asked my Server host about this.


Your server host is wrong. Heck our voice machine pushed 260gb's last month..

This is a lot of research that i have to do :). All of you gave me good advise that i need for the long run, and to get me started. Thanks again everyone. Cs_gamer did you get my PM??

sure, jump into the business.. more the merrier.

there's about 75 game server companies, 70 of which suck.

it's not worth it.. you can't make any real money in the game server industry anymore, unless you're already established

lol i have respect for your company, i was also planning on getting a server from you, but i got persuaded. please dont hate.

In kids, i mean 16-17 below that cant possibly have a job and kids that write e-mails to me like their in 9th grade. i dont like refering to what the law thinks kids are (18 and below) because im part of that age group :D

Your right most 17 yr olds are immature and likely still in highschool. im a little differnet from those guys, im 17 and going to be a junior in college next semester. maturity is a necessity the longer you are in college.
Kids in clans, nah ill never host them, i can spot them a mile away. There are actually people that arent in clans that get a server, they get it because they can afford and and love the game. These types seem to be older/mature types.

Numbers, i really dont care about. I have a job and get paid by school to attend college. i dont need the profits, but as i said if i do get some then tahts great, i can probably get another server with it. As for thw bandwidth, i can just upgrade if i need more.

You mind showing me some graphs of one of your full game servers? Id like to have have an idea on the average consumed monthly bandwidth. But still, i trust what my host said, he is a big contributor here in WHT. He(Arvand-Arvixe) knows what his talking about, unless he just gave me numbers while he was half-awake.

thanks

BTW, your voicemachine, is that vent? or teamspeak? VoIP?


Originally posted by X-Gaming
cs_gamer. Do you actually have any servers you co-lo? I was under the impression from your first post that you were getting ready to co-lo.... One word of caution for you, Numbers on paper mean nothing. You can run the numbers all day they never add up. especially after you tack on another $100+ for the extra bandwidth you are going to need...

One other question for you. You stated you are not going to sell servers to kids in clans? Who do you think will be your customers?

Answer= KIDS in CLANS....

Not so sure of your business strategy especially since you won't be selling to kids and by all accounts last I checked 17 wasn't exactly a mature adult age. (no offense of course) point is somewhere above 75% of servers rented are by "kids" that is meaning under 21.

refusing to sell to your typical clientelle and not caring about making a profit - brilliant! too bad it's too late to include that in my business plan, the bank would have loved it.

paul

I didn't mean any offense by the "kid" comments sorry if it was taken that way.


lol i have respect for your company, i was also planning on getting a server from you, but i got persuaded. please dont hate.


Didn't know you planned on renting a game server. No hate here ;)


You mind showing me some graphs of one of your full game servers? Id like to have have an idea on the average consumed monthly bandwidth.


Here's a sample of one Dual AMD running 2 BF1942 servers on it.

Graphs (http://64.91.238.71/pictures/graph_image.png)

rusko i love you and your replies :(

can you bear my business/children? oh!

And off in the distance a lifeguard is heard yelling "Hey you kids get out of the water! A shark has been sighted!"


j/k rusko ;) had to do it :P

Hahahaah, X-gaming do you own a gaming business?

i was actually talking to someone that said you were a fake x-gaming.

something like, you said you had alot of clients when you only had a couple.

Im not in for the money, so i can choose whoever i want.

not caring
maybe a bit too harsh, i would say caring but not too much.
Like a mother caring for her 21 yr old son. You love him, but he should be mature enough to make it on his own. thats how people learn, jsut like i did. knowledgeable CS players can configure a game server with only FTP and not mess up their ini file. But i would still help them if the solution is beyond thier control. What i refuse to help is nagging kids wanting me to install mods or pulgins like AMX repeatedly. Such things like that, they should learn how to read the manual or use google.

thats why you see my rates are low, because there is minimal customer support. My bank is my own pockets, so i beat it up if they dont like my business plan.





Originally posted by rusko
refusing to sell to your typical clientelle and not caring about making a profit - brilliant! too bad it's too late to include that in my business plan, the bank would have loved it.

paul

Originally posted by X-Gaming

Here's a sample of one Dual AMD running 2 BF1942 servers on it.

Graphs (http://64.91.238.71/pictures/graph_image.png)

How many players in those 2 servers?

cs_gamer.. that's a bad way to approach.. they're a paying customer, and when people learn your support sucks, they'll go with another company.

believe it or not, a large amount of buyers come from 16-18 year olds. most of the people who are over 18, get things purchased for them, or sponsored.

Originally posted by kambodlans
Hahahaah, X-gaming do you own a gaming business?

No sorry I just come here for the laughs :P

x-gaming... how many clients do you have? how much did you gross in the first year :O

Originally posted by mg-
x-gaming... how many clients do you have? how much did you gross in the first year :O


hey -mg did you jump on this thread to annoy me or are you going to make a point?

i agree wth you mg-,

but im not here to make customers actutally i should have mentioned it, i will put on a big sign baord that says "you should be smart enough to do whatever to your server. because if your question is already stated inthe instruction manuals we will tell you."

again though, im not here to try and get customers, i set up my server for personal use and because i love playing games and the gamers. My extra resources are for clans/people that want their own for a cheaper price, without cutting corners, because im going to host my own game servers here too.

no x-gaming.. i'm curious.

i've just heard bad things about you, and i've seen you post in a few of the same threads as I. It popped into my head.


cs_gamer :
If you're on gamesurge, goto #teamnexus and pm the GM (says in the greeting).. I think he might be interested in your ideals.

Yeah well everyone has opinions... Good to see you keep yours to yourself.

I'm just asking..
I have no opinion until I heard the word from both ends.. or multiple ends.

Originally posted by mg-
I'm just asking..
I have no opinion until I heard the word from both ends.. or multiple ends.


Well thats great glad to hear it. Let me clue you in on a few things. This is a message board my friend and trust me everything is not what it seems. Half of the people that bad mouth me on these open forums make a post one minute and PM me the next.

Don't believe everything you read... I don't take this stuff too serious... ;)

Actually.. this is from people I talk to off WHT and have done small business with...

I'd just like to hear about your company.. since you base your knowledge off it - (Not saying it's bad) just curious.

You want to hear about my company? I'm not following you and I am likewise a bit curious. I didn't know my "knowledge" was in question...

Actually... I didn't say you were following me, I said I've seen you in some of the same threads as I... and I said since you're basing your knowledge off it (not saying its bad)..

It means, you're basing your knowledge off your company, whether it's good or bad, I'd like to know more about your company.

I think you guys should discuss this outside this thread... Because what you're talking about has nothing to do with 'Game Server Business, is it a good business to jump into??'.

sure it does, if it's a good business to jump into... x-gaming can tell us about his business, whether it's doing good or bad..

Originally posted by mg-
sure it does, if it's a good business to jump into... x-gaming can tell us about his business, whether it's doing good or bad..

lol... you've tickled my curiosity :x I would like to know too :)

Originally posted by mg-
sure it does, if it's a good business to jump into... x-gaming can tell us about his business, whether it's doing good or bad..


And what exactly does that have to do with anything? Just because Bill Gates made a few bucks do you assume selling software is something "good to get into"?

selling software? we're talking about selling servers... and if someone asked if selling software was a good business to get into, you could say, hey! look at bill gates-and his monopoly.

I guess I'll leave it at that.. I was just making a simple inquiry about your company, but you don't want to go in further.. So sorry for pushing your buttons. Maybe that just reflects some other things.

X-Gaming, I think he's talking about your game server business and how well its doing...

Game business is doing just fine thanks for asking...

Originally posted by TeKiZeRo
I think you guys should discuss this outside this thread... Because what you're talking about has nothing to do with 'Game Server Business, is it a good business to jump into??'.
Agreed! If you guys have done helping the thread starter, we can close this? I will leave it open for a little while to see if it gets back on topic, if not......

I think it should just be closed anon-e-mouse it is apparent certain forum members are trying to bait certain other forum members into an argument..

Certain other members shouldn't take the bait ;)

yeah I know, Boring night here :P

That kid that sayd 200 Gib's where good for cs our other online game..... :cartman: :cartman:


Annhhh never mind.... Let the kid fail that will teach him!

:D :D :cool: :D ;)

Originally posted by BudWay
That kid that sayd 200 Gib's where good for cs our other online game..... :cartman: :cartman:


Annhhh never mind.... Let the kid fail that will teach him!

:D :D :cool:

Fail...?

I guess you dont read my posts.
Im not here to find profit, i bought a powerful server for myself to host my own game servers. So whatever resources i have, ill use it to host for other people. Im not trying to be a company thats why i said there will be only minimal CS.

"Annhhh never mind.... Let the kid fail that will teach him!
:D :D :cool: "

I dont find that msg amusing at all. you must think all "kids" are incompetent. i dont know where you got that from, but your mistaken...why dont you just be like me and aim high and have goals in life, rather than just sitting around near the computer insulting people online?

Maybe you think im stupid?
Actually i have a 3.2 GPA and going to be a junior at UTA on the fall semester and yes the "kid" is 17 yrs old majoring in Computer Science Eng. minoring in Electrical Eng. I get paid to go to school and i have a job as a Graphics Artist. Im almost done with my A+ Cert course and have more than 12 yrs exp with computers starting from DOS to win 3.1 to XP, i also have 6 years exp setting up LANS and gameservers.

I will not fail, you know why? I have alot of money. If i need bandwidth then i will get more bandwidth. You think i will let my own gameserver fail? Hell no. So please dont assume me as another "start-up" company trying to make it big thank you very much...pfft