What keeps a RuneScape Private Server popular?

 

There are hundreds of RSPS, but what keeps a few popular?

Today, there are many popular RSPS, though the pool of popular servers with hundreds of players has shrunk, top servers still manage to bring in hundreds of players daily. Ikov, the most popular server for an example, fluctuates with a player count of 390-800+ daily. Ikov is the prime example of a strong brand. Popular servers such as Ikov, Zenyte, Roatz Pkz, Alora, Rune Wild, Spawn PK, and Runex too inhibit brand, and advertising Now let’s take a peak at what distinguishes their brand weather it be time, revision, or content. We’ll also take a look at their marketing, and costs briefly.

• What is a brand?

A brand is defined as a label. In this case, the servers mentioned below, all carry unique brand that has grown over time which has brought in hundreds of players.

            

Ikov has been in the RSPS scene since 2014, and it’s managed to stay on top of updates with a great development team, although forced to close its doors by Jagex in 2015, it became an RSPS sensation again in 2019 bringing in over 1,000 players on its launch date. 

                     

Zenyte is a pure OSRS RSPS that loads the latest data from Old School Runescape. Unlike many servers, this project launched with polished content from OSRS that was beta tested. Their project began in 2017, and launched in 2019. Zenyte definitely has leverage for player retention compared to most servers. Gambling, and the duel arena mini-games are not popular in the game. Players grind for their items and are less likely to gamble or stake and quit.  

                                                                                     

Roatz Pkz is a spawn server that loads 317 content that gets well over 200 players daily. Clans are fascinated with this server has OSRS gold tournaments are hosted daily. This server may be the most toxic as flaming seems to be allowed in-game, beware! This server launched in 2013, and has been online for 7 years! It’s truly incredible how Roatz has managed to avoid Jagex, and other misfortunes of owning a private server that we will discuss in another article!

                                     

Alora, hosted since 2016, is an Old School HD server that also loads the latest OSRS data. It’s the only popular server with OpenGL features. Isn’t that lovely? Players who enjoy HD OSRS just may love this.

                                                             

RuneWild RSPS is a unique server that can primarily be distinguished through its unique interfaces. It’s been around since 2018, and caters to players with similar features such as OSRS tournaments. Although it loads OSRS data, it does have a few custom items such as korasi’s sword, and torva! 

                                                

SpawnPK is a 474 Spawn RSPS that loads OSRS data with many customs. SpawnPK has expanded its customs since it initially started in 2016. Gambling and staking is very popular amongst players as both the duel arena, and gamble zone cycle through 100s of players daily.

                                    

Runex is the sister server of SpawnPK. However, unlike SpawnPK, it is not possible to spawn items as the server is based on an economy. There are a wide variety of game modes such as iron-man, and hardcore iron-man available to play with tasteful custom items. 

• Marketing has been crucial to populate all of the servers above. You’ll notice when you type any of the server names, they rank first on youtube as many YouTubers have done videos on the servers. On Google, their respective domains rank first too, SEO plays a key factor in this. The unique content these servers have makes the server more marketable. Although these servers are extremely popular, they do a great job at scaling their game with marketing. As bugs are reported, their development team(s) are quick to fix the issues. These fixes not only make a better quality of life server for players to enjoy, but also increase retention, further leading to community building which is essential for any game. Banners are also on top list sites such as RuneLocus, RuneSuite, moparscape, and many more. These banners are seen by many unique visitors that may just click an advertisement, or may recognize the server when they vote through toplists and keep the names in mind. Advertisement banners, depending on the website they are advertised on, may have a cost per click, or cost per month. Clicks can be from 30 cents to $1 depending on the bid. Monthly banners can range from $20 to $500 and some advertisement spots from $1,000 to $50,000. As for youtube advertising, videos may cost anywhere between $15 to $1,500 per video! Servers may spend from $100 to $80,000 monthly just to advertise their game. The biggest server ever known to the rsps scene "SoulSplit" processed up to $20,000 a day and over $1,000,000 a year.

 

Fast progression as the mmo scene is getting less popular worldwide