So you Most likely dont know who i am so ill make it short and simple.
im rosie/kei ive been running/developing servers on Fivem since 2018.
START OF TOPIC
so this is more a general question of opinions to all the server owners out there and there opinions on
1. Upvote Prices.
2. Opinion on the upvote system added in 2020
3. did it ruin the ability for small servers to get attention on the serverlist.
4. Why you belive that upvotes are Fair/Un-fair
5. is this a P2W aspect?
MY OPINIONS
- Upvote Prices.
Upvotes for a server is extreamly over prices at aprox ÂŁ5/$6.38, This in return makes it so that all the small servers such as My server and any recent created server to have low to no intake in new players as they will not find there servers.
- Opinion on the upvote system added in 2020
Don’t get me wrong, that addition of upvotes was a nice feature to be added to the fivem framework. however it makes smaller servers have a massive disadvantage as they would most definitely struggle to spend a massive sum of aprox. $750+ a month on to of there server and there patreon key. just to have somewhat of a chance of making somewhat of a mark on the fivem server list and have anything more that what 2-5+ people on a server.
- did it ruin the ability for small servers to get attention on the serverlist.
in my opinion YES it did ruin the ability for smaller servers to be noticed. as stated in Q.2 alot of these small servers do not have $750+ a month to even stand a chance.
Yes, even tho there is 3rd party places to advertise youre server like youtube, tiktok, ETC, ETC. this will not grantee such an advantage as buying boosts get you. as it is all algorithm based.
- Why you belive that upvotes are Fair/Un-fair
I belive that server upvotes is a massively unfair advantage, it is unfair on the smaller servers and servers that cant financially afford to spend massive sums of money on such thing as server upvotes. as to even stand a chance with these big servers that are earning $25,000+ a month.
you would be looking to buy 500+ upvotes a month and that is already ÂŁ2125.00/$2,712.49 a month!
- is this a P2W aspect?
Yes of course it is. However there could be a way to make this alot more server owner freindly.
OPTION A : Make UpVotes based of youre MAU (Monthly Active Users)
Example being.
if i had a MAU of 1000 players it would be 20x The price of a server having 50 MAU
OPTION B : Reduce the price of server UpVotes in general and add a maximum ammount of server upvotes but keep the ability of Burst UpVotes to go above and beyond the maximum upvotes.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS PERSONAL OPINION, AND I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOURE OWN.
2 Likes
The way I see it, if you have a truly interesting, functioning server with great prospects for the future, complaining about just one way how to market your server is almost irreverent.
To simplify it even more - don’t expect to throw your money (no matter the amount) on someone, expecting they will sort out everything for you (make your queue full for example).
I’ll bet those biggest servers out there never even bothered with up votes in the first place. I’d be just making speculations why is that, but I believe all these servers have something else to help them stand out. Might be really great marketing strategy (pre launch build up, streamers), thought out and interesting custom assets (not just another car or a few interiors, everyone has that nowadays) or great hands on approach towards the community (already existing community prior to opening the server, popular events, great feedback on admins).
I’m not saying the server itself, if great, is enough and no marketing is needed. What I’m trying to explain is that doing exactly the same, as thousands of other server owners do, won’t get you anywhere you want to be. Especially, if it’s expensive.
Do something really unique. Spread the word. People will follow.
People will almost always choose a game or server based on their friends recommendation. I see FiveM server list as something almost useless, unless you’re going to look for some really niche game modes.
4 Likes
Completely valid statement towards it. at the end of the day it is what you make it. i run a server for fun and for myself with community having an input,
day to day is just me working on the server while having fun minding my own business with not only myself but also my friends
and with majority of the bigger servers have either been here for a long ass time as ive seen a decent few of them since 2018-2019 but there is also a large chuck of newer servers that i will agree that they have no bother with buying boosts and i will also agree that my server is irrelevant. because its made for me and my friends more that the whole of fivem.
and my server is most Defiantly not unique lol, its latterly just a server where you can roleplay in the aop and freeroam outside of it 
. how every i much appreciate the input.
and in my experience with having new players joining into the server most are during the weekdays when there friends are at work or school or collage and they don’t have anything to do so they choose to try out a newer server.
You have fully refreshed my mind on upvotes and i appreciate that 
3 Likes
My opinion, i feel like they should decrease the pricing or at least look into a better way for servers to monetize themselves through the server listings.
3 Likes
I will agree with this, they just a bit too expensive lol
2 Likes
Plus, what makes matters even worse is the fact you get 70% of trolls when you boost as well. So even if you boost your server 1-3x times its still not enough to keep the players. Its getting ridiculous…
That’s my point. It might not be about boosting your server at all after all.
Purely objectively, what should make new players stay and not leave for something fresh or better made?
To simplify it even more - don’t expect to throw your money (no matter the amount) on someone, expecting they will sort out everything for you (make your queue full for example).
Having something that really sets you apart is the core of any competition. In business or sport. Marketing you abilities is secondary to this.
the fact you get 70% of trolls when you boost as well
Well, games in general have extremely low bar of entry. It’s up to you to set your server apart, to filter such individuals out. Either by whitelisting, rules or private access. Just to name a few.
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I know right, ive done arround 5 Burst upvotes on my Old server and there was roughtly 85% of people that joined where trolls and we Ended up banning about 500ish People between 3 Weekends
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I think we can all come to an agreement that upvotes come with there ups and downs,
a servers Start up will always be slow and overall with the case being no they are not needed. yes it will be a slow bumpy start but thats what makes the trip fun and what should matter to you as a server owner is having fun with youre friends first, because it shouldnt matter about building youre community. that comes with time and is not just a day and night appearance.
3 Likes
In my opinion upvotes have one big thing going for them:
Monetization
If you want to monetize your server and you just want to make money with whatever, upvotes are the best thing you can get to push your “business”.
If I am a player and I’m just trying to find a nice server, I’m not gonna go after upvotes. I might join a few here and there and then find that they are all not appealing to me and I’ll be looking for some more niche stuff and smaller servers. They often come with better features, more lenient staff etc. It’s just a matter of finding them.
However I understand that players with less patience tend to join the first server they see. Or maybe they just want a server with a high player count. This can make the upvotes extremely powerful as well.
But many server owners don’t really want that kind of player in the first place unless they want the higher player count or paying customers.
Story time
A buddy of mine (complete newbie regarding FiveM) “tried” to join a few of the higher voted servers. Every one of them was using some form of TS voice plugin. For some reason he didn’t really manage to install it properly. This literally got him banned on 3 of those servers. They didn’t even attempt to help.
Tl’dr: More upvotes != better server
This is coming from the stand point of a person that would never buy upvotes in the first place and I might be greatly biased 
But considering other upvote systems in other applications, the prices are pretty much right in the center and not really “over the top”. Yes, they are way too high if you ask me, but as I said: I would never buy them anyways.
1 Like
Well, one thing is a lot of players complain about servers being paid 2 win, but I basically every server that holds 150+ active members its all paid to win. Thats the only reasons players stay for so long is because they put irl money + time into the server.
So really its the luck of a draw, you could bring a full custom server with scripts nobody has ever seen, but that alone wont be enough to be the best.
Ive been trying to run my fivem community for the past 2-3 months. I get more attraction from Reddit & cfx forum than promoting my server on the server lists or boost. The boost doesnt guarantee players to stay. It just shows them you spent money to be promoted 
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i refuse to purchase upvotes anymore lol. it because a point that when you look at it the majority of servers that buy upvotes are chasing an income
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i have no clue where to get started on reddit so i never touched it, but cfx is always going to be a good way as its where alot of players go to get there isues fixed or even to look for smaller server, as far as the boost part unless youre consistently purchasing upvotes then you wont make it to the tippy top of youre server list but thats also todo with fivem having the recommended servers or something along those likes that boost them servers all the way to the top witch also gives a aspect of not being fully p2w however i may be wrong on that as im unaware how you get youre server there in the first place
2 Likes
So the server lists is controlled by the x amount of votes your server gets. So currently im on page 3 of fivem server lists (tracky-serverlist)
The 1# has like 450+ votes.
But… they also offer a bundle to boost your server better than others… always $$$
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i see, sorry on the long time to wait on a small reply i was lil busy with life