This blog will give some guidance on how you can start earning some extra money with your favorite hobby, gaming! Did you ever wonder how you can monetize your gameserver?
Earning money with running a gameserver might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but this blog shows how a gameserver can be used to earn some extra cash on the side.
There are multiple ways to monetize gaming in your game community. Throughout this blog, we will discuss several methods.
How to Earn Money from Your Game Servers
What do we as VyHub consider monetizing a game server: we consider as monetization any money earned directly or indirectly on your game server. So whenever a player buys a product while he is part of your community, you will get the money directly to your bank account.
This is the reason why a good strategy for earning money with your game server can easily pay off. In this blog you will find five possible methods for earning money with the community.
How to Take Money from Gameservers?
Donations
Donations are one of the most obvious ways to monetize your gameserver. Let us suppose you set up a server for 100 gamers. When you are doing a good job as a server owner, players are encouraged to thank you by donating for playing on the server.
You can take donations through a dedicated donation system like Patreon or by accepting payments through Paypal. Furthermore, you can set up a donation-system like VyHub which offers a fast and secure way to transfer money from members to community owners. VyHub integrates currently with 3 different payment systems, namely PayPal, stripe, and Paysafecard. Setting up a donation-system gives you more options which are explained in the next section.
In-Game Items, Cosmetics, and Power-Ups
What if you could further encourage your players to donate more money or you want to thank them for their donations?
This directly leads us to the second option of monetizing a gameserver: selling in-game items!
The first example which comes to mind is the one-off sale of weapons or armor. Extra lives on death or other power-ups are possible as well. These items can give the players an advantage in the game. But be careful that players are not required to pay for a win. Nobody likes pay-to-win, right?
To mitigate the pay-to-win risk you could instead only sell cosmetic items like skins or ingame-ranks that players can show everybody else their supporter status.
All the purchases could be one-offs or include a monthly payment to build a steady income to cover the server costs or for yourself.
Do you have another great idea? There are no limits to your creativity on what you are giving in exchange for a donation.
How to Sell These In-Game Items?
Are you interested in pursuing this option further? I am sure you do not want to manage all the donations manually.
Let us introduce VyHub, which helps you to automate this process.
VyHub is the all-in-one management system for your community. Besides helping you to manage your server by providing your own website, and helpful functionalities like bans and warnings, we also provide server owners with a shop system. With this donation system, you can create your own packets which you can sell on your gameserver.
Charge a Membership Fee
Charging a membership fee for people that want to be part of your community is the third way we are talking about. This way is more interesting for server owners which already have a strong community. An example could be to limit access to a community-intern Discord server by only allowing paying players to enter.
Another option could be to establish a freemium model where paying members get access to different or more functionalities and perks. These perks could include game tips or access to live streams by you, the community owner.
By providing a good service, players will be more inclined to support you and your mission. In return, they get a better gaming experience and closer contact with you.
Advertisements, Partnering and Sponsorships
Did you already achieve all the above-mentioned methods to monetize your gameserver? You might even have developed your gameserver in a profitable business. Then you might have access to options which are not that easy to target.
We are talking about advertisements and sponsorships. Products like computer hardware, gaming products, clothes or being a partner with hosting companies are usually safe ways to sell or partner with. This list is not exhaustive, since there is a huge variety of products and companies you can partner with. You are only limited by your imagination.
Stream Live Gaming
Platforms like Youtube and Twitch are great ways to get some extra money, however, the best thing it offers you and your gameserver is exposure.
When your server is interesting, popular, and has a lot of interactions you might attract the attention of other Twitch and Youtube streamers. Youtube and Twitch are both great ways to earn some income on the side, but in terms of Minecraft servers, the best thing they offer is exposure. By extension, this means that many more people will hear about your gameserver. Those who know your server, and those who did not know it. Even though initially, your audience might be small, the watchers are still an audience. Every watcher is a potential new player and member of your server.