As the server’s staff is working hard to keep the server running and add new improvements, features and challenges to the game. One of the core problems remains: We have a lack of new players and we are terrible at retaining them.
One of the causes of this problem is already being worked on, ever since we added Slimefun to the economy, it has been a great boon for experienced players, but newcomers never seemed to understand it. That’s why Admin Satan has worked on writing guides for the brewing industry and the slimefun industry. However, that only solves one part of the equation.
In order to solve the whole problem the server needs to start spending money on advertising, which it is willing to do and already has a budget for but staff maintains the position that we first need some serious infrastructure to be dealt with.
A lot of new players do not get helped to new apartments, which back in our peak days was vital to our economy, with many players being isolationists, living in their own base rather than in a city. Even if there are city owners willing to take in new players, many of those cities have skyscrapers full of space but 0 apartments, which is a huge waste. Especially given the opportunity for passive income apartments can make, which is genuinely overlooked and underestimated these days.
To get people to finally build proper apartments again, furnished and nice to live in, Staff is considering an apartment certification program. This program doesn’t bar anyone from renting out apartments without a certification but it does help apartment owners who keep up high standards.
One of the few cities that could actually immediately get this certification in their buildings would be West City which is full of beautiful buildings with apartments in them like pictured here:
The only problem with places like West City is that it’s a gov-owned city and therefore not really active, nor does it hold any job sites unlike private cities like Ashford and Monbay.
Certified apartment buildings would get a permanent spot in the Rent-a-house NPC Gui, which currently only takes people to available apartments in the suburbs, one of the deadest spots in all of Hellominers.
What the requirements for such a certification will be is still being debated right now, but imagine if we had that system up and running, you as an apartment owner wouldn’t even have to advertise your business to earn money from newbies.
You could just rent out your apartment for 2500F a month, put like 10 in one building and once we turn on the server advertising that could net you a proper 25000F a month without any work on your part other than building the apartments.
Staff hopes this will incentivize players to start building and furnishing apartments for the sake of retaining new players.