Why people don't promote servers

[Troublesome]

I've always assumed that the servers listed on OTServList represented pretty much all the active OT servers out there. But recently I discovered that there are several servers with hundreds of players that aren’t listed at all.

Why is that? Is there a specific reason a server owner wouldn’t want to add their server to OTServList?

As far as I know, counting offline trainers as online players gets you banned from the list. So is the idea that some servers avoid listing themselves so they can inflate their online numbers without getting caught? If so, that feels counterproductive. Players eventually notice when a server claims 1,000 online but the world is empty. That kind of mismatch just makes people quit faster.

So what’s the actual benefit of not listing your server? It seems like hiding it would only make it harder to attract new players.

 

[Perun]

I've always assumed that the servers listed on OTServList represented pretty much all the active OT servers out there. But recently I discovered that there are several servers with hundreds of players that aren’t listed at all.

Why is that? Is there a specific reason a server owner wouldn’t want to add their server to OTServList?

As far as I know, counting offline trainers as online players gets you banned from the list. So is the idea that some servers avoid listing themselves so they can inflate their online numbers without getting caught? If so, that feels counterproductive. Players eventually notice when a server claims 1,000 online but the world is empty. That kind of mismatch just makes people quit faster.

So what’s the actual benefit of not listing your server? It seems like hiding it would only make it harder to attract new players.

beacuse xinn is a moron and ppl dont like him, a lot of servers are banned not for spoofing, but because he dont like someone, or they dont want to comply with his stupid rules sending a lot of data.
Also, otservlist is not worth anymore, you can just throw money into fb ads, promote on your own community, discord or in case of rl maps pay streamers and have 100x better resoults, i dont know any person who checks otservlist for servers to play nowadayas.

 

[peteralto]

This is an image of the main depot of the second "most popular" server on otservlist (kaldrox) at night. The website indicates 3.3k players online.

This website, and especially those who manage it, lack credibility and integrity.

 

[vemvetvad]

Everyone knows Xinn is corrupted. If you pay him he will rank you on top 10 with yellow banner etc..

 

[jeanphilip]

Everyone knows Xinn is corrupted. If you pay him he will rank you on top 10 with yellow banner etc..

beacuse xinn is a moron and ppl dont like him, a lot of servers are banned not for spoofing, but because he dont like someone, or they dont want to comply with his stupid rules sending a lot of data.
Also, otservlist is not worth anymore, you can just throw money into fb ads, promote on your own community, discord or in case of rl maps pay streamers and have 100x better resoults, i dont know any person who checks otservlist for servers to play nowadayas.

so where to look for swrvers nowdays?

 

[dedos]

That's why:

https://otservlist.org/pages/faq

 

[Mapperforfun]

Everyone knows Xinn is corrupted. If you pay him he will rank you on top 10 with yellow banner etc..

I’m not taking sides here because I understand both perspectives. But to be fair, I also understand why Otservlist has the rules it does. Otservlist has been around for as long as I can remember playing OT, and back in the day it was completely free. At that time, there wasn’t much money in OT servers.
Today though, things are different you can make good money if your server has 500 players online. So it’s reasonable to ask why shouldn’t he get something in return for listing servers that are generating income?

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2026

This is an image of the main depot of the second "most popular" server on otservlist (kaldrox) at night. The website indicates 3.3k players online.

This website, and especially those who manage it, lack credibility and integrity.

View attachment 99310

I’ve played a few edits of Kaldrox, i think spoof server haha.

 

[Troublesome]

This is an image of the main depot of the second "most popular" server on otservlist (kaldrox) at night. The website indicates 3.3k players online.

This website, and especially those who manage it, lack credibility and integrity.

View attachment 99310

How is it possible that they're on the OTServerList when the server is clearly dead, they're obviously inflating numbers why do they not get banned?

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2026

beacuse xinn is a moron and ppl dont like him, a lot of servers are banned not for spoofing, but because he dont like someone, or they dont want to comply with his stupid rules sending a lot of data.
Also, otservlist is not worth anymore, you can just throw money into fb ads, promote on your own community, discord or in case of rl maps pay streamers and have 100x better resoults, i dont know any person who checks otservlist for servers to play nowadayas.

This makes sense, but then again would promoting it on facebook ads and paying streamer not kind of be the same thing as promoting it on otserverList, price wise.

 

[vemvetvad]

This is exactly what I’m referring to. This OT is able to spoof his server and display fake numbers because he has paid Xinn, and therefore he is not being bothered.

 

[Mapperforfun]

How is it possible that they're on the OTServerList when the server is clearly dead, they're obviously inflating numbers why do they not get banned?

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2026

This makes sense, but then again would promoting it on facebook ads and paying streamer not kind of be the same thing as promoting it on otserverList, price wise.

I’ve seen some people on forums talking about AI players. I’m not saying anyone is actually using them but who knows. we say its ai players, how can otservlist know its ai players ?

 

[Sorky]

I’ve seen some people on forums talking about AI players. I’m not saying anyone is actually using them but who knows. we say its ai players, how can otservlist know its ai players ?

Same IP.

 

[Night Wolf]

Same IP.

Xinn checks netstat output to make sure players are actually connected but again, that's completely stupid. We have DDOS attacks nearly everyday in this community and I can 100% confirm you they are not from a single IP. If someone can program a botnet to mass log in a single server, why they can't do the same in their own servers to show 1000 players?

 

[Sorky]

Xinn checks netstat output to make sure players are actually connected but again, that's completely stupid. We have DDOS attacks nearly everyday in this community and I can 100% confirm you they are not from a single IP. If someone can program a botnet to mass log in a single server, why they can't do the same in their own servers to show 1000 players?

There is huge difference between sending random packets on given/random packets and maintaining ping/pongs with server and keeping character online.

 

[Troublesome]

Isn't promoting it on facebook ads or through streamers more expensive than just paying xinn on otserverList? Or do people just don't like him and would rather pay more then give him the money

 

[Marko999x]

I don’t know where people got the information from that Otservlist advertising is useless, but we bought the €90 one day advertisement for our server and got around 300 players without any Facebook or streamer promotion.
If im looking for a server to play: Otservlist or Otland

You can dislike Xinn but saying otservlist is not used or useless is just wrong

 

[Adposatnr]

you sure its thanks to otserver list or fact that you have established community already? no its not fresh discord nor first edition of server

 

[Marko999x]

you sure its thanks to otserver list or fact that you have established community already? no its not fresh discord nor first edition of server
View attachment 99363

Evolisca is not my server. The picture was just a example of the promotion im talking about

 

[JeiDi]

I’ve been promoting a server through pretty much all the obvious channels: Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, Otservlist ads, paid streamer partnerships (including broadcasts and banners), and TikTok ads. I’ve also been doing some really, really, really basic organic promotion across all of those platforms and others, like Otland. Based on the UTM data, Otservlist performed reasonably well - definitely not the worst source - but it wasn’t the top performer either. If I remember correctly, Otland was actually the best source I could track, especially considering it was free.

 

[Troublesome]

I’ve been promoting a server through pretty much all the obvious channels: Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube ads, Otservlist ads, paid streamer partnerships (including broadcasts and banners), and TikTok ads. I’ve also been doing some really, really, really basic organic promotion across all of those platforms and others, like Otland. Based on the UTM data, Otservlist performed reasonably well - definitely not the worst source - but it wasn’t the top performer either. If I remember correctly, Otland was actually the best source I could track, especially considering it was free.

Could you possibly rank what channels you think brought in the most players/what was most worth it price wise?

 

[JeiDi]

Could you possibly rank what channels you think brought in the most players/what was most worth it price wise?

No, because I don't have the data anymore