Business model OT servers

Hello, I'd like to open the discussion regarding the business model. I'm working on a server myself, so I'd be more than grateful to know different visions about this very important matter when creating a server.

Main question: what is right to charge and what not?

My considerations on this matter are the following:

• There are hosting and small maintenance costs.
• Some hosters are opening servers purely for business.
• We didn't create vanilla Tibia, so we shouldn't be charging for something we didn't create or own (I mean profiting from it).
• Custom content should have a monetary reward since time and skill are invested in it (assuming it's not donation-based).
• The focus of the server matters.

In my opinion, it's not right to charge for standard premium and, besides that, charge for microtransactions like game boosters or shortcuts (djinn scrolls, regen items, etc).

If you offer shortcuts in your server knowing people are probably going to spend on them, then standard premium features should be included in the free gameplay. Otherwise, it's not a flat offer and might demotivate people to play. Isn't it logical? It feels like some hosters are charging for the entrance to a concert, and once you're inside the theater, you get charged for songs individually. I have always seen this business model of pay-to-play and also pay-to-win as a failure in any OT. The only big exception is Medivia, but they are not under my considerations above since their game is not Tibia. They created their own game based on Tibia. Big difference. When Medivia was still Tibia, they only charged once for premium, as it should be.

Let's now look at successful servers like Tibiantis and Realera a comparison between two totally different business models, but both extremely successful. Medivia charges for premium and it's worth it. Perfect. Realera, on the other hand, gives you premium for free, you enjoy all standard content and can reach door 999 if you want for free, but it's a PvP server then you pay a bit more and crush your enemies more easily.

What do we see now? Honestly, what I see are pretty decent-designed servers that want to charge as if they were Realera (pay-to-win), but also want you to pay for standard, non-owned vanilla Tibia content. In my opinion, it's lame, and they are failed servers from the very beginning from my experience, which is a lot.. I literally only play OTs and nothing else for the last 20 years. Also it doesn't matter if it's seasonal or long-term.

They are double charging!

In my project, I'll probably set a standard premium charge and cosmetics, where the cost of premium will be pretty low, not reaching 5 USD.

All of this being said, i know im overestimate the big pay to win enjoyers that maintain double charging server for a couple days and also I clearfy I do not mind servers double charging ofc everyone can do what they like in their projects and players ofc pay or not what they want.

My point is to discuss the concept.

I think the discussion goes beyond simply charging for premium or a few items. Let me ask you something back: why are the servers you mentioned actually successful?

It’s not just because of their business model.

Servers like Tibiantis, Realera, or even Medivia didn’t succeed purely because they chose “the correct” way to monetize. They succeeded because they built trust, consistency, and a strong player experience over time. Their monetization works because the game itself works.

A server can be 100% free, no pay-to-win at all, and still fail in a week if:

• there’s no player retention
• no real content loop
• poor balance or unstable economy
• lack of updates or communication

On the other hand, a server can “double charge” and still be successful if:

• the progression feels rewarding
• the PvP is active and meaningful
• the server is stable and well maintained
• players feel their time (or money) is worth it

The reality is that players don’t just pay for premium or items — they pay for time, convenience, and a better experience. And more importantly, they stay for community and trust.

Your concert analogy is interesting, but I think it misses one key point: players are not just buying access to content, they are investing in an ongoing service. If that service is good, people accept different monetization layers. If it’s bad, even a “fair” model will fail.

So instead of focusing only on what is “right or wrong” to charge, I think the real question is:
Does the server create enough value for players to willingly support it?

Because at the end of the day, success isn’t defined by avoiding pay-to-win — it’s defined by whether players choose to stay, spend, and come back.

wizinx said:

I think the discussion goes beyond simply charging for premium or a few items. Let me ask you something back: why are the servers you mentioned actually successful?

It’s not just because of their business model.

Servers like Tibiantis, Realera, or even Medivia didn’t succeed purely because they chose “the correct” way to monetize. They succeeded because they built trust, consistency, and a strong player experience over time. Their monetization works because the game itself works.

A server can be 100% free, no pay-to-win at all, and still fail in a week if:

• there’s no player retention
• no real content loop
• poor balance or unstable economy
• lack of updates or communication

On the other hand, a server can “double charge” and still be successful if:

• the progression feels rewarding
• the PvP is active and meaningful
• the server is stable and well maintained
• players feel their time (or money) is worth it

The reality is that players don’t just pay for premium or items — they pay for time, convenience, and a better experience. And more importantly, they stay for community and trust.

Your concert analogy is interesting, but I think it misses one key point: players are not just buying access to content, they are investing in an ongoing service. If that service is good, people accept different monetization layers. If it’s bad, even a “fair” model will fail.

So instead of focusing only on what is “right or wrong” to charge, I think the real question is:
Does the server create enough value for players to willingly support it?

Because at the end of the day, success isn’t defined by avoiding pay-to-win — it’s defined by whether players choose to stay, spend, and come back.

Click to expand...

And I totally agree with you that those servers are not sucessfull because the business model or store but there is a correlation between what they offer and what they charge for it. There is no well born successful server known by me that double charges for premium and game boosters at the same time. Not even heavy pvp oriented servers.

Yet its also worth to mention that these servers did indeed made the right decision regarding business model based in their playerbase focus. As for example Tibiantis, you think people was gonna play that long and consistent if theyve implemented regen items? you think realera would be that overcrowed if they'd charge for premium? I think not.

Steping aside the top servers ever made when you scan the server gala u'll notice every friday from 1 to 5 launches, almost every weekend. From those, how many survive and how many use "wrong" business model?

It's more like thinking to create server "1" with three option of business model:
A: charges for standard premium
B: charges for boosters and shortcuts.
C: both A and B

Also as i mentioned option B is normally justifiy for heavy oriented pvp servers but many hosters use it for RPG slow paced oriented servers aswell.

In simple words, the golden rule (based in experience and personal taste) is you either offer game boosters or premium but never both at the same time.

If the server is based on global vanilla tibia I'm not even playing.
I actually believe it is ok to charge for premmium account rather than a battle pass, but if you'll want to charge for both, then I think you're pushing a bit too much and should stick to the battle pass only, as you could charge more and give more rewards making it feel where a player get more of his money's worth.
There's a saying in my country that goes by "Doesnt matter what I think, what matters is what I know" and I KNOW people pay to win simple as that.
There's a dragon ball based server thats been online for over 10 years and every vocation that is not a goku something has to be bought, and every new release is a power creep.

It seems there's no right or wrong approach, all it depends is on what playerbase you want to build your server on.

I for one, cant see myself charging for anything other than a premmium account (which considering exchange rate to my country would be 20brl=4usd) but every people I talk to who has played any kind of otserver would gladly spend more than 30-40 usd every month if they liked the server, even on pay-to-win-esque stuff. But if the supposed item can be earned through the game, or grinded, I wouldnt mind letting someone pay a few bucks more to accelerate their game.

Sometimes we cant use our player mind to make the decisions in our game, your own thread title says "BUSINESS MODEL" so you have to think in a way like a business, and if someone wants to spend money on your business you must have something to be spent on.