Some background…
Physgun runs some of the largest Rust servers and in general game servers on the planet, hosting high-performance servers for hundreds of thousands of players each week. We’ve picked up a thing or two on how servers become successful and we would like to share some of those details in a 10-step how-to with you.
These are not end-all be-all solutions, it’s still up to you to make decisions on how to best nurture and foster your community.
Our Top 10 goated pieces of advice for gaining and retaining players.
1. A good hook. First impressions are everything.
Just like a book, your server needs to have a good hook to encourage people to join and stay on your Rust server.
People won’t join your server if it looks like every other Rust vanilla clone. Give them a reason to join. Use an interesting title and description. Here’s some example hooks to give you some thought into what we’re saying.
Fun, custom events
Massive raid bases with admin-spawned loot rooms that open once per wipe.
Heli raid weekends with double drop chance and special rewards.
Community tournaments with in-game prizes.
Spice it up, be a bit unique
Custom map layouts — like islands, custom monuments, or unique loot spots.
Hardcore or softcore PvP variations — low-tier weapon wipes, no guns till day 2, etc
King of the Hill zones with special PvE challenges.
Themes, mostly seasonal work great
Wipe themes: Snow biome only, Primitive only, or Zombie horde night plugins.
Twitch drops or creator events that sync with wipe day.
Story & lore are great for roleplay servers
Ongoing wipe-to-wipe storylines, these can even complement events well
Players earn titles or roles for repeated participation
Pro Tip: Don’t overdo custom plugins until you have a stable base. Start with one strong hook that’s easy to communicate. If you are having troubles, think about what you like about your favorite Rust servers, and maybe what they aren’t doing that would make their feature even better.
2. Fostering your community
Players come to play Rust, but regulars stay for the community.
Setup a clean Discord server — clear channels, simple roles, minimal clutter.
This means don’t make your general chat 4 scrolls to get to on the list, people should be-able to talk immediately so you can always have fresh players joining in on the conversation.
Welcome new players, answer questions, then let them self organize.
You and your staff should be the people players talk to when they first join your community. This helps them feel like they fit in more, and kick starts their journey into your community.
Light touch moderation, strict enough to keep control but chill enough for an enjoyable environment.
Pin your Discord everywhere — server MOTD, website, everywhere.
This bit is still pretty dynamic, you will never have a clear blueprint on how to make a Discord server. These are real people, and you will need to shape your Discords’ dynamic around their (and your) enjoyment.
3. Make sure your server isn’t a laggy mess
No one cares about custom plugins or maps if your server lags when more than 10 people log on.
Use hardware that can handle a Rust Server’s CPU-hungry needs — top-tier single-threaded speed is critical.
At Physgun, for example, our nodes run on OC Ryzen 9 9950X CPUs, high-speed DDR5 memory, and bulletproof DDoS protection — way better than generic hosts running on sub-optimal hardware.
Run performance plugins, keep entity counts reasonable and regularly monitor your performance.
Players are extremely picky, especially on a game like Rust, if they feel lag they’ll bounce. If you want a trouble-free, high performance Rust Server you should get yourself a Physgun Rust Server. We run some of the largest communities such as /r/PlayRust, Stevious, BluLagoon, Rustopia, Warbandits, and so many more - we know just what a Rust server needs.
4. Promote in the right places
Advertising in ad discords is decent, but you should focus on specific areas to be consistent in rather than trying to be consistent everywhere or else you’ll burn out.
Rust server listing sites (e.g. BattleMetrics, rust-servers.net, JustWiped, etc…)
Reddit (r/playrustservers, r/playrust (as long as it’s within the rules of course))
Rust Discord hubs for LFG (but don’t be annoying)
Physgun #self-promo discord channel - we have over 6000+ members
And of course, the most important promotion of them all: getting as high as you can on the Rust server list. Over here at Physgun we actually help boost your ranking by caching the best latency and using our multi-pop locations to ensure players have the best latency when querying your server.
5. Use data to make smart decisions
Most server owners do not track their player data to provide a better experience for their players by offering more of what players want. Or improving upon player drought events.
Track the boring stuff:
Monitor your pop daily. When do players drop off, after wipe? day 4? day 7?
Look at kill/death statistics — are big clans gatekeeping new players too much? Maybe your hook needs tweaking.
Track plugin usage, do players prefer certain plugins? It might be a great idea to add more options to frequently used plugins if applicable.
Pair player feedback with your data — this will help point out features your players want to improve and let you better prioritize the features more people use compared to the less used features.
Huge piece of advice: don’t get sucked into pure analytics and data. While extremely useful, making decisions purely based on data and not your opinion or players’ opinion will harm your community. Because at the end of the day, if you do not enjoy your community, you will not grow it.
6. Always be networking — even if you’re anti-social
Your community isn’t just players — it’s also other server owners, content creators, and plugin developers.
Make friends with other server admins. Trade ideas. Share ban lists. Collaborate.
Support content creators. Even a small streamer with 10 loyal viewers is worth their weight in pop.
Stay updated in the plugin dev scene, new performance tools drop every month.
The more people that know who you are and your Rust server the better, building great relationships with other Rust server owners, plugin developers or content creators will greatly benefit you along your journey of becoming a large pop server.
Don’t worry about making friends fast, it will likely happen slow, but as long as you are making more connections, you’re doing it right.
7. Always Look Populated
A brand-new server with “0/100 players” looks dead. Most won’t click it. However there’s a work-around.
Start with lower max slots. If you expect 10 people, don’t set max to 100. “10/24” looks way better than “10/100”.
Play with friends or your staff. Even just 5 people online makes your server show up higher in the server browser. (Also extremely low latency, which Physgun provides with every Rust Server).
Try staggered launches — do a mini-soft launch with friends, then announce bigger wipes once you’ve got regulars.
If your timezone is dead overnight, don’t fret. Focus on your core region’s prime time and keep it alive during peak hours.
8. Treat new players like Gold
Early on, every single player matters more than any advertisement. Your first 5-20 players are the seed of your community.
Welcome them personally, send a quick DM, invite them to the discord, get to know them. (Don’t be annoying about it though, listen to social queues)
If someone is streaming on your server, support them — clip some stuff, share your clips or their vod, and thank them personally.
Listen to feedback, but always take it with a grain of salt. Feedback is extremely important but some players can be completely wrong or opinionated. It’s your job to foster a fun environment, so you’ll need to be the mediator.
Some communities get a bit too attached to their fresh players, it’s important not to let them bend / break all the rules especially if it’s harming other players’ experiences. This is how you create a toxic vacuum, while banter is healthy and fine, new players being unreasonably harassed should always be addressed.
9. Marketing
Yep, even servers have marketing. You should be trying new things and being frequent at posting, especially if you have a website to build backlinks.
Create TikTok / Short form (Shorts) videos for your server
Create a trailer
Post frequently on reddit, x, and other social media platforms
The more you market your server the more passive players you will gain. While most players do come from the server list you will always want to capitalize on any other method of gaining players.
10. Make a server YOU enjoy.
It’s corny, and we’ve honestly said it a bunch in this post, but you need to make a server you want to play on.
The second you lose motivation to run your own server, is the second your server fails. You should always prioritize your player’s experience and feedback while also ensuring that you yourself are building a Rust serveryou enjoy playing on frequently.
…and that’s about it!
These are just 10 out of countless tips to help you build your Rust community. Every rust server is unique, every rust server is different. It all matters about what you and your players want, never forget that and you will create a successful community.
If you have any questions or need help building your empire make sure to check out the Physgun Discord.