This week we are pleased to present The Crafting Dead. A server designed to let your imagination run wild!

This blog post is part of a series on some of our amazing webstores. Giving readers insight into what it is like to run a game server, and letting our merchants tell their story on how they got started in the world of server management. Last time we checked out EcoCityCraft, one of our most loyal and long established Minecraft webstores and quite possibly the world's number one economy server.

About Minecraft

Minecraft, developed by Mojang, is one of the recent success stories of the gaming industry. Having launched in 2011, after a successful beta period that garnered a ravenous fan base, Minecraft then went on to become the single best selling game of all time. Eventually bought by Microsoft in 2014, the story of Minecraft didn't stop there, with new game modes and iterations of the much loved game being launched. Fans all around the world fell in love with the concept, music, and simplicity of the vanilla experience. Minecraft spawned a fanbase that has created a plethora of YouTube content, huge amounts of artwork, and a vast array of mod packs, and texture packs. Minecraft is already, a classic.

About The Crafting Dead

The Crafting Dead is a server network themed around zombies and survival. The aim is to let your imagination run wild while you traverse the carefully crafted landscape and explore ruins searching for supplies, allies and safety. The Crafting Dead has added another layer to the survival aspect of Minecraft, added beautiful architecture and theming to the carefully constructed world and truly allows the player to feel the horror of surviving a zombie apocalypse.

If you'd like to look at The Crafting Dead's social media links, you can check them out here:

The Crafting Dead Twitter
The Crafting Dead Website
The Crafting Dead Webstore
The Crafting Dead Discord

And special link to The Crafting Dead's Build Gallery because it's definitely worth checking out!

The Crafting Dead team is global. Driven by the player's happiness and the desire to see all of the amazing stories that players come up with while they play, Denireilly is committed to his playerbase.

Howdy, I am Eddy, aka Denireilly. I own The Crafting Dead Network for the modpack Crafting Dead. I am from the UK and have been working in the gaming community with all sorts of projects for over 7 years!

The landscape and build work is truly impressive and, within the ruins of this dilapidated and ravaged land are rich intricate stories brought to life by the players. The hordes of zombies roam the land and devour all who come to this world. The players, many of whom roleplay, must find shelter, food, supplies, and try to survive this broken world. Many people are interested in starting their own game server, but many don't stand the test of time, although there are some very notable exceptions. The Crafting Dead has been around for years, and whilst there's no shortage of Minecraft servers around, Denireilly and his team have all had different journeys on their way to server management.

So, I fell in love with the whole idea of running my very own Minecraft game server. I fell in love with the whole idea of it, from meeting new people, to the chaos of upkeeping the servers to the highest standard for you to play! And sure enough my dream came true around 2014 and I have been doing it ever since.

Through maintaining The Crafting Dead you and your team have been able to give your players countless hours of survival fun. From fighting off a zombie raid with a fellow survivor, to traversing the barren wastes of what was once a beautiful world ravaged and reduced to ruin. But there are signs of life here and there. You've been able to take your hobby and turn it into something that many players can enjoy over and over. Through The Crafting Dead, you have been able to use your passion for helping people and use it to become a successful Minecraft zombie survival server with happy and active players.

As many server owners are well aware, it can be difficult to begin with a game server and we often get questions of how to get started, from the hosts, to building the webstore, to advertising, to keeping players happy. We try to do the best we can with helping new server owners, and have spoken to numerous previous server owners who may offer insight to prospective server owners (Tebex proudly support many popular servers, and you can check them out here. We also have a post on getting started with a server, here.) The Crafting Dead has been around for a number of years, and I'm sure that if you were able to go back and do it again with your current knowledge, you'd do some things differently.

There is no manual to running a game server, or a community "at least when I started there wasn't". There's all sorts of skills you will need to develop, from customer skills, to arranging a staff team, and keeping the interests in your community, not to mention all of the configuration needed. Of course there will be some upsets but this is just part of being an server owner.

New servers rarely launch without problems, and being resilient to whatever comes your way as a server owner is definitely a key to longevity. As well as understanding and appreciating constructive criticism when it is offered. One of the most important parts of growing your server, and thus, your potential monetization, is to increase your playerbase through your customer service, marketing, and keeping players interested like you say. We have a post here about how to grow a playerbase, which some readers might find useful. Running a server, especially a successful one, is more than simply leaving the server running. You need to be pro-active and keep your players coming back because your server has that special something.

With that being said, of course the hard work that goes into your server network, and the invaluable skills that you gain and hone along the way, which are also very important in all aspects of your day to day life, not just within gaming, isn't the only benefit that can be gained. There are many rewards that can be gained from running a server. Skills, friendships, relationships, goodwill etc. There are many rewards through running a community, small or large, it doesn't matter, but the rewards from meeting so many people are huge.

I have found it very rewarding, with the amount of opportunities being a successful server owner has given me. I have always said the reward is having players, the money is the bonus.

The Crafting Dead is a world of opportunity in every aspect, the players have so much they can do with all of the amazing landscapes to explore and discover. It's not uncommon to find some players pretending they are in The Walking Dead! The Crafting Dead has an active network of over 1000+ players in the Discord, with many giveaways and events. Denireilly and the team are always looking for ways to keep the players happy and engaged with the server.

We have a very playful community as the modpack is role play based. So, when you join your imagination can go wild with zombies, survive solo or with friends, build bases, fight hordes, loot houses, find survivors! We are an English based server but there are people all over the world who play!

Our network has been around for years, and we have always kept the players first. When it comes to decisions with developing our own custom core, we have expanded on the modpack, giving it our own flavor and style, from our custom in game trading and shop, to our global stats and leader boards, we have a fantastic team who I have worked with for years!

The Crafting Dead team and players have spent years together, establishing themselves as one of the best servers available for a zombie themed Minecraft experience. Crafted with love and care, the server has flourished since opening all those years ago, garnering a playerbase that continue to come back again and again. Through the hardwork and dedication to The Crafting Dead so many memories have been made, some of which are in the gallery. Some players like to show gratitude to the server owners and team in all kinds of different ways for all of the memories the server gives them. By running a server like this, it's inevitable that friendships and relationships get made...

I have one memory that sticks out, so one of our most loyal players decided to send me a shoe box from America, included with a drawing and thank you letters from their friends, I was so grateful!

The Crafting Dead has been providing a horrifying and terrifying survival experience for Minecraft players for many years and, hopefully, for many years still to come. Tebex are very appreciative to have The Crafting Dead with us, and for being on our blog. Thank you to Denireilly and the team.

If you would like to begin running your own webstore, you can check out our pricing here. We recommend new and small servers begin with the free Starter plan. If you already run a webstore, and you'd like to discuss having your webstore featured on the blog, please contact Tebex support here, we would love to hear from you.