The Palace Premiere
After weeks and months of toil, you are finally ready to unveil your
finest creation. You may decide to run your palace on a small and very private scale, or
bite the bullet and use a 24/7 public server.
Things to take into consideration while you are deciding what to use:
- how much you are prepared to spend
- how many people you expect to visit your palace
- level of IT knowledge
What Server should I use?
There are many ways to run a palace.
Off your computer
This is the way all palaces start out. The palace is online while the owner is logged on.
The address of the palace is basically the ip address of the computer from which it is
running. As such, everytime the computer reconnects to the internet, the address changes.
This is appropriate for small, private 'friends only' palaces.
Dynamic DNS ip Server
This is similar to the above except your address does not change. For a small fee, you can
obtain a permanent address at http://www.dyndns.com/.
DynDNS utilizes a small program which tracks your computer IP number everytime you connect
to the internet and redirects people when they use your permanent address..
A private server
Some people are lucky enough to have their own servers or know someone who runs a server.
This usually means you have to do a lot of the telnet chores yourself - like regular
restarting of your palace, log switching etc.
Commercial servers
Commercial servers host your palace for a fee. They usually provide techinical support and
routine palace maintenence (i.e.: all the telnet stuff). This is a list of all the servers
I know. Use it as a starting point to shop around for the best deal.
Visit Ty's
Place (website) for a comprehensive listing of commercial servers available. You will
be able to see at a glance what the startup costs and monthly fees are, disc quota is and
more!
Promoting your Palace
Advertising is an important part of bringing your palace to the world.
Simply put, if nobody knows about your palace, no one will come. How actively you promote
your palace depends on your aspirations and ambitions for your part of the palace kingdom.
Advertising strategies include:
Holding your own events or joining interpalace tour events
Events refer to anything from a party to a month long themed special
tour. They should be designed to attract attention so that a lot of people are pulled to
your palace to view the event with the hopes that some of those people will stay.
Interpalace events in particular are important for new, small, low population palaces. You
will find out about these from newsgroups and by word of mouth. It is well worth the
effort and most tours do not demand more than 2 rooms to showcase anyway.
Take advantage of special holidays, celebrations and birthdays. Any
excuse to have a party! Parties are a good opportunity to bring people together. A mix of
clever scripts (for e.g: music jukeboxes or drinks ordering scripts) to set the mood,
activities and charming social wizards is essential. Publicise well and publicise a few
days or weeks before hand, repeating and reminding people at reasonable intervals.
LINK FOR
LIFE
What does this mean?
Well, as the palace server was made available to more and more people at
no cost, the palace population began to spread out and become less concentrated in central
palaces. While Communities.com still existed, the live directory and palace portal formed
important links between palaces. There was also the promise of new users.
With the dissolution of Communities.com, the palaces that relied solely
on the live directory were threatened with sudden and abrupt isolation in the vast
datasphere. And the exodus of jaded users and lack of new users meant inevitable demise
for the community.
Hence it is infinitely important as a palace owner, to form strong
interpalace relationships for your palace survival.
As an owner of your own palace, you can become dangerously isolated,
becoming immersed in building, scripting and gatesitting. Don't forget the reason why you
came on palace in the first place - to meet people and make new friends.
When you visit other places, you get to see what other people are doing,
perhaps find out about a interpalace event you didn't know about, discover clever ideas
that people are willing to share and even compare your own work if you wish.
People are more amenable to linking to people they know and sometimes,
knowing a friend of a friend helps as well.
Direct linking is the best way to boost visitor attendance. Make a link
room and get as many reciprocated links as you can.
Join smaller palacerings especially those grouped by genre. This makes
you easier to find especially if you have a targeted audience. On the Palace Planet site
you find a list of available
palacerings.
Word of Mouth
Never underestimate the gift of the gab. Nothing is more effective or
more instantaneous than saying, "Hey, come see my palace!" If you are lucky to
attract a crowd of regulars, they will do the same for your palace by just telling their
friends.
A word of caution, over-promotion is just as detrimental as
underpromotion. If the effect of your entry is "Oh no here he/she comes
again..." you know that you are overdoing things a little. 'Slimey-vibes' can be
sensed even through chat so beware if you are sucking up just for the sake of getting
links. Friendship is always a good starting point. Everything else will follow.
Websites
All palaces should have a website. This can be as simple or as elaborate
as you wish. The website should have at least the owner's contact information and an list
of events held at your palace (if you are really organised). If you have Instant Palace
set up, your website should link to that too. Having a website increases your overall
links in the greater scheme of things especially if you get listed in a search engine. Iby
has written a great tutorial on websites in the Palace Planet community Portal.
