A Note From Eralar -
"Some of you were wondering, while playing, how to make new players stay on Lair. I am bringing some suggestions, feel free to apply those you want.
COMPETITION:
go look at what your competition has to offer, especially those servers that are popular. Look mostly for survival vanilla servers, as this is what you are closest.
You can go as guests on those servers, and ask people what's good about their places and why you should stay. They will actually give you good insight about what players are looking for.
This is what everyone who wants to go in business will do first (been there, done that).
SPAWN:
those are items I've seen on other servers at spawn, that will help attract players and make them keep playing on Lair.
-rules and more: close to where the players will spawn, make sure they have access to all server rules, and more information as well (what are the cities / who are their mayors...).
-community farm: one server had a community farm at spawn, with explanations for newbs. So new players could go there, get some food already, and replant for the next player. There were chests with hoes and seeds.
-first nights accomodation: rooms with non-protected chests, beds and basic tools (iron and torches) for new players, so they can start mining for their first building instead of having to rush to survive the first few nights.
-Great design: the Spawn is the first thing new players will see from your server. Make them awe, and you have already won them
COMMUNITIES:
as in the real world, the best servers have cities that are more than only buildings together. They are communities, with their own set of rules, mayer and co/mayor, and do organise activities for residents and non residents alike.
-quests: many city mayors or organisations organize quests for players, bringing the game to a whole new level. It may be mazes with treasures and monster spawners, a treasure hunt with clues in the city, ball games with snowballs or even a stadium where PVP is accepted and even encouraged, as a tournament. Your imagination is the limit...
Cities:
one more thing on cities. By forcing people to respect some theme, some cities on larger servers have become jaw dropping places. If 3 or more players feel like starting such a city, they can advertise it as its own on YouTube or other places, and it will attract more players to the server."
Many thanks Eralar!