Quantity of players on servers.

[Andrey01]

Why are same servers constantly full of players, but mostly not full? The most popular are Survival X, Capture The Flag Multiple maps, HOMETOWN, MyTekeGaming. Why are they so popular? Other servers have big quantity of nice mods, big limit of players, fine connecting to the server and they are not popular!

[KCoombes]

I suppose it depends on what a player wants from the server - some want PvP, others want socialization (chat), yet others might want new textures to build with - every server cannot fulfill every player's desires, which is why we have so many servers available. I remember when Xanadu was consistently full-to-capacity, yet now it hardly has more than 4 players at any given time.

[rubenwardy]

Xanadu dropped in popularity by not allowing new users to join. And maybe also affected by allegations of controversial moderation

[Mineminer]

Why are same servers constantly full of players, but mostly not full? The most popular are Survival X, Capture The Flag Multiple maps, HOMETOWN, MyTekeGaming. Why are they so popular? Other servers have big quantity of nice mods, big limit of players, fine connecting to the server and they are not popular!

Now that some had mentioned the obvious ones, other reasons that...

1. They were the "pioneers" of "mass playing" servers and thus are the "go to" servers that most players may hit up on. It's like how people whose don't know much about computers will probably pull one up with Windows or even buy the CD/DCL if they has to.
2. Stability, same idea behind Windows. Those servers just "works". Just likely how people who are Windows "bonded" like it because they are accustomed to their "Idiot proof" operation.
3. Drastic variations in the gaming experiences. Because of the points above these servers may have better "equipped" to ensure it's "fun for the whole gang".

But... As other mentioned not everyone want a "massive machine skewing out entertainment and likely little if anything else". That where smaller/niche server owners can "swing in" and steal some of the "show business". :)

[SONOFSATAN]

Xanadu dropped in popularity by not allowing new users to join. And maybe also affected by allegations of controversial moderation

yes by banning me cause of this name is one reson. there lost my gain ;p

[lightseer]

Why are same servers constantly full of players, but mostly not full? The most popular are Survival X, Capture The Flag Multiple maps, HOMETOWN, MyTekeGaming. Why are they so popular? Other servers have big quantity of nice mods, big limit of players, fine connecting to the server and they are not popular!

I have not been playing long. I think a server should have a small feel to it. If the map is too complicated then it takes longer to find your feet. I think that there is no one-size-fits-all server. Some people want a server with danger and thrills. Some want to chat all day. Some want to play house. Some like it to be like a platform game, like mario world. Nobody likes to travel to a shop and find it a ghost shop with nothing for sale, and I think that is bad on any server. Nobody likes it when the server craps out of lacks features, yet this creates a more dedicated group of players which is ironically good for a server. Sometimes what people like is not best for the server in other words. People always want the impossible. Whatever features you have, those features become boring. They will always want something else.

[Gael de Sailly]

Why are same servers constantly full of players, but mostly not full? The most popular are Survival X, Capture The Flag Multiple maps, HOMETOWN, MyTekeGaming. Why are they so popular? Other servers have big quantity of nice mods, big limit of players, fine connecting to the server and they are not popular!

I think I have an explanation: people don't make the effort to search until the bottom of the list and considering all servers one by one. They join the ones that are on the top, which are the ones that already have a lot of players.
So there are on one side, the popular servers that are at the top of the list, and thus receive many new players, and thus maintain their position at the top of the list; and on the other side the servers always empty that are at the bottom of the list.

The transition between both is mostly due to chance, and has quite few to do with server quality: when one day, a mostly empty server has, by chance, a bit more players than usual, its ranking increase, more players join and the phenomenon self-amplify. I've seen this on VanessaE's Basic server in July 2015. In less than a week, it has risen from nearly zero player to constantly >30 (with max at ~55), without any change nor announcement. 2 months after, it made the inverse transition.