Strictly, a private server is any
machine
A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromol ...
or
virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...
used as a
server that is privately administrated. Colloquially the term is nearly-exclusively used to refer to independently operated, unofficial servers for video games.
Private servers (broadly defined)
As servers need adequate internet connection, power and can be noisy, they are often located in a
colocation center. Servers are available on the market the same way as laptops or desktops are available and can be purchased by individual already pre-configured. Ordinary desktop computers are not suitable to house in
colocation centers as servers have specific form factor that allows them to fit many into a standard rack. This group also includes custom-designed experimental servers, made by hobbyists.
Custom designed server
design to maximize performance per watt. Virtual server also offer high degree of freedom, superuser
In computing, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system (OS), the actual name of this account might be root, administrator, admin or supervisor. In some cases, the actual name of the ...
access and low-cost service.
Private servers for video games
A private server is a reimplementation of online game servers, typically as clones of proprietary commercial software by a third party of the game community. The private server is often not made or sanctioned by the original company.
Private servers often host massively singleplayer
online role-playing game genre games such as ''World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...
'', '' RuneScape'', and '' MapleStory''. These servers can attempt to provide a "stock"/standard experience, or can modify gameplay to change the difficulty, pace of character progress, available content, or available controls over the gameplay environment.
Some popular video games such as '' My Singing Monsters'' have seen an uprising in Private Servers in the past 3 years, one notable being MSM Hacks.{{Citation needed, date=May 2025
Many private servers encourage players to donate funds for server upkeep. Sometimes these donations are rewarded with in-game benefits. Less commonly, private server operators might sell in-game benefits directly.
Rightsholding companies often attempt to and succeed in shutting down private server versions of their games. Between this and potential for operators to lose interest, private servers can be short-lived. However, there are also cases of games no longer being operated by the rightsholders, in which case a private server may have greater longevity than the sanctioned, defunct service.
Due to how private servers for games are often reverse-engineered and operated using incomplete information about the complete inner workings of the original game, it is common for standard featuresets to be incomplete or for the server to be less stable than an original. On the other hand, it is common for homebrewed features to be added by operators.
References
Servers (computing)