PlayerPicked Stats

Plugin developers rarely know where their plugin actually runs: how many servers use it, on which Minecraft version, which server software and which Java version. Without those numbers, every decision about what to support, what to drop and where to invest development time is a guess. PlayerPicked wanted real answers for their own plugins — and a public product that other plugin authors could use as well.

This was a full-stack project from the Minecraft server all the way to the browser. On the plugin side we wrote Pickly, a lightweight Java library for Paper and Velocity that plugin authors bundle into their plugin. Every 30 minutes it sends a small, compressed and fully anonymous report — player count, Minecraft, server software, Java and plugin versions, online mode and any custom metrics the author defines. No IP addresses, player names or chat ever leave the server, and server owners can opt out with a single config line.

On the web side, stats.playerpicked.com turns those reports into live dashboards: servers and players over 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days or all time, an interactive globe showing where servers are, and breakdowns by version, software and online mode. Authors sign in with their playerpicked.com account, create a plugin, get a key and design an 800×300 stats card in a live editor. The card is an image that redraws itself every 30 minutes, so the numbers on their Spigot, BuiltByBit or GitHub page are always current — free social proof that helps sell the plugin.

Because the plugin key ships inside every public jar, abuse protection was designed in from day one: rate limits per server and per address, strict validation and size caps on every report, and addresses kept only as a daily-rotating hash that is deleted after two days. The client got a privacy-friendly analytics product they control end to end, with the Java library and the web platform built by one team that knows both sides.