Rust is a survival game that drops players into a brutal open world where the only objective is to stay alive. You start with almost nothing and must gather resources, craft tools and weapons, build a base, and decide when to trade, cooperate, or fight. The world is persistent and competitive, with raids, base defense, weather, wildlife, and other players creating constant pressure.

A dedicated Rust server improves this experience by keeping your world online at all times and by giving you full control over the rules. You can choose wipe cadence, adjust gather and loot rates, manage blueprints, set decay and upkeep, and curate plugins through uMod to add quality of life features, kits, or moderation tools. You also manage map size, seed, and biomes, and enforce privacy or community guidelines that fit your group. Compared to public servers you get more predictable performance, lower latency, and a stable place for events and progression. Whether you want a small private group or a growing community, hosting your own server lets you shape Rust into the experience you want.