Nowadays you need to have something really unique on your server to stand out. For example i came across a server called BleurServers.co it had funfair rides and a massive casino with it which inevitably made it stand out from the rest of gmod darkrp servers
I agree with the comments above, playerbase to me is one of the most important parts of me joining a server. Why would you join a server with one person when you could join one with 100.