So we come to this. Trying to control the SMP servers and offer solid solutions to the problems it generates is just driving people off. Sure we are getting a few new members but few stick around and our server is more empty than it is full. I though that the markets + Babel + Residence would have solved at least most of SMPs problems but all it does is cause conflict and force our OPs to have to wet-nurse the server constantly.

So, I want to know: what do you guys want?

I am being very serious here. Tell me anything. Tell me what is is you hate about SpA SMP and tell me what it is you like. Tell me what the alternatives are and tell me what you wont stand for. At the end of the day the purpose of the server is to have players so it is more down to you guys, the Community, to say what you want than it is for the Admin team to say what you get.

Let's just have it out once and for all, no hods barred, no suggestions ruled out. (Please don't just suggest single fun plugins - I am looking for drastic changes to the way the server runs, not just tiny additions to what we already have.)

_________________
"Fire rained from the sky on the day I was born: 10,000 lives I ended before drawing first breath. Do not speak to me of guilt or regret, Jonathan.” - Brayan, The Keepers of the Fire

Mind listing some of the issues you've seen Howard?

I'll try to list some I've found myself and the possible solutions.

1. Players owning more than 1 shop.

1.1
-I'm not sure about this one, I heard somewhere that you were meant to have only 1 shop in total, but I've seen a couple players with shops in more than 1 market.
-I ended up having no place to make my own shop and I'm sure newer and more needy players found the same problem, thus not being able to start using /res properly.
-Also I believe it was said that you could only have 6 chests in your shop / sell-buy 6 different things, and yet I still see people with more than 6.

1.2
-Make it oficial, 1 player = 1 shop in total of all the markets.
-(Optional) Have everyone arrange their shop the same way, thus making them only use 6 chest / sell-buy 6 products.


2. The confusion in IC's spawn.

2.1
-When I 1st started to play in the server there were only a few signs, true it lacked some info but at least it didn't scare me; now it's a "maze" of signs and I'm sure most players won't even read it. It's like when you fill a contract, it's rare to find people that actually read everything in it.

2.2
-Try to simplify it, leave the core information in it for the starters. Anything else could be linked to this forum or explained by the OP+ when needed.


3. Cities, towns or random cuboids placed together.

3.1
-At 1st I didn't even know how bad the situation was till Howard told me about it and then I started to notice it..pretty much everyone wants to make a city/town of thier own..which will most likely be populated by him/her alone.

3.2
-I'd suggest making a rule for this, something like if someone wants to make a town it has to be fairly far from any other city/town and that person must have at least 4 other players that want to be full time citizens in it. (other build related rules would still apply.)
-Also, maybe we could keep track of all towns and it's population, so when someone comes out we could direct him to the smallest down to live there if the other citizens are ok with it; this would promote the growth of the towns, players will be more entertained by playing hand-in-hand with other players instead of being hermits and possibly avoid newcomers from being completly lost in what to do or go, what they can and can't do, etc.

_________________
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
"Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"

My thing where Im walking on all the time is the residence sizes.. I understand that it gets too full so fast BUT if you have small houses like 20x20 or so, then it isnt really... fun for me actually. and we sould need some more *fun* plugins and stuff..

_________________
<@UNICORN_XD> i are a goast
<@UNICORN_XD> yes, having exams this week has made me stupid
Whiskers: Shoegaze music is great music to poop to - I feel like I've just fought an epic battle

Let me start of with saying that my SpA Freebuild/SMP-ratio swings massively in favor of Freebuild. I don't play SMP anymore since it quite frankly bores me to shit. This could be seen as an example of why the Minecraft-servers are starting to empty. Maybe people are finally getting fed up with the game and Notch's bullshit.

In any case most of this post is based on conjecture/personal experiences both on this and other servers. I haven't played enough on the new, for me atleast, SMP-server to get a clear view of what its problems might be so I won't go into what to keep or change. Instead I'll tell you something about what I have affectionally dubbed the "Princess LEIA"-syndrome. No relation whatsoever to any fictional princesses but the acronym was just too good to ignore. LEIA simply stands for "Laziness", "Entitlement", "Intelligence/Idiocy" and "Age".

You can tell where I am going with this aren't you?

The average Minecrafter/Guest is a lazy fuck. He/She won't bother reading silly things as guides, rulebooks or even the in-game chat. You can doctor out an incredibly well thought out system that regulates everything but if players ignore it, then what's the point? It will even be counterproductive. Would you want to play on a server where you first have read a manual to understand what the fuck you should do? No, ofcourse not. You just want to play the damn game. So you do. And what does this mean for the server-staff? Why they will be educating those darn guests and resolving conflicts that shouldn't even have sprung up if everyone just took thirty minutes to read the forum. But they don't because they are Minecrafters. And Minecrafters are Lazy.

Minecrafters are also entitled as hell. Why should they do this thing plebs call "walking" when they can instead teleport as much as they want on the next server? Why should they care to listen to this silly OP rambling on about proper procedures when they can simply walk away and build some ugly stack of cobble shit? They want dragons and minecarts and fireballs and aeroplanes and fuck the consequences. Yes, you could share statistics/measurements showing perfectly clear why certain things can't/won't happen but your average guest isn't concerned about that. They want their cake, they want to eat it and they want it NOW.

I don't think I have to go into the "Intelligence/Idiocy"-part. Just take a look at the one of the many, many examples on the forums or spend more than 5 minutes in-game. So let's just sum up this part as "Minecrafters don't bother to think about what they should and shouldn't do.".

The above points can with a bit of good will all be summed up with "Age". I don't have any concrete statistics or nice graphs but I would bet my sweet, sweet ass that the average Minecrafter is between 12 and 15. Now think back to when you where that age. What where you? A lazy, entitled little shit who thought he had all the answers. Does that seem overly harsh? Maybe. Would you deny that it's true for the vast majority of gamers? Well yeah... But I'll summon my inner Minecrafter and tell you that you're in denial and should take a good look at the playerbase.

Which brings me to the first points I would like to make.
Don't look at their advice. The average minecrafter wont post on the forum.
Don't listen to their request. The average minecrafter only thinks of him/herself.
Don't try to engage in a productive discussion about how you could improve the server. You will want to RAGE when you read the suggestions.
Don't try to hit on them. We know what comes from that particular clusterfuck.

Instead of listening to a playerbase which doesn't know what it wants, or only wants things that profit them personally, invite some people that you _know_ you can trust and whose opinion you value. Then try to dumb down the current system down so much that even a retarded baboon can succesfully operate in it without causing too much trouble. Because that is where, if I had to guess, the majority of the problem lies. The average Minecrafter is too much of a lazy, entitled, idiotic little shit to want to play along. And they get scared off when they learn how much "effort" they should put into this server or how "restricted for the greater good" they are. Thus they move on to a more anarchistic/uncontrolled server. To counter this you could loosen the restrictions as per Panty's and Pat's suggestion. Sure, why not. It might work. Temporarily. But the average guest wouldn't even notice it. And how exactly would you gather in more guests when you do something they don't even notice?

If you think that this view is overly pessimistic then you are going to love this second point.

I would like you to take a close look at your Staff both on SMP and (especially) on Freebuild. Given that they are the "cream of the crop", are the ones that represent the server AND are the ones that actually (try to) keep order... Do you like what you see? A server rises and falls with its Staff. They are the ones that try to keep everything running smooth. They are your right-hand in running this place. Do you trust your right-hand enough not to rip off your dick while masturbating? I would personally trust some of them with everything I have ever done on Minecraft. But I would also trust, nay expect, the vast majority of the OP+ that I've seen to fuck up massively sooner rather than later.

To sum up: Take a close look at both your staff and player-base before doing anything. The problem doesn't lie with the server. It lies with its players. Do you want to make everyone happy? Then you better close shop now because that is never going to happen. Instead shape the server in a way you/SpA wants and make sure you that what that is _perfectly_ clear to every guest, member and _especially_ Staff-members. If they don't like what they see then let them move on. Betraying what you/the game stands for by adding tons of useless shit just to be on the top of a list isn't what you should want. If that means that there wont be more than 20 people on at a time, then so be it.

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"Um ... I'm just wondering if it's okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?"

Being 14 myself I think that most people my age are like that to be honest but there are a rare few who do actually look at server rules and sign up on the forums when there not appealing for a ban they just got. (when I say Rare Few I mean it)

Server wise I would just start the WHOLE server from scratch and in my opinion add a white-list to the server and have people get the message "Go To Specialattack.net and post an application to get whitelisted there", then people have to write a bit about themselves so we can see who actually is a generic oh and im guessing we can copy over a blank babel and Islerlohn etc. but I'm not sure about whether to keep the markets or not though....

Most of the traffic has always come from freebuild, so I don't think it's so much the server really. With smps servers you've got to just advertise the shit out of them. Problems with the server, hmm I think there's just not enough for players to do, they build their places they mine so they're well equipped, and it stops there really, I mean that's minecraft in general at the moment I guess.

The cities are empty, leo's market seems to be popular, you might see a player or two there, but it's just not the busling evironment people want their city to be, which is a problem on all servers really. Plus it's a buyers market aswell, everyone wants to and is able to sell their stuff. Some people seem to pvp ok, but everyone lives so far away from eachother, people wonder off so far that there's just no oppertunities or need to pvp. Only time I got to fight was on temp maps, the maps were small, so you'd easily find victims walking around or near their home, or you'd be attacked walking somewhere. I dont think fighting itself in minecraft is eventful enough for arenas, it's fighting while surviving that makes it fun.

I wasn't impressed with the spawn, I think spawns have to be really over the top or just a real show of building talent, because it says a lot about the server, you can also contruct the exit out of spawn so the signs are more or less shoved in peoples faces, because they will just not read them otherwise. Plus there's always that /rules thing we had ages back which didn't let people do anything until they read them.

My solution for the cities would be to centralise things as much as possible, so they should only come about when a number of players decide to build a village/town/city, these as proposed anyay will be the only way to get to the main gate hub, but in this case no one would have personal gateways, so they would have to travel to the centre of the city, the centre should be the only none pvp zone, and place to heal. So instead of small plots behind walls, it would be people choosing to live near to a gateway possibly with a small market and stuff, able to pvp with anyone who happens to be around. I just really think that travelling is too easy, and just makes distance, and location so irrelevant.

Perhaps players should travel through a small nether world to get to gates in overworld, people might pick fights there who knows. The nether is probably still lag fest though, so it's probably not an option. I guess most of my suggestions aren't really helpful until a fresh map is started. The other thing I could propose for this map, is instead of pvp arenas, hourly brawls are announced in towns, so everyone rushes there and just kills the crap at each other for a generous prize inside a chest they have to break obsidian off or something, this would need an op/supop to instigate, but I'm sure they'd more than willing. Lastly I'd make it so you can't /cprivate doors, allowing house attacks, so you can travel to peoples homes with the intentions of pvp. For security people can craft iron, or piston doors, because you can't use levers and shit in residences.

So those are my criticisms of the server, and some ideas. There is some good stuff on the server, like giants spawning, allowing guests to zone their own builds giving money a little more purpose, and the skills plugin.

Personally i don't like this, If i was looking for a new smp server (Asif! ) and i to go make an account and tell you about myself before I've even found out if I like the community; I'd probably leave, Maybe this is because I'm lazy, but still even thought white-lists get rid of your average petty minecrafter, it can also get rid of those decent players who would add further to the community.

This may sound stupid (But i've sounded stupid before so) it'd be maybe a little difficult to organise, but maybe add to the theme more, like ancient like buildings, scattered across the map (No portals, maybe some signs) you know, give the server some 'history', background story. I'm not amazing at explaining what i mean, if you want i'll try explain it better. I do think this would be fun to go explore the map and finding new, special places will give the player a sense of achievement almost.

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[01:44]aaanythiNG:I just donatedto SpA
[01:44]aaanythiNG:Because I love Jam
[01:45]Tigerdragon180:i love you in a non gay way jam
[01:45]GreatBuilder3:i love you in a gay way jam
Jawz13:P.S I Love Jam

Think this suggestion through a bit. If the point is to get MORE new players then why would you want to add another obstacle for those new players to navigate around? Yes, with your suggestion you would certainly get the oh so very rare "mature" newbie once in a while but that is not the point here. You would want to release the hordes of Mordor on the server. Except without the rape and slaughtering and with a nice and polite discussion during tea and crumpets.

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"Um ... I'm just wondering if it's okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?"

What Z suggested is pretty much what you would do in any online game, you go to their website, register, download the game and play, didn't like it? Just uninstal it.

And it actually gave me an idea..I'll think about it for a while and if I work something out I'll let you guys know and see if you approve it.

_________________
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
"Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"

I'd suggest some more world builds, people like to see creations.. thats why they come from youtube, stick around, having fun and having a good time... (?)
Well that's what I did while SpA was down a couple weeks..
Looking on youtube, some nice shit damn buildings, join the server and look at it..
But that isn't right now, I only play SpA lol <3
But I don't know what you guys think, I think that Junco had a good point..
Bring things more central, Have more facilities and things to do for people..
On this moment we have only 2 maybe 3 quiet big castles.. Not saying that It sould be more...
But we do need more facilities in castles and stuff, for now its only a market and maybe a farm or a mine...
As I said some castles are populair but others aren't really..
A pvp arena, a (player) market and such near spawn so people can actually see it..
Maybe waypoints ect? so people can see where things are... like new people, they get on the server walk away and go build something..
I can see some people are a bit borred which is a shame :/

-Patogy

_________________
<@UNICORN_XD> i are a goast
<@UNICORN_XD> yes, having exams this week has made me stupid
Whiskers: Shoegaze music is great music to poop to - I feel like I've just fought an epic battle

Pat, I don't think that getting people here for sightseeing will solve it since most will just look around and leave. BUT, I do think the Castle idea could work..not in the sense of making more castles, but maybe there could be a town -> city -> castle progression as more people start living together?

Then maybe we could have PvP between castles or to be more organized (to prevent mindless griefing) it could be turned into organized events, for example "Every Saturday from 0pm to 24pm, PvP is allowed between castles. The objective is to challenge another castle, if they agree they start the competition right away. All they have to do is take down the enemy's flag* and be awarded** by the losing team"

*the flag holder/tower has to be exactly the same in every castle; citizens may build traps around it, but not to make it impossible to be reached.
**the reward could either be monetary or with valuables (every citizen involved in the losing team would pay a % of the total prize, which would be shared to everyone involved in the winning team - wouldn't be fair to be living in a losing town in which you didn't participate and have to pay for the loss).

Do you guys think this would work?

_________________
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
"Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"

"Oh great one.. what shall we do?"
Well it is in my (extremely humble) opinion that what SMP is crying out for is - putting it plainly - a strong theme. I mean, to attract new players we need to be united in our builds, if you see a server with a common theme you are much more likely to think "oh.. that server looks cool! Maybe I should join it." Whereas if builds are (as they mostly are now) independent they'll be more inclined to think "oh.. that server doesn't look very cool! Maybe I shouldn't join it."
"BUT HOW WILL WE EVER CHOOSE A THEME?!"
Well worry not - I've always been a fan of 'Ancient' (Roman/Greek/Egyptian period) Architecture, furthermore I think it suits the minecraft blocks well and so I have made the decision for you all... The theme will be 'Ancient'!

"But Thaw you crazy fool! Not everyone is so much like a godly builder then you..! Some people may want to opt out of the theme!"
You underestimate me young padowan.. I have indeed thought of this aswell! See my proposed proportion graph thing (although with the new 1,000,000,000,000² world Howard said should be coming (or something) these will be my larger proportions (easily large enough)) MOREOVER! If a player is not a very good builder then they could "apply" for an arch to help design/ build it... or more what i was thinking is that an arch or two could be in charge of a certain area that they like the style of (egypt area ect.) And be in charge on making sure it all looks fine and dandy and in theme - and also be in charge of a bunch of masons each (who cares if they like the theme or not) and could request them assist in the building of stuff (world builds such as cities - which i hope to have alot more of, aquaducts / arena's (we gotta have some bloodsport!) ect. Ultimately the arches design each area!

Again.. you get the idea.

"What's this stuff about a Hub? You mean kinda like the tower of babel?"
Yeah sort of - but actually half decent.. (i joke - the tower of babel is a monumental feat of MC engineering) Basically - users will spawn in a room with windows overlooking magnificent vista's (see what i did there?) and be faced with two portals... each with a sign in front stating "Themed" and "No-Themed" with in the middle slightly forward the question.... "Welcome Mortal.." and "Choose your path..." even though that isn't a question... but hey... As the common german phrase states "Ich habe geändert das Spiel" And then the "Themed" path can lead to another room with "egypt/ Romogreek / china" ect. you get the picture...

Well that about covers it... I think...

TL;DR THAW! T...L;...D...R...
Tl;dr eh? well scroll back up and read it you lazy f*ck

_________________
Particle-physics gives me a Hadron!

I love the idea of themed areas, i also like the idea with a amazing designed area with 2 paths that eventually split depending on the users likes.

I also, as many of you know, have a HUGE and massive opinion about SMP. Since, i don't have time at this time, i will be posting it later. Wait and be amazed

The question is: Do you want more players; do you want better players or do you want your current players to be happy?

For the first, simply give them as much stuff as you can. Give them a full iron kit, give them TP, give them a free storage house, give them free zones, give them cheap blocks and loads of money per mob killed. Because that's easy, and since people are lazy, they will like easy. They want to have cuboid and make a fucking ugly cobblestone cube, they really want to. Loads of players, none of quality.

For the second, make it restricted, you want people who can build nice stuff, who can make theme builds, who can work together to create good things, be it towns or huge buildings, be it markets or communist societies, whatever it is, with good people it can be achieved. So good people will want to experience the game, it would be close to vanilla, of course it would have a couple of game enhancing mods, money for instance, mcmmo would be nice too. You want your chests protected? Make traps. You want your stuff to be zoned? Too bad, griefing is a ban, so if your stuff is walled you shouldn't really care. This would be a small server, only a few would be willing to play here.

Now, for the third it's much harder, IMHO. Of course, not everyone can be happy, we all know this... But the vast majority could. To be honest, I quite like how the current stuff works, the owners are good-cop and bad-cop, there are residences, you can manage your own stuff, you can fight mobs and live off it, you can mine and live off it, you can trade and live off it... Although I personally do have some suggestions.

1.- I really, really, really think the admins in general should be more friendly towards the players, help them out, answer their questions, etc. You only want to have fun with your game and not help people around? That's fine, just don't be an op.

2.- Rules should be made clearer; I do NOT like the "if an Op says so, you must do it". I really think rules written in detail are the key to maintaining order; no ambiguities or shit, just say what you want to say. Also when someone asks for a clarification on a rule, I'd like Ops to answer...

2a.- There should be a way to read the rules in-game, if you type /rules, it should say type /rules <page_number> to read them in-game or go to the URL to read them.
2b.- All Ops should have the rules clear too, what is allowed to do, what isn't; they should also know how to use commands.
2c.- I also think more in-game help for mods would be really good, and a list of all mods when you do /help.

3.- I'm not completely sure of how the rules work, but I read on this same thread that people should only have a single shop. I have seen 2 shops in the SAME market owned by a SupOp, so yeah... Again, clarification on the rules. Do Ops get special treatment? Are the over the rules? If so, I don't like that, they should follow the rules just like a regular player.

4.- Simply enhance the community, host a small special server that changes every month or 3 weeks or 2 weeks or whatever. Have a faction+mcmmo server for a month, have a survival server for 2 weeks, have a constant pvp server where people receive tools and armor and just have to survive, where grief and pretty much anything is allowed for a week. Have events to strengthen the community, like a big server-build where everyone can help out, or a big pixel art section where people can add theirs, or a contest like treasure-hunt organized by the server admins with a nice prize, or a war-hub thing where people can fight like gladiators and whoever wins gets a small prize... Pretty much anything. Even a Nether month could be cool, even on this side server you could add incredible stuff like the Aether, or mods that require client sided modifications, since the ones joining will be regulars from the main server. I really think all this would make the server better.

Now, and I know this is half off-topic... WTH is it with destroying your own building being considered grief on Freebuild? That's plain dumb, IMO. (Feel free to ignore this part, it's directed at the server owners.)

_________________
I'm new. Or Old. Either way, I'm too awesome for a sig right now.

1. Who is not friendly towards players? We all treat every player with respect, although we can be kinda cruel when people neglect to follow the rules.

2.- I think the rules are quite clear.
2a.- I agree with this, having all rules displayed in game as they are in forum would be helpful.
2b.- They dont?
Who said it was considered grief? People can do whatever they want with they're own projects, including take them down.

_________________

2b- Some don't know a few commands, nothing too dramatic.

3- You're probably talking about Rose and Yankee's shops in Leo's market, althought it might have been made by the same person it's 2 different players that own each of those shops.

4- That's not an half bad idea..if only we had players to fill all of those servers, would be better to just mic up some of those.

_________________
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
"Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"

Then clearly either you or other admins don't know if it's ok or not, I've seen people being frozen and told not to grief even after the player stated they were the owner of the build...


Also, the signs on both shops have Yankee's names on them...

_________________
I'm new. Or Old. Either way, I'm too awesome for a sig right now.

If theyre going to leave a heap of random blocks there, you can ask them if they want that project removed, and mention that we dont want half removed projects on the server. Noone wants a big griefed looking project on the map.
It is NOT ok to freeze someone for removing theyre own project.
Who are these 'other admins' your talking about?

_________________

I actually really like the idea of themed areas on the map, it could add a lot of possibilities and benefits to the server. First off we won't have guests running 50 feet from Iron City and starting whatever build they want, now they would actually have to go to the right area, may it be through a portal to bring them to the no themed area or go to one with a theme, but I think it would add more structure and thought to their builds, and where they go. Now the way I would see this happening is if we got a new generated map from 1.8, and when people got their builds copied over we would just put them in the right places. Overall I think it would add a lot more server structure and ideas that people could do, probably get the interest in more people, and who knows what else. Also, not sure if it's just me but I always end up hitting the border lines, and it seems like having themes would require more room as well, so in the future it would be good to extend it.


And to Destoned, it's obviously ok for an admin to freeze someone when they appear to be griefing, and simply question them what they are doing, and if they get an answer that says it is their build then it should be fine, and then the rest that destoned said before that. This isn't really the place to be talking about freebuild though, or this subject to do with freebuild.

_________________
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: I CANT MOVE
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: I HAVE POLIO
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: HELP

[22:21] <@UNICORN_XD> *facedesk* sciece is so broing

Never said it wasn't ok to freeze someone that looked like they were griefing,
but a quick block check will show its theirs, so there would be no point in freezing them.

_________________

Yeah, I just meant that the person could likely get frozen before the op knew what they were doing, and then when the op finds out they can unfreeze them, and there isn't anything wrong with the op making sure everything is ok. If they already know then yeah obviously they shouldn't freeze if it is the person's build and they have intent on either changing it, or fully getting rid of it and working on a new thing.

Anyways back to SMP.

_________________
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: I CANT MOVE
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: I HAVE POLIO
[02:01] <+PTB3> Bostardi*: HELP

[22:21] <@UNICORN_XD> *facedesk* sciece is so broing

Read what I said about that again, but slowly and with attention..
(if it helps I'll tell that there's a sign close to the shops saying something like "RebelRose Emporium" or whatever)

Edit: Oh and when I said it was nothing too dramatic, I was talking about in SMP, this is all about SMP after all..

_________________
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
"Never argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience"

We really need a map with better clusters of builds, like towns, And a better spawn. And dont impose stupid restricitons like you are only allowed to build outside 200 blocks from spawn. People go out, build a house then Have no idea where to find the spawn area to go anywhere. Make a Rabbit-Warren of wooden tracks. Or have a portal from the main spawn to residential areas where people can have a house and It all works like a city. Its just too spaced out and thats why no-one bothers to come back. SMP Has potential, But at the moment. It is boringly Shit.
Cheers,

_________________

*sigh*

PetePorty
RoseAmazon and I are husband and wife. We share a home, a router, a couple of minecraft buildes, all our chests are shared, we share the shops. The first one she set everything up, we changed shop plugins and we both set things up, this plugin change I set things up. Why do you have a problem with this?

I doubt this is so heavy on everyone's mind that it effects the servers population. Most people "get it".

I think fillerb has a handle on this server issue. We try to make the server useful and end up complicating the piss out of everything. Plus add the failing plugins which need replacing with new commands and even ops can't keep up.

KISS keep it simple stupid. I think this is the key.

I like the idea of guests get no build rights until they go to forum and fill out a short form. Giving everybody from vet up the ability to member new guys can make the process nearly instant. Just a short blurb. This will weed out most grievers and acquaint new guys with rules. Simple form, Name, age, mc experience, any examples (images) of your past work, how did you hear about this server.

Shows we care who you are and we care who we let on our server, and we want you to know this.

Rules. Should be simple. No grief, no disrespect, no fugly floating turds. Build 20 blocks minimum away from others.

Residence is useful but clumsey for n00bs. There is a sign plugin to assist where plots are drawn and the user need only click a sign. I think this could be useful.

For those who fail to read forum, fail to head Howard's stern reminders of the rules, who also don't listed to ops and pretty much go about their business making malls where they are not allowed and selling homes which are not residenced.... banishment does tend to drive the point home.

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Mincrafters never age, their stones just turn to cobble.

Aye, I wasn't aware you guys were husband and wife. I guess it's ok that way...

In any case, I think making people register before being able to play is a terrible idea, people will simply go find another server. It's not like there's anything incredibly different on our server than others (unlike old Freebuild, which had up-to-date plugins, active development and awesome builds...) Then again, my question's still up... What does SpA want, more people, better people or happy people?

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I'm new. Or Old. Either way, I'm too awesome for a sig right now.

I dont think we should have a total reset just yet, maybe carry over items, but have a reset map? maybe some builds carried over too, like sanctuary and frimple's temple, and some other good builds. Plugin wise we should make sure everything is up to date and remove anything we dont use. The themed idea is good but i think the map restrictions will be hard to enforce

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jhvirik: you... get new one befour I get red in my face of hate
saintk: you have to send a DNA sample to Google these days in order to be able to reply on youtube

All i ask for is larger or more zones.

At Howard's suggestion I went to another server today. lol nice vacation for me!

I havent played there long enough to say *hey! they have it all right!* yet, but one thing I did see was they didnt argue or try to talk to griefers (and all Ops know how horrible a time that can be, as well as disrupting to game play...) they simply banned them... POOF banned and gone and take it up on the forums under ban appeals! They did NOT tolerate in game appeals or rants at all.

Was there folks who trolled? LOL a few, mostly they were ignored, or otherwise dealt with without arguing and fussing.

And griefing was griefing, one block or a hundred didnt matter.

As to a new spawn, possibly, it depends on what you want it to do... just be where folks spawn and look nice, or is it gonna be an actual city where ppl live and shop? Or a showcase of very fine builds (statues, fountains, etc)

I also think there should be no limit on folks setting up shops, of course a size limit can be set in server owned shops or privately owned shops, but otherwise, let the econonmy run itself... just like reg capitalism, folks will try to undersell, those will run out quicker and those left with items will sell those items in turn... It is happening now on our server. (as to Yankee and I having two shops, sigh this has been answered in game MANY times and we arent the ONLY partners in the game to have two shops, one per individual even if one partner makes all the signs has been allowed for all partners before whether only in game partners or real time....)

As FillerB said, most mcer's are both young and selfish and possibly idiotic as well. Keeping things as simple as possible is wise.

1 Keep residency for those smart enough to use it.
2 Get rid of portals except for major hubs and spread around the map will encourage folks to spread out, allow /spawn and /home at will.
3 Allow larger shops and shops in more places, competition or lack of will to travel will control prices.
4 Do not allow arguing and ranting in game against rules or bans, it sets a bad taste in players mouths and a bad example of how a server is run. No more begging folks to listen or follow the rules, either they do or they are banned. No matter who they are having cyber sex with.
5 builds abandoned for more than 4 weeks get regen'd, unless prior arrangement has been made.

Probably more later when I am more awake.

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“If it means interfering in an ensconced, outdated system, to help just one woman, man or child…I’m willing to accept the consequences.” -Wonder Woman #170

Yes because the last two rank restructures went so well... ^_^

If there's someone in a position of 'power' is acting out of hand in your opinion, you can speak to Howard or Don.

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Staff-problems really aren't something that should be handled in the open like this Pete. It sows distrust and turns people away. Instead just funnel information on happenings/actions you don't think should happen to someone on the team you trust and let them handle it internally from there. Yes, OPs certainly should be well versed in everything that has to do with the server, whether it's rules or commands, so they can educate the regular playerbase. Yes, there are some inconcistincies. Yes, the lack of knowledge on how to do some basic things is slightly worrisome. But has it ever been any different on any server you ever visited? People are people and it is not for you or me to fix that problem.

But you're right in saying that the first thing you would need to know is what you find more important: quantity or quality. If the aim of this exercise is to cram as many people on the server as possible: KISS and offer things that make their lives too easy. If you want quality then implement that whitelist policy. It _will_ cut down the new player influx but atleast you can expect less troubles ingame. Either way make sure that everyone fully understands what the deal is and enforce that with a claw of steel. Make the spawn as "friendly" as possible, put some impressive stuff around it so people can gawk their eyes out. Let them come for the sights, let them think if not know that the server is filled to the brim with people who would like to do nothing else BUT nurture and improve their talents and let them slowly integrate and stay for the community.

Also advertise the shit out of the server. If that means having to buy ad-space on one of those silly money-milking sites: so be it. Whatever happens here, it doesn't matter a thing if people don't know about it.

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"Um ... I'm just wondering if it's okay if I hold you down against your will for a little bit?"