[dlgn]

You, sir, are not a noob. You are a genius.

Although some of your suggestions wouldn't work (realm resetting would be non-legit, etc.) you make excellent points. I'll reply in more detail tomorrow when I have my computer and are not completely exhausted from commuting and concerts (long story). Welcome to minerealm, buddy!

~ dlgn

p.s. If you aren't used to public chat, it can be difficult to sort through. I recommend buddy and guild chat until you get used to the flow of pubic chat (and yes, it is possible ).

[Ratta237]

It is almost impossible follow anything in public chat. It scrolls too fast and is filled with random people joining and leaving the game, along with the unfortunate noise of new players and the never-ending ban-bot.

I recommend shaddowcraft to you my good man.
http://minerealm.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9867

[cgfirecoral]

After spending a few days reading the forums and interacting with people in chat, I thought I could provide a shorter version of of my post. I am making a big assumption about the new players you want to attract. (Like, they are people who want to mine and craft, not grief and troll).

1) 75% of the posts on the forums are about auctions. This is due to the fact that land and resources are now scarce in the world. The game has devolved into long-term players with big bankrolls and newer players who actually like playing market-based games. Most new players feel too far behind the curve, so the leave.

2) Most new players come in hoping to get a homestead and be able to farm the resources they need to build. Without permission to knock down other people's junk, it's really hard to find a place to build. And the only resources really available are wood, dirt, and stone. Not really the stuff of legendary builds.

Frankly, if you took the server code and created minerealm2 with a fresh world, more than 90% of the new players would choose that over minerealm. It would just provide the minecraft experience they are looking for. Obviously, over a couple of years it would probably look very much like the original, with many of the same problems.

[Sir_Dave88]

You have verbalized my concerns about Minerealm very accurately, cgfirecoral.

When I planned to return to this server after a long period of absence and tried to play again like back in the day, I was struck by the immense staleness and exhaustion of this world. I have seen quite a few servers over the years, but I have yet to encounter another server with a map as stale as Minerealm's.
As many of you will know by now, I like to build things of exceptional size and quality. It's probably the very reason so many people I have never met before seem to know me and my builds.

I'd love to build legendary works of architecture once more, but it's impossible for me to do so. Why? Well:

-There is not a single place left where I would have enough space to do my thing. Take a look at the overview map, not a single untouched biome remains in this world. Even the oceans which I consider less than suitable building grounds, are slowly being clogged with builds. Surely it is possible to find a realm or two worth of space, but my builds tend to be much larger.

-The remarks about this server resembling a Swiss cheese are all too true. Even the once untouched far east is now full of tunnels. One can't even mine 50 blocks without hitting one. When one is constantly struggling to find resources, one can't build impressive, resource intensive builds like the cathedral.

-having to check every single mud hut before taking it down in order to utilize what little unclaimed land is left really discourages taking the effort to build something large.

Chat is a joke
It is almost impossible follow anything in public chat. It scrolls too fast and is filled with random people joining and leaving the game, along with the unfortunate noise of new players and the never-ending ban-bot.

Quite so, making an option to turn leave/join messages off would do much to improve public chat.

Frankly, if you took the server code and created minerealm2 with a fresh world, more than 90% of the new players would choose that over minerealm. It would just provide the minecraft experience they are looking for. Obviously, over a couple of years it would probably look very much like the original, with many of the same problems.

And not just the new ones. If a substantial amount of fresh land was to be added to Minerealm, either by creating a second world or a map expansion, I would probably find Minerealm enjoyable again. I could start anew and do what I like best in Minecraft once more. It would make Minerealm suitable for ambitious new players. It would make a serious return to Minerealm possible for me.

[dlgn]

After spending a few days reading the forums and interacting with people in chat, I thought I could provide a shorter version of of my post. I am making a big assumption about the new players you want to attract. (Like, they are people who want to mine and craft, not grief and troll).

1) 75% of the posts on the forums are about auctions. This is due to the fact that land and resources are now scarce in the world. The game has devolved into long-term players with big bankrolls and newer players who actually like playing market-based games. Most new players feel too far behind the curve, so the leave.

That's why there are players like artraf and JonColmanator who help out noobs. We certainly need to help them out more, I agree.

2) Most new players come in hoping to get a homestead and be able to farm the resources they need to build. Without permission to knock down other people's junk, it's really hard to find a place to build. And the only resources really available are wood, dirt, and stone. Not really the stuff of legendary builds.

Believe it or not, the majority of the server is public, and a large amount of that is mostly clean. Sure, if you want to get technical about it, it's hard to find an area with no noob huts or dirt towers anywhere nearby, but it isn't like there are so many that it's impossible to ignore them.

Frankly, if you took the server code and created minerealm2 with a fresh world, more than 90% of the new players would choose that over minerealm. It would just provide the minecraft experience they are looking for. Obviously, over a couple of years it would probably look very much like the original, with many of the same problems.

Actually, there was a vote about this, and the winner was "never wipe the map". Therefore, the map will never be wiped. If you really feel that the server is that ugly, you could join the noble team of users who teleport to random locations and clean them up.

TL;DR: Although your concerns are valid, things aren't nearly as bad as they seem at first glance. You just need to be patient.

~dlgn

[Sir_Dave88]

Actually, there was a vote about this, and the winner was "never wipe the map". Therefore, the map will never be wiped. If you really feel that the server is that ugly, you could join the noble team of users who teleport to random locations and clean them up.

This poll was held almost exactly two years ago. The vast majority of people playing back in those days is now gone. This poll was also held in time when land was plentiful and resources abundant. It therefore doesn't show the opinion of contemporary players about this issue.

Believe it or not, the majority of the server is public, and a large amount of that is mostly clean. Sure, if you want to get technical about it, it's hard to find an area with no noob huts or dirt towers anywhere nearby, but it isn't like there are so many that it's impossible to ignore them.

'Public' yes, but this remark entirely ignores the fact that most of the unclaimed area's are ocean, or torn apart area's devoid of resources, or filled with (semi)deserted structures which, in order to be allowed to remove them, takes a hell lot of effort and time.

[cgfirecoral]

That's why there are players like artraf and JonColmanator who help out noobs. We certainly need to help them out more, I agree.

I very much respect these people and others who do this. It's a great way to make friends and get a chance to add something nice to this world.

However, it's not easy for a new player to find someone to hook up with. You honestly don't have players lined up ready to greet and help out new players. And I can assure you that if you did, they would burn out quickly because of the number of immature people who cycle through, take the help, then drop out because it's too much work. You really want to focus on the players who are patient, and have proven they are willing to put in the effort. My house is surrounded by mud huts of the people who weren't.

In addition, having things handed to you is not really what I find minecraft is about. For me, it's taking something that's wild and taming it. Bringing order to chaos. Building epic monuments is a fun part of it, but it's certainly not the only thing people want to do. Minerealm is not wild anymore.

Believe it or not, the majority of the server is public, and a large amount of that is mostly clean. Sure, if you want to get technical about it, it's hard to find an area with no noob huts or dirt towers anywhere nearby, but it isn't like there are so many that it's impossible to ignore them.

I really can't agree. I had one (smart) friend enter the game with me. He just couldn't find a place to build. Part of this was paranoia about being banned because there was something everywhere. He could have asked a staff member, but it's really unclear to a new player how this works. I struggled with this for weeks. I destroyed the foundation of a mud house (a ban-able offense, I understand now - I'm sorry). It would have sucked had I been banned for this, not just for me, but also for the world in general. I had to have BSGSamuel out just to remove a chest with maybe five stacks of cobblestone in it! It's like every new player needs to have a staff member out just to find a place to start. And you can't afford that. It needs to be automated in some way.

Actually, there was a vote about this, and the winner was "never wipe the map". Therefore, the map will never be wiped.

You've mentioned this twice. Sir_dave88 made a good response. I respect the thoughts that went into the decision and the fact the long term players on this server are the ones who need to make these decisions. However, my post was simply a reflection on why I believe new players don't like this server. I'm not bounded by rules and past decision making. I have a fresh view of things and can think outside the box. These rules may have made perfect sense at the time, but they may have to adapt now, in order to keep the server fresh and vital.

[dlgn]

If you want wild, go to The Wilderness! It's the top 2000 blocks of the map, so it's a decent size, and it's mostly untamed. Sure, it's a PVP zone and it's on Hard, but it's untamed and it's a challenge!

As for your friend, how many times did he try the random teleporter? It isn't particularly difficult, and I'm sure that if he had spent 15 minutes teleporting and re-teleporting, he could have found a mostly wild area. The caves and minerals are something else (people like to tp randomly and mine), but if you just want to build, it shouldn't be too hard to find a clean area.

And in response to your final statement, there are, actually, quite a few long-term players on the server, and if you're referring to regulars who put a lot of effort into both building and accumulating wealth, there are hundreds of us. Now, while a cluttered map and the less challenging (and, to some extent, interesting) state of the game due to the easily accessible end-game materials are both issues, they aren't worth destroying years of work for. Have you seen SirDave's own cathedral? The Arcane Orb, or The Arcane Dragon, or any of the smaller but still magnificent projects all over the map? Not to mention that some people like the accessibility of materials, and find the new challenge of becoming powerful in the new economical system exciting; it's much like humanity in general's shift from the struggle for survival to the struggle to get to the top in our society where we take for granted many things that we have attained or discovered, such as electricity, etc. In addition, a map wipe would still not solve the problem, just delay it.

In conclusion, though these are both creeping problems that need rectification, and unfortunately deterrent to new players, there are currently ways to overcome them both, and a map wipe is not a sufficient solution, as it would only delay the problem while destroying both MineRealm's social structure and rich history.

~dlgn