Future of the Server \ Community

blsimpson

blsimpson

Member
There has been some (a lot) of talk in another thread about the future of the server and the community, and I would like to express my thoughts, and a possible vision.

When I first started playing here, we were small. I will admit, it did get boring playing with no one on, so I went elsewhere. I eventually started my own server, and got a fair bit of players. I came back every once in a while, to see how things where doing, and eventually made friends here. That is what brought me back. It was growing, and it seemed like people were actually playing. I found myself here more than anywhere else. Things were going well. There were some issues that we had to get through, which eventually led us to to move servers. Lets just say there were issues. :) We moved to my server, and played there for a while, until I needed to shut the machine down, and we ended up purchasing the server we are currently on. Life caught up to a lot of us, and attendance slowly shrunk. During this time, I had to take a short hiatus, and attendance dropped to what we have now.

So, where do we go from here? I think that has been the question on everyone's mind recently. So here are my thoughts.

We open it up. Lets put ourselves out there. We start advertising, as a Christian, family friendly server, and lets see what happens. We would need somethings for this to happen though. 1. Someone to update the website; 2. Someone to monitor the forums; 3. a community manager, so to speak. Someone to update Facebook, and stuff like that; 4. Of course admins and mods to monitor the server (I believe we have some members who are on more than enough to handle this initially, and others will come.); 5. We would need to reformat the forums a little (something I have been thinking about for a while anyways..)/

So, what do we think? As I have said, this is a community run server, and I value your input. Lets keep it civil of course. :)
 
"We open it up. Lets put ourselves out there. We start advertising, as a Christian, family friendly server, and lets see what happens."

I think this would be awesome and would help a ton. I know many people have talked about minecraft in circle of friends but they refuse to go online because they are scared someone might make inappropriate things. which has happened. Or start flying off the handle with a potty mouth.


We would need somethings for this to happen though. 1. Someone to update the website"
By website do you mean this one? or is there a separate one?

"2. Someone to monitor the forums"
This would also be good. Someone who visits the forums on a regular basis. Does not have to be someone who is in game all the time but just someone who can see what is going on. That way if something does happen, like a player get stuck or looses something, or a griefer. they then hit up someone who can take care of it. Kind of like an eyes and ears of the in game admins.

"3. a community manager, so to speak. Someone to update Facebook, and stuff like that"
I like this. I found this website through facebook!

"4. Of course admins and mods to monitor the server (I believe we have some members who are on more than enough to handle this initially, and others will come.)"

This I think will be the biggest help to you personally. You are just one person. And you should be required to be on 24/7. Some people with just enough power to get people unstuck, deal with minor issues, provide support to the players so that you dont have worry.

"5. We would need to reformat the forums a little (something I have been thinking about for a while anyways..)"

I also agree. It would be good to have a planning section, maybe a show case section. I know mitch has made some awesome things it would be great to have a place to show off.


I am for all these things. I am able to do what ever you need, even if just playing on the server and being present.
 
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Dchsknight said:
By website do you mean this one? or is there a separate one?
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http://tojudah.com/mc/Home.aspx is our current website. I say current, but its not, as you can see. :)

Dchsknight said:
This would also be good. Someone who visits the forums on a regular basis. Does not have to be someone who is in game all the time but just someone who can see what is going on. That way if something does happen, like a player get stuck or looses something, or a griefer. they then hit up someone who can take care of it. Kind of like an eyes and ears of the in game admins.
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Yep, that was my idea. Also someone to moderate posts, and welcome new players.

Dchsknight said:
This I think will be the biggest help to you personally. You are just one person. And you should be required to be on 24/7. Some people with just enough power to get people unstuck, deal with minor issues, provide support to the players so that you dont have worry.
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One person, or even two cannot be on all the time. I would also like to see about integrating chat with the IRC server (if its still around? I looked for the info but couldn't find it. @Tek7 @Tek7@Work can help with that info?) Then someone wouldn't need to be "in game" all the time to monitor. For instance, I can have a copy of a webIRC room open and running while at work, so I can monitor whats going on through chat..

Dchsknight said:
I also agree. It would be good to have a planning section, maybe a show case section. I know mitch has made some awesome things it would be great to have a place to show off.
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Yep. I also want a spot for people to introduce themselves, and ask to be added to the whitelist.


Dchsknight said:
I am for all these things. I am able to do what ever you need, even if just playing on the server and being present.
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Well, if any of those interest you, or you want to tackle one, let me know. When we get this rolling, I'll be posting a "help wanted" post, for people to let me know where they want to help. :)
 
These are more after thoughts...

Also that mod system you had in the last world you did before Josh took over, was fantastic. It helped keep things safe and helped deter griefing.

I also like the idea of a frontier area. A multi world for just resource gathering that gets reset often. Just need to have a way for it run reliably. I also think we should be able to teleport to spawn and our home. But keep the on death drop of items.


I would be keen on helping the community along so maybe a community manager. Once you get an idea of what want done in each role we can talk about that. OR if anyone else has any other ideas about "jobs" as well.
 
In regards to mods, LS made a few of us (I don't remember who else, but I think I might be one of them), "minimods." I think I can temporarily ban someone until an admin shows up. Not sure if that's still a thing. Having a white list, we don't see much griefing here.

I think advertising would be a cool idea. If I could, I'd definitely make videos on the server, but I play at the library, so I cannot.

(Speaking of your old server Bl, do you have any of those old worlds still?)
 
Dchsknight said:
These are more after thoughts...

Also that mod system you had in the last world you did before Josh took over, was fantastic. It helped keep things safe and helped deter griefing.
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I believe that was the Hawkeye plugin? It monitored everything that went on in game, and we were able to go back and use it as proof. Or that could be the LWC (locking) plugin, that you could lock all your chests, and doors, and stuff?

Dchsknight said:
I also like the idea of a frontier area. A multi world for just resource gathering that gets reset often. Just need to have a way for it run reliably.
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This will happen, no matter what we decide to do server-wise. I think its an all around good idea.

Dchsknight said:
I also think we should be able to teleport to spawn and our home. But keep the on death drop of items.
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This will also happen. :)

I would be keen on helping the community along so maybe a community manager.[/QUOTE]

Since Im sure you have "liked" the ToJ Minecraft page, send me a request and Ill add you to the mod list.

TDWfan said:
In regards to mods, LS made a few of us (I don't remember who else, but I think I might be one of them), "minimods." I think I can temporarily ban someone until an admin shows up. Not sure if that's still a thing. Having a white list, we don't see much griefing here.
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Yep, I havent officially changed any of the changes LS has made, so if you had it, you should still have it.

TDWfan said:
I think advertising would be a cool idea. If I could, I'd definitely make videos on the server, but I play at the library, so I cannot.
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Well, we need people in "marketing", and I think this fits in perfect there. :)

TDWfan said:
(Speaking of your old server Bl, do you have any of those old worlds still?)
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I believe that I do? I wont have any of the worlds that were pre- my server (none of Bascoms_ worlds, and I don't believe the WWJD group is around anymore?). I have the physical hardware sitting in my garage still, I will see if I can get any of them to start up. :)
 
got the face book liked. Now sure what you mean by send a request. It is not a group, it is just a page. What am I missing here?
 
blsimpson said:
One person, or even two cannot be on all the time. I would also like to see about integrating chat with the IRC server (if its still around? I looked for the info but couldn't find it. @Tek7 @Tek7@Work can help with that info?) Then someone wouldn't need to be "in game" all the time to monitor. For instance, I can have a copy of a webIRC room open and running while at work, so I can monitor whats going on through chat..
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We no longer have an IRC channel because no one was using it and I got tired of launching mIRC for the trivia bot every time I restarted my desktop computer. :p

We can certainly create a new channel or revive the old channel, but maybe we should consider TeamSpeak instead? I know some people can't use the audio features while at work, but we may be able to designate a text-only channel. We have a TS server already so we could put it to use, even if it's not quite what TS was made for. :)
 
Tek7@Work said:
We no longer have an IRC channel because no one was using it and I got tired of launching mIRC for the trivia bot every time I restarted my desktop computer. :p

We can certainly create a new channel or revive the old channel, but maybe we should consider TeamSpeak instead? I know some people can't use the audio features while at work, but we may be able to designate a text-only channel. We have a TS server already so we could put it to use, even if it's not quite what TS was made for. :)
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Totally makes sense! Lets hold of on anything for now. We are trying to get this community jump started again, and it was just an idea. :)

Thank you for responding so quickly!
 
blsimpson said:
Totally makes sense! Lets hold of on anything for now. We are trying to get this community jump started again, and it was just an idea. :)

Thank you for responding so quickly!
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i would LOVE to see this community to be active again! my reason for not being active in the past cause when we had that one update that added new biomes and server wipe, my connection to the server was so pour. (but its alot better now)
 
You guys know how in Sim City and other such games, you have your chunk of land, and then you can buy a new chunk of land? We should open the border another 500 or so blocks in either direction in order to spawn new dungeons, igloos, and strongholds. That way people can get their exploration in too.
 
For the record I myself don't get a lot of chance to safely and properly use TS, which I have. I don't quite understand the rest, save Skype, mainly because I try to keep life as simple as I can get. (I have too much distractions otherwise.)
Having said that, and because I am a member here I am committed to assist this community as best as the ministry God has given me to lead will allow. This is because of the very nature of God's ministry itself. (Called "Crossroad Cornucopia")
Having said THAT, I admit my loyalties to CCGR first, since they were my first community online. This implies my loyalties also transfer to CGA since we're listed under you. I do intend to make every effort to attend the next ToJ meeting. Somehow.
As for the server itself, I'm just a player right now with no rank. If the lands change, I'll change. If they stay the same, I'll change the lands even more.
Peace!
:cool:
 
I don't have anything real to add 'cause I'm still a newb at this whole Minecraft thing (Frontier world? What is this you speak of? :eek:), but I just wanted to say that I'd be interested in joining. :)

I just started a building project in a Creative world, so I'll wait until I get that wrapped up. (Though, I've never tried building something as large as this; I don't know how long it'll be before I actually finish/give up. :confused: )
 
So at least for the community part, 2 things I will instituting soon, once we decide if we are resetting or not, are bi-weekly or monthly scavenger hunts.

The Scavanger hunts


These missions will be a mix of finding clues and or bringing things from out in the world that I have placed which will win items based on who does them first. They will include taking screen shots, finding different things from different areas, maybe a shrubbery or two... ;-)


And then one thing that will take a bit to implement but I think will be worth it, dungeons.

The Dungeons.

I will be creating different themed and styled dungeons in the world for every one to try their luck in. There will be monsters, mazes, and puzzles with a grand prize at the end of it. Once someone has completed the dungeon i will go through and reset it so that others can try their luck. I will have to have a set time as to the duration of a dungeon, and I might do it on the frontier world to encourage using the FW. Also that way the dungeons will change once the world is reset.

Depending on whether we use the residence mod or not, there will be rules for participating in the hunts and dungeons.
 
I have been busy this weekend, so I haven't had time to do anything server related.

I am working on something behind the scenes that should be exciting. It does involve a reset, but lots and lots more. Tune in soon. :)
 
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