LRR Minecraft Server

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

My shaft into my mine was 1 block away from tearing through the walls of a mine kart system.

And then one of my tunnels entered I think your's (Aubergine) underground chamber (and Memo patched the hole with refined rock).

Those are my only two occasions.


I find it better than the last server I was on. I built a Statue of the Pokemon Aron, and a few weeks later, someone ransacked the Iron Blocks I used.

[auberginequeen]

Wow Merry, I didn't know you were so close. From the top of the tower I see a couple of houses and a big structure with a brown roof and some farms but I don't often go out at ground level. Most of my time is spent either around bedrock or near the skylimit. Sorry if I've gotten in your way at all. If you hit the strip mine portion it's not really a big deal, I mostly use it for coal and dirt anyway.

[Prospero101]

Fortunately I'm hollowing out a mountain (or at least I will be once my computer is repaired) so I've thus far avoided stepping on anyone's toes.

[Dominic Appleguard]

Yeah, one of the challenges with running the server is that although it's easy for a mod to tell that somebody broke the rules, it's sometimes impossible to know who did it. Which is frustrating.

As for rules and best practices...if you want to start a large project (anything more than a dirt house, basically), you need to talk to Memo. Once you have a plot of land, you also have whatever's beneath it, so you can't go burrowing into somebody else's territory.

Make signs. When you first start a project it might not look like anything, so a sign will help other players to be considerate of your stuff.

Wheaton's Law is a good one, but perhaps it needs clarification: if you do anything that will make more work for somebody else, you're being a dick.

[SirDarksun]

I can see two or three other houses, but all are far enough away on the top...Only problem is the abandoned mine shaft below my house, which goes on quite a bit...since I was there first and made signs down there...is it mine? Even if part of it might go into someones else's territory?
Good thing is, I already met both neighbors and told them to just mine in there, if they happen to end up in it, as long as the don't something *big* in there...


Best thing (underground) would be to tell newcomers coordinates which are their *home* and tell them how far to each direction the are allowed mine. Like X=1200, Z=800 is home and everything 150 blocks in each direction...

[Necabo]

DarkSun,
I might have crashed in your mine somehow, jeez that thing is big. I wont touch anything though no worries.

I mean with all the minerails its almost impossible not to stumble on one of those. Though not destroying them is common courtesy i'd say

[Admiralmatt]

am i the only one not able to get on the server?

[Necabo]

Its down right now

[AdmiralMemo]

Alright, I want to apologize for my behavior last night, and I want to respond to everything. I ragequit, then went to sleep, got up, went to church, had lunch, and finished watching a stream from about a week ago. I am much calmer now. I am quite volatile, so you'll see me get very upset at times. But conversely, I don't hold grudges. A week or two from now, this night will mean nothing to me, emotionally. I hope that I can take some lessons from this, and work on it, but as far as feelings go, it'll all be gone.

I have zero people on the banlist currently. (Yes, Alex. You're off the banlist.) I have never perma-banned anyone on this server and hope to not have to ever.

One thing to note: I don't like interruptions. I meant what I said when I said I was single-threaded, like MineCraft. I have one train of thought, one focus, one goal, at any time. My ADD has given me a laser-focus. Lasers can be quite useful, when pointed at the right things. They can also be destructive if you mis-align them.

So, the only times I've banned anyone were the times that either they needed a time-out or I simply didn't need their interference while I worked on something. I know myself, and I know what I need to do to cool down, and whatever decisions I make, even in anger, I try to make them to keep myself from doing something irreparable. I've inherited some of my father's violent, destructive temper. I've seen my father do some things in anger that simply cannot be repaired or made right, ever. I do not ever want to do that, at all.

So, I'm going to read and respond to these posts and hope I can make the best of last night, and move forward.
Response post incoming...

[KittyKibitzer]

Looking forward to having a go on the LRRCraft server, never tried multiplayer before. Second time ever playing mine craft. Just wanted to say thankyou to James for the stream and AdmiralMemo for the Server !!

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Wow Merry, I didn't know you were so close. From the top of the tower I see a couple of houses and a big structure with a brown roof and some farms but I don't often go out at ground level. Most of my time is spent either around bedrock or near the skylimit. Sorry if I've gotten in your way at all. If you hit the strip mine portion it's not really a big deal, I mostly use it for coal and dirt anyway.

It's not your fault at all
It was just an accident. I like to dig in a straight line, and it was inevitable that I'd hit someone's thing.

Memo patched up the breach so you wouldn't notice anything.

My house, is, unseeable from the air... It's a hobbit house.

[AdmiralMemo]

There is no difference in that tunnel between three days ago and today other than it has smooth stone block walls ceiling and floor for part of the distance and the booster blocks are spaced how you said you wanted them. If its really "all wrong" it will take you no longer to change it, than it would have before I did anything.

You said to "let you fix it" then proceeded to complain for the next hour about how you have pages and pages of things to do before you could get to it.

You said "you missed the corners" like that is supposed to mean something. its a 2X2 strait tunnel, there are two blocks high, two blocks wide all the way down with the exception of the two block jump it does in the middle to avoid the other tunnel. There are no corners.

See, here's part of the problem, right here. Text is a poor medium for explaining what I am trying to convey. I'm trying to refer to the blocks between the floor and the wall.

By the same token you have to understand if you are going to be operating a server for LoadingReadyRun Fans, endorsed by LoadingReadyRun and according to James now at least partially funded by LoadingReadyRun its no longer just "your world"

I understand that. However, I was promised money and help from Fugi to try to fix the server to scale with the load problems. I have yet to see either. So, it's still more my world than anything else at this point. That can change in the future, though.

You have to understand, that:
1. You aren't the only one who cares about the server.

Maybe not, but I'm apparently one of the few who cares enough to do things the right way.

2. You constantly complain about not having time to do anything but refusing to allow anyone to do anything to help.

1. It's not constant. It's probably only been the past month. 2. I've tried to let people help, and I got burned, so I've learned that lesson. The past 14 years have repeatedly taught me the lesson that if I want something done right, I've got to do it myself, because I'm surrounded by incompetence. Even doing it myself isn't a guarantee, though. I know myself intimately, and I don't trust myself. Therefore, how can I trust anyone else, who I know less than myself?

3. You are attacking people for things they do, before they even know they are doing things wrong.

That was recent and wrong and only due to stress. I apologize for that.

You need to communicate better or people are just going to keep doing things "wrong" you will keep getting pissed off, but only you will know why.

This is true, but when I have multiple new people joining near-simultaneously, it is very hard to convey that information effectively and quickly before some other problem crops up.

Sheldon Cooper has a 78-page long agreement listing all the rules in the roommate agreement. He is VERY clear about what is wrong and lays it out ahead of time.

This may be true, but Sheldon's running an apartment. I'm running a game that tries to encourage creativity, and the more rules I add, the more I stifle that creative spark.

You flipped out in the chat at least four times in an hour at people for "ruining all your stuff" "screwing it all up" "breaking the rules" and "griefing" but when they asked what was wrong, you either said "screw it, Ill fix it" or "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO FIX THIS!"

See above about text being a terrible medium to convey visual information. If they would/could come and just look at it, they could clearly see the problem. But they are miles away and, really, it doesn't concern them.

But when you say "you crossed into someone else's territory" without first letting people know what defines territory is crap. Before I started building the wall I checked for 400 blocks in any direction and didn't see any buildings. Now there is one just north of me, is that in my Territory? How far is territory? No one knows because you don't explain things you just flip out that we do it wrong.

THIS. This is the problem, right here. I've explained at least 2 dozen times on the server that "territory" is nebulously defined as render distance from the middle of your project (about an 8-chunk radius, which gives you an approximate 200-chunk area). If you can't see the ends of your project (or couldn't, were the blocks transparent, since it's hard to see underground) from the middle, then you're probably expanding too much. However, I can't put a hard limit on it because each project is different. If the 8-chunk radius limit were hard and fast, we'd never get things like Templemir, Owl's Flying Island, or the Acropolis. Conversely, you have stuff like Aubie's tower, which only needs maybe 4 chunks, not 200. Or perhaps you want something long and skinny, like your wall. This is why one of the rules was for me to vet all building projects, so I know what your plan is, and whether it'll work. I don't want to just cut up the land into equal cookie-cutter pieces, because that hinders the creativity that this game is trying to foster.

The other problem I'm running into is the "Tower of Babel" problem: Everyone's trying to cluster right by Spawn City. The fact that we have 200 players on the server, and I can count on one hand the number of players who have encountered the new 1.7 chunks is quite telling. Why does everyone need to be within 500 chunks of Spawn City? SPREAD. THE BUS. OUT. MineCraft's the size of freaking Saturn, and everyone's packing themselves in like we're in the middle of India or something.

Incidentally, regarding that new building, I didn't authorize anything up there, so whatever it is was never run by me. Feel free to trash it if you want.

Just before you came out to my build site and started killing me in various ways without ever saying a word to me, you were chastising someone for tunneling into someone elses territory, then when he said "I don't know what you are talking about, I'll come check it out" you continued to gripe until he said "that wasn't me, I would never waste resources like that."

Well, I was upset and wanted to get a straight answer quickly, so I could get back to other issues. I wasn't being given that answer. But once he said it wasn't his, the matter was over. End of story. No issue there. So what's the problem?

Yes there are dicks who are coming onto the server and intentionally messing with things, but there are also a lot of us, who are just trying to have fun and be helpful and you are impeding that.

I'm not trying to be, but herein lies the problem: lots of people trying to "help" me out just interrupts my focus, causing even more problems. Osprey can tell you about the time he tried to "help" with the train station.

When you said that a guy had drilled a thousand block long tunnel through three people's builds and you had to waste all your time to fill it all in now, 6 people offered to help fill it in and you bitched at them that they would do it wrong and that mods had screwed you in the past.

The people who I made mods initially did screw me over in the past, and I learned from that mistake. Also, the people who tried to help were just interrupting me, for one, and two, I don't know them, or their history, so I have zero guarantee that they won't screw me over, too. Do you even realize how hard it was for me to even give up the modicum of control over to the current mods? I only gave it to those who I could see had a good track record for this, and even then, it's still only a sliver of control. Also, the system is still screwed up, but I take the blame on that, because I hadn't figured out a system of communication between Mods about who has been authorized and when.

You dropped a quote to express how you feel right before you shut down the server.

Agent Smith: "this is my world, MY WORLD"

You know that is from the part of the film where he is completely bat shit insane and fucking up the world he was created to protect right?

Yep. You've got it. Please help the rest understand my insanity.
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Memo: If you don't have time for the issues surrounding the server then don't fix those things right away. I don't think anyone on this forum or the server is unreasonable enough not to understand that you can't fix the big hole in their project etc until later.

Quite frankly, the giant hole offended me, and if I didn't fix it, it would've been bugging me for however long I left it festering, and I would've deteriorated even more.

I think we do all appreciate that you invest a lot of time, money, and yourself into running it and I think maybe you need to decide exactly how much is a reasonable amount to sink into this. The server isn't life-or-death. No one is going to suffer significantly by not being able to play on their favourite server for a bit, or by having a hole in the centre of their project or whatever. It's a game. Reality and your mental health are way more important.

Thanks for your kind words. However, it doesn't seem to be the case with some people. While I was trying to repair the giant hole, there were a number of people sending me PMs asking me to do stuff or get some stuff for them, and I said I'd get to them when I could. When I hadn't gotten to it for 5 or 15 minutes, I'd get another message about the same thing. No, I didn't forget about you. I'm just busy. 10 minutes later, another message harping on the same thing. So apparently, they were suffering significantly, in their mind, enough to keep nagging me about stuff.

I think, however, that you are one of those people who doesn't trust easily and who doesn't like relinquishing control. Or maybe you do tentatively trust people at first, but then they do something to slight you and you go "and that's why I don't trust anyone, people suck" (I do this too, just fyi). It's self-fulfilling.

That's pretty much exactly what happened. I trusted people and they burned me. I don't need to touch a hot stove twice.

But maybe you need to step back and remember that it's just a virtual world and sometimes when people screw up it's not because they're deliberately inconsiderate or trying to upset you in some way. Most of the people here are kind and just want to help so if you are pushing them away because you fear their incompetence, well, it's just going to stress you out more in the long run. Believe it or not some of us care about you and genuinely want to ease your burden.

That's all well and good, but the problem is that their "help" is actually not helping, and their incompetence increases the burden. Incompetence seriously offends me.

The other thing is that while you may be the proverbial God of the server, a server is nothing without players; a government is nothing without a populace; a god is nothing without followers. You do handle the administrative work and building some of the community stuff and we appreciate it but I find you often treat us like idiots. We may be flawed, but you are equally flawed. We are all equally flawed in our own ways. Server or not, there is nothing about you that makes you inherently worth more than us, so it'd be nice if you could treat us like people and not like misbehaving dogs.

You say that, but I will repeat what I've said repeatedly: this server was initially created essentially as a single-player server for me alone, accessible from multiple computers. It was only after the death of the previous LRRcraft server that I even considered opening it up to others. I thought that the refugees might want to flock somewhere at least temporarily. But I have no significant qualms about closing the server back off and using it for its original purpose again: my own world, accessible from multiple computers.

When I decided to open the server up to other people, I was under the impression that it would be more like what James is experiencing on the stream: a multi-player server, but you go off far away and do your own thing, and only occasionally interact with others. Instead, I have 100-odd people trying to cram themselves into an area about 100 chunks from Spawn City.

Anyway, just had to get that off my chest. Ban me if you want, if my words offend you. It's not worth me getting upset.

I am not upset at you at all. You're one of the bright spots of the server, in my opinion, and I have no reason to ban you. I'd probably end up banning Hosk for being absolutely fricking annoying both on this thread and on the server before I'd ever think of banning you.
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A bunch of stuff about lag

Yeah, I'd already figured most of that out. When I get some time, I'm going to try to get some of these scripts working to reset the server automatically. I'm also trying to pinpoint any person that may have a bad connection that's lagging the server.

Just briefly, with regards to some of the comments earlier. Everyone is very nervous of upsetting you, Memo, but I must say, as a new player who received a rather terse angry introduction, it does appear from the outside that maybe you need a little help. Having a thousand things to do weighs anyone down, and you wouldn't own your server any less, people wouldn't think any less of you, and no one would question your commitment and absolute ever-helpfulness if you let others share the load a little.

I'm really thankful for the effort you're putting in, but please consider, for you and others, cutting yourself just a little bit of slack; you deserve it!

I apologize for being terse... You can tell how much this server's maintenance and growth has affected me just by how the tour has gone from a delight to a chore.

It's gone from guided tours of the whole server... to guided tours of Spawn City and highlights of the rest of the server... to guided tours of Spawn City and picking out spots for people to build... to lightning-quick tours of Spawn City and letting people roam free, letting me know about and authorize spots for them that they picked on their own.
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I don't have time to write as much as I'd like right now, so I just want to apologize for not getting how the game works. I'm brand new to Minecraft-type games. I was broadcasting what I was doing all the way through, though I suspect due to derpy internet some of it wasn't getting through. I'd also put up signs as you'd stated, and had offered to revert the whole thing when things went black.

Anyway, like I said I apologize.

Yeah, dude. Your "broadcasts" were not coming through at all, and you were so silent most of the time. I come home from seeing my mom in the hospital to find what appears to be some silent jerk has tunneled through 2 people's projects without permission, and was working on a third.
Thanks for the signs, but the signs only tell me what it is, and have no bearing on whether it's supposed to be there or not.
My key question is: whose authorization did you get to start your digging? If it wasn't mine, and it wasn't any of the players you were tunneling through (SmegHead, empath, and KingKool, only one of which was online at the time), then it did not count. And if you didn't get any authorization, why did you start digging?
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Part of the issue is that lot of the new players on the server are just plain new, as compared to the people that were on the server up to November who had been playing for years. Admiral Memo hasn't had to tell those people what they can and can't do because he did it months or years ago one at a time as one thing came up. Now because there are 10 times the players the same complications are coming up 10 times as fast.

This is certainly part of the problem. In November, we had 80 total players ever visiting the server. 5 players online at once was a big deal.

Contrast that to now, when we're getting 10 players online at once being the norm, and the server's just gone past 200 players. That's 150% growth in a month over what it took 1.25 years to get to. Something had to give, and it turned out to be both the server's uptime and the admin's sanity.
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Ok, I'm going to ask again, because I've gone back a ways in this post looking and not seeing anything clearly defined.

Is there a clearly defined list of Do's and Dont's and rules and caveats of the server somewhere? I have never Minecrafted on a server so have no idea what the 'Norm' is for server behaviour outside of Wheaton's Rule One, Don't be a Dick.

I would like to join other LRR Fans (do LRR Fans have a collective Name? Teen Wolf is Teen Wolfies, Doctor Who are Whovians, Star Trek are Trekkies or Trekkers depending on who you ask or want to annoy). I don't want to 'break the server' or anyone's rules while on it.

It may also help having this for People who see the streams and want to have a look round too, to keep down issues if there are so many new players...

The rules for the Runners were previously nebulously-defined. I think I have 13 rules currently, and that's 12 too many in my book. "Wheaton's Law" should be the only thing needed, but the problem is that not everyone agrees on what classifies as jerkish behavior. Each of the rules currently in place was made because someone tread on someone else's toes either purposely or inadvertently, and then it was all "Well, there wasn't a rule against it."
It gets into Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" problem: I don't know that there needs to be a rule about something until it gets broken. It doesn't even cross my mind that anyone would consider doing such a thing. When it happens, it's patently obvious that there's been a violation that needs correcting, but without a specific rule, I can't point to something that would have shown that it was bad to do that.
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Also there is a list of rules in the server itself. Right where you initially spawn there's a bunch of signs with the rules on them. I forget exactly what they say beyond "don't be a dick" but yeah, I guess there are some etiquette rules to servers, like don't build too close to anyone else. Hard to tell precisely what that distance is but I tend to just ask Memo as I assume he knows more about people's projects than I do. The goal in general is to coexist peacefully.

Peaceful coexistence is what I'm aiming for. I'm not against people collaborating on a project. I'm not even people's projects crossing each other, if both people are fine with it. This is one of the key reasons why I want to know what's going on and where everyone is. If someone wanted to build a tunnel under Hosk's ice wall or a sky-bridge over Kool's Mansion, or something, the key thing would be to ask Hosk or Kool, respectively. But if they're not online at the same time as you, which can depend on schedules and time zones, the thing to do would be to ask me, since I should know where everyone's building everything.
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I started playing because of the streaming. Ive enjoyed the server so far and haven't bothered anyone else (does pranking CantWearHats by leaving snowmen and cake at his house count as bothering?). I did find out that apparently my house is to close to my neighbor but that wasn't my choice (he built on my property). I'm hoping everything gets worked out so everyone can enjoy the server again.

Well I built where I am because no one was near me, then I logged in a few days later and there is a house "in" my backyard.

Regarding this situation, I would like to know the who, what, and where of this, and whether the two of you are OK with being so close. If it's fine with both of you, it's not a problem.
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Sometimes it's hard to avoid interacting with other people's projects, when their projects are underground.

I've had to ask Memo to help me every time my minings have encountered people's underground bases or railway systems.

Who are you on MineCraft again?
I don't remember specifically doing that for you, but it sounds like what I'd do.
And yes, it's hard to tell underground, which is why I try to oversee things like that.
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Yeah, I wish there were an easy way to deal with that. I'm currently boxed in on two sides by two different (non-Memo) rail systems and it constricts how far I can go with my strip mine which is my primary source of resources at the moment. A tad annoying, but not worth ripping them out.

What rails are these? I remember telling you that one you encountered was empath's, which he abandoned, and you were free to tunnel through it.
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Yeah, one of the challenges with running the server is that although it's easy for a mod to tell that somebody broke the rules, it's sometimes impossible to know who did it. Which is frustrating.

As for rules and best practices...if you want to start a large project (anything more than a dirt house, basically), you need to talk to Memo. Once you have a plot of land, you also have whatever's beneath it, so you can't go burrowing into somebody else's territory.

Make signs. When you first start a project it might not look like anything, so a sign will help other players to be considerate of your stuff.

Wheaton's Law is a good one, but perhaps it needs clarification: if you do anything that will make more work for somebody else, you're being a dick.

+1 to everything in this post. If/when I'm able to get written books working and in the spawn kit, I'll put something like this in there.
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Only problem is the abandoned mine shaft below my house, which goes on quite a bit...since I was there first and made signs down there...is it mine? Even if part of it might go into someones else's territory?
Good thing is, I already met both neighbors and told them to just mine in there, if they happen to end up in it, as long as the don't put something *big* in there...

Regarding mineshafts, and really mining in general, I say it's free reign. Anyone can mine the resources out of it, if they want. The exceptions are when someone wants to convert it to their base. Xaphod claimed one of the Strongholds after clearing it with me, and I claimed a second one. The third one is still free, from what I recall.
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I hope this alleviates most questions and concerns, and I'll try to get the server up and running again tonight. Let me know if you want something clarified, or you want to comment on something I said.

[auberginequeen]

With respect to the rail lines: I don't know who the other one belongs to but I can investigate it when the server comes back up. I don't recall you saying I could go through empath's system but that's probably just me forgetting, I don't have the best memory.

Also I have some qualms with the hypothetical situation of you closing down the server and getting to keep our stuff. I guess you could argue that since it's all just data that it's ultimately yours due to being on your computer, but I'd like to think that the things we've made are at least in some way still "ours" even if no one but you will ever see them again. I might just be arguing semantics, though.

With respect to player-based lag: Anyone know what it is about a specific player's connection that might cause lag? I know distance from server can be an issue but if this were the only factor then hypothetically the Australians etc would be the worst. Do up/down speed play into it? I have a pretty shitty up speed and share the connection with 3 other people, one of whom schedules a lot of gamer parties while I'm trying to play.

[AdmiralMemo]

Regarding your hypothetical situation, I did mention to James via email that in the event that I ever decide to step down as admin of the LRRcraft server (and permanently closing the server off to just me would count as that), I would do 2 things.

1. I would transfer ownership of the lrrcraft.com domain to LRR, or an admin of their choice.
2. I would give them a copy of the server in its latest state, so what happened to Fugi's LRRcraft would not happen here.

Therefore, if I did that, it would kind of be a "fork" like what happens to software code. I'd still play on and work on my server, as in my actual server itself, but LRRcraft could live on elsewhere.

Regarding player-based lag, I only know vagaries of what the problem is, so more information is required before I can let you know.

[auberginequeen]

Fair enough. Thanks for that.

[Lord Hosk]

So if I am reading what you are saying correctly, you want the "floor" of the railway to be 4 blocks wide, then build the walls on the outsides of the "floor" three blocks high then connect the two walls so that if you look at any one plane it will be 4 blocks wide.



The reason I used Redstone blocks instead of redstone torches is that there is so much lava just below the level of the tunnel. And normal torches instead of glow stones because thats what I had.

Where the sections I worked on are currently like this, because you cant see the rest.

[El_Spectre]

Hello all, I'm David, and new to these forums. Been a LRR and DB viewer for 4 or 5 years.

I've read the last dozen pages or so, and wanted to get clarification: Is there a documented list of rules (beyond Wheaton's law) somewhere? Something solid would help.

Also, is it seriously the policy that projects must be approved by the admin?

Finally, is there any way to stake a claim (i.e. "I think the mountain at XXX, -ZZZ is unused. Anyone building within X blocks that objects to me using it?) ?

I gather that there's a fair amount of history and community knowledge... anything that is documented for the rank newbie (about the rules, not Minecraft) would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
--David

[auberginequeen]

(Disclaimer: I'm just a regular person on this server so what I'm going to tell you is to the best of my knowledge but I might be wrong on a few things)

Hi David,

The rules for the server are on the server itself, which is down right now. When it's back up, if you connect to it you'll spawn with a bunch of signs in front of you detailing all the rules. Once you acknowledge you have read the rules you can be authorized (by Memo definitely, I don't know if mods can do it too) to break blocks and go on to build stuff.

As for admin approval, as far as I know it's mostly to make sure you don't run into other people's stuff. Memo has a pretty good idea of where people have built things and it's wise to ask him about it to make sure no one's too close to you. Aside from rail systems and maybe nether portals/XP farms I don't think there's much of a restriction on what you can or cannot build.

You should be able to claim areas based on your x/y/z coordinates as well by asking here/in-game, but of course the advantage to asking Memo is that if the person whose structure is at x/y/z isn't around no one may object even though there's already something really close to you.

[Omega696]

The rules for the Runners were previously nebulously-defined. I think I have 13 rules currently, and that's 12 too many in my book. "Wheaton's Law" should be the only thing needed, but the problem is that not everyone agrees on what classifies as jerkish behavior. Each of the rules currently in place was made because someone tread on someone else's toes either purposely or inadvertently, and then it was all "Well, there wasn't a rule against it."
It gets into Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" problem: I don't know that there needs to be a rule about something until it gets broken. It doesn't even cross my mind that anyone would consider doing such a thing. When it happens, it's patently obvious that there's been a violation that needs correcting, but without a specific rule, I can't point to something that would have shown that it was bad to do that.
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Well that would be the issue of every organisation or communal project or group endeavour that has ever existed. The rules are defined as an organic set of changing guides that grow an alter as need be, They are also the starting point from which other rules are defined as need be. To not have any you invite anarchy, or dictatorship where there is the rule of none or one.

Having a clear idea at the beginning of what is currently enforced, a new person has an idea of what flavour the rules have and can let it guide there behaviour, and if something occurs then the rules can change. No one expects there to be a rule for everything already. If that were the case all laws would exist to begin with defined and unchangeable by any modern lawmaker. You would end up with Religion's hanging dogmatically to dogma and unchanging to meet the organically evolving needs of a population.

It also why you have a body of people who create or modify the rules and laws to meet current needs and enforce them. For example Cyber-Crime was not known of thirty years ago, new laws had to be made to cover it based on old ideas to guide the flavour and form and what was right. These are people who are known about and have been empowered to create the rules. BUT they are also subject to the rules as regards to there behaviour. Having a clearly defined policy on handling disputes or issues allows for better communication and more engagement especially if you are hosting a public forum, which this is and you are by allowing public access to it and being advertised as such. It also allows for abuse of power to be addressed.

[Lord Hosk]

You dont need his approval on what to build exactly, you arent going to say "I want to build a light house here" or "I want to recreate The Persistence of Memory" and he will say "no, we have too many lighthouses already" or "I hate surrealism, if you want to make a painting build American Gothic or The Son of Man.

Its more like "I want to build a smily face ball 200 blocks in diameter. and -200 310" and he will say "dude, thats ambitious, go for it, but you cant build at -200 310, Auberginequeen is building at -150 275 and you excavating to bedrock would reck her underground village. Ill transport you out to -1500 900 in the middle of the desert, it will make it easier for you to dig down. Go for it.

[Nargimeg]

I just want to say thank you to AdmiralMemo for running the server for us. I haven't been on the server very long, but I have enjoyed it far more than playing on my own world.

I believe part of the reason people aren't spreading out much, is because Spawn City is actually a useful place, and the farther away you are, the harder it is to make use of. I know I have made several trips back to purchase resources and enchants I needed and hadn't found. I know there are rails that travel out from Spawn City, but every rail line I have tried either takes me to a rail station with no exits other than the tracks, or away from my area. I have found the quickest way to travel is to just go by foot. For me, this process is already a 5-10 minute swim, so I don't really want to make it any longer. (When I have tried to use a boat, I travel too fast for the updates and repeatedly fall through the world, so swimming is easier.)

If there were rails connecting farther out, people might be more inclined to move farther away before beginning to settle, but there is no way one person can construct rail lines for every new person with as many new people as the server has been receiving. I also know there are several people that would like to connect their places together by rail to make working together easier. Again, this requires the time and attention of the admin and is not really sustainable as the server continues to grow.

I think if everyone works together we could solve both problems. My suggestion would be to create a spreadsheet much like the XCam spreadsheet. It would allow players to list where they would like rail lines to go, by player name and in game coordinates. Then when AdmeralMemo has free time he can consult the list and approve the rail lines. Then place marking stones throughout the game world to mark the path the rail line would follow. To ensure rails are built to his exacting standards in the style desired, he could then build one complete section to use as a template.

This would allow the players, who combined have far more time than any one person, to build the rails in their time frame. If they think it needs to be done immediately, the onus is on them to do it. They would be responsible for repeating the template section as many times as necessary to complete the rail line. The template should ensure that the rail matches AdmiralMemo's vision, and is much easier to communicate that written directions.

Once the track is built, they can update the spreadsheet again asking for validation of the rail. Again, when AdmiralMemo has free time, he can inspect the rail. If there is an issue, everyone can meet in game to get an understanding of the issue, and then again it is up to the players to fix the problems and seek validation again. Once the rail is validated, AdmiralMemo can add the stations to each end so they work like the current rails.

This method would allow many new rail sections to be added simultaneously. In addition, it would improve the speed and efficiency at which new people can move away from Spawn City to new open areas, and increase the speed of returning when needed.

Wow, this post ended up way longer than originally planned. As stated this is just my idea. I look forward to what the community has to say about it, and together maybe we can find a solution that works better for everyone.

[Lord Chrusher]

Thanks Memo for all your hard work keeping the server going.

Does anyone know how much of effect high ping has on the server slowing down? As I am in Australia and the server I assume is somewhere in the northern hemisphere, I never have a good connection to the server. While I would like to continue my project, if I am causing the server to lag I will gladly refrain from joining the server while I am in a country with terrible internet. I am likely moving back to North America in a few months so this would not be a permanent exile for me.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

Memo, my name is Bluebottleblues on the server.

[Conoros]

Thanks Memo for all your hard work keeping the server going.

Very much this

I'm enjoying my time on the server so far, and I'm hoping to build up my house tonight \o/

[AlexAshman]

Memo, I didn't realise I was full-on banned - thanks for reversing it. I understand what happened and don't intend to do it again. I'll be sure to find a spot and check with you before doing anything more.

Also, I've been in touch with my ISP and they're switching our connection to fibre-to-cabinet as things are excessively derpy right now. So that should stop being a problem soon.

Finally, like others have said, thanks for running the server.