I know what ya mean brother. I’ve a suggestion that no one’s going to want to hear, but it’ll fix a lot of those issues…
World Reset.
I know, I know… “Chaos! NO WAY! I’ve put too much work into my *insert random project here* just to delete it”. We can work around that with world edit. All we’d have to do is copy the whatever and place it in a new world.
Now this is just my opinion. Doesn’t mean everyone has to agree, they likely won’t. But, here’s why I think it’d be a good idea. For one, we could start over fresh with established ground rules for the players to follow. This would fix the issue of people trying to run to the Far Lands or the world edge, unloading all the chunks needed for expansions. Also, with doing so we could pick a seed that showcases every single biome. Starting from scratch would also make it to where we could build an organized spawn with a proper symmetrical road system and plots of land for building (as we started to do on the vanilla). Additionally, any structures that are currently an eyesore from previous players will be gone.
This may seem extreme but you have to hear me out… If the server is going to continue to try to run up to date with the new updates, a reset will be inevitable one day. It will have to be done. Rumor has it (just a rumor) that the 1.8 update will be a structure update adding new buildings to the 1.7 biomes. No clue what they’ll be yet, but I’m pretty sure that would mean every new biome that we just brought in will have to be unloaded, again, so that way the game can generate the Mesa Indian Reservation or whatever. That means, if you’ve built there, you’re stuff’s gotta get moved again. Even if 1.8 doesn’t update structures (I’ve heard it will be a mob update as well) there will eventually be another update down the road adding new biomes again. Resetting will have to happen eventually no matter what. What happens when there are no more diamonds? Unlikely this will happen, but still, a shortage is completely possible. Some freak might strip mine the entire server and there’s really no rule saying he can’t. Some times, it’s just best to start from scratch.
I know that by doing this, some players will leave the server, possibly for good. Then again, other players might actually return. I wouldn’t even worry about that being an issue. Personally, I’d rather have quality players than a large quantity of players any day of the week. I care very little for playing on a server with 200 active members. I’d personally prefer a 20 member server full of dedicated pro-level players that specialize in MineCraft baddassary. Is Badassary even a word? It is now… Moving on. What I’m getting at is that bigger is not always better. If a reset will scare away players, then they probably aren’t the type of people that benefit the community in the first place. KimmiBapple built her base, didn’t like it, tore it down, and rebuilt it in 2 days, then did it again! That dude… Camal, Camalae… I can’t spell his name, kick ass guy though, super awesome to play with, did the same thing. Tore down his base, moved, and when he invited me over, I was literally standing in Etho’s Lab, literally. Bane is a work horse as well and works his butt off. My homie Fade is one of the nicest people I’ve ever played with and goes out of his way to help others constantly. Solar takes on massive projects that would terrify most players and excels at what she does, no one else is even close, not even me. I’m starting to think redstone actually pumps through Cynix’s veins instead of blood at this point. Scotty (although he left) was generous, helpful, kind and always helped out, as well as being a great builder. Keen puts in time and great work.
I’d trade 500 players to have that crew on my team. So if people run from the idea of a reset, the one’s that matter have proven they’re willing to buckle down and tear out some excellence.
MindCrack’s success isn’t the fact that it’s a large server. It works because less than 30 people have agreed to work together and make something amazing. They plan ahead, they keep in touch via skype and emails. They know what needs to be done to benefit everyone on the server, so when they said, “No one go past 6000 blocks from spawn so we can update the server later,” no one did. Without the aid of an invisible border or world edit or even a giant wall, they followed the rules, and the update went without a hitch. No need of a reset…
Smores started out as a 1.5 release and almost immediately had to update to 1.6. Now to 1.7, within 4 months (maybe) 1.8, within the next year 1.9. You see where I’m going with this? We play a game that constantly evolves itself, which I personally love. But with evolution, old things need to die so better things can be born.
*drops 2 cents in a Water bucket*
~TCS