The Bigger Picture

[Mistyckle]

For staff: If this needs moved or deleted, feel free. I just wanted to put something up on the forums that will help clarify some issues at the moment in a "big picture" way.


I have seen and heard a lot of complaints lately about people thinking that the server is dying. No this is not a spin off of another thread. This is something I've thought about for the last year and a half in general, with gaming and watching the same complaints I have come to see from most users.

I used to own a server a while ago and was admin before that. This is honestly the first time in almost 2 years that I've played MC. lol Came to HC to play and chillax (and help if able). I saw the same complaints there that I see here. "We want more content." "The server is dying." "I'm bored." The list goes on. Please don't see me as faulting anyone for that. Read on to understand it more ;P

I think that people need to understand that this is not isolated to HeroCraft or even to Minecraft. It is all across the board. I have friends who dev in Sega and Microsoft. In the last couple of years, they've had to start changing the way they run development. Technology is going through a massive change. It ripples out to any company that has made or is still making RPGs and long term dev plans. Sega cut many of its large scale projects down and moved many of its team members to making applications for iPhones, etc. It's not just MC, or HC for that matter, that is feeling the heat on the market change of gaming. You see headlines all the time of Nintendo and Playstation and Xbox fearing for console sales because of the rise in fast app popularity. These evolution pains are affecting all games. (Unless they were specifically developed within or after the start of the newest trends.) I appreciate a good, well-developed MMO. Others may find them boring, but when you finish it or get to little goals, it feels good.

Society is running faster than it was even just a year or two ago. We've had fast food for a while. But games are quickly becoming part of the "fast gen." Short, simple bites, now.

We can't have the things I have seen asked for in Herocraft that quickly. What is planned with the RPG server, honestly would take years of development and a large team. It's not a "snap your fingers and boom" plan. Patience, constructive discussion and respecting the staff's needs and time tables are important here.

Hopefully that helps show a little of where player discontent and game companies struggle to meet.

What we can do in the meantime (while we wait for nice shiny things like RPG server~ this is mostly based on my previous owner experience and what helped during times of development):
1) Be patient. Remember that it takes time for something as big as is planned to happen. Quests, dungeons, custom items, custom maps, etc~ all take time to do. Kainzo has said in chat and here on the forums that it is a priority. But it will still take time to make. There are different teams, synchronization, testing, etc. Coming up with new, fresh content. Coding it. Making it. It all takes time. A LOT of time.

2) Be constructive. If you have suggestions, post them! If you want to see things move forward, become a trusted team member. I have seen recruitment announcements lately for Lore/Quest writers, Balance team, Architects and more. Help out! Instead of just ranting ;P Learn to code! So much can be done here to help out. Things may get put on pause or move slowly because of synchronization, but if you're available to help, then you'll have something to do to occupy yourself in the meantime. Make constructive suggestions. Rants don't help. They really don't get us anywhere, but thoughtful, well-thought out suggestions are always good to hear. Even if they're not acknowledged or used, understand it may spark other ideas or give the team better direction.

3) Respect the staff's time. I honestly haven't seen that many servers where the team,especially the owner, were as involved in the community than they are here on HC. It's nice to see. (I used to love interacting with my former community, but it can eat up dev time.) When endless questions are asked or people are ranting too much, it causes a slow-down of the work that needs to be done, whether just fixes for the server or planning and implenting things for future updates. Most game companies put up a timer or make an announcement for large scale updates. Generally you just get patch notes. The fact that they're here and answer questions as they can are a large indicator of how important the community is to them. HC is great so we know that the team is capable of good things. Let's trust that We know RPG is going to be huge. It'll be like getting a nice shiny new game you asked for for Christmas or looking forward to a large update on an RPG. Our job is to be patient and respect that when they are here, they're working on keeping this server maintained and working on future content that will set this place further apart.

A side note to this is to understand that with the exception of the owner, who makes this his living, staff are volunteers. (And usually have lives! ;P) Understanding that is a large key. I do see many staff devoting rather large portions of their day to HC. <3 We're lucky for that.

4) Remember that gaming is going through an evolution. Large scale RPGs are too much for many players to handle anymore. People become quickly bored if it's not fast, flashy and immediate. If we want the quality of HC to be what I see people asking for in chat, then it's going to take time. I imagine the RPG world will make the world far more immersive with quests, have us hunting for weeks for all the new shiny items, and provide us with hours of entertainment. It's too big to code in a day. It's not an app.

5) Take responsibility. While we wait for quests to give us tasks, make them yourselves Right now, I need to raise a lot of money in game. I've been mining and selling what I can. See what you'd like to accomplish in game and do it!

I wanted to write this to help others see what I've seen happen to gaming, and where I feel the tension comes between gaming companies (or servers) and the user-base.

This is one of the best servers I've seen. The dedication and time the staff put into it (and us as a community, in chats and responses, and various other ways) shows me how much they love it here. The goals of the server are admirable, and I no doubt think that when content is added, we'll see more people again. (Another change that gaming is going through, users only come for new content, swallow it up then look for something else new).

I understand where people are coming from. I love seeing new content and having fun new things to do. ^-^ It's a bit like Christmas. (okay, that's maybe cheesy, but still...it is) I can't wait to see the new changes and future content.

 

[Manieri1]

That was really well written. Hopefully some people can take this stuff to heart and actually understand that the staff aren't robots and need sleep and have other things to do.

 

[Northac]

Well said.

 

[greenliketea]

Lol I have a feeling I know where this post came from.

 

[LightningCape]

Very well said.

People get busy, everyone does. Playing video games shouldn't be the center point of your life. Some people have free time, others don't.

Even though i haven't played this map i've heard this song before.

• The minority of doomsayers will leave when something happens that they don't like
  • They cant seem to wait even a second for stuff to improve or get corrected

• They try to take others down with them
  • I hate this part the most and sadly it works on a few people

• Bans and mutes pour in as they simply don't care anymore
  • The appeals make good stories for some good laughs

• Staff fixes mistakes and pushes for new content
  • Some come-back instantly, some don't

• School, work, and other stuff start and server pop recovers
  • Times and what not

And repeat!

First two lines are always the most annoying part of the song.

 

[JupiterRome]

Well Written, I have this urge to punch you in the face cuz of umm.... Yeah nvm well written though

 

[Dwarfers]

Read here and there and then got bored. Herocraft as a whole is doing "alright" when it comes to what Kainzo is planning for the server. When people say "the server is dying" "herocraft is dead" they are talking about the PvP part of it because in my opinion PvE is doing fine, if not great. Many people came to the server not just for the Heroes plugin, but to also use the heroes plugin in PvP, which in my opinion adds A LOT of fun. I personally don't find fun in plain building in the wild without risk of being killed by a player or just doing things without the risk of getting killed by another player, but that's just me and my interests and I am sure many others share this opinion.

Making money is pretty easy now. I spent 400 souls for town taxes and a couple days later I had 420 souls again and that's just from my 3 redstone shops. Not to mention mining trip should make minimum 200s.

I personally haven't found interest in playing this "RPG" map/server coming out in the whatever future as I don't become attached to games normally until it's actually available.

I'll be going on vacation for 4 days and then I have school starting up right after that. This means I won't be playing Herocraft as much anymore and that's not just because I'm busy - I'm also losing interest since the part of Herocraft I enjoy is the part the server is pulling away from.

P.S. Bit like Christmas? So Christmas is all about getting new things. I would say it's more like a birthday

 

[MajorasMask]

I think that people need to understand that this is not isolated to HeroCraft or even to Minecraft....

While I agree with most of your post i'm unsure about this part. I'm aware that some servers are not doing so well but i'm aware of others that are doing just as well as they did in previous years (if not better).

Although your comments on what we can do were very good! Thumbs up!

 

[SurvivalManZ]

For staff: If this needs moved or deleted, feel free. I just wanted to put something up on the forums that will help clarify some issues at the moment in a "big picture" way.


I have seen and heard a lot of complaints lately about people thinking that the server is dying. No this is not a spin off of another thread. This is something I've thought about for the last year and a half in general, with gaming and watching the same complaints I have come to see from most users.

I used to own a server a while ago and was admin before that. This is honestly the first time in almost 2 years that I've played MC. lol Came to HC to play and chillax (and help if able). I saw the same complaints there that I see here. "We want more content." "The server is dying." "I'm bored." The list goes on. Please don't see me as faulting anyone for that. Read on to understand it more ;P

I think that people need to understand that this is not isolated to HeroCraft or even to Minecraft. It is all across the board. I have friends who dev in Sega and Microsoft. In the last couple of years, they've had to start changing the way they run development. Technology is going through a massive change. It ripples out to any company that has made or is still making RPGs and long term dev plans. Sega cut many of its large scale projects down and moved many of its team members to making applications for iPhones, etc. It's not just MC, or HC for that matter, that is feeling the heat on the market change of gaming. You see headlines all the time of Nintendo and Playstation and Xbox fearing for console sales because of the rise in fast app popularity. These evolution pains are affecting all games. (Unless they were specifically developed within or after the start of the newest trends.) I appreciate a good, well-developed MMO. Others may find them boring, but when you finish it or get to little goals, it feels good.

Society is running faster than it was even just a year or two ago. We've had fast food for a while. But games are quickly becoming part of the "fast gen." Short, simple bites, now.

We can't have the things I have seen asked for in Herocraft that quickly. What is planned with the RPG server, honestly would take years of development and a large team. It's not a "snap your fingers and boom" plan. Patience, constructive discussion and respecting the staff's needs and time tables are important here.

Hopefully that helps show a little of where player discontent and game companies struggle to meet.

What we can do in the meantime (while we wait for nice shiny things like RPG server~ this is mostly based on my previous owner experience and what helped during times of development):
1) Be patient. Remember that it takes time for something as big as is planned to happen. Quests, dungeons, custom items, custom maps, etc~ all take time to do. Kainzo has said in chat and here on the forums that it is a priority. But it will still take time to make. There are different teams, synchronization, testing, etc. Coming up with new, fresh content. Coding it. Making it. It all takes time. A LOT of time.

2) Be constructive. If you have suggestions, post them! If you want to see things move forward, become a trusted team member. I have seen recruitment announcements lately for Lore/Quest writers, Balance team, Architects and more. Help out! Instead of just ranting ;P Learn to code! So much can be done here to help out. Things may get put on pause or move slowly because of synchronization, but if you're available to help, then you'll have something to do to occupy yourself in the meantime. Make constructive suggestions. Rants don't help. They really don't get us anywhere, but thoughtful, well-thought out suggestions are always good to hear. Even if they're not acknowledged or used, understand it may spark other ideas or give the team better direction.

3) Respect the staff's time. I honestly haven't seen that many servers where the team,especially the owner, were as involved in the community than they are here on HC. It's nice to see. (I used to love interacting with my former community, but it can eat up dev time.) When endless questions are asked or people are ranting too much, it causes a slow-down of the work that needs to be done, whether just fixes for the server or planning and implenting things for future updates. Most game companies put up a timer or make an announcement for large scale updates. Generally you just get patch notes. The fact that they're here and answer questions as they can are a large indicator of how important the community is to them. HC is great so we know that the team is capable of good things. Let's trust that We know RPG is going to be huge. It'll be like getting a nice shiny new game you asked for for Christmas or looking forward to a large update on an RPG. Our job is to be patient and respect that when they are here, they're working on keeping this server maintained and working on future content that will set this place further apart.

A side note to this is to understand that with the exception of the owner, who makes this his living, staff are volunteers. (And usually have lives! ;P) Understanding that is a large key. I do see many staff devoting rather large portions of their day to HC. <3 We're lucky for that.

4) Remember that gaming is going through an evolution. Large scale RPGs are too much for many players to handle anymore. People become quickly bored if it's not fast, flashy and immediate. If we want the quality of HC to be what I see people asking for in chat, then it's going to take time. I imagine the RPG world will make the world far more immersive with quests, have us hunting for weeks for all the new shiny items, and provide us with hours of entertainment. It's too big to code in a day. It's not an app.

5) Take responsibility. While we wait for quests to give us tasks, make them yourselves Right now, I need to raise a lot of money in game. I've been mining and selling what I can. See what you'd like to accomplish in game and do it!

I wanted to write this to help others see what I've seen happen to gaming, and where I feel the tension comes between gaming companies (or servers) and the user-base.

This is one of the best servers I've seen. The dedication and time the staff put into it (and us as a community, in chats and responses, and various other ways) shows me how much they love it here. The goals of the server are admirable, and I no doubt think that when content is added, we'll see more people again. (Another change that gaming is going through, users only come for new content, swallow it up then look for something else new).

I understand where people are coming from. I love seeing new content and having fun new things to do. ^-^ It's a bit like Christmas. (okay, that's maybe cheesy, but still...it is) I can't wait to see the new changes and future content.

There seems to be a problem. I can only like this once!!!!!!

 

[Clawscript]

There seems to be a problem. I can only like this once!!!!!!

I would've given her more than simply "Agree". There should be a "Finally someone else understands" button

 

[Mistyckle]

While I agree with most of your post i'm unsure about this part. I'm aware that some servers are not doing so well but i'm aware of others that are doing just as well as they did in previous years (if not better).

Although your comments on what we can do were very good! Thumbs up!

Thank you for your post

I think the servers I see doing crazy well are usually the ones that have catered to the current tech trend or possibly other reasons. I do see some of them go through the same lulls and influx that we do though. It's in the nature of most current gamers (not all) to go to new content, master or play it til they're bored then look for the next new shiny. Then they'll be back. (Lightning stated this well.) It's typical of any business really, retail definitely functions this way based on the time of year.

 

[Xanipher]

Thanks for this! It's always really tough trying to explain these types of things to users. They always assume I'm trying to protect my position and that OF COURSE I'm defending Herocraft because I'm staff and I 'have to' defend it. We have a wonderful community and the staff works hard for the people that deserve it. None of us are here for money, fame or power. I really don't care if I have the power to ban people, or slap them or things like that. I like being here because I like doing things for people and I like making them happy. I learn a lot of stuff that I'd normally never bother with. I'd rather just ignore the entire punishment side of everything. Unfortunately, people can't follow rules and its a necessary evil.

Lately we've had lots of people really bitter and hateful, for various reasons. Some issues we can fix, some we can't. But that doesn't mean we don't care and that we don't try. It really bothers staff when they get told they don't care and that they don't do their job. If people ask me to explain the process, then I will, gladly. Our system is a bit complex, but all staff are held equally accountable for their choices and actions. Unfortunately people don't care enough to understand staff process and how much work we do every single day. Often the work we do is invisible and players don't even know all the issues we're handling at once. I could write an entire page on things that admins are in charge of doing.

The constant negativity is really dragging everyone down. There are days when I wonder why I even bother logging on because I'll a huge pile of negative (and often untrue) things being thrown around. I've told many people that instead of being so negative and throwing around subjective terminology, why don't you actually try working with us in a way that's actually constructive. I like it when people come to me and ask "What can I do to help?" instead of "This server is dying, I'm bored and no one gives a shit". I want to continue to do good work, one of the things I like to do is enrichment of environment. You may have seen things like bulletin boards, new holograms, signs, the private trade booths, replanting trees, cleaning up commonly griefed areas every few days, etc. I listen to what people say and if it's within my power. Then I will do something about it. Please let me help you instead of becoming a bitter ball of resentment. I have quite a few times, brought situations up to the other staff and have adjusted rules based on current events. Some rules I can't change and yes, some do suck but often it's a "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't" type situation.

I can understand that sometimes staff come off as intimidating. I try not to be too brief with people because online briefness can come off as unfriendly. Often this is because we're really busy doing something and in-game PMs are probably the worst way to effectively communicate. And as such, you will receive a much less concise answer (depending on the situation). Especially since the admins have multiple plugins constantly broadcasting to chat, it's very easy to miss something, or only catch part of a message. Another point I'd like to make is that if you have a problem, please try not to approach the staff by lashing out at them because you're angry something happened. It's easy and more effective to articulate your passion for an issue without coming to anger and insults.

This past week has been rather full for myself with the construction of FFA, the central plots (creating and setting up 82 plots with landscape was 2 days of work ;_; ). We also have begun updating and importing the event (arena) world, so that will be in and I will announce a tournament as soon as I've ironed out the problems on the world (I have to redo configs, portals, do testing etc.). Last but not least, we have RPG being thrown to the front as possible full on production.

So with all of this work having to be done and upcoming, the staff would rather not spend time hunting for hackers or watching chat and handing out mutes and bans. The more work you make us do in this regard, means less time we have to devote to what really matters. I've been so bogged down helping with the overflow of petitions that many things got pushed back.

Thanks for reading. We're here to help.

 

[Clawscript]

Thanks for this! It's always really tough trying to explain these types of things to users. They always assume I'm trying to protect my position and that OF COURSE I'm defending Herocraft because I'm staff and I 'have to' defend it. We have a wonderful community and the staff works hard for the people that deserve it. None of us are here for money, fame or power. I really don't care if I have the power to ban people, or slap them or things like that. I like being here because I like doing things for people and I like making them happy. I learn a lot of stuff that I'd normally never bother with. I'd rather just ignore the entire punishment side of everything. Unfortunately, people can't follow rules and its a necessary evil.

Lately we've had lots of people really bitter and hateful, for various reasons. Some issues we can fix, some we can't. But that doesn't mean we don't care and that we don't try. It really bothers staff when they get told they don't care and that they don't do their job. If people ask me to explain the process, then I will, gladly. Our system is a bit complex, but all staff are held equally accountable for their choices and actions. Unfortunately people don't care enough to understand staff process and how much work we do every single day. Often the work we do is invisible and players don't even know all the issues we're handling at once. I could write an entire page on things that admins are in charge of doing.

The constant negativity is really dragging everyone down. There are days when I wonder why I even bother logging on because I'll a huge pile of negative (and often untrue) things being thrown around. I've told many people that instead of being so negative and throwing around subjective terminology, why don't you actually try working with us in a way that's actually constructive. I like it when people come to me and ask "What can I do to help?" instead of "This server is dying, I'm bored and no one gives a shit". I want to continue to do good work, one of the things I like to do is enrichment of environment. You may have seen things like bulletin boards, new holograms, signs, the private trade booths, replanting trees, cleaning up commonly griefed areas every few days, etc. I listen to what people say and if it's within my power. Then I will do something about it. Please let me help you instead of becoming a bitter ball of resentment. I have quite a few times, brought situations up to the other staff and have adjusted rules based on current events. Some rules I can't change and yes, some do suck but often it's a "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't" type situation.

I can understand that sometimes staff come off as intimidating. I try not to be too brief with people because online briefness can come off as unfriendly. Often this is because we're really busy doing something and in-game PMs are probably the worst way to effectively communicate. And as such, you will receive a much less concise answer (depending on the situation). Especially since the admins have multiple plugins constantly broadcasting to chat, it's very easy to miss something, or only catch part of a message. Another point I'd like to make is that if you have a problem, please try not to approach the staff by lashing out at them because you're angry something happened. It's easy and more effective to articulate your passion for an issue without coming to anger and insults.

This past week has been rather full for myself with the construction of FFA, the central plots (creating and setting up 82 plots with landscape was 2 days of work ;_; ). We also have begun updating and importing the event (arena) world, so that will be in and I will announce a tournament as soon as I've ironed out the problems on the world (I have to redo configs, portals, do testing etc.). Last but not least, we have RPG being thrown to the front as possible full on production.

So with all of this work having to be done and upcoming, the staff would rather not spend time hunting for hackers or watching chat and handing out mutes and bans. The more work you make us do in this regard, means less time we have to devote to what really matters. I've been so bogged down helping with the overflow of petitions that many things got pushed back.

Thanks for reading. We're here to help.

Thanks for this post too! Great to find more and more specks of positivity in the cloud of negativity that is currently passing by the server.

 

[Fjordsen]

Thanks for this! It's always really tough trying to explain these types of things to users. They always assume I'm trying to protect my position and that OF COURSE I'm defending Herocraft because I'm staff and I 'have to' defend it. We have a wonderful community and the staff works hard for the people that deserve it. None of us are here for money, fame or power. I really don't care if I have the power to ban people, or slap them or things like that. I like being here because I like doing things for people and I like making them happy. I learn a lot of stuff that I'd normally never bother with. I'd rather just ignore the entire punishment side of everything. Unfortunately, people can't follow rules and its a necessary evil.

Lately we've had lots of people really bitter and hateful, for various reasons. Some issues we can fix, some we can't. But that doesn't mean we don't care and that we don't try. It really bothers staff when they get told they don't care and that they don't do their job. If people ask me to explain the process, then I will, gladly. Our system is a bit complex, but all staff are held equally accountable for their choices and actions. Unfortunately people don't care enough to understand staff process and how much work we do every single day. Often the work we do is invisible and players don't even know all the issues we're handling at once. I could write an entire page on things that admins are in charge of doing.

The constant negativity is really dragging everyone down. There are days when I wonder why I even bother logging on because I'll a huge pile of negative (and often untrue) things being thrown around. I've told many people that instead of being so negative and throwing around subjective terminology, why don't you actually try working with us in a way that's actually constructive. I like it when people come to me and ask "What can I do to help?" instead of "This server is dying, I'm bored and no one gives a shit". I want to continue to do good work, one of the things I like to do is enrichment of environment. You may have seen things like bulletin boards, new holograms, signs, the private trade booths, replanting trees, cleaning up commonly griefed areas every few days, etc. I listen to what people say and if it's within my power. Then I will do something about it. Please let me help you instead of becoming a bitter ball of resentment. I have quite a few times, brought situations up to the other staff and have adjusted rules based on current events. Some rules I can't change and yes, some do suck but often it's a "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't" type situation.

I can understand that sometimes staff come off as intimidating. I try not to be too brief with people because online briefness can come off as unfriendly. Often this is because we're really busy doing something and in-game PMs are probably the worst way to effectively communicate. And as such, you will receive a much less concise answer (depending on the situation). Especially since the admins have multiple plugins constantly broadcasting to chat, it's very easy to miss something, or only catch part of a message. Another point I'd like to make is that if you have a problem, please try not to approach the staff by lashing out at them because you're angry something happened. It's easy and more effective to articulate your passion for an issue without coming to anger and insults.

This past week has been rather full for myself with the construction of FFA, the central plots (creating and setting up 82 plots with landscape was 2 days of work ;_; ). We also have begun updating and importing the event (arena) world, so that will be in and I will announce a tournament as soon as I've ironed out the problems on the world (I have to redo configs, portals, do testing etc.). Last but not least, we have RPG being thrown to the front as possible full on production.

So with all of this work having to be done and upcoming, the staff would rather not spend time hunting for hackers or watching chat and handing out mutes and bans. The more work you make us do in this regard, means less time we have to devote to what really matters. I've been so bogged down helping with the overflow of petitions that many things got pushed back.

Thanks for reading. We're here to help.

This should be mandatory to read for all players, really good and informative post.

You said that in-game PMs are a bad form of communication because of plugin messages etc. If someone really needs to talk with an admin, what would be the best way to do that? Teamspeak, IRC, forum PMs?

 

[Danda]

This should be mandatory to read for all players, really good and informative post.

You said that in-game PMs are a bad form of communication because of plugin messages etc. If someone really needs to talk with an admin, what would be the best way to do that? Teamspeak, IRC, forum PMs?

I think it varies a lot depending on the staff member. For me personally Teamspeak or a Forum PM is the best way to get a hold of me. TS for the faster response and Forums for those long winded situations.

 

[Mistyckle]

Thanks for this! It's always really tough trying to explain these types of things to users. They always assume I'm trying to protect my position and that OF COURSE I'm defending Herocraft because I'm staff and I 'have to' defend it. We have a wonderful community and the staff works hard for the people that deserve it. None of us are here for money, fame or power. I really don't care if I have the power to ban people, or slap them or things like that. I like being here because I like doing things for people and I like making them happy. I learn a lot of stuff that I'd normally never bother with. I'd rather just ignore the entire punishment side of everything. Unfortunately, people can't follow rules and its a necessary evil.

Lately we've had lots of people really bitter and hateful, for various reasons. Some issues we can fix, some we can't. But that doesn't mean we don't care and that we don't try. It really bothers staff when they get told they don't care and that they don't do their job. If people ask me to explain the process, then I will, gladly. Our system is a bit complex, but all staff are held equally accountable for their choices and actions. Unfortunately people don't care enough to understand staff process and how much work we do every single day. Often the work we do is invisible and players don't even know all the issues we're handling at once. I could write an entire page on things that admins are in charge of doing.

The constant negativity is really dragging everyone down. There are days when I wonder why I even bother logging on because I'll a huge pile of negative (and often untrue) things being thrown around. I've told many people that instead of being so negative and throwing around subjective terminology, why don't you actually try working with us in a way that's actually constructive. I like it when people come to me and ask "What can I do to help?" instead of "This server is dying, I'm bored and no one gives a shit". I want to continue to do good work, one of the things I like to do is enrichment of environment. You may have seen things like bulletin boards, new holograms, signs, the private trade booths, replanting trees, cleaning up commonly griefed areas every few days, etc. I listen to what people say and if it's within my power. Then I will do something about it. Please let me help you instead of becoming a bitter ball of resentment. I have quite a few times, brought situations up to the other staff and have adjusted rules based on current events. Some rules I can't change and yes, some do suck but often it's a "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't" type situation.

I can understand that sometimes staff come off as intimidating. I try not to be too brief with people because online briefness can come off as unfriendly. Often this is because we're really busy doing something and in-game PMs are probably the worst way to effectively communicate. And as such, you will receive a much less concise answer (depending on the situation). Especially since the admins have multiple plugins constantly broadcasting to chat, it's very easy to miss something, or only catch part of a message. Another point I'd like to make is that if you have a problem, please try not to approach the staff by lashing out at them because you're angry something happened. It's easy and more effective to articulate your passion for an issue without coming to anger and insults.

This past week has been rather full for myself with the construction of FFA, the central plots (creating and setting up 82 plots with landscape was 2 days of work ;_; ). We also have begun updating and importing the event (arena) world, so that will be in and I will announce a tournament as soon as I've ironed out the problems on the world (I have to redo configs, portals, do testing etc.). Last but not least, we have RPG being thrown to the front as possible full on production.

So with all of this work having to be done and upcoming, the staff would rather not spend time hunting for hackers or watching chat and handing out mutes and bans. The more work you make us do in this regard, means less time we have to devote to what really matters. I've been so bogged down helping with the overflow of petitions that many things got pushed back.

Thanks for reading. We're here to help.

Xani, I really appreciate that you came here and let people see the other side of things. I understand it and can sympathize, but understand that often time constraints on duties make it difficult to articulate it to the community. The negativity has been frustrating and counter-productive. If people are sad about the fact that we're starting to see a slowdown (for summer vacays, school start ups, boredom because they rushed through the new stuffs, etc) and care for the server then maybe instead of naysay, do something positive and productive. As most of us have been saying, and Xani put it really well.

Lots of <3 to you and all the staff for the time you take out of your day to be here, amidst the busyness, the frustration, etc. It means a lot. I think I've told one person on here what HC has meant to me. (And I know it means a lot to others too.) Much <3

 

[Xanipher]

This should be mandatory to read for all players, really good and informative post.

You said that in-game PMs are a bad form of communication because of plugin messages etc. If someone really needs to talk with an admin, what would be the best way to do that? Teamspeak, IRC, forum PMs?

I agree with Danda that it tends to vary. I'm on IRC anytime I'm at my computer, regardless of being on MC or not (as it's mandatory for staff). PM on the forum gets sent to my phone (which I have on me constantly). I'm usually on TS but sometimes I miss PMs there because its far on my other screen and I don't notice it if I don't hear the ding sound.

If you're in dire need of assistance immediately, I'd say try to message in game first, mods might notice you faster than an admin. Mods are also in IRC and we all have it set up to notify us if anyone says our name in it. So in that case a mod can definitely grab us easier. Mods have many duties, one of them is being a kind of secretary/assistant to admins.

But I'd say for longer convos definitely TS or forum is the best.

 

[Kainzo]

The ultimate goal for the server is to have a community that is respectful and enjoys each other's company, whether it's competitive or casually.

My personal goal is to give the reigns of power to the community. I will be discussing these things with staff more over the next week on how I plan to get this done. Herocraft is life for a lot of people, including myself. I work tireless hours to improve things for everyone and a select few with a chip on their shoulder think I do it all for myself.

I want to create a rules council, a proper balance team with power to change the things that need to be changed and a website/knowledge base that will allow players to have the information required to play on such a complex server.

I want to enable those with the proper dedication to forge Herocraft with our vision. Automating and making things seamless have always been a high priority for Herocraft and staff.

Sure, things are different now than they were 3 years ago, but I feel we're moving in the right direction with RPG and various other game-play things being added in.

This being one of the oldest running Minecraft communities, I feel we're in good hands with our staff, our player-base and all that.

 

[RagingDragon5]

The ultimate goal for the server is to have a community that is respectful and enjoys each other's company, whether it's competitive or casually.

My personal goal is to give the reigns of power to the community. I will be discussing these things with staff more over the next week on how I plan to get this done. Herocraft is life for a lot of people, including myself. I work tireless hours to improve things for everyone and a select few with a chip on their shoulder think I do it all for myself.

I want to create a rules council, a proper balance team with power to change the things that need to be changed and a website/knowledge base that will allow players to have the information required to play on such a complex server.

I want to enable those with the proper dedication to forge Herocraft with our vision. Automating and making things seamless have always been a high priority for Herocraft and staff.

Sure, things are different now than they were 3 years ago, but I feel we're moving in the right direction with RPG and various other game-play things being added in.

This being one of the oldest running Minecraft communities, I feel we're in good hands with our staff, our player-base and all that.

I would also suggest Forum Overseeres to delete messages and threads that has a main purpose of insulting / attacking or trolling. Cause I see a lot of this on the forums
Edit: I know mods and admins are supposed to do this, but there are just too many of these out there. Also it will lessen their workload.

 

[Northac]

I would also suggest Forum Overseeres to delete messages and threads that has a main purpose of insulting / attacking or trolling. Cause I see a lot of this on the forums
Edit: I know mods and admins are supposed to do this, but there are just too many of these out there. Also it will lessen their workload.

Maybe these people would scan through forums, lock them and flag them for the admins? So the admins act as the final verdict if it needs to be deleted or not, there by avoiding the argument that someone just decided to delete it on a whim.

This still lowers the workload a good degree, because instead of having to scan through the forums themselves, the admins just need to check the flagged posts. Because there is not enough time in the day for all of this to be done by just the mods (many of which also act as devs and in game admins)