Mein Thumbcraft—IdleT Dedicated Minecraft Server

[tabacco]

How do you add tags to the interactive map?

It pulls out signs as tags.

[tabacco]

Hey, whoever built the extension to the skybridge with the glass ceiling, it's letting mobs into the skybridge. They're hopping up the trees and dropping down onto the glass, then just walking over the door.

[MrHoatzin]

Yesterday I had an accident with a creeper and the back wall of the "free food" cabinet at the ground floor of the Stairway to Haven. Hence the cobblestone instead of the wood planks that were there initially and the blown up windows on the floor above, I didn't have any glass on me to mend those; I was rebuilding rather hastily there. Maybe for good measure we should build ditches around everything, or make ground-level walls thick enough to sustain accidental creeper asplosions.

[Jake]

How private do people want this server? Do we still grant destruction access on a per account basis to keep newbs from vandalizing?

It occurred to me that we could possibly keep the server more vibrant and full of users if we mentioned its existence... anywhere. On the homepage, Twitter feed, etc... but I don't know if that's what people actually want. It would be easy for instance to write up a blog, send out a tweet, drop a mention in a few of the bigger gaming podcast threads out there, even add the idlemc site to the navbar at the top of the homepage. I don't know if that's what people actually want, though.

If people do want a little promotion, would that be a think people would want once the world is more stabilized, or when the world is more fresh? Do servers get totally trashed and clogged when the unwashed show up?

[tabacco]

I'm in favor of letting more people in, the problem is that with fully open access comes griefers. That's why we started requiring manual permission in the first place. It's a pretty big problem for other fully open minecraft servers.

[MrHoatzin]

We can always invite more people to look around the world, and if they want to stay and build with us, they can ask...

[tabacco]

We can always invite more people to look around the world, and if they want to stay and build with us, they can ask...

What he said.

[a purple future]

Hey, whoever built the extension to the skybridge with the glass ceiling, it's letting mobs into the skybridge. They're hopping up the trees and dropping down onto the glass, then just walking over the door.

Ahhhh crap sorry about that. I thought I'd taken care of it. I'll figure something out later if anyone hasn't already.

As far as letting people in, I'm fine with it in theory except I don't want my stuff getting robbed you know? If chests were lockable it would be okay I guess

[MrHoatzin]

Uncleared visitors can't take things out of chests.

[Squid Division]

I'd be very much in favor with advertising it on Idle Thumbs related things; the front page, the twitter account, other things (?). The permissions seem to prevent random passers-by from vandalizing. We haven't had any problems with purposeful vandalization from whitelisted members have we?

[a purple future]

well... some fires and stuff. but for the most part people are cool. i just don't want my hard earned diamonds and iron disappearing and i'm paranoid like that

[Squid Division]

Hide them underground in a place only you know about, like some kind of Great Depression person.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Hide them underground in a place only you know about, like some kind of Great Depression person.

Or Long John Silver.

I'm AGAINST opening the server up, myself. I don't see the point of it... I don't think it's lacking in vibrancy and I enjoy meeting folks I know there. Plus, if anyone is part of THIS community (ie. the forum) they're easily able and welcome to join the Minecraft server already... Why start inviting folks in who don't at least lurk here?

Of course, maybe I'm being paranoid, but really it only take one bad apple to take some TNT to Stairway or someone's house, or just plain steal from folk.

Also: Those who have studied Community Theory will know that people feel more open and secure if a community has barriers to entry. This may be solved by a "whitelist", but really, what's stopping the unwashed from getting onto that list? An email request? At least at the moment they have to be part of this community or friends with someone here to have heard about it.

That's my 2c, FWIW.

[MrHoatzin]

I am all for letting in friends of residents and established community peeps and expanding our outpost on the frontier thusly.

Also, we are tracking stealing: every time someone opens a chest, the coordinates and time are logged. Ditto for fire, lava & tnt griefing. Still, we've had some immaculate fires in the past. The more difficult to track are the unwanted "improvements" people may take upon themselves... We can't very well log every single common block that is ever placed down, so as to prevent someone from filling your house with dirt, cobble, sand or whatever.

I think we have a good thing going right now.

[monkeyarmada]

For the record I had a mooch though Thunderpeel's chests in his fancy house, looking for a pickaxe as I had just spawned, naked and alone in the world.

Didn't take anything in the end but some kind of IOU system would be nice to keep track of the 'borrows'.

Of course I'm now drinking your Cognac and smoking your fine Cigars, all whilst wearing your slippers.

[monkeyarmada]

@Thunderpeel I've set up home just across from your house. My mining operation seems to be right in the middle of your perimeter tunnel at bedrock level, I've put in loads of doors to stop any unwanted things wandering into your shizzle though so hopefully I don't cause you any probs.

[Wubbles]

If we do whitelist non-Thumb visitors, we should make them sign up for the forums so they'd know about anything notable going on in the server.

EDIT: By the way, is it possible to get an isometric map of the Third Epoch?

[tabacco]

If we do whitelist non-Thumb visitors, we should make them sign up for the forums so they'd know about anything notable going on in the server.

EDIT: By the way, is it possible to get an isometric map of the Third Epoch?

www.idlemc.com/maps

[ThunderPeel2001]

@Thunderpeel I've set up home just across from your house. My mining operation seems to be right in the middle of your perimeter tunnel at bedrock level, I've put in loads of doors to stop any unwanted things wandering into your shizzle though so hopefully I don't cause you any probs.

Don't worry about it.

[tabacco]

I did some renovations in the tree farm, moving the floor down a block and planting more densely. It's a little more effort to harvest from now, but it's much more productive.

[Jake]

Or Long John Silver.

I'm AGAINST opening the server up, myself. I don't see the point of it... I don't think it's lacking in vibrancy and I enjoy meeting folks I know there. Plus, if anyone is part of THIS community (ie. the forum) they're easily able and welcome to join the Minecraft server already... Why start inviting folks in who don't at least lurk here?

Of course, maybe I'm being paranoid, but really it only take one bad apple to take some TNT to Stairway or someone's house, or just plain steal from folk.

Also: Those who have studied Community Theory will know that people feel more open and secure if a community has barriers to entry. This may be solved by a "whitelist", but really, what's stopping the unwashed from getting onto that list? An email request? At least at the moment they have to be part of this community or friends with someone here to have heard about it.

That's my 2c, FWIW.

I'm fine with friends / friends of friends, if that's where people want to draw the line.

For whatever its worth, here's where I'm coming from when suggesting we actually try and recruit some new folks: The last server basically died down to just 3 or 4 people, and I think it was at least in part because the only people who knew about it were the people on this one subsection of the main forum (a subsection you can't see until you are registered here, so the most passive lurkers dont even know it exists*) and they got tired of it. This is the third go at a Minecraft server by the exact same people as the first two gos, and we're all looking for ways to keep it fresh. New blood seems like an obvious option.

There are risks with new folks, surprise demolitions or whatever, but I'm more interested in, you know, the positive surprises that come from having new people around. If we can find a way to do that without wholly throwing the doors open to staircase-TNTing vandals, I think it would do some good.

* Speaking of: I agree with Wubbles that it may make sense to drop a sign near the spawn telling people to make a forum account and visit this thread, or to visit idlemc.com or something. That this thread is hidden from the world is pretty nice in some ways (the whole multiplayer networking forum hides if you're not logged in in hopes of keeping peoples gamertags and things at least a tiny bit more private, and it keeps it friendly or whatever), but to any legitimate outsider its not exactly welcoming.

[a purple future]

I'm with Jake actually. Maybe put it out there (twitter it whatever) but have people register and post in this thread.

On another note I have been saving up iron and stuff so if some big project comes up I will gladly contribute. Just let me know!

[Squid Division]

I think that posting on the front page would be a good way to get people because, for one, it's passive, so only people who would be coming to the site anyway would see it. The twitter accounts would be a much more far-reaching method for better or worse. We also don't have to use whatever our options are all at once either.

Personally, we haven't had any issues with people screwing stuff up yet, and a few of our members (it seems to me) got more active in the forums because of the server. Open it up, let them come, and if we have to eat a couple vandalisms, so be it.

[ThunderPeel2001]

In case everyone hasn't already seen it, Killstar's fortress of solitude is incredible! And right next to it is an awesome Colosseum! They're the best things I've seen on our map so far... I don't know how you make such perfect circles!

[a purple future]

probably graph paper or something along those lines. jennoa said that he sketches his out first. trying to freehand something like that is a recipe for disaster/disappointment