TheRandomnatrix

I'm going to have to agree with Torn on this one. Calling it S/Survival even after radical change is going to weigh us down. I get what you're saying about focusing on the concept itself first, but we can't let the old S identity(which is clearly a lost cause at this point) hurt efforts for an essentially new style of gameplay. I would be satisfied if we actually killed S and replaced it with a new server starting at rev 1 as was proposed.

I think CTF is pretty universally agreed on as a great event for the donation drive, and I don't see much reason to change that. I'm worried about our ability to reach that goal. I don't have the exact numbers, but don't we usually run on average of 2-3k per drive? I'm thinking some time in spring. Maybe March or April. That should give us a good amount of time to get prepared. I'm willing to help with getting the map set up(as I've done for the last couple of drives). I agree that getting this thing going ASAP is a good idea.

Reminder that this is a changelog. A lengthy debate here may not be prudent as it will be deleted later.

Do you have any ideas for future iterations of brom? What kind of process, if any, do you use for designing your builds? What are some of your favorite experiences/memories/builds from PvE? How'd you first find out about nerd, and what led to you joining brom? Was Shady Oaks ever OSHA compliant? Would you rather fight a Dumbo sized thrawn, or a thrawn sized Dumbo?

I think the issue in the past with the steam mcpublic group was that most of the people running it were old players who weren't even around on nerd anymore. It made things more complicated than it needed to be to set up an event, and led to the other group being made. The only issue now is just deciding who to ask for setting an event up, which seems to likely be moderators who've been added to the steam group. People just need to start using it now. I like Den's idea for originally having gaming events on our forum calender as well. There's also been discussion for potentially allowing us to point to other servers not officially part of nerd, like for example the TTT server mentioned. There'd have to be guidelines in place for that in order to have a listing, but I think it's a good idea. I think it'd be more cost effective than nerd hosting its own servers for games all the time since unpopular games would 'die out' so to speak. That's more of a decision for the heads/techs to make though. That said, I play a lot of Planetside 2 on the weekends, which is F2P. People are welcome to join me. I run NC(freedom, fuck yea!) on Connery, but could make another character if need be.

Based on the wording, looks like poly regions will work, but won't interface with the plugin for limiting to regions and would be discouraged.

Thanks for the heads up. Cave mapping would be treated as xray in any case. We found the player locator, while a bit sketchy, would ultimately be fine on P since we allow player radar and it wouldn't give a very significant advantage. Someone created a 'pve friendly' fork of zyin's a bit ago that only had horse stats. I didn't include it on the list since it was basically a subset of zyin's and was not officially affiliated with the base mod. Link to the thread

These updates are effective immediately /mute operates as a blacklist, preventing the use of global chat, /me, and clanchat commands Reminder on use of /mute: should be a second or third level response to chat violation after warnings (usually via a message or /mail) akin to a ban for repeatedly breaking the same rule. When a player dies due to a teleport out of being stuck and it is clearly unnatural, should tp them back to the death point. When tp’ing players to you for any reason, try to make sure it is a safe location - i.e. don’t set them next to lava, or a dangerous fall, or hostile mobs whenever possible. If you are not sure, ask other moderators for a second opinion, keeping in mind it could be a time-sensitive issue (items despawning). Topics should be asked to be dropped or moved to clanchat in response to disruptiveness or hostility, not solely because they are personally annoying to a staff member or player. To avoid any allegations of bias or privilege, staff members are no longer permitted to protect their own builds or handle their own grief. You are now required to modreq for protection for your builds or file a grief modreq, and another moderator will have to handle it. You are still allowed to do your own flow reqs, however you are highly encouraged to make an attempt at handling other modreqs before flowing your own.

List of Approved Mods and Macros: All client modifications on this list are allowed on PvE. This list may be updated over time to accommodate changes. Certain features or aspects of mods may not be allowed however, and will be noted below. If you have any questions /concerns about client modifications or certain features and whether or not they’re allowed feel free to contact a PvE Admin: Waypoint/Minimap Mods: Player radar is allowed in all cases. Mob radar is not. Cave mapping is treated as xray and is bannable. Rei’s Minimap Journeymap Zan’s Minimap Schematica: Print function feature has been disabled via server configs. Optifine WE CUI Watson Purely Cosmetic Mods: Shaders Cape mods Player Model Changing Mods GammaBright InventoryTweaks ArmorStatusHUD StatusEffectHUD Monster Spawn Highlighter Zyin’s HUD bUpload TabbyChat Macro/Keybind Mod: Since it is difficult to come up with a comprehensive list of macros/scripts, these are some general guidelines and examples for what is/isn’t allowed in terms of automation. If you are unsure what constitutes an allowed macro or script, contact a PAdmin. using a macro to perform a single command is allowed using a macro to announce a spleef countdown is allowed using a script to repeatedly punch (at a humanly possible rate) at a grinder would be allowed using a script to punch and move forward would be allowed using a script to punch and move around (eg. at the End grinder moving up and down the row of Endermen) would not be allowed using a script to move the player and replant a field with crops would not be allowed movement other than that in a straight line with a script would not be allowed autocrafting is not allowed anything that does more than invtweaks/mojang shift-double-click inventory mechanics is not allowed

Hit the nail on the head jchance. I've always been an advocate for WE on C. This might sound harsh, but as a player, I have zero reason to come on C. On a private server I have tons of space and can use WorldEdit freely to make whatever I want, which I need to be able to do if I'm designing something. It used to be where C had the advantage of being a public venue to be able to prototype a build so others could copy it for projects on PvE and Survival. With the advent of schematica now days people can just skip the middle man entirely. I feel the desire to build things by hand in creative is a small niche that doesn't represent the majority of people these days. I can't comment too much on the technical issues, but I believe async WorldEdit is very server friendly with many options for performance such as limiting operations per second and number of blocks changed per command. IIRC, WorldEdit can also be configured to work with Logblock(correct me if I'm wrong). The other issues do seem like hurdles that need to be addressed somehow. Overall, adding WorldEdit to C I feel would be a step in the right direction. But I'm just a silly PvEer and I'll defer to the techs and CAdmins' opinions :P

That does sound interesting. I'm curious how you would account for past bans/severity though. For example, if a player who's been banned 10 times in the past gets banned for homophobia and gets immediately unbanned this way, I can see it being an issue.

In the interest of keeping things private between the PAdmins I won't share them at this time, however I prepared a lorem ipsum version of the PAdmin log, and an example of the voting log. I hope they serve to illustrate what's happening.

FYI, I decided to hold off the post for hopefully only a few days longer in order to make sure our stance on automation is hammered out beforehand, rather than making a post and editing it or making a second post just for automation. I should have mentioned that earlier :S

Then don't say it is... I have been at the end of this glitch as well as seeing it happen to others. It's not the moderator's fault. Even if you somehow escaped the block you'd have massive amounts of accumulated fall damage. In the past I usually tp the player back, since it's verifiable that it's their stuff and the staff is a witness to the bug in question. However, I do respect how others could see it as stretching moderator powers, since we usually don't refund items lost to server issues, refunding in this case being teleporting them back. As scher said, the padmins can discuss this and eventually get a decision on it.

This is more of an informative post rather than a discussion, in response to one of the questions MrLoud posted on the general meetings for how to speed up the process of staff duties. Basically what the PAdmins have recently started trying out is logging every individual encounter we have on the servers that asks questions of policy or server management, and sort them by date. This all goes onto a google docs that we can all access. For example, if a player brings up concerns over how land claims are handled, we log the general gist of the discussion between that player and the points brought up, then we all comment on how we feel it should be handled below the log entry. Our comments are all color coded per individual to allow easy distinction. Then, we have a second voting speadsheet where we list every topic we feel needs to be voted on. Each admin colors the cell background under their name for a particular topic, usually either green or red(yes/no) to represent a vote. Additional info is added via notes appended to that cell to further elaborate. This allows us to quickly gain understanding on how everyone feels on a topic in order to reach consensus and decide what to do. We have a cell on the end of each row for the final decision taken and a link to a public announcement of that decision, if any. We further combine this with discussion ingame and on mumble to help iron out ideas. Ultimately, this both speeds up the process of deciding policy changes as well as keeping everything organized and logged for future reference. We've already been using it to great effect, and I thought it'd be a good idea to share this process with the other admins should they choose to use something similar.

A bit of a tough question to answer. I do feel ultimately that we need to expand beyond our current 3 servers, be that more minecraft servers, or (a bit off topic) other game servers orbiting the mcpublic community. In the interest of staying on topic I'll only address modded/minigame servers, though I feel the latter should also be addressed eventually. In the past I've said no to both for various reasons, though I'm reconsidering. Minigames: Reluctantly, yes, but we'd have to have a lot of them. Like, a lot. Minigames have the problem of getting stale very quickly. Most large network servers I've seen these days include unlockables to artificially increase game play time by promoting grinding. This often leads to a slippery slope of "VIP for double points" crap that we'd need to be very careful not to let happen. They also require a large number of players somewhere in the hundreds to stay interesting, which I'm not sure we even have those numbers atm to be honest. We'd most likely have to have people writing up new minigames to keep things interesting, which is fine if volunteers want to do that, but I'm against dividing up the techs' time even more on something not high up on the priority list. As I've said in the past as well, minigames tend to attract casual no-strings-attached players who just come on to mess around and not be committed members of the community, which I feel isn't what we should be primarily catering to. If it fails it'd just become another server slot that would die out quickly and we'd be stuck with for a while. Though if it's successful we could use it to rope new players into being members of the other servers. Modded: Depends on how modded. If you're talking plugin based stuff like MineZ, Factions, or some other type that basically uses vanilla as a base but changes it into something else to radically affect gameplay, then yes. I feel like it would need to be something fun, fleshed out, and completely unique to nerd however. Stuff like that would make us stand out among the hundreds of "Minigames Factions PvP Explosions" servers currently all over, and we could potentially use it to advertise if it gains traction(could even sneak it in as a /r/minecraft post when it first comes out for an initial burst of players along with advertising if we're smart about how we word it). I frequently visit large server networks for inspiration and most of them have that one game type everyone comes to that network to play, with the rest being just to keep people busy. If we could come up with something incredibly fun and immersive, then have dedicated people to make and maintain the plugins to run it, then I would support it. I have my concerns that it might split our community up a bit more, but I think ultimately it would be fine. As for stuff like FTB/Tekkit, then no. Most of the modpacks are very intensive, with even small amounts of players causing strain to a server. There are most likely some modpacks out there intended to be more server friendly, but that brings me to my second point. That being that we would need to train staff specifically for dealing with modded gameplay, which is very difficult and further divides up our staff. Moderation would be difficult because these staff would have to deal with issues other staff that are unfamiliar with the mods would not understand. A rough example would be banning some player for building some laser which turned all of another player's magic trees into dragons. This would appear nonsensical to anyone unfamiliar with the mods, and would be tough to address if another staff member(for example a head) was needed. Third, modpacks tend to be unstable in most cases, with potentially server/client crashing bugs all around that would need to be micromanaged by staff. These mods are also changing all the time as they get updated, which leads to compatibility issues as we try to keep everything up to date. Finally, it would require a special launcher to use, which I feel increases the barrier of entry even more since you'd need to switch launchers to switch between the servers. I feel all of that adds up to being too much work to create and maintain, and would further alienate sections of our community from each other.

Ah sorry. Missed it. We'll discuss it and get back to you.

Added TabbyChat. Unless anyone has any objections I intend to roll out this list a week from today(September 23)

That's basically what the PAdmins intend to do. We'll ask players to bring forth mods that they're unsure of, then as a group evaluate them on a case-by-case basis before deciding whether to add it to the list. It can't hurt to include things like this, though I agree there are many mods that change things graphically and I was trying to cover them with a blanket ruling. I can include them all under a subcategory listing of cosmetic-only mods to be more specific.

Please note this is only a draft and does not represent an official release I figure if I don’t do it it’s just going to sit around, since that already happened once. I also see little reason to keep this discussion private to the Admins. I’ll link to the mods that aren’t incredibly popular/well known as well as adding a description for each. I tried to make this list as comprehensible as possible, but if something isn’t on there then please list it along with a description and a link to the webpage. If you feel a mod should not be allowed, please state your reasoning. The ultimate decision to remove/keep mods is left up to the PAdmins. List of Approved Mods: Rei’s Minimap: Provides a minimap function in the corner of your screen along with coordinates. Allows for setting waypoints and an automated death point system. Player Radar is enabled for it, but mob radar is not. Journeymap: Acts like Rei’s I believe but allows for map stitching to record information on where you’ve been before. [LINK] Zan’s Minimap: Same as Rei’s except it includes cave mapping and mob radar which players have confirmed works currently. We should find a way to disable that feature if possible server-side, as I feel it is cheaty and we have few ways of tracking it. Cave mapping falls under the no xray rule. [LINK] Optifine: Allows players to fine tweak game settings to improve performance. Nothing game breaking, however there was once a feature that allowed players to see through lava, which I believe has been removed. That was treated as xray. Most of the additional features(such as zooming in) are graphical only. Schematica: Displays holograms of .schematic files to aid in building. Includes function to download sections of the map. This seems to be fine so long as it is not used for xray. Print function feature has been disabled via server configs. [LINK] WE CUI: Displays WorldEdit selections. Is only useful to staff anyways as players can’t make selections. Watson: Shows LogBlock history in a graphical format. Useful for grief and xray detection. Only useful for staff as players have little use for it, though I have noted several players installing it. EDIT. As others have pointed out, it also has a built in chat highlighting feature which players use it for. Either way, it should be harmless. Shaders of any kind are approved as they are only graphical. Cape mods of any kind are approved as they are only graphical. GammaBright: Shows the game as if everything was lit up perfectly(eg night vision). Has no impact on gameplay and is only graphical.[LINK] InventoryTweaks: Allows players to quickly organize inventories and chests. This is allowed on PvE but not Survival. [LINK] ArmorStatusHUD: Shows information about tools and armor durability. Nothing that can’t be found using minecraft’s f3+h debug feature. If that is ever disabled in the future, this mod should maybe be readdressed. StatusEffectHUD: Shows status effects in the HUD. Same information is displayed in player’s inventory screen, so it’s fine. MonsterSpawnHighlighter: This mod shows if a block is capable of spawning certain mobs, and indicates it graphically around a player. It isn’t game breaking as it only allows players to place torches/lighting in an optimal way to prevent spawning. I’d consider leaving it in, though that is of course up for debate. [LINK] Zyin’s HUD: This one I’m unfamiliar with, but it seems to allow for a lot of information. Players primarily use it for checking horse stats. There’s some other stuff in there too that seems a bit sketchy, like eating instantly/throwing enderpearls using a keybind, but I think that NoCheat would take notice of that. It also has a player located+health indicator, which is also not something I like, but shouldn’t be an issue on P. I think this one may ultimately fall under the “too popular to remove” thing that Rei’s falls under. [LINK] bUpload: Automatically uploads screenshots to imgur. [LINK] TabbyChat: Divides chat received by the player up into various tabs which can be sorted. Has no effect on gameplay. [LINK] Macro/Keybind Mod: This one I intentionally left at the bottom as macros, autoclickers, and botting are currently under review discussion. However as it stands it is currently allowed on PvE. Autoclicking function of mod is not allowed.

Moving thread to off topic

This would all be self imposed. By joining it you'd agree to the challenges.

This just in: Head admin banned in the past. Are these the people we want running the servers? More at 11.

Cross posted to forums for visibility. Posting just to get an idea of what people's opinions are. Pretty towns with cohesive themes are neat and all, but I think it's also a good idea to get back to the notion of PvE itself. So I'm proposing the idea of a challenge town, where to participate in the town you have to follow certain handicaps, which in turn influence how the town gets made. They can also be combined with the town idea itself for an added challenge. For instance, no enderpearls+floating islands would force people to make bridges all over rather than enderpearling from island to island. They can also be silly thing that add to the town's culture, such as only fish, and impose 'bans' on the importation of anything else. Feel free to take any of these and use them for your town. In fact I encourage it >:D Some ideas I have. I stole a few from /r/minecraft that I've seen over time: You can only travel via minecart. All builds must be within an arm's reach(give or take) of a track. Getting out for a short time to do something is fine so long as you remain close by and get back in. This one would dramatically change how towns are built and designed. Only travel via horses. You're not allowed to get within a a certain distance from your designated horse. Leads are forbidden for use on them. Enderpearls are not allowed. Could use the enderpearl deny flag pending admin approval. Armor is strictly forbidden. Be proud of your nakedness! (small amounts of dyed leather armor are fine) Torches and jackolanterns(which use torches) are not allowed. Filthy plebs and their torches. Could go one step further and do only light by lava or some other crazy light block. All redstone must be powered with a "generator" powered by something. stolen from /r/minecraft(the example used rotten flesh iirc). Might have to tweak it to avoid redstone lag. No enderchests. None of that newfangled "store your stuff in a magic box and pull it out when you need it" mumbo jumbo. Only one water source. Also stolen from /r/minecraft. I think it would be awesome to have an aqueduct system encouraged by only one water source from high up. Only fish(or some other food. Chose fish because it's harder to get). "What the hell is a carrot? Get out of my sight!". This handicap could be temporarily lifted at the start when food is scarce, but implemented later when people get settled in. You may only kill mobs via indirect means. Wolves, punching them off a cliff(the fall kills them not the hit), creepers, skelly arrows, iron golems, and flint and steel are all viable options. When you die you have to log off for a day. Say goodbye to your stuff. This one I'm not sure about, but I think it would make people be more careful about what they do. Maybe only occurs if you die in the town? It would have to be self imposed. Or you could just be unable to get your stuff back, but still be able to play? Everyone can't be in the sunlight for long or you have to set yourself on fire. A silly one, but it would be interesting. Again, would only take effect after a certain time and only within the town. Suggest some more ideas and I'll add them to the list

I think it's pretty well established at this point that making it easier for players to understand the rules is a good idea. My main concern is finding a balance between simplification and understanding, to avoid any issues. And as previously mentioned the full set of rules will be clearly accessible. I don't know about C but people seem pretty good on P about pointing out the rules to people when needed, but leaving the important stuff to the moderators. It should stay that way. I'd like to suggest as a general way of conduct for players that rather than just saying hi to them upon first login(which I'm guilty of as well), people should make sure that new players feel comfortable and help them out by guiding them out of spawn and asking them if they need help getting introduced. I've gone that extra mile a few times and I really think it sets a good example for the servers and improves player retention. I'd like to see that attitude applied to all 3 servers. In regards to banned blocks jchance I get your reasoning for not telling players what they can't do, but I think in general it's useful for players to know what they can and can't place. Some other small side ideas I wanted to bring up along this: /rulebook also links to nerd.nu/rules in chat no matter the cooldown Dropping a rulebook gives you a small reminder in chat about being familiar with the rules(not sure how possible that is) Someone else mentioned this but maybe include some alert messages about various rules such as no xray, and make them stand out a bit better. One server I saw uses the random character to add a little movement to it to make it more noticeable, though I can maybe see that getting annoying if used in excess.