A Call to return to the roots of EMC

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by ignoramoose, Jun 12, 2012.

  1. Sorry for the huge read, it just took that much to get my point across. Maybe everyone else disagrees, but this is my 2 cents, and I'd be interested to hear yours.

    It seems like several veteran players, some who I know better than others, have decided to move to another server. Personally, I recently took a month break from minecraft, and thought I would share a few views / lessons. I'm not really sure what use this will have, since the players that have made the choice to leave won't be persuaded by some post of mine for sure, but maybe it will give some insight to new players and promote a different way of thinking.

    I agree the game has shifted to be more about the rupees. Daily people ask how many rupees people have, and people build on their lots strictly for what kind of money they will generate. There’s some interesting economical fluxes going on, with new players scraping by, many hovering around 50k rupees and dozens of players with 200k or more consistently.

    A friend of mine and my month long break brought me to this realization, and what I’d guess is the jist of this post. Why worry about rupees? The wonderful part of minecraft is that you can walk into the wild and literally get any of the resources you need. Why be so concerned about buying what you can mine?

    I feel like before I was constantly worried about my rupees balance. Many players that’s all they talk about. Why does it matter? Minecraft is a game, and it should be about building and having fun. I’ve spent so much of my time renting hotel rooms and restocking shops, and it took the break and my friends comment to make me realize what a waste it is. It felt like work, not fun, getting the materials for the shop, or advertising / setting up rooms in the hotel, just so my rupees balance would go up that notch. Krysyyjane9191 will tell you now that I won’t come near her shop, I don’t have one of my own, and she stands a better chance of getting good help from the cat than me regarding it.

    And I think this is where the “top / veteran” players get burned out. Most of your time online is spent worrying about restocking or managing your rupees balance. Finally, the balance gets high enough that rupees don’t really matter to you, and then you lose interest. It happened to me.

    On top of that, much of the enjoyment of minecraft comes from the work you put into building. Creative mode isn’t as exciting to me (and many other players) because it doesn’t require as much effort to build. Once you’ve hit that upper echelon, the game shifts to creative mode. I put 100 diamond blocks into the floor of my third res, and at 50r per diamond, that’s 45000r. For a majority of the players 45000r is a huge sum, but for many veterans it’s a drop in the barrel.

    So I guess in sum, my hope is that maybe I could inspire players to start building what they would build if they were in single player, and don’t let the rupees balance get in the way of having fun.
  2. I agree, but I'm taking a break from MC/EMC just to spend time on other stuffs, as vacation and family time and such. I'll be back, im not 100% gone!

    It's some kind of battery recharge, yea, ima call it that :)

    ~Ecli
    JabrZer0, _Stads_, IamSaj and 2 others like this.
  3. evry time i mine i get lost
    FlevasGR likes this.
  4. dogs if you are getting lost get rei's minimap.. you'll be happy you did :)
  5. i do i awase get stuck in a pit and cant get out
  6. I can entirely respect that veteran members may lose interest in EMC as they already have a hefty amount of rupees. I'm a fairly new member, but I joined EMC thinking it was primarily an economy-based server. However, over time I found that people's interests varied from establishing shops, creating recreational lots on their residences, and building community creations in the wild. As an EMC shop owner myself, I'll admit that I like to see the amount of rupees I have go up, but more than that, I enjoy providing materials to people for their building projects whether it is for personal use or to build their own shop. By owning a shop, keeping it in stock, and having fair prices, I hope I can gain the respect of the community by being a resource to them. The desire to obtain rupees does not have to be seen as a negative thing. In my case it creates a win-win situation. I love owning a shop and earning rupees, and my customers love a place that is fair and has what they need.
  7. A break does that, and you'll come back with new ideas and methods!

    I'm not saying its completely negative, nor does it have to be. The fact is that many players look at this strictly as how successful they are, and people are transfixed on that number. I'm my opinion, it seems like most shops are designed to make money, with the side effect of providing an outlet for people to buy and sell to (I've had one, and now co-own one i suppose [though generally i'm just in there trying to find where my blocks ran off to]). I've only seen a few places that actually take orders and will get you the # of materials you need for your build.
    Eclipsys likes this.
  8. i like rupees
    mogrimoogle likes this.
  9. A like for my new boredom manager! ignoramoose's Boredom management works!
    ignoramoose likes this.
  10. I don't think it's entirely fair to ask a shop owner to both sell a variety of goods as well as be able to supply you with 200 stacks of wool. That's what suppliers are for, which is an entirely different specialty from shop owners. However, I'm not here to argue with you. :) I wish you the best of luck with whatever you choose to do with your departure from EMC!
  11. Oh, I'm not leaving. I just mentioned that a lot of other players are, and that I've taken a break before. I didn't say it was fair, just saying its certain that most shops are in it for the money, not the helping people build what they want.

    Lol, boredom management sounds like a great career! Think of the opportunities to tell people what to do for fun!
  12. Oh, whoops. Disregard that last statement then. :)
  13. In my opinion, the reason people stay (or don't stay) on EMC depends on the person and what they enjoy doing.
    _Stads_ and R0bbieJo like this.
  14. See and I should make a thread about this. Some of the "vets" who left because they claimed it boring and focused on rupees. Called me stupid months ago when I said rupees were pointless.
  15. I can guess who that was. The same person also said that "they wouldn't leave because of the projects they ran" and then they left because their projects failed.
  16. Don't worry, this effect is with literally all video games out there. One example of this is CoD. One can only do so much and own so much until you get burned out or just get tired of doing the same thing knowing that no matter what - they're going to win. Like me, I got tired and quit for a while. But I came back. Why? I sat and thought, man, slapping noobs with a AC-130 is FUN but it gets boring. So I think people should just to stop and think about stuff instead of just playing the game. I believe EMC is the same and that is why most vets are leaving in search for as I quote: "fresh meat" to play and have a great experinece on. Lesson learned: have fun, take breaks, and just do what you want to do.
  17. I think burnout is inevitable - with any game.

    I don't think your concern - that rupees ruin it - is valid. In many games, it's about "making money" - or xp, or gold, or whatever.

    To me, the economy here is *fascinating*. It's a game; it's fun. Making "rupees" or any other 'score' is part of the challenge.

    I've met many lovely people here <and some ****'s, but that's another story> and, the best of 'em, would do their utmost to sell me stuff for as-much-as-I-might-pay. But if I fall in lava, they'll throw diamond picks at me.

    Rupees is just part of the game here.
    IamSaj and AlexChance like this.
  18. I never said that rupees ruin it (see above), and I completely believe in the economy and love the system. What I said is that the focus on rupees is why someone gets burned out. You use the example of other games. Once you get level 60 in diablo 3 (xp), or build your dream house in the sims (money), that's when the game becomes a new choice of whether to continue on playing. If you love the game, you will, but many players get to a point and stop.

    Minecraft gives you the opportunity to build something new and exciting, and once a project is finished (or in my case beforehand) you can jump to a new one. The economy system is awesome. I personally love the fact that it sets up a safe trading system, and keeps the barrier to entry for new players low. And easy to setup wool farm can be much more profitable than an mining expedition.

    And if you're prices are good, I'd fill your chests too :) The fact is, that its not my primary concern.

    This isn't meant to be a broad overarching statement that every player should follow. If your goal is to break 10 million rupees then go for it! More power to you. I just feel like once you have 200k, you can buy anything at the drop of the hat, and the idea of earning 5k rupees doesn't feel as exciting. I guess I'm more saying, do what you really love to do in minecraft, and don't worry about how rich you are compared to anyone else.
  19. minecraft takes a long time to get boring