Wow! I didn't realize there were so many. Yeah, PRA once a year won't be a big help. And as you pointed out, will likely upset new players.
While I don't think this is an either-or choice you raise some very valid points about keeping everyone on task and following the guidelines and doing minimal to no harm to intentional structures that happen to look ugly to the non-inhabitants/owners. Trying to identify a "contact point" among 50 people for a change that person was unaware of would be a nightmare, muchless having that person field questions (at best!) about the changes... at worst a lot of people get banned. So perhaps if these were unofficial events, where specific outposts or groups of people with the interest banded together ... ? would that help allay some of your concerns?
Well, I considered to address you but then didn't because I don't want to risk to side-track this thread. But since you raise the question... In all honesty I think that the event you mentioned earlier (this one) is a very good example of how I'd approach this. It's unofficial, you clearly set up rules to follow and I think you know exactly what is at stake here. I quote: And: It almost sounds as if you don't want people to help (we both know better). But honestly, I prefer this approach because you put some heavy emphasis on a very, very, important detail: despite all the good intentions and respectful efforts you still risk balancing on that very delicate line between repairing and griefing. What I like best here is that this approach is bound to make people wonder if they can make those distinctions. Also noteworthy, as demonstrated by EffinBatman: this approach also provides other ways to help with the effort. Best of all, you don't bother staff with this all too much. Which I think is also important because I can't help think that those guys are really busy most of the time. Once again I'd like to stress out that I'm not against WowzeWow's idea here, I really think its a good one. But I just can't help worry about the earlier mentioned side effects. Most of all Wow: don't let comments like mine stop you from sharing ideas like this (I know that a critical comment can be a bit of a downer). Simply put: without any suggestions nothing would change for the better...
Thanks for your support on this. However, Krysyyjane9191 might beg to differ on how much I bothered staff about it, at the get go. I started pinging her with questions well before I posted the guidelines. She was truly amazing in handling my questions and trying to develop these guidelines.
This reminds me. I should add a section to the original post encouraging this sort of contribution. As well, this sort of contribution will help the OPs effort too! Supplying your own materials can be daunting, regardless if the effort is informal (mine) or formal (this one). So back onto the original topic, summarizing comments and thoughts so far as I understand them: Is it a good idea to have an official clean up event? This depends on how well its executed. Assume the guidelines I put in place for my efforts are used for everyone: the rest would depend on how well managed the group is, if the individuals complied with the guidelines and if all participants are responsible and willing to take individual responsibility for their own mistakes, the group kept focused on a specific task (e.g. water-way cleanup one time, taiga the next...etc.) and communication channels clear, I think this would shorten the clean up time dramatically and would end up being great. If, on the other hand the worst case happened, it would be an officially sanctioned grief-fest. I'm pretty sure EMC wants to steer clear of that. My suspicion is that it would fall somewhere in the middle. Hopefully closer to the ideal. As for the PRA that was tossed out as an option... unfortunately that looks more problematic that it does useful.
lol Oh ok, but that's not exactly what I meant. I'm more aiming at those side effects, one of those being the possibility of extra pressure put on staff in case of disagreements, disputes, and so forth.
Oh OK! Yeah my guidelines were meant to minimize that type of interaction for EVERYONE. I'm patiently awaiting a reply on some wickedly fractured landscape to see if I can come up with some generally acceptable guidelines on approaching those. I keep nearly getting killed by mobs in them when I go to look for possible locked chests. Oy!
I like the idea, however: (1) I don't think you will be able to get very many people together to do a clean up. (2) If you do manage to get a bunch together, I don't think they may do a very thorough cleanup. (Maybe one or two blocks deep and just hide the mess until the first creeper exposes it.) (3) I think that you'll have trouble creating a continual effort. Obviously, the wild will revert to what it is if not maintained. (4) If they do come out and the cleanup is decent and continual, I think it will be destroyed fairly quickly by griefers or careless players, and the team will not be able to keep up. The periodic reset idea was a much better idea. Some players will be upset, however: (1) Most people who built something have forgotten about it or don't even play the server anymore. (2) Most people who do build things, are not overly attached to them. If they were, they wouldn't build it near the spawn where lots of players will grief it. (3) Upset can be minimized by staff moving structures on a case by case basis and providing adequate notice when the system is reinstated.
I think you did a good job of summing up the doubtful side of the equation for ad-hoc and formal cleanup events. I also think that those in favor have already clearly conveyed what they believe will work about what they're interested in doing. So the options that I see, that were discussed in this thread and others are: a) Periodic PRA with mod intervention on an as needed basis. Those in favor believe the amount of player upset will be minimal. b) Ad-hoc cleanup by dedicated/inspired/willing members and moderators. (currently happening, albeit slowly) c) A formal event hosted and managed by EMC staff/moderators. d) Turn off mob-griefing to eliminate non-player alterations to the landscape, thereby also eliminating any need or desire to report people who might just be unskilled at playing minecraft. The great part about these options are that none are mutually exclusive. So what should the next steps be? Should we approach Aikar, Krysyy and others about the strong feelings we have about this subject and start a private conversation? Should we add a poll for reinstituting the PRA and another turning off Mob-griefing? Should we do all of the above?
I think mob griefing is an important part of the game. If you do want to have a vote to turn it off, I would include a third option of turning it off only in the PRA.
