FCC: the Frontier Clean-up Crew!

Im pretty busy torching up the reset zone for smp7 to keep creepers out but I can help any time you guys need help

Update

Sorry for going silent for a while. That had a few reasons, mostly me getting occupied in work (real life) and then often not really feeling like taking on 'work' in-game. But right now we're planning our next project.

I'll also be going over the applications this week and sort all of those out as well.

Reset perimeters

As you may (or may not) know the Frontier has a periodic reset area. This is an area which can, theoretically, reset from time to time to ensure that things remain looking good (at least that's my assumption). Of course it could also have something to do with reserving room for possible expansion of the outposts. Who knows...

Anyway, we're currently still discussing this amongst ourselves but right now we're most likely going to decide to ignore the whole reset area and continue doing what we do. Even if this means that we may risk building up things which might go poof. It's a calculated risk.

The reason we do this is because we hope that by actively trying to make things look better we might be able to remove the need for those resets entirely. Of course things change when the Staff needs the extra space for "stuff", but we're going to continue trying to make these areas looking nice again.

More to come soon (and soon is within a week or two tops).

What sort of things can we donate?

I'll get back to that later. The most important item is actually the least valuable: dirt. But our own Kytula has already managed to obtain around 30DC's of them! . But as soon as we sorted the whole thing out I'll get back to that.

Ok so hi! i would like to apply for FCC! i have tried patching up as much as i can in the smp1 frontier and wilderness, but i cant do much myself. i have noticed the condition of out wilderness and frontier, and i would like to help out! im not sure if this is how you apply, but please if you see this Shelluser, can we talk in the empire or on here? thanks!

Guess who'll be back for more soon

No, the FCC wasn't intended to be a one-hit wonder. During the Holiday season I had different things on my mind, and it also didn't help that work got a bit rough after which I didn't feel like taking on even more obligations in-game. But... yeah, coming back soon to a ruined Frontier near you.

FCC would like to thank Momentus for his generous donation to our cause

HE'S SO UGLY !!!!! a skunk dislikes him.
HE'S SO UGLY !!!!! Medusa turned to stone.

Hey SHELL!!!!!

1. Is the reset area the red square around the yellow square on the map? You know that you see when you're by a spawn point in the wild?

2. Where can I sign up? I help clean up the frontier, but I totally forgot y'all existed... my b

Its between the yellow square and the red square. The red square marks the protected zone, the yellow square the reset area. Here is a good example / overview.

That is indeed the second part. I'm going to take note of this for now and will get back to you. Thing is: we had several applications last year and.. well, those also need to be addressed. So there's some catching up to do on that.

Just remember that even if there isn't room on the crew. That the frontier still needs people to look after it. Maybe find a small 100x100 block section that needs attention and go from there. I've fixed many a small spots cause they're easier for one person to handle.

Yeah, myself, and I believe EvoxPotos is his name, he has been cleaning up the frontier for a while ... So, I will inform this to him, and still continue to help him along on SMP3 (SMP3 = best SMP)

meg house and i are really attempting to fix up the nether but I believe it is in the worst of shape =P

I have a considerable amount of dirt. Why don't we just have frontier fix parties. Send out a notice ahead of time and then we can get together and fix. They can get a lot of players together to dig holes or chop down trees. Why can't we get a bunch of players together to fix stuff?

That's exactly what we do
I don't know what I can or can't say, but we have something planned. We will actually do something for the first time in forever.

Put the date, time and location on this thread and I will try to be there up to my eyeballs in dirt.

Pester Shell, my job is to blindly obey him.

Not trying to pester anyone, just trying to help.

Don't mind my wording, it's just how I say things. I meant it as go ask him about it, cos I don't know if I can share any of it =P

Maybe I'm too over-analytical or too careful here (just saying) but my problem with that is the outcome. When you turn this into an event you get a bunch of random people together and you don't know what everyone's idea of fixing is. Within the FCC I tried to set up some very strict rules because in the end there's a very thin line between repairing/fixing and griefing.

Example: you see the carcass of a wooden structure. Worse yet: the carcass also blocks the stairs of a sky bridge which has been mostly left in tact. I'm pretty sure that many players will consider that carcass to be a relic from the past which is much better off being removed. Especially if that thing was made out of unprotected blocks. The need of the greater good, it's also much easier.

Yet that is exactly the thing which the FCC tries to avoid. That carcass used to be a player building and as such should be treated as such, one way or the other. Even if that means making things actually harder on yourself.

Another thing is the process of fixing. Right now the FCC has access to 30+ DC's of dirt, and that's for a very good reason. Fixing a broken structure with holes in them is not the same as plastering 3 - 4 layers of dirt on top of a hole and then making it look nice. I'd even argue that this would make things even worse, because as soon as someone tried to dig down they now risk plummeting to their death. And not just in a few specific locations but nearly everywhere. Now: that last argument is a bit flawed because digging down is one of the big no-no's in Minecraft mining anyway, but even so... I like to try and prevent that.

But speaking of which... If there are nice tunnels and such below ground then I'm the nut who will even argue that filling the whole thing up "just like that" could also be a mild form of griefing. What if some players use those underground areas? You basically just sealed their entrance.

But most of all, at the risk of sounding way off... I want to prevent that people come to help only because they're bored and simply want something to do, also because I can't help worry how long it will take to get bored with filling up a hole with a mixture of dirt and stone. Because trust me: sometimes this can become pretty boring and tedious work. It can also be fun, sure, but it's still not the same as FNM or the Big Dig or such where you can simply do as you please.

Once again: I'm well aware that I maybe over analyzing stuff or maybe I'm just a bit overly cautious. But yeah, this is how I personally prefer to operate. With a team of players who I know to understand the ideas and motivations and who will also act on that.

Sometimes it's simply not about having fun, but going that extra mileage while you know that most likely only a handful of people will get to see or realize what you have been doing. But in the end it's still part of a greater work, the restored area.

This. This is very important. When I was restoring a large piece of smp1s wilderness I frequently had staff help to determine if a "carcass" could be removed, I was able to remove some old shacks that were in the area with their help, even tracked down a person or two that still played and had them remove them themselves. I was also able to remove an old griefed bridge and replace it with something much nicer in the same location while keeping the old(also griefed) structures attached to the old bridge intact. Overall even with the old buildings still there the new and functional bridge made everything much nicer and people even started to build around it again.

tldr, don't touch player placed blocks. If you think it's long abandoned ask staff for help, they may be able to help you reach the player if they still play or help you remove the structure if they don't.

I would also like a chance to help, once you've sorted through everyone else that's asked.