So I just got finished reading all the 2011 end of year surveys. The turnout was amazing, we had over 200 participants. The majority of the feedback was very positive but we also got more than enough ideas to keep us busy for months! I will compile a more detailed list later (takes awhile to sift through so many of them) but here are the most popular requests/ideas: Server moderation A lot of players feel that the servers could be moderated a bit more, and that we should have an easier way to report offenders. This is probably the biggest challenge we face as we continue to grow. I believe that the best way to do this is to put more power into the communities hands. I have been working hard on some big updates to provide this. It will include an in-game reporting system but I will post more details on this later. Just know that we understand this concern and are tackling it head on. Fancy tools for residences Many people want the ability to remove all dirt from their residence. Others suggested it would be nice to be able to turn all the dirt in their residence into water. I think these are great ideas, but I also think that it should cost rupees to do so. This is something we will be implementing soon Reset of the wilderness more often The areas outside the spawns get destroyed fast. This is because of both creepers and people strip mining as close to safety as possible. Recently I added a "periodic reset area" around each protected spawn. You can see this area in yellow on the live map. I have also been developing a plugin to reset just that area. Unfortunately progress was set back with the 1.1 update, however I have almost completed it. Once this is complete we will be resetting these zones every 1-2 weeks. This was the middle ground to solve the issue, it is not resetting the entire world but does provide repair of the most damaged areas. Cross-server XP Currently your XP is only available on the server you earn it on. Many would like the ability to take XP with them between servers. This will be implemented soon. Less lag Yes everyone has lag from time to time in MC. It is impossible to make a server perfect but we are sure going to try. I am constantly improving the EMC platform to run as fast as possible. Additionally I am working with an outside hosting company to try and provide server setups that are more optimized for MC (less cores but faster CPU's rather than most modern servers that have many cores and lower speed per core). I have also been talking with a few Java experts for advice on squeezing every drop of performance we can out of MC. More servers During peak times (evening US and weekends) we are maxing out all 4 smp servers at 60 players. We are for sure ready to start adding some more servers. First I want to make sure we address the moderation concerns, new servers would be junk if they fell into anarchy. Second there are some technical limitations to the current platform that I am fixing so that we can expand further. Keep in mind that our expansion is made possible by all the wonderful supporters, if you want to help the Empire expand consider becoming a supporter. Multiple teleport points in residences Currently you can set the teleport spot in a residence but it is only one point for /v and /home. Many have requested that we add the ability to somehow implement multiple points. I will start another conversation on this soon so we can figure out the best way to go about it! Purchasing rupees This is for sure a touchy subject and has come up a few times over the past 6 months. Many players have requested the ability to purchase additional rupees, proving additional financial support to Empire Minecraft. But there are also many players that feel that this would hurt our economy. I am starting to lean towards this being a good idea. Some make the argument that this would ruin the survival aspect of the game. This could be true for the person buying rupees, but not for everyone. The great thing about Empire Minecraft, and MC in general, is that you can play it how you want. Currently some people don't even leave Town and just barter trade and sell to build and thrive. We also have some Diamond supporters that don't even spend rupees at all and live in the wilderness. The point is that it is your choice how you play on EMC. If someone wants to buy rupees instead of going on an adventure for something then it only effects them. The truth is that you can currently purchase additional rupees. All you have to do is but the game again (getting a new account) and make that account a supporter. Using this method is expensive but it allows anyone to buy as many rupees as they want. I am not going to lie the extra supporter selling rupees would bring could really help the Empire out. I am not saying we are for sure doing this, just stating many people continue to request it and that there is opposition.
Yeah the amount of detailed feedback we got from everyone was very pleasing, we have an AWESOME community.
Couldn't agree more! I think the only points I don't 100% agree with are the removing dirt on your res and buying rupees. That's just me though.
All good ideas. Really like adding water to yur res, as I may become gold and get another res and make the first( that I know of) EMC WATERPARK!
I don't have anything against it really. I'm just old fashioned and feel that if you want it done, grab a shovel!
I really like the fancy tool/easy dirt removal suggestion. I had never though about it, but I'm just learning how big a feat digging out some of my 120x120 lot is.... the time i spend digging is time I could be spending building xD Like barks said, all of these points are great. I'm glad we have such an open community.
I like all this! I do think the removing dirt should be expensive, but it would be nice. Also, if people want to buy rupees instead of supporting, I don't see the realy difference except supporters get more over time and perks while people buying rupees will only get some instant cash.
I couldn't agree more, Justin, would you like me to start the thread on res tp's. I made a very sound suggestion a while back and I could bring it up again. I have no problem with doing so
YAY!!! All the things I ever wished!! -Fancy tools for residences -Cross-server XP -More servers -Multiple teleport points in residences -Purchasing rupees Justin can read mind for sure.
selling rupees sounds a little frightening, not sure how it will actually turn out (I think the concept is sound). In my opinion, so long as players aren't allowed to sell rupees, i don't really care about people buying them to support the server. the other stuff sounds great
AMAZING!! I was ready to kill the neighbors when I tried to dig out my residence of dirt... It is an expensive feat without paying for a fancy tool... Believe me... It took me weeks, with help, to dig out the Glass Shelf... Imagine trying to do the full 60x60 or even worse the 120x120 OMGWTFSMH!!! The idea to purchase rupees with cash sounds good to me. It will not have a negative effect on survival, because as you said others stay in town and barter while others spend nothing and thrive in the Wilderness... It is a matter of personal play style. The only detriment would be to sell rupees to EMC for cash which I know would never happen. Everything else has been touched on plenty before.
I couldn't have said it better myself.... This is WHY I never played SMP until EMC... I followed my younger brother to a SMP server when I got MC 1.7.3 :-/ I was miserable... Brand new to crafting and mining but yet everyone is just spawn camping with arrows, diamond EVERYTHING and find it hysterical to murder the new guy... I put in a whole 5 minutes and quit SMP until end of October..
Finally not just me thinks there should be more Mods on the server (SMP2 in particular I have seen too many accounts for me to be bothered to report what makes the in-game report thing sound Great ) And I hope the purchasing rupees goes well. (note to a Admin) Also could you make a log entry of mods on each server because in the UK I only see like one Mod when I do /p.... and that's usually Crazy1080 on SMP3-4 (Then again they have the new people who didnt read the rules and scam each other )But still I feel like we do need more Mods on in the GMT zone :/
The only problem I, personally, would have with the rupee purchasing would be the inflation it would cause. Diamond supporters get a fairly large amount of rupees every day as it is. 1,300r everyday for one month (in this case, 30 days) adds up to 39000r for USD$20 a month. So, by that logic, I would assume that you would sell 80000r for somewhere in the neighborhood of $40. Now that's awesome! EMC would definitely be getting more money as more people would want so much rupees for so cheap. But you can see how this would become an issue. If the average diamond on SMP1 is say, 50r, then people who have bought 80k rupees would be able to buy tons of diamonds. Too many. Naturally, the price on diamonds would go up as the demand would certainly skyrocket. Suddenly, in order for shop-keepers to feel like selling diamonds is worth it, they need to jack up their prices. If they feel like the time spent searching for diamonds isn't worth the money they would make, they would stop going to look for them. You're right; purchasing rupees would do little to damage to the group of people who prefer to spend their time in the wilderness, and it doesn't really threaten the survival aspect of the server, but the group of people who prefer to play in the economy would certainly be affected. There are plenty of free players who can keep up with the diamond supporters now in terms of rupees (albeit, they have to try a bit harder.) But the majority of the players on EMC are free-players (simply because that's how things always work on a semi-free-to-play server), and a large part of this group prefer to play pure economy. A large group of players would be left behind economically; they wouldn't be able to keep up with the power-house rupee purchasers. This DOES really encourage people to donate, but MAY discourage new players from delving into business; thus reducing the incentives for anyone to use rupees and therefore discouraging purchasing them in the long run.
