Yes, but that might not be the best word for it. A delay of sorts might be better. Specific details on everything of course won't be announced until release (mainly because Aikar is still tweaking some of those). I know there has been concerns with some past updates that they were not sufficiently pre-tested. We have already begun testing, and I can't imagine any slip-through problems would be significant on top of that.
I'm not trying to be an ass, but why can't we just have wild protection without having to jump through some hoops, do the macarena and fart the national anthem to earn some token things in order to buy it? We have been promised wild protection for almost 2 years with Dragon Tombs and originally we had to get a magical egg, now we have to get tokens? People have been getting griefed non stop and having to physically repair the damage themselves, no way visually shown where your outpost limits are so others don't invade them (ran into this issue with a rather rude person on 6) and if you build a wall it becomes super obvious. People have been asking for this and now in order to get it we have to do other stuff we might not even care to do. It's getting to be a pain and we don't even have the tombs to even get the stuff yet.
Not really, though they have rolls in the community how many of them actually go out in the wild hunt, mine, play, ect... then go back to their res, build their homes/creations and participate in events. Yes they hold events but they never really play in them like regular community members do. They dont have to live/play with the things they design/create. Fact of the matter is they're not normal players in the emc community.....
Majority of the staff actually do all the things you listed that makes them regular players. A small hand full of us like myself focus more community helping / conversation / events. However everyone, including myself, started out by doing the exact things mentioned. So, that being said, we all have experience on the 'player' side and most of staff being as active as any other.
When I say community im talking about the people that play in emc, and a mod or what ever just oversees everything think of it like the President of the United States/or those law making people congress what ever (i hate history and government class, sue me), and the citizens of america. Im a citizens of America but i dont do crap (cept go to college) I could care less about voting and being part of America/my community. But i don't like the government that doesn't live a life like mine telling me whats good for me or not. Since they have no idea how a typical citizen lives, because frankly we all know they get millions and do whatever they want.... It would be like congress saying they were banning youtube because we didn't need it. Yet a typical america uses Youtube to listen to music, look up class lectures, cooking help, ect.... Congress member can just hire a maid to cook for them.... Its kinda hard to get what im saying here......
I believe you're trying to say: That staff start getting a feeling of freedom and more say in what goes on ... and think they know what updates/events are best for people as a whole - and try to release them based on what they think is best for everyone - instead of asking individuals and getting the different ideas and preferences?
Im going to take this from somewhere else: So from this, it looks like someone on a different difficulty than you wont interfere with your level at all.
*off topic smooch is off topic* Rolls. While I understand completely the reasoning behind this statement, one thing that must be remembered; We could take ANY idea someone comes up with, and try our best to recreate it. It still may not turn out the way they were wanting. And, the same reasoning above could be applied to every suggestion ever made. Not everything, is for everyone. Do we take missteps? Of course, it would be silly to think that every thing made was made perfectly, and that majority of the community would enjoy it. Billions of dollars a year are spent by major corporations to find what people would want. Even with their budget and manpower, you still get products, and companies that flop, because of one idea they thought would be popular, and was not. We dont have that budget. We dont have that manpower. I personally feel like EMC does lack in the area of dealing more direct with its players about the general opinion, and how we handle them when we do get them. I also know that we try to find where the appropriate area for this to be. We take suggestions, and I know they are discussed and considered as they come up. But, when we say 'We are using this suggestion!' and then turn around and say 'We didnt use this one', no matter how mature a person may be, it is usually demotivating. Fact of the matter is, not all ideas are good ones. Not even ours. BUT, my personal belief... an idea untested, was never given a fair chance. On paper, things may look impractical, or over complicated, but you cant know... until it is there, until it is tested. Maybe things COULD and SHOULD be simplified... but, I would see it more productive to share a better way of execution as a suggestion, than simply assuming it will not be a popular idea, because of text you have read. I am not directing anything towards anyone here, and honestly.. I have kinda forgotten my true point and wandered off to SmoochLand somewhere. But I hope whatever main idea I was attempting to convey.. made itself apparent.
When I talked to Brit on Skype, she was frustrated because: One thing she touched on was how Staff don't go out and try to live in the wild etc. And It made me think. If you want to get technical, Staff are part of the community but they're not exactly equal. Before some of you argue, let me " 'splain somthin' to you". I remember reading on the Staff Application that Staff aren't allowed to be in Wild Outposts and "Clubs". So while 100K+ people are able to go out here and create their wild outposts and actually play the game and make their little Venus Squad club things, the Staff aren't supposed to participate in these things and are usually stuck having to ban little jerkwads. Senior staff+ can just W/E in whatever they want, sometimes without even an effort. So while Staff is technically community, they kind of aren't. They're like...I dunno what word to use. Even though you all did have those things in the past, you now have things like W/E, create things like promos and named items, special items, events,the ability to kick and ban, but you can't be part of any of groups and outposts because of Bias, etc. You guys have advantages (though legal) over most of the community.
I laughed to much at this xD I had to type all this up using an Apple Ipod of doom because my computer kept blocking the site saying it was Malware on it (I blame Aikar). I think im good now. I think i wondered off to Smoochland too reading all that, my brain isn't working at the moment but yeah I get what your saying. I think all the mods do a good job (except Chickeneer cuz he never returns any of my things and he acts like hes afraid of me so that just makes me want to harass him even more)
Well, many things changed when I took over development/ownership. As you know, I was a major pioneer of "Living in the wild", one of the first groups to do it. I was the one majorly pushing EMC to support living in the wild. So I do have that experience, that desire to make wild gameplay just as fun as town. I just also have to still balance town improvements too, or town players will feel abandoned. As for the staff thing - I never liked that rule and now that I am the owner I abolished it. It was never enforced, as when I was promoted I told JG/ICC that I have to remain in my group and they were like thats ok... So it was a weird statement that was in the mod app anyways and should never have been. Mods are simply asked to forward issues to another mod if it involves their group. My goal for moderators is for them to remain exactly as a player still. Thats why they don't get any unbalanced powers that they can use to benefit their own gameplay. Sr Staff on the other hand are NOT players. They are asked to not take part of the economy, so they do not upset the balance of things. Sr Staff help us maintain the server and handle policies and events to keep the players entertained. That is why they are allowed to WorldEdit. There is no form of "competition" in Sr Staff/Admin compared to Mods/Players. That is also why there is very rarely any promotions to Sr Staff. ---- Now to answer your question about priority of Wild Claiming. The best way to answer it is that I have a vision for a great EMC. I will not allow EMC to turn into "Another Minecraft Server", that just throws plugins in and gets things done quick and dirty. I envision EMC as that super special place that has a quality, integrated, planned, and well thought out process and system. Where everything unites with each other and feels as one experience. Every other server that has 40+ plugins just has this mess of different systems that don't always work together, different format of signs, different format of features, etc. EMC can not be that. I put so much effort into EMC because it is fun to me to build something awesome, and if we sacrifice that and just throw together quick features, It will kill my motivation and there will be no EMC. I am trying my best to slip in improvements to hold people off in the mean time (IE: The current political land claim system), and we are always improving our logging for moderators to identify griefing. I am just looking at the long term here. Once the system comes, it will be awesome, something to be proud of. EMC is a dying breed of servers, as we focus on the base game, where as the community is pushing more towards mini games. We need SOMETHING that is special about our server, to say we are good at, to rightfully claim we are the best. And by providing that unique, polished experience we have and are continueing to improve, gives us that right. I can not throw away that recognition we have earned just to get a feature out quicker.
In addition to EMC, Aikar is very involved with the spigot development team. Spigot is a super tuned version of minecraft server (in the simplest of terms). Without that base, EMC would be riddled with problems and no hope of resolving them. It can be hard to see in day to day gameplay, but in the background, there is constant testing and enhancements being made. Most don't look like much, but will be required to reach the larger goals/promises that have been made to long time members. Also, the major features that are being developed are not a matter of adding plugins. They are unique concepts that require trial and error and mentally taxing effort. No person can do everything required fast enough to satisfy the standard that Aikar has set for himself, and he risks burnout in his personal life. In addition to working his ass off, Aikar agreed to train 3 additional developers (myself being one of them). The system is so complex that it has taken months for me to build a working model and learn the major ins and outs of maintaining/ controlling it. Training people has slowed development more than Aikar will admit, but it will strenghten him/us in the future. When Mojang dumps the 1.8 update on the minecraft world, EMC will be one of the first to get a stable version in place. Partly because spigot (see description above) is so good that Mojang is now following the progress of that project and taking advantage of some of it's best features. This is HUGE! Not everyone can see it but Aikar is looking out for our interests in the ways that he knows best.
