The intent and purpose of the dereliction system, per its design, is to clear space from inactive users to make room for new members. Originally 10 days (IIRC), now 30 days, it gave players plenty of time to log on and avoid inactivity. However, we are beyond that point in both EMC's popularity and Minecraft's popularity.
The days of rapid growth for both EMC and Minecraft, in general, are long gone. Even during the resurgence of popularity for the game in late 2019 and during the pandemic, it never reached the heights it once did. EMC should understand this.
The move from SMP-specific global chat to server-wide global chat (and the far previous change that allowed community chat to be viewed while in the frontier) mitigated the desolated feeling EMC began to grow as overall activity declined.
I can't imagine this will be that controversial, but EMC should have shifted its primary focus from gaining new players to maintaining dedicated players years ago. Part of this includes a re-evaluated of the extremely outdated and meaningless dereliction system.
When I returned to EMC in 2017, I found residences that had been derelict for years. Still not wiped by new players, or claimed by old. Five years ago the server already had more "available" residences than active or new players claiming them.
This has only grown more visible as the years have gone by. Dereliction is no longer a NECESSARY factor in freeing space for new players. In fact, you could give every player a free second residence and I'm sure there'd still be plenty left over. Dereliction's only purpose is for established players to re-purpose a given residence.
Whether that's clearing space for an ambitious build, securing a strategic residence (e.g. spawn residence for economic prosperity), or deleting someone's collection to boost a given market. It's meaningless.
Dereliction only destroys. It destroys the creativity players express, the passion players manifest, the time players dedicate, the security players perceive, the trust players build, and perhaps most painfully, the community players feel alienated from. That's what EMC is all about right? Community? That's why this server has thrived and succeeded where others alike failed. So, what are we doing here?
The dereliction system is poisonous and has been used by many, surely many reading this. Just because you have used it does not mean you need to defend it. I'm no different. I used the dereliction system to force claim my 4x4 area of residences on SMP9 when I returned in 2017.
I used it again in 2020 to expand my parkour residences to SMP1, SMP3, and SMP5. In doing so, I made a long-time player quit. That is horrible. There is no justification, ethically or systemically, for that.
All of the problems with the dereliction system did not become tangible to me until my own residences were force-claimed. It felt terrible. Just because I wasn't active didn't mean I lost the passion for my builds or my love for the server... but what could I do? It was utterly disheartening and discouraging.
To be honest, it's a large part of why I left the Stream Team. Whether malicious or not, my residences being force-claimed destroyed my drive to play EMC, just as I had done to another player when I force-claimed their residence.
This goes beyond these examples though. It happens all the time. Players may not be as verbal about it, but residences are force-claimed and formerly dedicated players quit. Over and over again. That's all that happens and that's all that will happen until EMC's town is reduced to the flat world it began as. Forget about your history, it's gone now. Forget about your memories, they're going away.
So, what can change? I would argue the dereliction system should be deleted entirely. Unless Minecraft suddenly has a surge in popularity that extends beyond what we saw in 2019/2020, there's no longer a point. If not that, then the inactivity should be drastically increased from 30 days to nothing less than 365 days. If people are THAT dedicated to keeping the dereliction system around, all I ask is why?
agreed. let's rennovate old system. i was made a thread about "remove deleict policy" feedback because it can cause old ppl to leave server (due they dont want to dedicate to emc anymore if they hear their plot can be wiped)
minecraft's history, or emc itself has declined down. Ik minecraft was reached it's peak in 2015-2016, and this also applied to emc as well, where some old nosglatic ppl told me that back then emc was very active, but now it's downhill because some old ppl left, while new player just dont want to play server.
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