EMC Semi-final Election Debate 2019

To begin, I'd like to address the question of whether or not a standard schedule has been helpful to the community as a whole.
In my opinion, the creation of a standardized schedule has undoubtedly helped involvement of the whole community to grow to levels that were previously unseen. In the past, events were spontaneous with little to no warning of when they would occur. As a result of this, many people, especially those in time zones that aren't well represented by staff, were unable to attend and enjoy these events, as the timing just never worked out.
By creating a schedule that is consistent each week, players are able to plan what events they will attend well in advance, permitting them to enjoy their playtime and interact with other players in ways that they were previously unable to.
In addition to this, while some may say that a schedule hurts the uniqueness of each of these events, as they occur every week, I would disagree. Although the premise behind the weekly events remains the same from week to week, the actual events can vary wildly based on who decides to come that week, as well as what surprises the staff have in store. Having attended multiple sessions of events such as mining mania, I have been able to see that each week will bring something new to the table. Additionally, although events are scheduled now, that doesn't mean that new events never happen. The staff have consistently brought new and enjoyable events into the rotation, which has helped increase interest in the events greatly.

So happy i made it to this round!
Anyways Events and contests! some of my personal favorite things one EMC
Well i have been to Nearly every different Event in the Last 3 years and have enjoyed Most of them
Scheduling.... well i have found Weekly Events to Sometimes kind of Sputter out, having the same event (mob arena, Firefloor, etc)
The Regularly Scheduled event that seems to Work the best is Wacky wild Wednesday, it was Weekly, but was different each week,
Having this Event make a Return, And Possibly Adding in a way for players to Vote for the weeks Event would be a Big help,
As for Holiday events(EMC's birthday, Halloween and so on) i believe That giving Players 48 hours heads up would be the best solution, giving Players time to see the announcement and plan for it, while also giving staff time to to Finalize details and make changes if needed

As for Event and award items(oh goodie!)
well as some of you know im very passionate about these but il try to keep my excitement to a minimum
Ok, so il start with events than move to contests,
items given out for particapating in events, i believe these should be prevented from being given to Alts(alternate accounts) to prevent players from bringing 10 accounts to a event to get 10 items just to sell,

As for contest items, for awhile ive thought we should have a Wider varaity of contest that One of a kind items are Given out at, right now its mostly Writing, building and art, while these are great, they kind of exclude in game stuff, (except building)

And since im running out of words! il leave it there

thanks for reading

The current event system suffers from monotony and regularity. I believe that we should enforce the A week B week alternating schedule of events. In addition, I think we need to ensure we have more rewarding prizes that make the time and effort of coming on worth it. I love attending events but sometimes I can’t because other things outweigh the reward.


Promotional and contest reward I feel have been decreasing in value. Point in case an Ore buster which was on the first promos. This was revolutionary for the economy because people could produce many more diamonds. People made thousands off of the ore buster. Now I am not saying every promo should be as important but the earlier promos were very useful while the later ones have decreased in usefulness. I would suggest promos that would really make life easier for people and mix them in with more novel and mundane promo items.


I believe the current event schedule is helpful but that more variety is needed in the essence of Battle Royales, PVP events, EMC Olympics (which I would like to see come back in 2020). I also think more events should be on Satudays and Sundays, doubling up if need be


I believe EMC should invest in economic events, as well as PVP. EMC should invest a lot more time into events, specifically a hunger games or dystpoia style game, hide n seek, and more. There are so many great ideas and I cannot wait to discuss them further!!! (Also more developers).


A Week
Tuesday - Mob Arena
Wednesday - Wacky Wednesday
Thursday - Harvest Day
Friday - Miner Mania


B Week


Sunday - Battle Royale
Tuesday - Jeopardy
Thursday - FireFloor
Friday - Hide n Seek

Saturday - Build Battle, Mob Arena

Responding to Windylava

first thing, Maybe An A B, B A, A B, B A Schedule?
so that people who might only be able to come every other week have a option to go to all the different events,

as well for this, EMC would need more staff to run this, Most could be run by mods, but mods have lives too,
So what im thinking is Jr mods, Or Helpers,

these Jr mods/helpers wouldn't have the ability to mute/ban just report stuff to higher ups,

One of their primary tasks would be to Run Weekly events, another would be to show a staff presence on EMC when other staff aren't around, thus deterring trouble making

On to Custom items, Technichly the ore buster isn't a event or contest item, but i get his point,
we have had alot of Decorative items recently

as i said before im hoping to get soulbound added to this years Labor bench, making it more realistic to use in the wild
another thing people have wanted for awhile is other items like the labor bench, Like an Anvil item

it can be rather difficult to create useful promos, without making them Too over powered
alot of the tools would be alot more Helpful if we added unbreakable to them but this would make Vanilla tools almost useless,

Thus, Promo Repair vouchers, These would be awarded at Weekly Events, giving Players an Extra reason to come to them, these would be single use vouchers, which could be redeemed to restore 1 Custom item to Full Durability,

thanks for reading

I'd like to address this point first. I definitely agree that doing a schedule such as you described is the best method for having reoccurring events. Personally, I know my schedule can vary a lot from week to week, so having a two week window to make events would be quite handy. In addition to this, staff would be able to reuse the same areas from the previous week which would cut down on the amount of preparation that they have to do.

The idea of helpers is certainly an interesting one. Many large servers utilize helper mods to great effect. The primary concern that I foresee happening would be a skewed ratio of regular players to staff. If there are too many staff on at any point, it could lead to some confusion as to who is supposed to be doing what. Personally, I believe that regular players should fill that role instead of creating a new staff position to fill it.

The idea of unbreakable promo items is certainly an interesting one, as like you say it could make vanilla tools obsolete. That being said, it could potentially be balanced by having a very limited number of them released, instead of a full promo release. I do like the idea of promo repair vouchers as it would give players more motivation to come and participate in the special events that are put on by staff.

I do believe that many of the current events now are really fun and rewarding for players. The issue is, of course, variety. In order to change the system these few things should be done:

• The number one thing we can do to bring variety to events is utilizing the already-complete games server and its events and games that are ready to be played.

• In order to promote participation and provide value, I propose an Event Participation Leaderboard. This leaderboard will give out prizes based on both attendance and performance.

• At the end of the month the users with the highest participation and performance scores will be given a prize, this prize is a Mending Voucher. A mending voucher allows a player to put mending on any item they want, one time, even if the item is marked as final. While this is an extremely valuable prize, given that they will only be given away twice a month I believe its value is justified. The possibility of a mending voucher is a way to increase participation, encourage competition, and provide a valuable reward not often found in these events.

Considering promotional and contest award releases I have a few brief but important thoughts:

1. 
   Make promo and contest items more useful. Promo items often suffer from a dilemma, is it worth it to use this item instead of saving and selling it in the future? As Windy stated earlier, an item like the orebuster was extremely useful, but now since its price exceeds it’s utility it is not useful as a pickaxe anymore.
   1. 
      Creating usefulness can be done in three ways
      1. 
         Providing benefits not normally obtainable
      2. 
         Making promos that cannot be destroyed or used up
      3. 
         Making a reason to buy the item other than to just resell
2. 
   Make promo and contest items more unique. Giving items unique properties and adding new features through promos is a great way of making them more valuable as a useable item instead of as an investment.

Both of these properties are seen in items like the magical eggcellant wand.

• 
  It has a benefit that is quantified and not normally obtainable
• 
  It cannot be used up
• 
  It is a unique idea made for emc

EMC should certainly invest more time into events but not in the way you might think. Time should be used to invest in creating new events and executing them, not just hosting more events. Investing time in creating better and new events allows for greater participation and new things for players to experience. Something like my idea of the mending voucher gives another reason for users to participate in events. The question of time goes right along with creating things to be better and newer. The classic idea of this is Quality over quantity. Ask nearly any EMC user and they would rather have a few meaningful, fun, and well thought-out events over a mass of boring events.



I will also add, I think nearly everyone can agree that a standard event calendar has been helpful to the community as it gives a heads-up on event times and dates while remaining flexible for user events as well as spur-of-the-moment events.

As the others have said, specifically Rhino, I think that the importance of having new events is critical. Although every week can turn out different, people that attend every week might begin to get bored after attending for a long period of time. To remedy this, I suggest that some of the current members of teams such as the contribution / stream / build team create a subteam that comes up with new ideas for various events around the Empire. In addition to coming up with their own ideas, this team would be able to poll the players of the server to see what kinds of events that they are interested in, and tailor their event suggestions around these results.
Although this would take members of their respective teams away, I believe that it would be beneficial. If players are able to experience new events that they enjoy and give feedback on, more and more players will begin to come when they are able as the word spreads about how much fun it is. In addition to this, it would take some of the stress of creating new events away from the staff.
Overall, although events are in a relatively good position as they are now, there is some room for improvement. By creating a new team brainstorming new ideas for events and receiving feedback on those ideas, events would be able to appeal to a wider variety of players and provide a change of pace for those players who always come to events.

How would Staff track this? just any player who logged in to that smp during the event? couldn't players just log in and log out in get counted? or even just afk?

while i like the idea, i don't see how this could be done? the only way i see this could be done is a staff member manually taking attendance throughout the entirety of the event, which is very labor intensive and doesnt seem very realistic

This one i totally agree with
the Magical Eggcellent and to a lesser exstend the haunted head, headless horseman mask, Maxarian head, pot of gold, are good examples of this, but sadly require code which makes new items like this harder to make with devs working so hard on 1.13

Sorta Feels like you took my idea changed it a bit, i could be wrong though, you could have planned to say this before i ever did

Although the promo market is at one of the largest states it's ever been, I don't believe it's in the best condition overall. There has been such a massive focus on the hoarding of promos to attempt to make a profit later that people are terrified to use the promos for their intended purposes. When the orebuster was first released, I recall taking it into the nether with me to mine quartz. Ultimately, I ended up falling into a lava pool and dying with it in my inventory, completely losing it. Then, it was just a bit of a setback. It wasn't great, but it wasn't a super bad thing.
Nowadays, the idea of using promo items is completely foreign. Special items are destined to sit in chests gathering dusts, never to see the light of day unless they're auctioned off or brought out to display in a museum.
In my opinion, this is not how they should be used. Promotional items are meant to be used, enjoyed, and treated as a special version of a regular vanilla item, not something that should be treated as sacred.
To help change the current view of promos, ideas such as special vouchers or something similar have been suggested. However, I believe this is too restrictive to members of the community who are able to make it to special events where they would be given out. I suggest implementing a service where players can pay a set price, for example, twice the price that the promo cost in /shopworld, to have the ability to repair the item to full durability. By doing this, it would help alleviate player's fears about using the item as it's intended, while retaining the sort of uniqueness and prestige that a promotional item should have.

Just got home from college. In reference to the points made about I really like the idea of my fellow candidates. I believe that most of the suggestions would be great additions to the Empire.


This brings me to my most important point of the evening. Community dialogue. People's interests change and so should our events and promos. I think we need to have more consistent acknowledgement of our ideas for promos and events more often. As much as this election and debate are good for the community we cannot just use this one event in itself as a way for us to make suggestions.


I cannot express enough that mundane repetition is what causes the boredom to infect the psyche of the player. Player retention is a difficult matter in itself and is at the core of improving events. Many will suggest that a small change will yield a huge change. I disagree. The only core problem is the variety and reward for events. I personally have never been swayed by a leader-boards in my life. I play for fun as many do, but this is only my own preference.


A promo repair voucher is interesting but likely difficult to implement. Idk call me an egalitarian but I think everyone should have the opportunity to get a nice promo not just limit the amount and let the few rich people who have them get to keep them longer.


In addition, I believe that we should have staff supporting the promotion of player events. Players are some of the most creative people and work very hard on their events. Honestly, It is inspiring. I would like to see Staff advertising player events in chat as they do their own and that staff should be encouraged to attend their events.

I also think worrying about the value or power of a promo or reward is part of the problem. I encourage the staff as well as the players to have fun and enjoy their time on EMC. No decision will make everyone happy but making tools that are better than what you can make is part of the essence of a promo. Something you can only get from EMC is what makes them special. I do not think an orebuster is OP. I do want to encourage creativity yet we can do so while making promos useful to miners and regular players and not just collectors. Promos and rewards are limited quantity (if you discount the shop) and they provide a boost not a sustained inflation of productivity.


Rewards are special because you can make them one of a kind. In addition, I follow a consumerism approach to promos and rewards. If consumers feel like they will continue to be able to receive money from a stable reliable source they will be more likely to spend money. The same goes for a player who gets an orebuster, they are practically useless because no one dares use them because people feel they will never be replicated in a similar or more powerful rendition.

Jacob5089 is not wrong which is why I've been preaching it a long time.

A majority of us candidates are in agreement. As I stated in the first post, variety events, useful promos and rewards, as well as new quality events are the most important aspects. But I would like to mention one particular topic I feel has been a forgotten factor in this debate.


We as players have lives outside of EMC. We are busy people who have responsibilities and more. So the question is“why should I come on?” “Why should I stay?” “What is there to do?”


If one wants to truly overhaul the event system we must first ensure that there is a useful, fulfilling, and rewarding system of return on investment. That investment being a players time. Giving meager rewards for someone's valuable time makes it a waste. Creating boredom from repetition and over-saturation of similar events discourages participation. Requiring even more time from players to get a reward such as a leader-board as suggested by one of my fellow candidates is the exact opposite of what we should do.

To truly overhaul the event system we must put the player first.

• 
  Focus on promoting player created events through in game staff advertising and attendance,
• 
  Creating an environment where the dedicated player and the casual player can both be rewarded and that we do not push the casual player away with more “investment.”
  • 
    This could also include forum games that come with rewards for the players who might not be able to be as active.
• 
  PVP based events
  • 
    I think it is a shame that given the climate around Fortnite we have yet to capitalize on a battle royale event.
• 
  Do not be afraid to give the community a powerful promo once in awhile.
  • 
    It helps make it fun for players who can increase their “return on investment.”

I would be interested to know how you would suggest going about creating a system that uses leaderboards that doesn't heavily favor a small group of players. Typically, the most active players are ones that already have the most items with regards to promos and similar things (this isn't a guaranteed thing, just something that I have noticed). Because of this, those players would likely continue to be the most active and continue to get those rewards.
I don't particularly believe that this is fair to players who can't play that often. Why should they lose the opportunity to get that kind of reward simply because they have other obligations in real life that prevent them for playing all the time?
I feel that this kind of system simply promotes playing not for enjoyment, but for the rewards. It seems to take away a lot of the point of enjoying EMC and simply turns it into a competition between players.
With that being said, there's nothing wrong with competition. I simply feel that having a competition-based system to build onto a market that is already competitive in nature isn't the best idea, and would simply lead to a lot of harsh feelings between players and create tension that doesn't need to be there.

I'd like to take the last bit of this post to thank everyone involved for putting this event on. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I look forward to seeing what else happens with it. It's a really fun event with a lot of aspects that haven't been done before

I will say I wrote my posts pretty much all before viewing anyone else's ideas. The only one I actually read through before was windy's so thats why I referenced his point about orebusters. I would say you and I agree that some sort of promo repair voucher is a very powerful and potent item that would be a great reward.

Also to the point of recording users during the event. One way to do so is to, in fact, see who logged in. I also suggest maybe a purchase of a free item for people to check in with. Clearly the results leaderboard would be easier. Another way is to do a survey after events where if you were there the staff member present would say some sort of secret code word that you have to put into the survey. Something you can only get if you attend and are participating in the event. While players could get this word and just disconnect the added bonus of playing for the win and receiving an item that way makes it less likely to just have users dc.

You are quite right, it does make a competition. But isn't that the point of a lot of emc events? Take mob arena for example, nearly everyone's goal is to win. That's why I say a competition leaderboard would be a good idea. I know peoples schedules can be crazy, however, allowing people to recieve a mending voucher or other rewards through long-term contests (art, build, forum puzzles, etc.) allows people who don't always have the time to get on to compete for the same rewards, just not in game.

The events are made for people who want a challenge and some competition, something you don't really get very often in minecraft.

Thanks everyone for listening to my comments and I really hope to get your vote. No matter who wins this phase everyone has the same goal in mind: Making EMC a better place for everyone. I am proud to place myself with all these other candidates and I appreciate everyone for taking their time to read, digest, and decide through this debate.

To everyone reading this, Thank You. All these ideas make me even more passionate and hopeful for the future of EMC.

-Runningrhino

In the words of JFK “Ask not what your country (server) can do for you, but what you can do for your country (server).” EMC will not be revitalized by improving the event system alone. We need to work as a community toward returning to the basics. Making shops, building houses, going to events, making friends, having fun, and forging your own little empire within the Empire.


I have been so greatly honored to have be given the chance to put my ideas out here. I love you all so much, and EMC has profoundly “crafted” me into the man I am today and together we will liberate it from the grasps of decline. All of my fellow candidates are great individuals and I appreciate the thoughts and comments of my fellow candidates. Thanks to all of our suggestions I believe EMC is that much better for it and I am thankful for them all. I have been honored and humbled to be on the same stage as them.


I will continue to give back to the community, foster the community, and fight for the community. I hope you all will support my dream of making EMC a stronger and lasting community and I hope I can count on your vote in the future!


“The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” - Abraham Lincoln

We can do this!

Thank you, goodnight, and Notch bless the Imperial SMPS of Minecraft.