My Big Announcement! (oh and short letter to the community)

It is time to reveal something big to the community:

Both hashhog3000 AND PenguinDJ are my alts.

Ok not really, here is my big announcement: I'm not actually evil.

Now that I have told you all my big announcement and have your attention, here is my brief letter to the Community:

There have been a few threads of late where the opinion of the author is that this community is fractured. Where old members don't have the same feeling as they used to, or where some groups of players don't interact with other groups, or new members feel alienated to the old, or vice versa. That staff members don't interact as much as they should, or new staff are chosen improperly. Let me just say this: Where as I myself may not be evil, there certainly ARE evil people in this world. People who for example prey on young children. We (staff) may not always make the "right" decisions, or take care of some situations perfectly, but let me be very clear. We will always protect you. We will always have your back no matter what.

Yesterday afternoon, as mentioned on the Home Page of EMC, Mojang was (ddos) attacked by some moron (or group of morons). Due to this attack, no one was able to connect to any multiplayer servers. During this downtime, when I would normally play, I witnessed something truly amazing. Our wonderful community came together in such a unique way, it made me so stinkin excited and proud that I peed a little. Ok not really, but I literally almost cried, for real.

The "survivors" who were still online, stayed online to give us on the outside updates through the forums. They banded together to throw parties for one another in the game and went on boss hunts. They also received warm broadcasts from senior staff, which was also quite amazing.

Another forum thread was created to see what everyone else was doing during the ddos attack. Did it stop there? No. People of our community got on Mumble to hang out and talk.

Is our community fractured? In some cases perhaps, but certainly not last night. Our community (family) is so amazing, and I feel like I really wanted you all to know that. You mean a whole lot to me and I love you (yes, I'm a sap).

Someone in game recently said something of this nature in town chat: "This is a game, why are you taking it so seriously?" It may be "just a game," but we create these little amazing temporary autonomous zones that stimulate out imaginations, intellect, and emotions. Every one of us make that happen, and it's just incredible. So, thank you EMC. Thank you.

-ET

Well said The most nicest evil message yet

EDIT: I have not been here as long as most, but I agree with everything above. I try to stay out of the drama, just bums you out. Last night was awesome in a moment of frustration for many. I was fortunate enough to be logged in but the forums were bumping and chatter and fun was still present.

Nothing more needs to be said here

Definitely very well said. I've lost friends over the years and I've seen things change, some for good, some for worse, but I still love this community and I'll be staying through thick and thin to enjoy my time with all of you. There's so many great people here, sure, some come and go, but that's all part of life, and it makes for an enjoyable experience. Being on EMC has been one of the most enjoyable experiences in my life so far and I'm sure that it will stay a part of me, in some way, forever.

People make wrong decisions, that's not just staff, that's anyone. Some things can go wrong but we have always pulled through everything at the Empire and while we can still strive to improve, like everything else, this place is still amazing and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is a game, why are you taking it so seriously?
i rlly do jk pls no h8

*insert clapping*

Much love to goodtoade. (alt name? )

In regards to his letter... i agree wholeheartedly. It would be easy for the community to fracture. Staff were having trouble connecting. None of us could get on. It could have been a free-for-all (until we checked logs ) But it wasn't.

The lonely few joined together and had fun. I saw some of the chatter from last night and I applaud you all. Way to go! I am so very glad that you all had fun and kept playing! That is what EMC is about. We are not "just a game". We are a community, an online family of sorts.

Much Love to you all!!

~Bec

..could have been? Things got so desperate that we had to throw the rule book out. There was chatting going on in a res.. in TOWN CHAT! There were seeds a-flyin all willy-nilly like. At one point, out of fear, myself and fluffy assumed control of smp2 and turned move to false. We didn't know if this was the end....

I jumped on mumble to see what everyone was up to and came to a lot of people in a channel, then my microphone proceed to blow up everyone's ears, sorry about that guys . I thought it was really cool that everyone came together like that. I also find it cool that we don't need Minecraft to still be a community, we truly are a family.

I have been one of the complainers in the past about not having the community feeling, but last night was a fun situation that proved me wrong. Those of us on smp8 decided to hold a miniboss hunt (since it would be our best spawn odds ever), there was a rebellion on 7 (sort of lol), and then poof had her survivor drop party which was really fun and I'm pretty sure most if not all people in game came to it. I was pretty surprised at how everyone still in game handled it. I didn't see a single person breaking an actual serious rule. It was lots of fun.

I support this.

Oh yes, you owe me new ears now. Please /mail them ASAP.

As a survivor, I agree that the community did come together. It was a joy to be on during the apocalypse (as we came to call it in game). For those who have not seen the screen shots thread, I will insert it below. Also in reference to the "rebellion" on SMP7, I will take some blame for it. However, Gawadrolt was a big supporter, too. And we never actually "took" anything, so....

http://empireminecraft.com/threads/screenshots-of-the-survivors.54890/

Nub, I would like to promote you to nub!

Congrats on your promotion to Lord nub

But also the_creeper_lord is being promoted to King nub

Congrats all! Welcome to the family, evil! (it's a good thing)

Can i make a point. As far as I'm aware Matheus was one (if not the only staff on?) for it, and the way he talked to us was simply impeccable. I'm sure you've all seen the screenshots, however I would like to personally thank Matheus for this and the staff behind the scenes.

His jokes on the situation were great to hear, and light heartedness of a bad situation was actually really refreshing. So, as you said Toade, thanks to the players online but also a BIG thanks to the Matheus, who handled that situation in the best way (just wanna throw props here, nothing else). #1ofthe41

I may not be a 1,300+ day member but in my 500+ days there has been good days and there have been the bad. I remember the first FMN I was a noob back then (and yes I admit to that) I made plenty of noobish comments that night. Did everyone ignore me? Yes they ignored me. Did I care? No I just kept on mining for the fun of the event. I also remember my first Mob Arena Deathtomb and Dwight we're hosting when they hosted D&D's Mob arena. It was a fun time I may have lost every round but I didn't care it was a fun time. The chat was crazy but everyone had a great time. Then EULA change started to become real, not just a controversial thought. Everyone was freaking out and the new ideas for perks came out everyone bonded like they did last night. Not all things were ment to last but cherish them while they last because D&D's MA didn't last but it was fun, FMN had a break until it was reintroduced, and the EULA brought everyone together with ideas. If you can't tell what I am trying to say it is simple. It may not be great or amazing but it can.

Whoo EMC Community!

Woot count as one lol.

But to a serious note, the major reason of my return back to emc after my two year absence was truly the community itself. Sure I may be online but to me it is all about hearing how is everyone doing. By far this community holds very strongly. I am being a old man again but a similar thing happened when login services were down. Justinguy as you all know as the original owner of emc (For you nebees) The forums blew up in commotion like "Is this the end of emc?" Justin handled the situation as saying this is a Minecraft problem not us. As everyone realized this, some forum games appeared to pass the bad times. Everyone understood and they either waited or chatted on forums.

To me that is what I got from eviltoad. I am so happy that the community has grown but hasn't let its bonds of friendship and familynesss go away. That is why emc has gotten highly rated and lasted these many years being the top of my list.

I have been around EMC since 1.8 Beta. On my alt, that is. Although the community might have changed a lot over these few years, it's essence is still there. Even if the chat is quiet a lot of the time, when someone strikes up a conversation, everyone joins in. So EMC, thank you for being the greatest Minecraft server yet. You have given me many good memories. =D

first part I was all :O
But then I read the 2nd part XD

I love your post ET It made me almost cry as well Because everyone is family and we stick together through hard times and are there for each and everyone

I love emc, the staff, the players, the great gameplay, everything that you could possibly think of is what I love about this server.

Im coming just under a year on emc. Most new players leave quickly after they join, but I knew when I first joined this was the greatest server out there. Nice community, Unique style, and much more.

Thanks to Everyone to making this an AWESOME server