[Newbie event!] Shell's starting goodie bag!

Disclaimer: This is NOT a rule, but a friendly request: no alts. I won't take any offense if you do, but the reason I request this is because I'm trying to appeal to some of the new(er) players.

This event has ended!

My newly discovered neighbor and me on SMP2 had fun together this evening. Then I spotted a new(er) player and couldn't resist the temptation. That player had to get one of Shell's goodie bags. Unfortunately he ran off before we could do something (and SMP2 did something, most of the items are based on SMP2 suggestions what a new player needs, while my SMP2 friends had no idea, what so ever, that this was going to be a real thing).

What is a Shell goodie bag?

Very few of you know this: it pre-dates my time on EMC. It started out as a protest against those players who failed to look at the world with the eyes of a new player. Who would even go so far as to taunt, ridicule and try to make fun of said new players. Fortunately that last part is NOT a thing of EMC but even so I still think EMC doesn't do as much for the new players as they can.

Instead of complaining and whining... I act.

If you want my complaining and whining though (I do hope you'll read) here ya go:

No, I'm not "just" talking down on staff. Starter shields anyone? Can you really expect a new player in a desert to overcome 2 skeletons without a shield? I think not. Nice detail: they were more or less promised. At least it was insinuated that it would be easy to sort it out. Yet it never happened.

My problem: I sometimes get a seriously uncomfortable feeling that staff takes new players for granted. Some staff anyway, the rest just tags along and doesn't seem to bother to try to make things better. NOT all of them (I am perfectly aware of "new player awareness month"). But I cannot help recognize a distinguished pattern here where the intent isn't to get the best to make things better, it's to get the best followers to sustain things as they are.

I can respect that. Especially because a part of that sustenance (is that even a word? ) is that us players are also allowed to speak up as I'm doing right now. NEVER take this kind of freedom for granted guys and girls. Never EVER. It's one of the main reasons I keep putting effort into EMC. I love this place where Minecraft is concerned above anything else.

But despite all that love I also think there's plenty of room for improvement.

I made promises, I made promises in PM's but I'm also good at finding loopholes.

This was flag parade 2016:



What a line:



THIS was parade 2017, where I did my best to take the best kind of picture:



It was fun, it was awesome even. Me and my alter-ego had a great time, it was special and it was awesome. What one would expect from EMC! And if I have my way (and something tells me I will) it'll be compared against plenty of other servers who did nothing on this time of day. Now which server cares the most for its players? (curious? In "another" official Minecraft forum).

But... I also try to look beyond all of that. It was also WAY less crowded than last year.

Problem being: I'm not that kind of player who thinks "staff doesn't care, screw them" (ey! this IS in a spoiler and I'm honestly speaking the truth here, I only share what I saw and heard around me). Look you guys: staff tells a player that his claim for an established residence got denied. Just too bad that he was already derelict for 2 months prior (give or take). Why do you think I wrote this.

SO here's the noodle: isn't it possible that the player went derelict because he never heard back from staff again?

No one cares. Certainly not staff it seems (no bullshit). NO, not even you random reader because I doubt you spoke up about this yourself.

EMC can do SO much more.Why the heck don't you do it? Aikar himself was pushing for survival and all that and although I fully agree that he has done an AWESOME part (no, I am not being sarcastic).. When was the last time you went out of town during an event?

Katsching!

You're a hater....

I'm a lover. When it comes to Minecraft, my all-time favorite game, EMC is my everything. But I am not the kind of player who sees dozens of new people come online, run off for different reasons (can't talk outside town, can't understand what to do in frontier) and just keeps quiet stating "thats just the way it is".

It doesn't have to!

And THAT is what you see here. I don't whine and complain and talk behind staffs backs I stand up and try to do something.

For good or bad, I'll try.

If you read that, I have no pills to comfort you (edit): Don't take this too negatively. I think those are points for concern, but I also think the community can do its own small share too as is happening right now.

WHO: Are you a player less than 100 days old? Compete!

Shell's goodie bag (not the final picture):

HOW: Be younger than 100 days on the Empire, pick a number between 1 and 100. (both numbers included). At the given time I'll ask random.org to draw a random winner.

WHY?: You think this is all there is to it? ha ha ha you newb! That is not the way we do things on EMC. My events are chaotic. For good and bad. I'm having some fun and there is more than meets the eye

WHAT: A shulker box with goodies, perfect for a newer player!

WHEN: The 24th of June (next week) I'll draw the lucky winner(s?).

Donations (last update: 17th of June 2017)

• AyanamiKun: Vault voucher, enchanted bow, 2 stacks of glass, 2 gold horse armor, 3 iron horse armor, 1 saddle.
• PhoenixAffinity: 1 stack of cactus, one nametag and one golden (Notch) apple.
• Skeletin007: Full leather armor, 2 iron pickaxes, 2 iron swords, 1 iron hoe, horse spawn egg, saddle, golden horse armor, Momentus toothpick.
• AncientTower: 32 varies horse spawn eggs (from 115 to 128 speed), 2 donkey spawn eggs and 1 mule spawn egg.

PLAYERS

24 - sammichman102 (reservation) **
42 - MandTrule *
54 - misteryum123

* = last entry

** Sammi seems to be having some problems accessing the forum, we'll sort that out later, but in the mean time I'm reserving his entry which he told me in-game.

Can I donate a stack of emeralds?

Yusss, I'll PM you. I can also give you guarantees that if this event fails (I know I am stretching it) you'll get your donation back. (edit: no longer an option).

Won't be from lack of trying!

Great idea. People don't realise that the first few days are the most important, If new players meet nice people who help them and show them around, They're more likely to stick around. When I joined, I met lots of nice people throughout EMC (Still meeting people) and that's what makes me stick around, Community, Friends and everything in between.

I may just be speaking for myself and my experiences here but I found EMC through one of the voting sites (Either TopG or Minecraft-MP) and decided to join, It was a little overwhelming with the custom mobs and other custom things but if it weren't for the people I met, I'd have probably left by now.

It's nice to see someone doing something good for new players (Like what I experienced). If you need any help, Shoot me a PM

I would reccomend telling newplayers in /newplayer directly to see this since most nubbleys dont use forums as far as ive seen

54 my number :3

what came first in the waste, the chicken or the egg?

I am over 1000 days here but I will love to help any newbies out with a donation to give

If you are still accepting donations, I have a a few stacks of ores and ingots waiting to be used.

This is a very good idea.
Here's complementary one: a guided tour for new members.

New members: what would do you need more, and when upon joining - more starter items or some guidance, someone to show you few things and answer few questions?

(Shell: if this is too much of thread hijacking please let me know)

(I'll update the OP in a few moments, this is also to be considered a bump)

Donation chest is now set up!

Where: /v 3544 (smp2). Just walk up the porch and look on your right, that's the small setup.

You can also /mail send me items in-game, then I'll add them to the goodie bag.

Donation rules (only applies to the event itself!)

• Space is limited in a shulker box, so items will be judged before they're being entered, if items can't make it in the original shulker box then I'll just apply some Shell creativity.
  • Points of concern: item usability (remember: new(er) player) and value.
  • Some items maybe replaced by more expensive items (example: today I removed a stack of dirt, and replaced that with a stack of stone).
• All donations will be used in the event. Above I mentioned that a refund might be in order when the event wasn't going to take off: there's already one contestant so this is going to happen.

Remember: you can also help/donate by spreading the word!

42. must be. it's the answer to life, the universe, and everything. i think i'm under 100 days, anyways.

I have a love/hate relationship for the noobs....

Some times I'm sweet and I'll answer all questions and go guiding around their new plots to see the hole in the ground they swear will become something.
Other times I'm Salty like the sea... I'll /ignore the calling and switch smp's...

I'm salty right now if you can't tell.... But I'll throw in a hundo of fast junkie horses.

ze bump

Not quite a hundred but an inventory full. They are all 120+ speed minus 1 little guy who stuck into my inventory, he's only 115 speed.

I'll donate more next time I'm on... 120+ speed is a dime a dozen and my vaults are full of them.

Update => Changes to the event

I told you guys this would become chaotic (loving it), and it has. So a few players above mentioned donations and guess what? They have. This my friends is key for EMC and what defines our awesome community (IMO). But... There was also a wee bit of a problem

Donation courtesy of Skeletin007; armor, tools, horse + a Momo toothpick

It doesn't fit anymore

And just when I thought I had an idea suddenly this happened:

So the reason she said that is exactly what Tower above was hinting at, he added "some" horses to the prize pool:

"A few" horse spawn eggs courtesy of AncientTower

Needless to say but this is going to change some things in my event

Aya & me will need to sort this whole thing out first, but I can make one promise in advance: there will be more than one prize given away in this one

The OP will be updated soonish.

I guess I didn't read the giveaway all that well. Thought it was multiple boxes over a course of time like 1 a month for new players to sign up for...

You can always just add 1 or 2 horses to this giveaway and use the rest as fun little gifts to those who tell you a sad sobby story on the forums about how slow their horses are and oh how they wish they could have a faster horse... Again this can be just for the noobs who are new to the Empire.

A small bump, we're nearing the deadline of the 24th. Get your numbers in while you can

Well, that sounds like an awesome idea to me too. As I said above all donations will be used, and it wouldn't be the first time when an event of mine became kind of chaotic and got changed over time (note: within reason, I'm always very careful not to create unfair situations for the contestants). For example... at one give away I started with 2 turkey slicers, then I got another one which I immediately added. Basically giving even more people a chance to win something

It will definitely be for the new(er) players only. I'll think of something fun and we'll see what happens next. I'll definitely keep you guys posted

Why does it have to be a giveaway? This is such a great idea that all the smp's should do a "goodie box" for new players. 2 shulker boxes with the above items plus a horse, horse armor and leads. Shell thanks for the brilliant idea if I can get more shulker boxes this is what I'm going to start doing on smp7 for all new players.