Creating and Running Player Events
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This guide will hopefully provide an insight into how you can plan, manage, and run an event with the best and the most enjoyable outcome for the players involved. While this mainly applies to in-game events, it can also be applied to the forums.
Contents
Planning and choosing type(top)
The thought that you put into an event will be reflected in its success.
There are a variety of player-run events. Players enjoy rewarding challenges, such as mazes or Parkour courses (particularly when there is a prize at the End) or large-scale, chaotic drop parties. Smaller, lower effort events (such as skin competitions) are less likely to draw a large player base because of their ease to run (making them more common), and typically have smaller rewards. However, if you make the event fun and unique, even smaller events can be a blast; good effort equals a good turnout!
Ensure that you have read up on the relevant Gaming/Gambling Rules (found here) as you prepare for your event.
Thread(top)
A forum thread is essential, serving as a hub for information and announcements. An organized and neat presentation in a forum thread will draw more people in. If a thread is well-written, players will expect an event to be equally well-made (sloppy events are much less fun). The earlier this thread is up, the greater the chance of more people seeing it – writing it at least two weeks beforehand is recommended. Each thread should include a title, a description and details, a time and place, and a prize list.
Your title should catch everyone’s attention, and highlight noteworthy features of your event, such as “[Event] Solve the impossible Parkour at XXXX and win 100,000 Rupees!”
Placing [EVENT] before your title not only clearly marks your thread as a must-read event thread, but it also causes your thread to show up clearly when people search “event” on the forums.
It is important that you provide a clear description of the event type so that players will trust your planning, and will be more likely to set aside clear time for your event. Avoid general statements like “Come down to XXXX where we will be holding a skin contest tomorrow.” If your event is not in the Town, provide a specific command for people to type so that everyone ends up in the same directional outpost. A description such as “At XXXX on SMPX, for 15 minutes from XX:XX EMC Time, we will be running a skin competition; the winner of which will win X” tells the potential participant that you are organizing even the smaller details, and thus more able to pull off a fun event.
Selecting an ideal time for everyone is crucial for a large turnout. When choosing a time for your event, remember that players from EMC are from time zones all over the world - although most are from the USA. The server operates on EMC Time, which is equivalent to US Eastern Standard Time. Our Wiki page on EMC Time and this Website will allow you to edit times and add locations to see which time works best for you to get the greatest amount of people possible. Weekends are more ideal because players, most of which are in school, have fewer commitments. Make sure you choose a time that is guaranteed to work for you! Switching your event time last minute only will cause fewer players to come to your event when it does occur.
Ensure that there are no planned downtimes (check the forums and Wasteland reset time), official staff events, or player events on at the same time. You can do this by checking the Events Hub.
Choosing location(top)
You may like to host an event in the Frontier or in the Wastelands, which would suit something like a mining adventure. If this is the case, ensure that you tell people where exactly they need to meet you. Do not say “meet me at the Frontier” in your thread/announcement, but say “Meet me at /v Frontier [west, etc.] on SMPX” so that no one ends up in different locations. If you decide to host an event on your residence, the turnout may be higher as it requires less effort for people to prepare and people can join in mid-game.
Building infrastructure(top)
If any infrastructure is necessary for your event, such as Parkour or stalls for skin contests, it is essential that you have them constructed before the event is scheduled to begin. Otherwise, people will just grow impatient and leave. Just before the event, make sure everything is in working order. It is essential that any challenge, such as a maze or a Parkour course, is actually possible to complete.
Ensure that it is not possible to cheat in your event. For Parkour courses, this might include turning the enderpearl or fly (on Utopia) Flags off. Depending on your event, you may need to turn off the drop/pickup Flags.
Promotion(top)
On the forums, you may “bump” your thread every 3 hours, but this should only be necessary a day or two before it begins.
According to the rules, you are entitled to advertise events once every hour per server (although it is recommended that you only do it this often when the event is close to starting). Include the main features of your event when doing this, such as a link to your thread, the major prizes, or its concept.
Managing and running(top)
As the host of a player-event, you should not try to be overly-controlling as people want to have fun, and more often than not, that may involve a slight derailment in the plans. If these are minor and do not upset the people participating in your game or affect its outcome, you can let the moment go on and politely continue the event as planned when it is over. You may choose to integrate anything that is fun or funny into your event if it does not distract anyone from it.
If you believe your event will have a large turnout, you may ask staff members to attend (either beforehand or if there is anyone online who is free) to prevent misbehavior and to keep things fun. Just remember that staff members will not enforce the rules of your event; only the rules of EMC (see Off-Server Event Rules). If someone is consistently being disruptive and is blatantly disregarding the processes of your event, you may choose to remove them from your residence with the command “/res pset [name] move false.” Unless someone is violating the rules of EMC, you should avoid reporting them as this command will instead resolve any issues without dampening the mood of your event. If players continue to harass you when they are removed, you may seek staff members for help.
If your event is a larger-scale activity, such as a mining outing or a first-to-the-End Parkour, you may choose to integrate “micro-activities,” which people can participate in at the same time as the main event. A popular option is trivia and rewarding the right responses to questions you might ask about a topic.
Communications(top)
The /resshout command was specially built by EMC's developers for running events on Town Residences. Use it to let people know of any event rules, when/where various “stages” in your event may be, when the event is beginning, etc.
You and your participants must all use the residence Chat channel if you are hosting it in the Town (and local Chat if it is elsewhere). You may also use a group Chat channel. You are responsible for making sure everyone knows they need to be in the correct Chat channel. This is in accordance with the rules.
Finishing your event(top)
When you're handing out prizes, make sure to use access chests, the Mail feature (/mail), or the Trading System (/trade) if the recipient is within 32 blocks of you. If you drop it in front of the prize-winner with players still swarming around from the event, it is possible that conflict will arise if someone other than the winner picks it up.
If you have any questions, do not be afraid to direct them towards any staff members who you have seen host events in the past.
Take part in events on EMC, host one yourself or visit a special Empire residence.
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