New features planned

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I am thinking a lot recently how to add more interactivity, features and rewards into the server. Here are my thoughts:

  • I received a couple of donations recently. Some are errr… how do I say this… hmmm… cautious (0.02 USD). Others are outright generous (50 USD!). I want to reward this. I will make a special userlevel for donators above a certain minimum (probably 5 USD) with stages (1-5 or so) and reward them. There will be free lots and possibly in-game cash once I install the iConomy plugin (this week probably). I am interested what other rewards you can think of that still keep the game interesting.
  • I have seen some grouping going on and some people who want to make their story heard, do PvP etc. I would be fine allowing people to write their own clan page and submit screenshots etc, by giving them (moderated) write access to the blog. I would be very happy if people would be up to this. Please write in the comments if you want to do that.
  • I have reserved 4 lots on the corners of the newly claimed area and will install warp gates there with a new plugin, so people can warp there from spawn. I want to build the surrounding buildings on that lot in different styles, and they should have a set of features like the spawn (hospital, arenas, trading post etc). I most probably will restrict iConomy trading to these places to make people get around more instead of trading stuff virtual.
  • I have been thinking if I should reserve more lots for infrastructure and/or additional public areas (possibly smaller than the central one). If you think this is a good idea, please comment which lots you would see suitable for this. I would rather have them symmetrically around the center so access is equally easy for all.
  • I am thinking to give architects 2 lots and VIPs 4 lots. The new size of the map allows for this and also from a system point of view there should not be any problem to automate this easily. More about this next week.
  • I am very open for suggestions on how to make the game more “real” and less abstract or virtual. While warping around and using /home is nice and all, it takes people away from each other. Having to walk to a warp gate and then jumping from there to spawn sounds more appealing to me than using /home.
  • I will be writing code that lets me find users that never applied for building rights and delete them. Also I want to find users that have a lot but did not login for more than a month, send them a warning and delete if they dont login afterwards. Unfortunately, there is no easy way still to reset lots. However, I know that one of the plugin authors is working on that. So even if a lot is “old”, there is a chance for recycling in the future. This will make it easier to let someone move somewhere completely different and leave old stuff behind. I am not so keen on doing this however unless I know I can reset the old lot w/o problems.

Any opinion on this is highly appreciated.

48 thoughts on “New features planned”

  1. I think the Infrastructuring is a nice idea, although I can’t really think up of any good new facilities, but it’s nicer havin’ more Public areas.

    I’m thinking on donatin’ if it’s going to be easy to donate. n-n

  2. Hi Uncovery,

    I really like the idea of a special rank for donaters, it stimulates people to donate more! That includes me! And about the /home command I think we should keep it the way it is otherwise new guys, 1 till 6 days old, wont know what to do. Anyway keep up the nice server!!

    Kind Regards,

    Sem785

  3. Hi, I’ve been thinking in a fun thing to build and I came up with this:

    A race filled with traps on and under the water (I know water lots are not very popular taht’s why I would use them for this), like a labryth with a reward at the end.

    This reeward could be diamond tools, or food, or whatever realy. It might be like some kind of championship if people like the idea :D

    Well, congratulations for the server it looks realy great!

  5. I donated the 2 cents. That way, I could give advice and then say “That’s just my two cents.” I giggled about it all morning.

  7. On a more serious note, uncovery could always commandeer some of the vacant lots for warp gate and other infrastructure purposes.

  8. gunna review in order

    1. I support the donations as it helps the server grow such as hardware and such.

    2. I have been the one who isn’t to faithful towards clan groups but i don’t hate them either way.

    3. I support

    4. Again with above but agree towards smaller public areas, I also would like to help build the infrastructure lots.

    5. I am drooling right now. =)

    6. I believe /home and /tp should stay but maybe add an area to the map where its all wilderness where users cannot edit the map but there are treasures they can find and open.

    7. I totally agree to this one. I am tired of seeing lots w/o owners not being active anymore. It just takes up space for other users to use that lot.

  9. Cool idea, i agree for getting rid of lots that are not being used. I would help with the smaller public areas.

  10. Hey all,

    I made a youtube vid awhile ago :D NLmonsterNL is in it!
    Its a tribute to this server.
    And for those who want to know: for some reason the vid has been cut in half while in movie maker….. hmmmm whatever heres the link:
    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjblfrFAy4E

  11. I’m glad I donated :) I knew it would be a great idea, not only to grow the sever, but to help pay for the hefty (cough, cough $160/month) price to maintain it. As for everything else, I’m pretty much on the same page. I think however that real money donated to the server should not be rewarded too heavily in game as it might take away from actually earning and mining.

    As for warping and /home, I think that it should be “limited.” Perhaps you can only /home whenever you are 5+ lots away from your house? And if you want to warp to someone’s house, you must be at least 5+ lots away, otherwise get walking! As for putting aside more lots for public areas, I would support that, just smaller, only 100×100 size lot public areas in the NW, NE, SW, SE corners.

    Giving away 4 lots to VIPS, and 2 lots to Architects: It’s going to get a lot of people asking “Hey Uncovery, hey hey! Can I be a VIP?! Can I be an architect at anything?!” That would be the only downside to that. Otherwise sounds great!

    As my buddy Sockso would say: “That’s just my two cents.”

  12. Maybe we should restart the map? If so, maybe VIPs could pick the lots they want first, architects could pick second, then settlers picked afterwords. Then you can also pick the lots yourself for more public areas. There are a lot of innactive members, and some have lots. It’s always nice to have a fresh start.

    I personally think the warm up is nice to go /home, but to /home warp to other peoples home kind of takes away the fun and dangers of having to go out and defend yourself to see another friend. I liked meeting up at spawn.

    • ehh not really, I have been working hard on my chessboard and I wouldn’t want to see it go away.

        • I would cry. Like, honestly. Sobbing. Do you want to make a 34 year old father of 2 cry??? I have been working on the same room since this map began, and hope in a few more weeks I might actually finish it.

    • I agree with Hiosa about restarting the map, I just barely got started with my lot and i know there are people who are working on their lots too.

    • I don’t know about restarting the map… it’d be pretty chaotic and everyone would be competing for the lots closer to the public area and spawn. Also, I don’t know if I would want to give up my lot, and all the stuff I’ve already built…

  13. Hey unc of is true that archetics will beable to get another plot?

    • He posted it above, “I am thinking to give architects 2 lots and VIPs 4 lots. The new size of the map allows for this and also from a system point of view there should not be any problem to automate this easily. More about this next week.”

  14. There were some issues that came up while you were gone uncovery. Someone was using mass tp to have everyone teleport to them. We didn’t know if it was a glitch or something, but all of us assumed it was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4dc1AxvJ5c

    We later figured out by testing that us architects and VIPs can tp everyone to us. We should probably get rid of that. lol

    • bearthebomb immediatly removed the speed glitch as soon as he found out, and we really dont know who did the /tp-ing.

        • Yeah I would also like to point out that I was accused of this because I went to Sockso to make a joke about the Bear’s army thing and also to show him my new ability to tp (Thanks Uncovery :D) Then BAM everyone was there, It happened again I went to Bigbuddy1 to trade cobble for diamonds and again BAM there everyone was a second later, I only used to command /tp I never used the one Chpentain told us about a while later which he had seen before. And probably the most incriminating one is is was standing by my tanks and told Hiosa to tp to me, which he did. Hiosa has shown me cool mods and things in the past (flying, leaves,ect) which he found out he was not allowed to do and stopped. I was showing him the speed glitch( NOT HACK) glitch that I thought was harmless (but I dint use it anymore because it got me killed a lot) I laid down around six pieces of cobble stone in front of my tanks and was going to show him how fast I could break them, when I was messing with my time/date settings on my computer (Its how you do the speed glitch). ( 53 seconds into the video hutch posted you can see people standing on the cobble, also at 1 minute 56 seconds you can see me tell people I did the speed glitch which Sockso pointed out should not be allowed and I said okay I will not do it again)
          The final time was after Chpentain told us about the command Hutchison15 did it to test it and see if it was true,( He told everyone before hand he was doing it and I told him I would confirm this afterwards if anyone said he did it to annoy people or something like that). So I think only Archetics and V.I.Ps could have done the command and I DID NOT DO IT, the only other person in Bears who could have done it was Chpentain, no one else from my group was on that time except for Black night69 and Cecollins but they were both offline when the incident occurred, as for the other archetics I do not know who else was online at the time.

          • It’s going to be ok, Bear. Settle :-) Relax :-) Have some honey. :-) Mmmmm honey.

  15. Hey guys, I won’t be on the server for awhile but heres my opinions.
    1. Love the idea of Iconomy. Still a little confused about it but ill get it eventually.
    2. Not a huge fan of this. Mostly because if we form our own private groups it won’t be like everyone knows each other. We’ll be seperated and I like the idea of neighborly friendship.
    3. As long as it doesn’t create a lagg spike ill be okay with it.
    4. I love this idea. Public spots to build monuments. Maybe find an area and name it “Monument Valley.”
    5. I have always wanted a second plot to work with. My old one has been worked to its full potential. Building a vacation home would be lovely.
    6. If we do take warping away, I would love to make an effecent minecart system. Maybe using the exsisting subway system?
    7. Recycling lots is a good idea. Many users come for a one time thing then leave. If we can recycle them, the riches are for all around. Maybe have an auction of there stuff in their chests? Yeah i like that :>

    Well, thats it. I might be back within a month. Sock, If you could keep an eye on my place
    I would be eternally gratefull. Thanks :D

    • Sure than man! I’ll finish up our connecting tunnel lights. If that twisted guy doesn’t come back, and lots can be reset, his would be a good one for you to take. 2¢.

  16. Salutations all… I’ll weigh in on this, $.02 and all… though for a few points I really don’t have a preference one way or another.

    Stimulating donations is important, especially so our great leader doesn’t feel taken advantage of and lets the server die. Since the whole point of people being here is playing, and resources are key to the game, I think a direct donation -> iConomy cash translation would be beneficial (if it works that way). Then perhaps have a way to purchase extravagantly expensive objects- nether materials, new plots, special acts of god Unc (resets/block deletion), etc.

    Hmm, a few scattered trade-based areas, where people can come together? With themed buildings, and some portals for fast travel between them? In Might and Magic II, an old Commodore 64 game Minecraft most reminds me of, they had something like that- they called them TOWNS. It looks like we really are colonizing the world. :)
    Come to think of it, in MM2 travel was limited by economics, since people were charged for the privilege. So you had to sell your goods, to have the coin to move around. Like “local”, we could have town-specific chats, town-based guilds or groups, even mod-run competitions between townships for fabulous prizes!

    Hmm, 4 lots…. My “digging finger” gets sore most days, and I’m still in my first one. Not really sure four lots would be of much use to me, unless they were 2×2 to make a huge freaking castle or something. So, to make the game more “real”… lol… Towns and Castles? Money? Fame? Fortune? Renown??? Maybe beta will have rpg elements, like levels and stats. Who knows.

    On the topic of /tp and /home… I really think we should be cautious; removing them in favor of something else might be tossing the baby out with the bathwater. While yes, they make it TOO easy to get around sometime, a lot of us (myself included) have only been torn away from our own obsessive/compulsive-ly inspired work to visit someone else’s creation BECAUSE we can just /home there, check it out, give a pat on the back and a quick congratulations, then /home right back to our own endeavors. The server has been so much more sociable after /home was added for all settlers.

    And finally, its a must to be able to perform janitorial on old lots, old users, and old map elements. It was my understanding that I will never find lapis lazuli in my ancient land- so if a method is created to make that possible elsewhere, we should jump on that. Likewise, when/if someday Notch adds even more elements to the game, resets may become a requirement so we don’t miss out on game additions.

    Well, that should be enough typing for now. Thanks for reading. Now, where’s that pick-axe…

    • “Not really sure four lots would be of much use to me, unless they were 2×2 to make a huge freaking castle or something.” -My thoughts exactly.

      “Likewise, when/if someday Notch adds even more elements to the game, resets may become a requirement so we don’t miss out on game additions.” -I’d wait for any more lots for this reason as well.

  17. Here’s my spin on everybody else’s ideas. I love the idea of towns to bring people together, and I think they should serve a purpose. The most obvious one is trade. Only let people use the iconomy plugin in towns. Specificity, let’s have different buildings for different trading. A butcher could buy and sell pork. A armorer could buy used armor at a cheap rate. Add in a dyer, baker, weapon smith, ect. For these towns, I’d like to see architectural consistency between the buildings. For example, in the mountain snowy town, we’d see a lot of dark wood beams and cobble.

    Maybe for in-town houses, uncovery could sell small plots for uncs. These plots would be small, and limited by height and depth to prevent a bunch of stupid towers. The plots also wouldn’t have to be set up in grids. They could follow logical progression of the streets. You could also make it look more town-ey by adding in a bunch of generic shacks. And then rent out the shacks.

    Also, I’d like to see waygates cost a token amount of money. Maybe the NPC operating the way gate could charge a little extra for a direct transport home, rather than transportation to another waygate. Either that, or have two sets of way gates: A more expensive and accurate one, and another cheaper waygate operated by a drunk druid.

    I vote on not ever restarting the entire map. Let’s wait until regenerating a specific lot is easier, and just do that. Maybe an occasional public reset. Otherwise, the map seems to keep on growing outwards anyways. 2¢

    • Oh, also, you should have to go to a town to redeem your achievements.

  19. HI Server-members,

    As many might have noticed: I’m known as the Grim Reaper. I take the Souls that I like >:D
    These are the Souls I’ve taken:
    1. Tuxine
    2. Plutomaster
    3. Adhemorius
    4. Bombenbodo2
    5. yorllik
    6. henry_paiste
    7. Sockso
    8. Binkydude
    9. ladoman
    10. Daiyamondo
    11. mc_paro
    12. Scout13

    And: I NOW OWN Uncovery’s SOUL MUHAHAHAHA.

    Ya cant get them back unless you trade them for someone who isn’t on this list!

    Kind Regards,

    Grim Reaper
    aka
    Sem785

    • have not gotten mine yet, and you shall not… If you mess with anyone from Bears army, well lets just say the grim reaper will have an ironic end!

        • And only I the noble OSF of Terran will battle Bear. And i cbf to battle so NO-ONE fights with BEAR and Hiosa is random and i have to decide what to do with him

      • Is that a threat Bear?? Sounds like a challenge to get to you….. >:D
        We will see who’s soul is next —evil laugh—
        Oh and OSF i haven’t met you yet… Maybe you’re next!

        !!BE AFRAID OF THE DARK!!

        • Lol I have over fifteen stacks of coal, The darkness is not a problem for me ;)

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