Q: How Will the Server be Arranged?

A: The system I'm proposing involves this: One main map which contains all the infrastructure players need to build, roleplay, and fight. The other contains a replaceable world filled with dungeons, through which the spoils of their adventuring can be brought back. Portals to the second world would be located in random, hidden locations in the first. The first map will consist of untouched terrain with a Central City where players spawn, buy goods, and undertake quests. The city will also contain a large Arena managed by the Fight plugin, where players can fight against each other at will. These will be covered below. The Dungeon world will be similar in function to Asgard, except for the presence of a large, secure spawn fortress. Its entrances will be hidden throughout both maps. The Dungeon map will be wiped every few weeks and replaced with a new one. More details below.

Q: What purpose will the Central City serve? A: Tanelorn is a neutral, safe haven for inexperienced or peaceful players to take haven in. Beds & storage could be provided in the form of Inns or Boarding Houses, but might not be necessary if beginning players are given enough money to buy a basic set of gear from merchants. Tanelorn also serves as a quest hub for roleplayers, where a variety of NPCs assign missions and give rewards. As the plugin becomes updated their functionality could be refined. At the moment it's limited to infinitelyrepeatable quest chains, but will eventually include "one-shot" missions that can be used only once by a player. Note: The types of quests can be vastly configured and includes: Killing, Gathering, Block Breaking, Block Placing, and Block Damage, AND can be limited to a specified location. The types of quests offered and their rewards can be easily reconfigured. Quests can also be added easily. I've already experimented with this enough to know how it works.

Q: How will the Arena work? A: Through the use of the Fight plugin, players will be able to type a single command to be teleported to one of two team lobbies. Inside the lobbies will be several signs they can click to be assigned a 'class'. Upon choosing a class, the player's inventory is saved and replaced with a predefined set of gear. If there are not enough players to start a match, then they must wait in the lobby (they can leave any time via /fight leave) until the required players arrive. Both teams must punch an iron block located in their lobbies to indicate their readiness to fight. Prior to the start of the match, other players can type a command to watch (/fight watch). They will be teleported to a viewing area. Once the match begins, players who die during fighting will be teleported to the viewing area. When all enemy players are dead, the match ends and the winners will be announced. Admins will reward the winning team with cash prizes and other goodies! Q: How will the Dungeon world work? A: Scattered around the main map will be several hidden portals that lead to a secret Dungeon World. Much like Asgard, the Dungeon World is filled with procedurally-generated labyrinths. These labyrinths are in turn filled with traps, mobs, and treasure chests. Unlike asgard, goods found in this world can be brought back to the main world. MultiInv can be configured so it supports shared inventories, so players down for a little adventuring can bring their diamond sword and get to it! The Dungeon world will be cleared and replaced with a new one once players start encountering too many raided dungeons to make traveling there worthwhile. Once this occurs, the portals in the main map will be destroyed, and new ones will be made in other locations. This ensures that players constantly search hidden, obscure places like the bottom of caves for hidden portals. Once you find one, you probably won't end up telling many other people. More loot for you, right?

Q: How will the Economy function? A: Tanelorn acts as the central area for players to shop and buy supplies. The format I used in Praxton can be applied here, albeit in a more segmented form. I'll elaborate:

The Bank (Bank of Tanelorn) could be slimmed down to only accept gold
ingots, which are mostly useless.

Diamond tools will be removed from all merchant lists. Diamonds can not
be sold to NPC merchants (roleplayed as an Official Embargo) and are used solely for the repair and manufacture of diamond goods by players. mcMMO's repair function requires a repair skill of at least 50 before players can repair diamond items. End result: Diamonds again become extremely valuable, even in the form of half-broken tools and armor looted from slain players. Have 2 food vendors that specialize in a limited selection of foods: A Bakery to sell bread, cookies & cakes, and a restaurant that sells cooked pork, cooked fish, and mushroom stew.

Instead of a Farmer's Market, Tanelorn has 2 non-merchant

questgivers inside each food vendor's building (Baker and Chef, respectively) that give players quests to gather the wheat, mushrooms, raw meat, and sugar they need to make the goods sold in their buildings. This is more immersive than an inexplicably rich man who buys all these products and hoards them (or whatever Saldean's doing at the moment!).

An equipment store that sells iron tools (not swords), flint & steel, fishing
rods, buckets, and compasses.

A blacksmith that sells iron swords & armor, as well as bows & arrows.
This structure would have an iron block (anvil) that players can use for quick repairs while in the city. This keeps mcMMO's repair function useful. A non-merchant blacksmith NPC shares the building with his merchant counterpart and sends players on quests to gather iron. This makes more sense than players selling it directly to a bank. Several NPCs that sell a variety of *processed* building materials at inflated prices: A Mason to sell Stone stairs, Smoothstone, Furnaces, & Brick Blocks. A Carpenter to sell Wood stairs, Fences, ladders, chests, doors, hatches, workbenches, & signs. A Clothier that sells wools (Won't be immediately built. Citizens needs a bugfix in order to sell items that rely on damage values, like colored wool.)

A Glassblower that sells Glass blocks & Lightstone (Terribly

expensive!)

 A Magician (Electrician? Alchemist?) that sells redstone, redstone

torches, repeaters, note blocks, and pretty much anything that relies on redstone to function (excluding compasses). NO merchant to sell tracks or minecarts. In the past, railroads were huge, state-funded projects. I think making players work hard to lay their own tracks will help preserve that feel. Towns that grow to sufficient size can have a region-protected underground railroad built by an admin if they pay a large fee. EVERY NPC merchant that deals in processed goods has an in-store counterpart that gives out quests to gather their raw materials: The Mason's shop sends players on quests to gather cobblestone and clay blocks. The Carpenter's shop sends players on quests to gather lumber. The Clothier's shop (when functioning) will send players on quests to gather various types of dyes. The Glassblower sends players on quests for coal and sand. The... Redstone guy sends players on quests for redstone. Obviously the payout amount will be smaller than its equivalent cost if the player were to buy it from him. Note: These counterparts are necessary due to limitations inherent in the Citizens/uQuest merger plugin. In the event that a workaround is found, these NPCs can be eliminated and the shopkeepers themselves can give out the quests. Players earn money by completing quests that range from killing mobs to gathering items for merchants to use. Players can also earn money by selling gold ingots to the Bank of Tanelorn. This system is much more immersive and layered than the current system, which although simple, leaves something to be desired.

Q: What about player-owned stores? A: As you're already aware, there's an issue inherent in letting players run their own stores: Scarcity & lack of dependence. Even when we installed plugins that let players run their own stores autonomously, the lack of value in the server's currency meant most players didn't bother buying from them, and just made their own goods instead. A currency's worth is entirely

dependent on the confidence its users have in its ability to buy things. Part of the reason the current system is so successful is that money is far easier to obtain, and the prices have been set by a central figure. This is essentially a planned economy, and the only reason it functions now is because there is no issue with scarcity. Unlike the problems which led to the USSR's collapse, there is no "peak" event (peak diamonds?) that sees a decline in the amount of goods produced. Merchants that sell goods have an unlimited stock, and merchants that buy goods have (essentially) unlimited money. While this is more than sufficient for a server that doesn't support player-owned stores, it's problematic for players that are dead-set on opening a business. So far we've taken a "hands-off" approach towards players opening their own businesses: We've advised them to simply resort to using a barter strategy. However, there is a way to turn this desire to own a working shop into a source of potential income for the server. For either a large (very large) sum of server currency or a VIP membership, players that want to open their own stores can have an NPC placed in their building and made to sell & buy whichever goods they wish. With the proper allocation of permission nodes, the owner could be given the ability to manage their NPC's balance & inventory. The fact that players would need to work so hard to open an NPC shop would eventually weed out those with short attention spans. End result: Minimal admin involvement, and a player that's invested in owning their own business.

Q: How will PvP/PvE gameplay work? Unlike the previous failed system, and more like the current one, emphasis would be placed on flexibility and simplicity. Much like the days of Wild Tanelorn, PvP and griefing would be totally unrestricted outside of the central Hub and Towns. While this initially sounds like it would encounter the same problems that crippled Wild Tanelorn, the use of the Towny plugin (yes, Towny) would provide the much-needed protection that the towns in the old map sorely lacked. The reason Sleeton failed was because The Moles were able to dig under and tear the town to pieces as soon as its defenders logged off. Towny's block protection system prevents that. The benefits to this are threefold: 1.It provides a large incentive for players to join an existing town instead of making their own, which would be vulnerable to enemies and wilderness alike. It helps foster a sense of community among allied players. They help

eachother keep the town running by paying taxes and expanding it as they recruit more players.

2.It helps towns recognize and avoid recruiting unsavory players who
might just start tearing the town apart as soon as they were given the ability to do so. When some neutral player building a cobble shelter deep in the wilderness screams "OMG DoodGuy15 killed me, stole my stuff, and blew my house up!" it serves as a warning to other players. "This guy is trouble. Better not let him in."

Q: How will towns & factions work? A: Through the use of the Towny plugin players would be able to create their own towns/factions. Unlike the system that failed so badly in the current Tanelorn map, player towns would be built from the ground up with this system in mind. Through the use of permission nodes, all players would have the ability to found a town... for a price. By default, the size of a town's borders is directly correlated to the amount of players it has, and the amount of money the town/owner has at their disposal. I see no reason to change this. Towny works on a chunk-by-chunk basis and has many options that can realistically simulate owning a real town. This can include regular taxes and a minimum resident count that keep towns from becoming inactive. If the town's residents move to other areas, or they fail to pay their taxes, then the town collapses and the chunks are unclaimed. This is a fantastic way to keep check on just how many towns arise: Poor, but ambitious players can't build a town without fearing the inherent danger of the wilderness, and rich players who have been playing for a long time can properly build their own empire in complete safety! If we transfer over to my proposed system, already-rich players could easily bankroll the founding of at least a few basic towns/factions, which would require constant upkeep & recruitment to continue expansion. Upkeep is handled via taxes, which would be paid by taking quests or mining & selling gold. Players who cannot afford their taxes are automatically evicted from the town, and a town with too few residents dissolves, becoming vulnerable to scavengers in the wilderness. Simple, elegant, and very, very immersive.

Q: What are the rules on griefing & theft? A: As stated above, outside of towns, Admins would look the other way towards griefing and theft. However, some things need to be clarified:

3.Camping outside the central Hub is heavily discouraged. It may be possible to avoid bans by simply setting the player on fire several times in the hopes that they get the lesson. If not, they can still be removed or sent back to the spawn jail.

4.Players can use the Lockette plugin to protect their chests, doors,
furnaces, and dispensers. Once claimed, their containers and doors are indestructible. This means that players are slightly safer in the wilderness.

5.Because Towny would handle antigriefing by outside players, the

Precious Stones plugin would be unnecessary. I believe that players having the ability to render their chests indestructible is enough while outside of towns. Any more would be overpowered. As before, bannable offenses include stealing from or griefing your own allies. The use of Big Brother would prevent another repeat of the incident that hit Frost Vegas a while back, and the use of Lockette lets players secure their own chests against unwanted peeking. Like the saying goes "Locks keep an honest person honest."

Q: How can the system be exploited? A:This is a tricky topic. In order to imagine the many ways people exploit the system, you need to have experienced it for yourself. After nearly 8 months of being on this server and going through three itinerations of Tanelorn, you see a lot of shit. First and foremost are the people using zombe's mod to fly & speed around the map. Thankfully, I handled this via two methods: The first was by installing the NoCheat plugin, and the second was by constructing the spawn jail that new players are automatically teleported to. Admins automatically receive a message whenever a player moves suspiciously, and are usually teleported back to their starting location. Even through use of flyhacks, new players cannot escape, and are quickly banned if they fly in the actual worlds themselves. Second is the use of Xray hacks. I found a simple, low-performance way to discourage their use: A plugin that announces when a player strikes diamond ore. Normally, striking diamond is a rare event, and the ore is found in small clusters that rarely take more than a minute to exhaust. If the server is getting spammed every 2 minutes that a player is finding diamond, then it's a simple matter to teleport to that player and inspect their mining tunnels. If it's a large, grid-based layout that signals strip mining, then they're just

extremely lucky. However, if they instead find a long, jagged, snakelike tunnel that darts around from pocket to pocket, then it's obvious they're using an xray hack. Player is banned. Problem solved. Third is the problem posed by thieves and griefers. Any of you familiar with BigBrother and Lockette already know how we deal with this. It's very hard to get around, if not impossible. Q: How Are New Players Dealt With? A: New players spawn in a large, safe, sealed off underground structure, which functions identically to how the one in Praxis does. Players are not allowed to leave until they have read all the rules. Invisible admins can watch their progress if they wish to confirm they're actually reading them. Through the use of region protection and safe construction, escape is impossible. Q: How achievable is this? A: I'll put it simply: I can do this tomorrow if need be. I've already developed what can be described a prototype in the worlds of Praxis and Asgard. It would be a simple matter for me to combine the two systems into a smoothrunning hybrid of PvP combat, Town building, and RPG action. All it takes is the time required to set up the central city, build the arena, spawn the NPCs, import the dungeon world, and write the quests. All in all, it could be done in a matter of days. Alone. From scratch. A new system, fully functional in less than a week. Impressive? You bet your ass it is.

Q: What plugins will be required? A: We already have all the required plugins installed on the server, but for simplicity's sake, I'll list the ones required to set up the system I'm envisioning:
Essentials.jar BigBrother.jar WorldEdit.jar WorldGuard.jar Citizens.jar uQuest.jar NPCQuester.jar Permissions.jar HelpPages.jar iConomy.jar

Fight.jar FoundDiamonds.jar NoCheat.jar HeroChat.jar HeroSpawn.jar MultiVerse.jar MultiInv.jar Stargate.jar WorldBorder.jar yEditor.jar

All other plugins are either nonessential or used as bonuses for donors.

Q: How many people are required to keep the system functioning? A: Aside from the person with the server access required to perform in-depth maintenance and periodic hard-restarts, a small amount of Admins & moderators would be required to ensure players are having a good time. Admins would be responsible for rolling back griefer damage and fixing inventory issues in the merchant NPCs, as well as dealing with issues in Towny. Moderators would be responsible for performing low-level Admin duties when an Admin is not available. All in all, the only issue is plugin education, which can be easily provided with a bit of reading. Admins will be given the links to the plugin pages in order to familiarize themselves with the commands.

Q: *Why do we need to remove our current maps?!* A: Because the system I'm proposing needs a clean slate to be executed properly. If we made this as 'just another map' in the server, there would be one big issue. Namely, the other maps would pull players away from it. Why eat hamburger when you can have steak? There's so much potential here, and I'm worried that if we keep the other maps around, it'll turn into another Factions fiasco. What happened last time was precisely the result of keeping the old map around instead of wiping it. I understand that a lot of effort went into making the maps we're using right now, but when you weigh the import of developing a successful server that regularly attracts new players versus keeping a select few happy, you start to see what I'm getting at. Yes, you built a lot. Yes, it sucks that you might lose it, but you know what? If the server closed down because it wasn't as good as it could be, you'd lose it anyway!

I've made a lot of suggestions to improve the server in the past, and every time they've been stymied by opposition. Whenever a compromise is reached, what results is an inevitably inferior product that differs vastly from my proposal. End result: Player dissatisfaction, new players don't join, and the people that voiced their opposition in the first place leave. This is exactly what happened to the Factions system I tried to implement, and I don't want it to happen again. We've compromised enough. Hell, we practically compromised the server into the grave just under a month ago. Ever since I came back and started changing things again we started getting compliments on our professionalism and polish from new players who stuck around for more than a few hours. Is it so wrong to want to take that one step further?

Thanks for reading. -Baph