Somnastra
Good
Som's sheepish warning: This is pretty long, but it's packed full of information that you guys would probably be interested in. It's worth a read, I promise.
As we start to head into the holiday season, I wanted to give an update to everyone on where we're at. This is something I would like to do every few months, and will let me convey certain bits of information that would be difficult to disseminate otherwise.
I'll be sharing with you guys some things that rarely get talked about openly: the financial state of the server, new player applications, and player activity. I will also discuss the status of the staff team, and then there will be an update for each department, written by the appropriate coordinator. If you've got questions, please let us know, and we'll do our best to answer them sans spoilers.
Server Accounting
Currently there is $645.24 in the "server" PayPal (which is really my PayPal that has been co-opted for server purposes). This is just under three months' rent (we just paid) on the physical server hardware, which is where we store the forums and actual server files, and subscription stuffs. Right now, that is our only financial obligation, although there might be software upgrades that would need to be paid for in the future.
This may seem like a lot of buffer, but it is largely left over from the last bit of pre-EULA-change donations. Over the past two months, we've slowly dropped in how much extra we have. This means that every donation is very much appreciated and we have some time before we really have to worry, but if donations continue to taper off, we'll have to explore some of the cosmetic options.
Health of Server Population
It is difficult to accurately track the activity level of players on the server, and difficult to track how many newly whitelisted players become active (as opposed to logging on once and never returning), but in both areas, we seem to be doing well. There are regularly between 30 and 60 players online during evenings that have no server event scheduled, and this is a good sign. This may be due to the fact that players are coordinating their own events, but this, too, is a positive indicator of server health.
We also have seen quite a few applications for whitelisting. Since the beginning of September, we've whitelisted over 100 new players. Nearly all of these individuals are exceptionally mature, and I have been noticing a steady increase in the quality of writing demonstrated in the test portion of the application, which pleases me to no end.
All this increased activity has contributed to a couple of happy side effects. The first is that there has been an increased amount of RP in player towns. Crossroads remains a convenient place to "run into" people for RP, particularly if your character travels at all, but by and large, the bulk of RP is distributed nicely around. This makes us (staff) very pleased. You guys deserve to have your builds used and appreciated, and I'm glad that can be the case. The second side-effect actually contributes to a snowball effect of in-turn attracting more players. A larger number of active players means more votes, and we are currently the #4 Roleplay server on PlanetMinecraft! We've been in the top five for the past two or three months.
All in all, we are doing really well right now. Thank you all for your part in that.
Staff
Over the past several months, we have officially lost several staff members for one reason or another. Several were already inactive, or were going inactive. Regardless of the reasons that they left, I want to state publically that I still hold them all in high regard, and wish them the best. Every one of them did wonderful things for this server, and it was a pleasure to work with them. With the reduced number, we are running on a skeleton crew (although a case can be made that we have been for a while). We're handling it well enough for the moment, but if more than one or two go on a nice vacation, we could be stretching ourselves a bit thin. So some of us are keeping our eyes out for potential staff members (and going back through applications we received months ago for re-reviewing). This is going to be complicated by the fact that staff members will now be chosen for the specific functions instead of generalist prerequisites. That being said, the following are base requirements for every function:
So there's that.
Plug-Ins
Contributed by Sally
The largest changes to plugins during the past would have to be the Economy plugin and the update to mychunk that broke the players chunks, while we've lost a few plugins during the update to 1.7.9, we've kept the general function (Like player heads dropping) despite having to change some plugins.
Currently Mychunk's developer has decided to drop the project, so mychunk has a chance (though as low as it is) to break, since the bukkit drama there's a high chance that a lot of plugins will break/drop as well, so we can only hope we can find replacements. Mcmmo continues to update though.
For the future, it will mostly depend on the devs, but I'm sure the plugins that become inactive will have other devs making their own, unless Minecraft suddenly becomes boring then we'll still be able to run just fine.
Builds and RP/IC Infrastructure
Contributed by Mairin
Region classifications are finished for the most part, all that is remaining is adding and updating regions as they come in. I believe the thread explaining them is pretty straightforward, but it can always be added to or refined. A reminder to owners that it is their responsibility to uphold these classifications will also take off a lot of pressure on us with the recent incoming complaints from players breaking classifications. There were two threads on the subject and I merged them into one polished one instead. It also contains the updated list of regions and their owners.
Updates have been made to the Crossroads, thanks in large part to Michamus
A few players have requested access to areas of the Old Cathedral and other server areas. These folks are in convos with Mich and I and have received approval for their projects with set limitations. I'm interested now in exploring other staff plans for server builds, and if there are any updates needed I can start having my team work on.
This has been a huge relief to get some solid team members. Readij, Icefire, and Ghost are in the process of getting perms and projects. Mich has continually been a great help with Server builds and Ports. Most of the team is currently going to be working on Roads!! These are always an ongoing project and a big one for the server. Currently back at building them myself, which I love. But also going to train up the new helpers, so we can start moving them through faster and getting them finished. I'm thinking about coming up with a few new types of roads to offer, but this will need to go through a feedback process with staff.
The following is areas that I have not begun working on and want to get started on soon:
Quests and NPCs were something that got put on hold after the Tutorial Quest line was finished. Have a lot of ideas for this and will be developing questline ideas . This is something that got put on the back burner as more pressing matters were sorted. A lot of these quests would require additional builds or scenery that the In Game Technical Team could take on. Its aim is to create a more immersive environment with a lot of extras to explore while incorporating server rules, lore, and gameplay throughout.
I am also looking to take stock on the status of the Shophub. Also to discuss how much of an NPC shop we want to offer. This brings about another topic that got put on hold due to other pressing matters, which is having a region that has houses/stalls for rent. This is still in pre-proposal stage and will have to be fully discussed among staff before we can do anything.
Moderation
We had some serious trouble for a while with OOC arguments about IC actions. While this has calmed somewhat, it remains a significant source of tension. Our efforts will largely focus on this particular issue while maintaining what we've come to expect as far as day-to-day moderation. This includes, after a fashion, the experiment that I'm running to disable dislikes, and will continue with an emphasis on some long-standing behind-the-scenes projects, such as the forthcoming (I promise!) war rules. Our goal is to create a space that continues to be a haven and escape for those who need it while upholding the high standards for roleplay that is the norm on HollowWorld.
Other than that, the current trend is actually a decrease in the reported instances of powergaming, griefing, and the like. This could mean that you guys are working it out on your own (good), or it's just not happening (even better).
Let's keep it up, guys!
Lore
Contributed by Michcat
There is going to be a bit of a big update for Lore. Michcat (Myself) is going to be working with the Lore Team as a Coordinator now, as Naelwyn has become rather busy. Naelwyn is the Lore lord almighty above, but it is our hope to help improve the quality and response time of the entire Lore business in general. With Naelwyns new schedule and IRL being so complicated, I'm going to be "Stand-In Naelwyn" for a little while until things are back on track - With the amazing helping hand of @Faelin, Co-Coordinator of the Loreteam.
The Research and Experiments are going to be sorted through with the thread re-opened in hopefully short time, as well as various components of unreleased information primed and released. Currently, the Lore stands in a stable position but with lots of room to improve, and I look forward to accompanying everyone on this crazy journey!
Events
Contributed by Michcat
Events have had their bumps and breaks, but are largely getting back on track! The Exalted/Inquisition and business with the Pantheon is going to be promptly getting in gear (And "wrapping up" on the events side once the final Deity is introduced, so we can let the fun roll without too much need for Staff!). I've been super impressed with all the community-lead events lately, since I know how intimidating it can be to host one- Which makes it all that much nicer when one goes well! I'm perfectly happy to offer any advice or help structuring/running any sort of events, so feel free to contact me. This is probably a good place to mention that I'm keeping an eye out for a Second-In-Command with managing Server Events, which can come from any member of the Community. I look forward to meeting and training someone lovely
Despite the current project being pretty large, Events are looking towards the future! These big plans are going to start with a mass community vote, asking if you guys would rather a break from all the campaign hullabuloo or, if not so, which direction we want to take things in ("The Underworld" or "The Great Sea" is all the spoiler I can give, for now~). Get yer pants on honey, we're moving out! And make sure to buckle in, because this is gonna be one wild ride.
Media
Contributed by Iceandfire
We've been working hard with Media, as you've probably spotted, we've taken a few strides to start up a new and improved branch. We've got the new forum section dedicated just for it, which holds the Saturday Photo of the Week thread, the Social Networks thread, Suggestions, Podcasts, and more. We've been focusing a lot of our time on the social networks, updating Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter almost daily. Many folks have seen the start of the Podcasts once more, and we've been talking a lot about what's been going on in Hollowworld, which ultimately helps with the growth of our server by being able to produce these videos for many to see. In the not so distant future, we're hoping to utilize the social networks more to help increase advertising and general awareness of the Server. We plan to release a few new videos and topics on the Youtube channel, and hope to work more with the other sections of staff to help advertise and promote the server and it's community. We'd like to work a bit with the current voting system in place and maybe see if we can brainstorm some ideas for rewards and better ways to increase votes. All in all, we've made some great strides over here in Media, and look forward to the new year. That said, if you have any suggestions feel free to let us know! We are always looking for new and exciting things to do and/or include in our community.
As we start to head into the holiday season, I wanted to give an update to everyone on where we're at. This is something I would like to do every few months, and will let me convey certain bits of information that would be difficult to disseminate otherwise.
I'll be sharing with you guys some things that rarely get talked about openly: the financial state of the server, new player applications, and player activity. I will also discuss the status of the staff team, and then there will be an update for each department, written by the appropriate coordinator. If you've got questions, please let us know, and we'll do our best to answer them sans spoilers.
Server Accounting
Currently there is $645.24 in the "server" PayPal (which is really my PayPal that has been co-opted for server purposes). This is just under three months' rent (we just paid) on the physical server hardware, which is where we store the forums and actual server files, and subscription stuffs. Right now, that is our only financial obligation, although there might be software upgrades that would need to be paid for in the future.
This may seem like a lot of buffer, but it is largely left over from the last bit of pre-EULA-change donations. Over the past two months, we've slowly dropped in how much extra we have. This means that every donation is very much appreciated and we have some time before we really have to worry, but if donations continue to taper off, we'll have to explore some of the cosmetic options.
Health of Server Population
It is difficult to accurately track the activity level of players on the server, and difficult to track how many newly whitelisted players become active (as opposed to logging on once and never returning), but in both areas, we seem to be doing well. There are regularly between 30 and 60 players online during evenings that have no server event scheduled, and this is a good sign. This may be due to the fact that players are coordinating their own events, but this, too, is a positive indicator of server health.
We also have seen quite a few applications for whitelisting. Since the beginning of September, we've whitelisted over 100 new players. Nearly all of these individuals are exceptionally mature, and I have been noticing a steady increase in the quality of writing demonstrated in the test portion of the application, which pleases me to no end.
All this increased activity has contributed to a couple of happy side effects. The first is that there has been an increased amount of RP in player towns. Crossroads remains a convenient place to "run into" people for RP, particularly if your character travels at all, but by and large, the bulk of RP is distributed nicely around. This makes us (staff) very pleased. You guys deserve to have your builds used and appreciated, and I'm glad that can be the case. The second side-effect actually contributes to a snowball effect of in-turn attracting more players. A larger number of active players means more votes, and we are currently the #4 Roleplay server on PlanetMinecraft! We've been in the top five for the past two or three months.
All in all, we are doing really well right now. Thank you all for your part in that.
Staff
Over the past several months, we have officially lost several staff members for one reason or another. Several were already inactive, or were going inactive. Regardless of the reasons that they left, I want to state publically that I still hold them all in high regard, and wish them the best. Every one of them did wonderful things for this server, and it was a pleasure to work with them. With the reduced number, we are running on a skeleton crew (although a case can be made that we have been for a while). We're handling it well enough for the moment, but if more than one or two go on a nice vacation, we could be stretching ourselves a bit thin. So some of us are keeping our eyes out for potential staff members (and going back through applications we received months ago for re-reviewing). This is going to be complicated by the fact that staff members will now be chosen for the specific functions instead of generalist prerequisites. That being said, the following are base requirements for every function:
- Be exceptionally calm, mature, and reasoned.
- Exhibit discretion.
- Not have any ongoing personal disagreements or issues with existing staff, to prevent team decohesion.
- Not have any recent or outstanding infractions of the rules, particularly lore or powergaming.
- Be personally motivated and willing to take on project with at times little or no direction.
So there's that.
Plug-Ins
Contributed by Sally
The largest changes to plugins during the past would have to be the Economy plugin and the update to mychunk that broke the players chunks, while we've lost a few plugins during the update to 1.7.9, we've kept the general function (Like player heads dropping) despite having to change some plugins.
Currently Mychunk's developer has decided to drop the project, so mychunk has a chance (though as low as it is) to break, since the bukkit drama there's a high chance that a lot of plugins will break/drop as well, so we can only hope we can find replacements. Mcmmo continues to update though.
For the future, it will mostly depend on the devs, but I'm sure the plugins that become inactive will have other devs making their own, unless Minecraft suddenly becomes boring then we'll still be able to run just fine.
Builds and RP/IC Infrastructure
Contributed by Mairin
Region classifications are finished for the most part, all that is remaining is adding and updating regions as they come in. I believe the thread explaining them is pretty straightforward, but it can always be added to or refined. A reminder to owners that it is their responsibility to uphold these classifications will also take off a lot of pressure on us with the recent incoming complaints from players breaking classifications. There were two threads on the subject and I merged them into one polished one instead. It also contains the updated list of regions and their owners.
Updates have been made to the Crossroads, thanks in large part to Michamus
A few players have requested access to areas of the Old Cathedral and other server areas. These folks are in convos with Mich and I and have received approval for their projects with set limitations. I'm interested now in exploring other staff plans for server builds, and if there are any updates needed I can start having my team work on.This has been a huge relief to get some solid team members. Readij, Icefire, and Ghost are in the process of getting perms and projects. Mich has continually been a great help with Server builds and Ports. Most of the team is currently going to be working on Roads!! These are always an ongoing project and a big one for the server. Currently back at building them myself, which I love. But also going to train up the new helpers, so we can start moving them through faster and getting them finished. I'm thinking about coming up with a few new types of roads to offer, but this will need to go through a feedback process with staff.
The following is areas that I have not begun working on and want to get started on soon:
Quests and NPCs were something that got put on hold after the Tutorial Quest line was finished. Have a lot of ideas for this and will be developing questline ideas . This is something that got put on the back burner as more pressing matters were sorted. A lot of these quests would require additional builds or scenery that the In Game Technical Team could take on. Its aim is to create a more immersive environment with a lot of extras to explore while incorporating server rules, lore, and gameplay throughout.
I am also looking to take stock on the status of the Shophub. Also to discuss how much of an NPC shop we want to offer. This brings about another topic that got put on hold due to other pressing matters, which is having a region that has houses/stalls for rent. This is still in pre-proposal stage and will have to be fully discussed among staff before we can do anything.
Moderation
We had some serious trouble for a while with OOC arguments about IC actions. While this has calmed somewhat, it remains a significant source of tension. Our efforts will largely focus on this particular issue while maintaining what we've come to expect as far as day-to-day moderation. This includes, after a fashion, the experiment that I'm running to disable dislikes, and will continue with an emphasis on some long-standing behind-the-scenes projects, such as the forthcoming (I promise!) war rules. Our goal is to create a space that continues to be a haven and escape for those who need it while upholding the high standards for roleplay that is the norm on HollowWorld.
Other than that, the current trend is actually a decrease in the reported instances of powergaming, griefing, and the like. This could mean that you guys are working it out on your own (good), or it's just not happening (even better).
Let's keep it up, guys!
Lore
Contributed by Michcat
There is going to be a bit of a big update for Lore. Michcat (Myself) is going to be working with the Lore Team as a Coordinator now, as Naelwyn has become rather busy. Naelwyn is the Lore lord almighty above, but it is our hope to help improve the quality and response time of the entire Lore business in general. With Naelwyns new schedule and IRL being so complicated, I'm going to be "Stand-In Naelwyn" for a little while until things are back on track - With the amazing helping hand of @Faelin, Co-Coordinator of the Loreteam.
The Research and Experiments are going to be sorted through with the thread re-opened in hopefully short time, as well as various components of unreleased information primed and released. Currently, the Lore stands in a stable position but with lots of room to improve, and I look forward to accompanying everyone on this crazy journey!
Events
Contributed by Michcat
Events have had their bumps and breaks, but are largely getting back on track! The Exalted/Inquisition and business with the Pantheon is going to be promptly getting in gear (And "wrapping up" on the events side once the final Deity is introduced, so we can let the fun roll without too much need for Staff!). I've been super impressed with all the community-lead events lately, since I know how intimidating it can be to host one- Which makes it all that much nicer when one goes well! I'm perfectly happy to offer any advice or help structuring/running any sort of events, so feel free to contact me. This is probably a good place to mention that I'm keeping an eye out for a Second-In-Command with managing Server Events, which can come from any member of the Community. I look forward to meeting and training someone lovely
Despite the current project being pretty large, Events are looking towards the future! These big plans are going to start with a mass community vote, asking if you guys would rather a break from all the campaign hullabuloo or, if not so, which direction we want to take things in ("The Underworld" or "The Great Sea" is all the spoiler I can give, for now~). Get yer pants on honey, we're moving out! And make sure to buckle in, because this is gonna be one wild ride.
Media
Contributed by Iceandfire
We've been working hard with Media, as you've probably spotted, we've taken a few strides to start up a new and improved branch. We've got the new forum section dedicated just for it, which holds the Saturday Photo of the Week thread, the Social Networks thread, Suggestions, Podcasts, and more. We've been focusing a lot of our time on the social networks, updating Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter almost daily. Many folks have seen the start of the Podcasts once more, and we've been talking a lot about what's been going on in Hollowworld, which ultimately helps with the growth of our server by being able to produce these videos for many to see. In the not so distant future, we're hoping to utilize the social networks more to help increase advertising and general awareness of the Server. We plan to release a few new videos and topics on the Youtube channel, and hope to work more with the other sections of staff to help advertise and promote the server and it's community. We'd like to work a bit with the current voting system in place and maybe see if we can brainstorm some ideas for rewards and better ways to increase votes. All in all, we've made some great strides over here in Media, and look forward to the new year. That said, if you have any suggestions feel free to let us know! We are always looking for new and exciting things to do and/or include in our community.
