Minecraft, and the downfall of the unique survival server.

FACT: I’m addicted to Minecraft.

Who knew that a game where you place blocks and adventure with friends fighting skeletons, zombies and sheep could be so much fun. I’ve currently sunk 700+ hours into Minecraft over the last year and a half and I’m still going strong, however, there is one thing that is beginning to annoy me - the unique minecraft server is dying.

Over the last year and a half, there have been three or four different servers I have played on, and that I have consistently enjoyed. The first was the first server I ever joined, AvengersCreations. Now, this was my first venture into Minecraft, more importantly, my first steps of power. Me, being the 15 year old I was, enjoyed this ‘power’ and used it at every chance - following griefers, banning griefers, power abuse, power abuse with other mods, promotions/demotions. Now I look back, apart from being good-humoured, and good with words, I was a bad admin, and I was the exact thing I don’t look for in a server. But the time I had there was one of the best online experiences ever, where I ventured into the realms of Minecraft Alpha and began chewing my life away. AC one day randomly shut down, and so I was forced to find a new home (I came back one day after an argument that ensued between the original owner and his 'friend’ and got mad, kinda. I regret it now, but it was a release of pent up anger over the owner).

After AC, I moved to minecraft.co.nz for a bit, but it didn’t feel like home, and at this stage, I was still a n00b kinda at Minecraft. It wasn’t until my friends and I started up a private server that I came to experience the different kinds of Minecraft - Half-Creative, Creative and proper Vanilla Survival. It was this variation, along with the fact I could play not only with local friends, but be able to make ones from overseas as well that made me love the game. As Exams loomed towards the end of the year, My friends dropped off to study, while I kept on powering through (a decision that almost made me fail the year) and ended up joining the VoxelBox, and was made a member after a construction of Hangman made from Redstone. This server is very unique indeed, and the player base a majority of the time can be cool, and I saw this as a server that I could stay on for a bit. It is my most recent server-that-I-played-more-than-three-times, however, my time came to an end when I realised I never felt at home on the server. So here I am, on an adventure to find the niche server for me…

The thing about starting back pre-bukkit was that servers, although mostly the same and without a buhzillion mods, were all different. They found ways to keep the player-base entertained that put them apart from others, and also, there weren’t hundreds of thousands of servers. Thats what put the old days apart from today. Bukkit has allowed all these servers to customise their game to have a game they want to play, which is an extension on what the admins did pre-bukkit, and on hMod, but I feel, in making the Admin do less hard work to make it different from another, the server has lost its charm.

Thats my problem. Admins have gotten lazy.

I have a terrible attention span, and I frequently server-jump a lot, and the main turn off these days is the fact I cannot find a unique server anymore. They all run three things - Factions, iConomy and Towny, and when looking for a server, it’s very bland scrolling through a page of servers all with [ECONOMY] [TOWNS] [FACTIONS] blaring at my face, and is an immediate turn-away. I know having these on a server is kinda cool, but why? I mean, yeah sure, you want your own server, but making it the same as seven others out there; will it be your server?

I’m not telling people off for the use of these mods constantly - Minecraft is a game to be played like you want it, but it’s because of this repetitive mod selection, I fear the unique minecraft server is dying. Being a Vanilla Fan through and through, and having previous admining skills, and player experience, a large portion on what I judge a Minecraft server on is the admins. They create the experience the players have, but It grates me that admins insist on having the same three mods over and over and over again. There isn’t enough variation these days, and it makes me sad.

In an ideal world, you’d take these mods, and each do something new with them, but I know you can’t, when there is 100,000 other servers probably with the same mods, but variation from server to server is awesome, and you should all one day do a Minecraft Server Pilgrimage. See whats out there, and think what can make my server different - different will attract new members, and I know for sure that it would entice me :P

Call me hipster, but I miss the old days, and I’m still on the lookout for a cool vanilla server. This is more a plea to admins to create their own world, not something 200 other servers are doing :/ Hate me, love me, do what you want :D