This is the petition for the creation of a new map on the server with the introduction of a world portal that allows players to explore this current map (Oceania) without placing new blocks. Transfering small amounts of inventory and generating a map with Large Biomes are discussions that will be held after a new map is decided upon. Below are brief arguments both for and against this idea. Below those you are encouraged to sign your name and include your vote.

When I look around the current server I see many beautiful creations. I see dizzying cathedrals, I see beautiful statues, I see proud nations. However, I also see things that trouble me. I see ghost-towns, places that have not seen player interaction for literally more than a year. I see scorched earth, places that have been cleared for projects long forgotten. I see empty roads, roads that go on for thousands of metres and then suddenly stop, as if they no longer had anywhere meaningful to go.

The fact is that while the server is still modestly populated, the objective quality of the server has degraded slowly but surely over the past year. Many of our newer friends may not be able to sense this decadence, but it is there. This decline has only been barely kept in check by the sporadic and increasingly frequent spawn changes. When one area of the map becomes filled to the brim with shit building and has been drained of all resources, a new spawn is created far, far away. This is able to provide new areas for building and mining and provides the illusion of a new frontier- for a time. But this is only a stop-gap measure, a short-term solution. Increasingly, those players with strong ties to their creations are left behind when the spawn changes and new players begin to build ties in the new location. After many changes, we're left with a map that is not only mostly empty, but that supports players across its entirety. That is to say, no longer can one just walk from one's home a few minutes to another nation. One needs directions and coordinates and a netherrail and an hour of free time.

This is not how things always were and it is not how things need to be now. Where spawn changes serve to seperate us out, a new map would unite us and bring us all together. Yes, we would spread out, yet history has shown us that this process is a much slower one than is created with these spawn changes. In 1.7, a map that 8 or so months, the entire map was only a few kms large. The largest nation, Kurwa, was less than 1000 blocks from the spawn. The only thing that significantly spread out the map was a spawn change to Perkele, and even that only spread the map out another few thousand blocks. Yet eventually our beloved 1.7 began to slow, despite the spawn change. Again, I'd like to remind the reader that 1.7, perhaps the time most widely accepted as the golden age of the server, took place on a map 1/5 the area of the current map, despite having, at some times, over 80 players online at one time. Yet despite this all, we moved on when it was clear the map was not meeting our expectations. 1.8 was released and with it came a surge of players, productivity, and quality. The history of this time is often marred by the memory of Omgmac and his shitty world limits and adminship, but the truth of the matter is that this time period marked the birth of many nations and friendships and saw many massive collaborative projects. Then came the current map, 1.1. Many of you will only remember this map and will say, “But Vlad, even in the first few weeks of this map people spread out quite quickly. This directly contradicts your argument that a new map will unite the server in quality and membership!” This is all true, however what has been failed to be considered is the fact that the original spawn was in the middle of an ocean. Players were forced by this poor choice of spawn to flee thousands of blocks from eachother just in order to build on solid land. This was the first in a series of mishandlings that have led us to the current low-density, low-interaction environment we find ourselves in. This is not representative of a normal map change.

Indeed, what the crux of the issue is how we want to function as a server. Are we content to live thousands of blocks away from eachother, only interacting through chat? Are we content to have to pick up our inventory every few weeks and move to a new spawn in order to maintain relations with new players? Are we content to often be forced to turn to mods just to get the resources necessary to connect our nations with the new spawn or to our friends? I, for one, can no longer support this type of server. What made this server great was the interaction between players. The influx of new ideas and new friends. The collaboration between Poles and Germans, between Latvians and Russians, between Americans and Mexicans. What made this server great were the players. For this reason I built a massive monument at the end of the 1.7 server. I lost my grandest design, the nation of Kurwa, and all the contents of her coffers, countless diamond blocks, yet I did not weep. No, I was not sad to see the dusk of my labor, for I knew that with the new map would come new friends and old, new opportunities and new resources. Maybe even a new kind of map (Large Biomes?). So no, I did not worry about my lost items. I did not build that monument to my nation or to my nice house. I built that monument to the people of the server. I built it for my friends.

That is what I want this server to be again. I want to know each and every one of your names. I want to know what house you live in. I want to know how you feel about the rules of the server. I want you to know who the mods are and I don't want you to feel bad about approaching us. I want us to be friends.

For this reason I urge you. Let us download this map so that we may forever preserve your creations (This is possible at this very moment, simply ask a mod or admin for a link). I say let those creations not go to waste, but let us also not ignore the possibilities of the future. Let us start a new map. Let us work together to explore, to mine, to create. Let us all start with nothing but eachother: Only with a fresh start will we once again be able to build together.

— V1adimirr 2013/02/22 00:54

Why do you think people build afar from each other? What makes you think that forcing vicinity is a long-term solution to the lack of player interaction?
I won't start with the “Hurr you were not active for half a year” bullshit, don't worry. If you really wanted the server to make it what it should be, you would've started NOW gathering people, meeting potential allies and preparing some nice big projects to work with together.

While i respect your desire to give life to the server, V1adimirr, i must say this solution simply won't work, because it's a short term solution. As many other Bernds said before me, everything will go as foreseen on the new map for a limited span of time; Inevitably, people will start building afar from each other again, oldfriends will abandon/become less active once the feel of novelty is no more, less people will come online because they don't feel motivated enough to play, “objective quality” will steadily degrade again, and it will be at this point all over again. And it will keep happening, because we are are all personally different in nature, with different goals and diverse preferences.

What can be done, instead, is overhauling the scripts and plugins on the already existing map to accomodate what we think are our needs, because player interaction should be stimulated, not forced. In my opinion, meet-ups and events are a nice way to counter the problem highlighted by V1adimirr. Generally talking, metagaming might be the solution to everything.

A fair example of this is the implementation of the Shopkeepers plugin, that inspires meta-gaming, trying to create an active economy between players and nations; This can be improved by permitting safe player-to-player trading.
Another proposition would be that to recreate the transport system in the nether (and ideally in the overworld aswell), then making it a charged service, owned by the Order of the Staff. This will be possible with the incoming 1.5 update, where railway systems are getting updated aswell (multiple players could board a minecart train).

This counter-argumentative section is open to proposals and changes, and responses by either side of supporters are highly encouraged.
— Ranshiin 2013/02/23 13:40

I don't think you really understand our vision, or what we are imagining based on our experiences of 1.7 and desire to see what was built more fully fleshed out — Sikandar 2013/02/24 03:17

To all the people complaining about lack of player interaction and spreading out of players/settlements:
You don't need a new map to counter these problems (they will resurface anyway). Your problem isn't the map but the mentality of many (esp. new) players. Most people who come on the server for the first time don't have any idea where the settlements are and start building whereever. Give these players guidance.
Promote a certain continent/area to new players and resettle there yourself. Start new in a fresh area and get others to join you through persuasion (instead of forcing a new map on us). There is no need to throw away the curent map. You can make up your own world borders whereever you want. You'll just have to deal with keeping people together by yourself instead of getting it served to you by a map change and a server-side restriction on world borders.
— PenOpener 2013/02/23 21:02

I don't hate this map but if there was any map that needed to go on for over a year, I think we can all agree that this wasn't it. — k_chris 2013/02/22 01:23

As you mentioned in #chat, this map was supposed to have been scrapped when we got the 1.8 map back. — Sikandar 2013/02/22 01:44

The arguments for seem to be based on nostalgia. I see no reason why a change of map would have the desired lasting effect, when this was never the case before.
— Bragzor 2013-02-22 02:00

We need to have driving forces in the map this time. The biggest problem with the current map was the sprawl and the lack of interactiont hat kept thigns going. smaller map boundaries would solve this problem — Shakomatic 2013/02/22 04:05

Why would people be willing to lose all of their creations? What is the point of building anything if you are willing to just throw it all away? If I lose my mead hall, underwater lair, tunnel systems, castle, etc, I will probably never return to Mine Craft and instead find some other game to play. Half of the fun for me is basking in the glory of something that I have made which inspires me. With a new map, I will lose all will to build anything at all. My previous efforts will have been made completely futile. Even now I am not finished my projects and I cant be bothered to work on them if their future existence remains in jeopardy. t. Padruig

You can always download the map and view your creations whenever you want, however if that is not enough for you, then yes, they will be “gone.” However is this enough of a reason to hinder the progress of others and of yourself? Should we all be held back from the future by the fear of losing our past? I can speak out of experience, having lost a great many of my valued creations throughout the various map changes, when I say that it will sting at first. It will be painful to not be able to point to your achievements. However, is that truly why you play? To show off to others?

I don't think it is. I think you play to create. I think you play to interact with others. I think that once you realize this you will understand that a new map will ultimately change nothing. All that will change is suddenly you have the entire world ahead of you and your friends to mold as you see fit. However if you look inside yourself and you find that the only reason you play is to feed your ego, then yes, this change will be detrimental. If you find any other answer, then all I can ask is that you trust my experience and the experiences of those others that have been through such changes when we tell you, “it will be for the better.” If that still is not enough, then I wish you luck on this vote and I'm sorry we can't agree on our mutual future. — V1adimirr 2013/02/22 05:58

To everyone who is afraid of losing their stuff: Ask yourself, why are you playing this game? Is it to amass virtual ressources to feel rich and to jerk off to your buildings or is it to make allies, explore and get feels? I will lose an iron farm, a double chest of iron stacks, a huge mobtower with lighting, my blaze farm and countless other things, we all left something behind on the past maps and its a good feel to look back at that sometime. The wiki will preserve your creations if you wish to and you can always download the old maps. I can fully understand you when you want to keep your stuff, but I assure you, you'll forget about it soon enough after playing on a new map. — areteee 22/02/13 10:30

I have built for three months straight and wasted most of my days in that time (scary now that I think about it) on creating Voelhaven, its star fort, its hinterland, its mighty cathedral. I would lose all that—but right now it's all meaningless anyway. Voelhaven has two inhabitants, all the other nations are kilometres away (at leats until Nouvelle Reims takes shape), there is simply no raison d'être. It's just another ghost town on a server full of ghost towns, deserted ruins, and unfinished projects.
If I had to lose all my work, but could start anew together with all the server's playes—by all means, yes! I would be sad about the loss of the neighbourhood of the Sea of Florina, but if the feels which make that region cozy—a couple of players settling close to, visiting, helping each other—were to permeate the whole new map… what a laughable price would it be to pay! — P.P.A. 2013/02/22 11:39
First, i have to say i'm not against the idea of reseting the map, but against the problem it is enlighting. I truely think this is just about a general problem of personal will. If you have no will of making stuff with friends or something in that sort you just won't play, it's not about the map, it's about you. Reseting the map will probably make more newfriends to come and also oldfriends. But it's also proven that good projects well advertised can make players come and come/back. Moreover the server will live with many people for what? 3-4 months maximum? No i still say it won't solve the whole problem.
— Sidmarcus01 2013/02/22 14:15

To those of you still against the map change:

I was vehemently against it at first, as I had just finished a major project, and had previously had such a project destroyed shortly after completion by a map change.

However, as I understand it, it's more likely than not that we will be able to visit the old map via portal even after the map change. It will be perfectly preserved - you just won't be able to modify any blocks in it. As far as I'm concerned, if this is done, then there's no argument against a change other than “I'm building something and want to finish it”. Well, we're going to have a full month before the change, and that's more than enough time to finish whatever you're working on.

We're not losing the old map, just adding a new place to build that will be more ordnung. Everything you've built will still exist on the server. I am a bit concerned about the size of the new map's proposed build area, and I do think we should petition to allow individual, non-aligned projects anywhere on the map outside of the designated build area. However, this is just debate about the rules of the new map, and I encourage everyone to keep an open mind about the change - a vicious knee-jerk reaction against it is natural, but once you know that the old map will still exist and be accessible on the server, a lot of the anger and frustration should melt away.

tl;dr you should still be able to visit the old map via portal, even after the map change. Just make sure that tetete knows that we really want this.

t; smultanius, former skeptic

and I do think we should petition to allow individual, non-aligned projects anywhere on the map outside of the designated build area.

I support this idea and will fight for it. That is however a discussion for another day. We will include all suggestions for new rules on the wiki before the proposed new map goes into effect so all the people of the server will have a chance to give their input on any rules that will be directly impacting them. This is your server, the players, just as much as it is mine or the other mods'. — V1adimirr 2013/02/22 22:03

Pro vote: ✔ Anti vote: ✘
Pro: 41 | Anti: 20