To be an original town...

My wilderness settlement, of which I call a village, has reinvigorated me in the sense that it has got me caring for ImDeity main again. I find it easier and less stressful to build, and I actually enjoy doing it - which has not been the case since after my third week on this server til now. I build what I envision and love, and I love what I build. My whole point of making this village was not only to fill my time, or to enjoy it for myself - as many of you may have noticed my constant recruitment messages - but rather to share it with everyone and allow for each person to own a piece of the land. And for the past few days, my little project has had me thinking of the poor state of aesthetics for some of the towns.

That being said - that statement is my opinion, not fact. And it certainly does not apply to all towns. I'm not looking to argue or to town bash, but rather to just share my opinion that will hopefully guide some people.

Referring to the title of the thread, what I mean by it is that there are very few towns that actually deviate from the rest. Most towns are like such; Big, glorious, and smack-dab in the middle is your town spawn. Next comes the road ways, checkered - each converging at the corners to form a monotonous plot design in the middle. After that, a loosely-enforced building or non-existent building code ensures that even your spawn building can get lost in the sea of ever-changing building materials and styles. And a good amount of these towns make sure that your plotted area is flat, too. There's nothing wrong with this method... It's for the every-day minecraft player who plays to mine and doesn't care much to build. One of the towns that I can pick out that follows much of this, but warps it would be Veligrad. The spawn is in the middle, and the roads are more or less checkered. But the things that sets it apart is Barry's iron-grip on the building code and 'respect' for the natural land. He has picked a theme, and has stuck with it.

Consistency doesn't come easy to the rest of the kingdoms, however. (No offense) But in a town such as Doha, I'm surprised (but happy) that there is not a single pixel-art building in the entire town. The town is simply a mishmash of buildings and materials, jumbled together on the livemap. It's attempts at creating districts seems rather to have just spread Doha out, and not unified it at all. Now all that means is that Doha is not the town for me. It doesn't make it a bad town - it's what I consider the model town for all towns. The John Smith or Joe Bob of towns, if you would. Unfortunately, these towns don't encourage challenging yourself to build better and to adapt with your environment (not often, at least). But I didn't write this thread to endorse towns such as Veligrad or just talk about Doha's layout. [Although I may have gotten a bit off track/lost].

I wrote this for the people who want to run a town and to have it be unique. For me, the solution was easy. I don't have 50k, and so I ventured outside of Veligrad and eventually found a place I could call home in the wilderness. BUT, for those fortunate enough to have the money to start a town, and are dead-set on doing so, I suggest you do as such. Pick a theme and stay true to it throughout the whole town. Many of the towns I see (that intend to be unique) pick a theme in their spawn building, and then allow their residents to go bananas. Enforce the building code on your residents. Although it may conclude in a lower amount of residents, it's worth it when you look at the live map. Also, don't let the numbers get to your head... So many towns are dominated by the 16x16 plot restrictions - don't design for that. Design your town however you like, and then figure out how it will work with plotting. Although it's economically detrimental, it will at least look good (easy for me to say because I live in the wilderness [$0 per plot > ] ). I also personally suggest that you screen your residents before accepting them. Try to understand who they are and what their goals are. In any recruitment situation, I like to know the people on a personal level. In this case, if you can connect with them and understand them, it will encourage them to stay on the server and become a long-term member.

To beat Yogs to it, I ran a couple of towns. I only remember running one, and for a very very short period of time. I got so into terraforming the land to fit my 16x16 plot designs, and making sure my castle's patterns worked in those plots that I found myself worn out a few days later. And so my sole goal at that time was to sell the town, and I eventually did. And after that, I went inactive for a while. My point is; It's a hassle conforming to all the restrictions and also paying all the fees that come with owning a town - and it's just simply not worth it to do so and can lead to stress, and ultimately 'quitting'. Don't get caught up in it all. You do you .

 

Nice.. )

 

Also, do what Moji did and always hire a milkman for your town

 

I think I like what you're saying , although I'm not sure xD
One problem I have with this is that people will see that anyone can start there own town like this , this could lead to new players who have played for a week or so starting a town getting bored and leaving say this happens quite often , the consequences being that wild is littered with builds or ghost towns.

 

This already kinda happens...
These kinds of towns work best for donors as they have /sethome and /tp, and /wild is a finicky thing. You can also go to a nearby town and walk, say, 750 blocks, which is what I had to do to get to Moji's town

 

I didn't explain myself well but ya xD best of luck I guess

 

That's what im doing, its lots of work, but I think the project I'm on is going to be spectacular.

 

Few objections -

- as much as you praise Veligrad - remember that i had to stop recruiting "because our post office cannot accept more mailboxes". Also, keeping town in theme needs me to spend time teaching others how to build or just build their houses myself - which usually leads to people going inactive because there is nothing to do. Strictly themed towns simply cannot offer fun to many people on many different skill levels.

- I would like to recommend you to see Anavasi, which i consider to be better themed and yet able to recruit more people than Veligrad.

- saying that Doha is

means you didnt understand how towns have to work if they want to be able to pay taxes and yet still protect their landmarks and general town structures. Which explains why you rather started a wilderness village.
When i see Doha on live map i see some amazing builds surrounded by normal but still above-average quality residential houses so newbies have some good examples how to build. This, along with successful recruitment, is the key of Doha's top place among towns on ImDeity.

- reading this

makes me upset. Remember that mayors pay 50k for legit towns and they want some place to expand and to have some nature around. Town zone guaranteed for us by staff is often not enough. I can make an agreement with someone who cannot register to let them build a house on unclaimed land even inside a town if i know them and they know they shouldnt invite more people. But i had some incidents with random builders starting a "wilderness town" too close around and i really didnt enjoy it. So please, stop telling people that teleporting to a town and building around is good.

 

Interestingly, I have the same visions for my own town. Being a mayor for 2 years has mellowed me out considerably. My invigoration, which rides way longer than short windows of time, comes from the freestyle nature and collaboration of Doha.

The theme of Doha is that there is no theme. In your perspective (which is the opinion of many people), Doha is the traditional big town lacking individuality. In reality, every town is unique by its leadership and different strategies to entertain residents.

When I started Doha, I began with a massive spreadsheet, street names, and placed the roads in a very strict way. Now, the town rides on the ideas of its residents. If the staff wants to build a mini treehouse district, why not if it brings excitement to the town?

In conclusion, by all means you are entitled to your own opinions. But Doha is run on my style, and that style now-a-days is what other residents fancy.

 

So, you're saying that the residents run Doha, and that you do nothing right now (other than supply the funds)? #Niall4Mayor #StageACoup

 

~Barry
I think you may have confused Typo's post with mine, regarding endorsing a wildnerness settlement.

But if not;

I guess much of my post wasn't too clear. This kind of stuff happens when you have a big post to type. The main point of the thread was for the people who actually want to make a town and have it be unique, not to endorse building in the wilderness. I was only giving backstory when I was talking about my wilderness village and past experiences with towns. But I've noticed that a few people have been having town troubles, and so I posted this simply in general for anyone else who may be feeling that their town isn't what they wanted it to be like.

And yes, I considered mentioning Anavasi, but I'd rather have confined to it to one example. HM_Quest was going to be another example too, as Mini just allows her town to flow free. Hardly see any signs of caring about plot restrictions there.

 

I personally think that all the top towns are unique in their own ways. As for my town, i may endorse the odd pixel art, which gets made on just about every build server, but its more about the arrangement of these things, i will say, i had never seen a big green glass creeper till i made one, so personally i felt that was a unique touch just on the style side of things, and i would say the same for my oompa loompa who floats on his island whilst taking a shower in the rainbow.

I havent been to another town with an underground forest either.......

Is a town with 2174 piston farms considered unique?

Uniqueness is very much a point of view, yeah a million people make heart shapes, but hearts was always the theme of my town because of the love me and my people have for each other.

Personally i thought Dohas balloons were pretty much a unique thing, also the fact it is so huge makes it unique in my eye xD

It all comes down to perceptions at the end of the day. I think all the top towns have enough uniqueness in them to consider them superior to many smaller settlements based on the ambition/dedication/will to make it thrive and survive for 1.5 years when many others have fallen by the wayside.

But thats just me xD

 

There's no scoreboard, Heinz. It's not a question of superiority. I get it that you're proud of your town, but just because it is large and has been around for a year and a half does not mean it is great or among the most beautiful. That being said, that is not my opinion of Crystalgard. For the sake of keeping this thread neutral, I will have to say I have no opinion of Crystalgard.

Many people make a town because the current towns do not offer what they are looking for, and so they make their own. The way I see it, many towns follow a very cookie-cutter pattern right now. It's like baking the same 10 cakes, but decorating it differently. I'm merely suggesting another way to 'bake a cake' for those people who are looking for an escape from the conventional town.

I realize I made a mistake in giving examples of towns, specifically by name... I apologize for that, it wasn't my intention to challenge or offend the town(s). The examples were meant to clarify, but I think I went a little too far.

In any case, you can take my advice or you can leave it. I'm not issuing a challenge or smack-talking towns who don't do this, just offering something many people forget is an option.

 

I respect your opinion on this topic and think your quaint village is fun, I mean I'm building in it too, but to say that the majority of towns are "cookie-cutter" patterns is an interesting comment. Personally, I like a town for its community and the people involved. Wraught is in no way shape or form the most beautiful town but it is a town of community. Basically my point it which is referring to your title "To be an original town", to be original you have to put your own spin on it. Cakes have been baked before, no matter how you make it, it is still a cake. It's what you make of this cake that matters.

 

The food references are too much :c .

 

Just going off of your cake references :3

 

You are right not to have an opinion of Crystalgard because in order to appreciate it fully, one would have to know it inside and out. which very few do. Mainly just me and my friends.

I have small opinions on other towns, but i dont know them well enough to make a solid judgement in my own mind.

I never said size matters, however i always was of the opinion that tiny is pointless when it comes to the livemap, which since day 1 of being on this server, was always a concern to me.

Well those are only my personal opinions, but as we are doing the whole cake thing................

There is little to no decoration on this cake i baked. But like my town, you cannot taste the awesome flavor and texture xD

And how can anyone disagree that a town which has been thriving since the beginning is not in someway superior to failed towns? I would say its not the town, its the people in it.(to brush on what scoutdog said there xD)




P.S the cake was actually so tasty, it didnt last very long. RIP cake xD

 

And so the Cake Wars began...

Little is it known to you people - but this has all been a ploy to advertise cakes at my shop! You all fell for my plan >

Also... cowmilk.

 

You already have a milkman; don't complain, you dingus!

 

My milkman only milks once a week apparently...