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Future Worlds vol. III.

Discussion in 'Kingdoms General' started by BarryX15, December 15, 2018.

  1. BarryX15

    BarryX15

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    Two more years, no more scenarios, and even fewer people to read this post.

    Some of you might have read about scenarios for our real-life Universe's future, and some of these might fit to the fate of the ImDeity server as well. We had our map resets being similar to real-life Big Bang, bringing endless amounts of energy in the first few days, followed by spreading the activity from the spawn and the mining world further away into the map as people progress to explore, pretty much the same way that our Universe started to expand and cool down.

    If Doha was once known for "treating people as numbers", let this post be known for "treating players as particles", with their mass and especially their energy.

    The infamous "the server is dying" quote (which we heard quite often during years) perfectly describes the process of rising the entropy of the system. Imagine an empty tank being filled with air: When it starts, there is a lot of air particles on one place near the inlet and nothing on the other end of the tank, then the air particles spread into the tank to fill it evenly. In any closed system (as when we close the inlet), the entropy can only rise over time, until a moment when the entropy reaches the maximum and there is no energy left in the system.

    Things on the server work similarly: newbies start at the spawn with empty hands, they need basic survival equipment and a safe place. They are open to new ideas and friendships, and they spend the energy to collect stuff and make friends. Over time, they spread to start or join towns around the map, they collect enough stuff and friends and become veterans who don't need anything anymore, and who don't spend much energy anymore. When there are no newbies, the situation resembles closing the inlet: there is no energetic income, and with no energy coming to the system, the entropy can only rise.

    There are two ways of lowering the entropy of the server: beside the obvious advertising to attract more newbies, the gameplay rules can be changed - unlike the real-life Universe where laws of physics remain the same. However, both options need massive amount energy to be spent by the owner, either in work on in money. Knowing that the advertising used to be a thing here until it became too expensive, i don't expect it to happen again, especially when curious visitors would mostly be deterred by having to downgrade their client. Changing gameplay rules could have some impact but again, we can hardly expect more than few days or weeks until the energy is out.

    Did the server die already?

    Have "Golden Ages" been gone since the end of the Age of Avalon when the first major reset happened? The general public response to that reset was to build even more and even better on the new map. By the way, this announcement came on today, just 7 years ago.

    Or was it the end of the Age of BuenaVista? We expected a first major reset to bring us a "forever" map, and it lasted merely 10 months. This second major reset might have been enough to disappoint players hoping for eternal world to play in, to keep their builds forever, but others were happy to have a clean start again.

    Or was it the last of few resets, the end of the Age of Doha? Players have been hoping for the reset that time, because the Age of Doha lasted longer than previous two together and most people were just tired of the same map.

    Or was it somewhere during this Age of Skyhold, between the last reset and today? Maybe when newbies had nowhere to join because there were no towns actively recruiting. Honestly, i don't blame town staff members, this world lasted longer than all previous worlds together and it seems to become the once-dreamed "forever" map. Such amount of time definitely drains the energy from everyone, as it is not about the amount of players, but rather about the amount of energy in players. About the desire to play with others and genuinely help them. Of course, more players means more energy in general. Quantity over quality, or was it always vice-versa here?

    Or will it be some time in the future? Depends. Someone needs dozens of players to interact with, someone is fine with playing an online singleplayer. In other words, some people need more energy in the system to consider it alive, others are fine with the fraction of energy that is still present.

    There is yet one more measure to determine when the observed subject has ceased to live: When there is nobody to acknowledge it being alive. So if you are reading this, the ImDeity server definitely is alive.
     
    Last edited: December 15, 2018
  2. Blackesy

    Blackesy

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    Have you ever considered a writing a book? Very well written and I tend to agree, the server is still kicking
     
    Last edited: December 15, 2018
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  3. PolyRocs

    PolyRocs

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    I wonder if people will want to read about our experiences on these types of games in the future? It could be a very interesting book to some or many...
     
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  4. The_Yogs

    The_Yogs

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    The server stays alive for as long as its guardian tells its stories.

    That guardian is you
     
  5. JWCuber

    JWCuber

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    My wish is for ImDeity to come back.
     
  6. BarryX15

    BarryX15

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    It depends. Little kids enjoy listening to their gramps but then they grow up, and youth mostly prefer to experience things on their own and they have little patience with elders. Seeing Minecraft and games in general as a way to relax and forget about daily life chores, i don't expect many people to study the gaming history, especially when they can experience it themselves and learn from their own mistakes.

    I wouldn't call myself a guardian, when everyone knows that i am just a stalker ;) Or maybe more accurately, something like a dragon sitting on his pile of hoarded stuff that he considers a tresure, most of the time sitting in silence because speaking would consume energy.

    And to reply to both of you, that dragon might sometimes emerge from his cave with more stories.
     
  7. DunkMastaZ

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    Well spoken.
     
  8. MrGhoster

    MrGhoster

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    Barry, I have no doubt that you are the single most dedicated individual to this server. Always as a familiar face to return to. Even now, Over two years since I've last logged in, here you are.

    I think most of us from 2011 have their own "age" of ImDeity they preferred, but the people that stick through each of the resets are what keep the server alive.

    I'll never forget the time I spent before that first reset, logging on each day to level up my excavation in MCMMO while gathering sand to build my first dome. I was never much of a talker and didn't join any towns as a resident, but I was excited when we had just gotten rid of the whitelist. A huge rush of people started coming, we were in the top 10 regularly. Making cake for Dei. There were always people to talk to and the other chat channels had a purpose.

    Then the first reset happened and I personally was disappointed. I had lost the dome I had worked on for hours, nothing compared to what other people had lost, but this was my first Minecraft Server, so it stung. I didn't come back for almost 8 months.

    When I came back we were two months away from the next reset. I didn't know that at the time, so I got to building the foundation of a new dome, one bigger than the last one by far. I decided to explore the world without looking at the map to find a spot to build my new dome. I stumbled upon Josh's Aryes and it amazed me so much. I was awestruck that a building could look so great in a game with blocks as the only tool. With renewed inspiration I found a spot on the livemap far enough away that I wouldn't bother anyone, and got to work laying my foundation for my next dome.

    I sidntd even place the first glass block before the reset announcement came. This time I took a shorter break, because I still wanted to use that inspiration to build on the next world. A few months later I came back and saw the sprawling city that was Doha. It reminded me of my time walking around Avalon, so I joined. I talked with Yogs about where I was planning to build the dome and got the go ahead.

    This was my most active period on the server and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I spent hundreds of hours gathering sand and coal to make enoite glass to build the dome I was wanting to build. I even had to stop building a few times because I kept running out of glass and I had already bought out the glass market in the shops.

    I made many friends during this time, and by the time my dome was finished, I still wanted to keep playing. I had to build something inside the dome. I hired some people to clear out the hills inside so I would have a flat building area and got to know a few of them well.

    I never had a house in Doha, but as Doha expanded, my dome came closer and closer to being a landmark. I had to step away for a while due to illness, but when I came back j had found the next reset had happened. I was crushed since I had lost the dome I had worked hundreds of hours on with gathering and building. It took a while before I came back

    Eventually I came back on this current map. I decided I was going to remake the build that inspired me, Aryes. Luckily there was a world download file of the original, so it wouldn't be creating it from scratch as far as the design went. I still had to gather all the materials though.

    I was losing motivation and eventually roped into asdfjkl into helping me complete it. At least the main building was completed, the walls were going to take longer. I had messaged josh to tell him I had been planning on rebuilding Aryes, and when it was finished he was able to get on and take a look.

    His appreciation for the build filled me with a sense of closure and I was happy with what I had done. I didn't feel like there was much left for me to do, so I stopped. This time it wasn't because of a reset, but because I had accomplished what I had set out to do.

    So Barry, "the server is dying" is something people always got wrong. Sure there may be less people playing, but that's because lots of us grew up, not because of anythinf wrong with the server itself. I don't think I'll ever say the server is completely dead until no one remembers it.

    I certainly will never forget the server, and I think there are many of us that feel the same way. So thank you Barry, for being yourself.

    All that said though, if I could get enough glass to build another dome, I totally would build one over Aryes again.
     

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