A reflection on LOTC

[Lhindir_ 3691]

12 minutes ago, monkeypoacher said:

probably? but there would be no payout. I doubt tythus is sitting on a big pile of settlement money

Other than making a tiny dent in the epidemic of addiction based games sweeping Gen z, and a. But. Then again. This wouldn’t exactly be massive.

[monkeypoacher 8055]

4 minutes ago, Lhindir_ said:

Other than making a tiny dent in the epidemic of addiction based games sweeping our youth

sure. the other side of it is that if you were going to sue, you'd most likely be going with the grooming / KOSA stuff, which is the most legally actionable but would require you to organize a bunch of people who were harmed by this server a long time ago to extensively document their childhood trauma for the benefit of MAYBE getting a minecraft server shut down

[Lhindir_ 3691]

1 minute ago, monkeypoacher said:

sure. the other side of it is that if you were going to sue, you'd most likely be going with the grooming / KOSA stuff, which is the most legally actionable but would require you to organize a bunch of people who were harmed by this server a long time ago to extensively document their childhood trauma for the benefit of MAYBE getting a minecraft server shut down

Screaming into the forums at 1am. It probably won’t happen. But it would be nice for the staff to acknowledge the addiction element of lotc and or make any effort to fix it.

[The Great Mongol Khan 1110]

On 5/22/2025 at 6:54 AM, Dalek348 said:

This is a very insightful post which echoes what an unfortunately small minority of players actually realise. I also played in Aegis and quit at the end of the 2nd map. I am not on a LOTC discord and don't want to be. Although my life is busy now and I'm not a 15 year old with all the time in the world to play, I would actually consider logging on occasionally in my free time. The issue is that the server is boring, for many of the reasons explained in this thread.

 

The principal reason for me is, as you put it so well, that you can do less on the server than you can do in base Minecraft. My main concern is the lack of freebuild. I would play this server if I was able to build a very modest village, recruit townsfolk, interact with travellers and my neighbours and build a personal story and history. Of course, I can't do that and the only solution would be to befriend the right people on discord and get some land, which won't happen. The server fails to see the great value in having independent, active people who answer to no one and have no master, shaping the physical and political world of the server. Is that not the essence of roleplay? The inverse of that is what the server is now - which enforces and mandates "metaplay" and acts outraged when server policy results in the very same actions that it effectively mandates and encourages. This is a metaplay server, not a roleplay server.

 

So instead, I'm wandering around the world to all intents and purposes as a wandering soul, with the exception that I have the privilege of having inane, pointless conversations by interrupting strangers bunny-hopping in town squares. The lack of freebuild, and the lack of the basics of Minecraft like the danger of monsters, the ability to kill some time and gain resources by mining and crafting, in combination with the requirement to be on discord has effectively disenfranchised me on the server. There is no point to even logging on.

 

The last concerted effort to implement freebuild was successful in 2018 (I don't remember the map name) and it totally discredited all the arguments against freebuild, but there is no sign of recognising that. Freebuild is an important catalyst, it makes things happen and gets people interacting with the world. Without it the server is a pool of stagnant water, what it needs is a good stir and shake-up to get things moving and to set off chains of events which are written into the history of the server. 

 

Unfortunately, this server is now so old that there are so few people that actually know what things were like before, and are therefore able to put into context the current state of the server. For instance, anyone who joined after 2015 will think that activity quotas, "nations", and the general transformation of the server into a Paradox game are how the server has always been and how it always should be, and can't recognise these features as the consumptive cancerous tumour that they really are.

 

The only solution I see is for experienced players with the right ideas to apply for and consolidate the server's positions of power en masse. Please someone contact me when that happens.

 I've been harping about the free build aspect for years. Its sole existence discourages being mobbed up like we are now, and takes away the hoops to jump through to get something new started organically. The biggest argument was terrible builds but to be honest I feel like the builds were better a few maps ago anyway. 

 

I've been playing since 2012, and for the past few years I'd hop on for a month tops then get incredibly bored when I realize how stagnant conflict is on the server. Conflict being the sole driver of a narrative and its current lack on the server compared to how it used to be back in the day literally indicates theres no great stories to be told anymore. People care more about the protection of their established communities than anything else. There is no new developing cultures finding mass success compared to back then. Players want to be protected in their slice of life roleplay and people are less adventurous now. The administration team has coddled communities for years. However I think theres also been a shift in culture throughout the world in general since when we first started playing too.

 

The threat of being wiped out, and the freedom to start something entirely new without going through hoops are essentially gone now. The reason this server used to be great was because people didn't fall in line and you never knew what was going to happen. Now everything is predictable and you are restricted to banding with a group to have some semblance of fun.

 

My most radical opinion regarding this server is a complete wipe of lore and characters and setting us up on a freebuild temp map and let new things develop and happen organically.

Edited May 24, 2025 by The Great Mongol Khan

[argonian 14254]

12 hours ago, Lhindir_ said:

Lotc is a business. It’s not meant to generate narrative, it’s meant to keep you online and engaged as long as possible to create critical mass and in turn, draw in more profits. 
 

war server? Thats expensive. Conflict? Makes players leave. 
 

the discords are apart of this because they keep you constantly engaged and therefor, generating activity.

Does this server actually make any money?

 

The costs of running the server must be pretty high and they don't roll in that many donations monthly.

[Jordchien 76]

On 5/22/2025 at 10:16 AM, the craft of the lord said:

Not only that, but why on earth are so many people metaplaying? I understand that this server hosts people from many different backgrounds. Whether you are disabled, neurodivergent, mentally ill, a "normie", whatever you are. But jesus christ, it's not your real life. This is meant to be fun. You don't need to be coming up with plots to get power in a Minecraft Roleplay Sever. Get a grip. If this server is the be all and end all for you then I pity your life.

This. The amount of people I see taking rp so seriously, grovelling for power like their lives actually depend on it. It's sad. I wasn't around in the early days, but boy do I wish I found the server sooner so i can at least appreciate how good LOTC can be.