Hobbs_Burrows

There is definite debate as to the effect of this decision – some believe that it’s merely a reclassification and things continue as normal but others view it as fundamentally damaging to the future of its community. I happen to fall in the latter. But whatever the effects, intended or otherwise, this decision is based on deeply flawed reasoning.

1 ’With their downfall of a nation’ – is this not the model that LOTC has adopted over the past few years? These communities are intended to rise and fall. Whether they are rising or falling at the time is just a matter of taking a small snapshot of a communities entire lifespan of the server. This should not be used as a stick to beat them with when the server is designed to have communities like these in constant flux.

2 ‘Hamfisted origins that never went through the LT vote’ – Why should a community of players now face punishment for the actions of corrupt admins over half a decade ago? There has been incalculable corruption throughout this server and there is no reason for one group to be singled out over it. Regarding the LT vote, many people can recall a time when an LT did not even exist, and it certainly shouldn’t matter that a community did not get the approval of a team whose members are long gone.

3 ‘Lack of distinct culture or value as a subrace’ – these are matters of opinion, not fact, and are easily disputed.

If this level of logic and reasoning is being employed by those with responsibility on this server, then I worry for countless other communities who are at risk from these people.

As someone who has built Halfling villages before, I will offer some general advice which would be wise to follow as the village is built. This won’t be in any real order, just things in the order that I think of them.

I think the most important thing is to have an area which can be described as the hub of the village. This is where almost all gatherings generally take place – as in reality very little time is spent inside one’s burrow which effectively becomes merely a safe place to store personals and entertain guests in private. The two most important elements to this hub are the inn and the storage burrow, which should be located very close to each other. A nice bonus is an area to gather outside in this hub, such as some seating underneath a tent. This hub should be located either centrally or at the entrance of the village, it depends on what works best for the land. 

For a Halfling village, less is often more. It is tempting to pre-build an expanse of burrows or cram as many as you can into an environment which appears like a slum. But don’t underestimate the value in allowing the community to organically grow. A village which has been built gradually by its citizens is often more fondly remembered.

Slightly following on from my previous reference to slum-like dwellings, I think it is important to retain an open, countryside feeling. Halflings like to have space away from neighbours rather than be crammed in. I don’t think it’s aesthetically pleasing to walk down every road in the village and not be able to enjoy the sights of the village because dirt blocks your view from all the burrows crammed right up to the road. This applies to trees, which should be kept to a minimum within the village in order to retain an open feeling.

Conversely, it is often appealing for the village to be surrounded by trees to promote the feeling of seclusion and peace.

Avoid allowing people to construct their own lavish burrows thus neglecting the actual village. Remember the first iteration of Dunshire, where people were let loose with creative mode, without a plan, and built luxurious burrows for themselves without even an inn or storage burrow. Burrows are always of secondary importance to the hub of the village.

Have lots of hidden secrets and easter eggs throughout the village, and use the underground space nicely.

A water feature, be it a river or a lake, is a village staple.

Farms are a tricky one to balance. On the one hand, we are an agricultural race and it feels right to have bountiful, sweeping fields of crops and farm land. On the other hand, these things take up a lot of space. In Branborough, we had large wheat fields a short walk away outside the village, and had some very small fenced off farms dotted throughout the village. In Dunshire, farms were on top of some burrows. So there are solutions. It really depends on the plot, but I would suggest not placing huge priority on farm space.

Let people contribute, but make sure one person has the overarching vision of the village to act as the driving force. Too many cooks will spoil the broth, and leave you with a mish-mash of peoples individual thoughts and fancies.

And finally, enjoy it and don’t stress. Halfling builds always turn out to be the best on the server. And even if things aren’t quite right once built, you can always change it and improve it. 

Denying 45.9% of people? People have willingly sought out this niche, fairly hardcore themed server and you turn 45.9% of them away? I think you need to seriously evaluate your priorities and outlook

In my experience, someone camped my soulstone and as soon as I teleported in he copy and pasted in an emote, and then because I was already walking to my house and didn’t expect nor see the emote, he immediately started to attack me with his sword, and claimed to a GM that I was running from RP. That is why behaviour like that should be discouraged. Roadside bandit RP died when sprinting was introduced to the game, and was made worse on this server because people are shy to interacting with people outside their clique. It has nothing to do with not being allowed to copy+paste in a sham emote to try and get people to stop and be able to kill them.

Just some pictures of Aegis undead that I picked randomly

Ernie considers how often cows have been used as barmaids in numerous Halfling taverns, and wonders with some concern at the ‘unknown’ parentage of Miss Pervinca Applebrook

Ernie watches, through the porthole window of his burrow, the Pumpkin Raiders stagger into Brandybrook Village, wounded and despondent, and notices that one less person returned among their number. With a heavy heart, Ernie carves a pumpkin, and leaves it in the front garden of the Applefoot burrow the next morning.

Scenario questions are utterly pointless. I spent years on the villain application team and wrote several of my own scenarios for iterations of the application form.

Even when we were ‘examining’ established players, scenario questions were a pointless exercise that tell you nothing meaningful about the applicant. Imagine how pointless it will be to put new players through that.

Scenario questions only examine someone’s story telling abilities. It offers no reflection on any scenario that ever has or will ever happen in game, and certainly not the way that the applicant will actually behave when they are in game.

Keep the application as easy and as basic as possible. It’s the old players who are dull, irritating, and lacking in imagination and drive. You have to pass the flame on to the new generation, not turn away people for the sake of a pointless secondary school-tier creative writing examination.

14 hours ago, Sky said:

 

I don’t understand where you are coming from – All that has changed is that instead of someone walking up to an inactive building and being able to claim it for it to fall into inactivity again, the freebuild is purged. I’d say the lazy fix was when we gave it to another in hopes they would make it active.

I think the attitude of ‘if it doesn’t exist it can’t be inactive’ is so terribly destructive and completely against what this server stands for. Weirdly enough, I would rather things exist.

Orcs and Halflings are unfortunately in the same boat.

The people in charge of the server have made the conscious choice of deliberately making life difficult for certain groups. And then they’re surprised when those groups eventually want to never log in again. It’s something I will never understand.

It is completely bonkers that Orcs and Halflings are going into a new main map for the server without any land.

Staff members aren’t above the law, they are just volunteers. They should have the same rules applied to them in the same way. That is to be publicly named, shamed, and punished when they break rules.

Imagine someone being allowed to be judge and jury in their own trial, and for it to be conducted in SECRET.

The fact is they love to give it out, but can’t take anything back.

1 hour ago, Bananasaurus said:

 

Exactly, and it is much easier moving from a freebuild/hybrid style map to a charter map (if freebuild/hybrid goes so wrong it needs to be changed). However, if we made a completely regioned map and had a charter system it is almost impossible to change it once it (inevitably, as history and precedent shows) it goes wrong.

12 hours ago, Alana (Previously Latsi) said:

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Very well said. There is no credible argument for the entire world being regioned, and not having a hybrid system. Take this thread for example, there is no evidence and no argument put forward by the regions supporters. 

A more hybrid system with freedom just works, and we have shown why it works time and time again. Important places can get protected by regions, but people also have the freedom to interact with the world which is an essential, non-negotiable, ingredient for a good roleplay world. 

My main issue with people who want a region over the map is the fact that they are not the people who will be affected by it.

They, generally, are established players. They are in the right discords, friends with the right people. If they want access to land to do anything, they can probably get it. Otherwise, they will likely have no interest in it anyway because they have everything provided for them in their own personal spawned in mega city.

Whereas new players, and people like me, belong to no group. Imagine what we are faced with when we log onto the next map and find the entire world locked off to us by a region. No food, no supplies, no house, and no fun. I would be surprised if any new player stayed around on the server for more than an hour if this is the direction we are going in for the next map.

It is selfish, and destructive. It has been clearly established that freebuild is not Atlas’s problem. But you blame everything on it anyway. No evidence, no argument. Just ‘middle finger to freebuild’, ‘**** freebuild’, or ‘freebuild is cancer’. Atlas’s problem is the large amount of regioned cities spread to the corners of the map dividing everyone up. Freebuild areas have been the one shining light of creativity and centralisation on the map.

Let’s also mention the pathetic insults and personal attacks thrown around in the thread. I wonder if these people had their way, there would never be any creations on the server. These are negative people who take away rather than give. They are exactly the kind of people I would expect to want to deprive their fellow players of the freedom to enjoy the server’s map because the sun shines out of their own behind. Why bother spending several weeks hand-crafting numerous giant ents and planting over 1000 saplings, when someone who hasn’t done a worthwhile thing in his life thinks they look like penises and would rather have an empty untouchable wasteland in their place. Why bother making the best looking town on the map, as in Halsworthy, when someone thinks every other player should be deprived of the same opportunity because he has never travelled there.

I have seen every single map on this server, and even helped develop 2. But I understand that the server is completely cyclical. After the disastrous region/charter systems of Asulon/Anthos we came to a collective realisation that it was a terrible system, and we needed the freedom to interact with the world free of restriction and regions. Of course now people are advocating for restriction, forgetting the past times where it has resulted in misery and dysfunctional map designs.

20 minutes ago, pbuh said:

I’ll bring discussion to your pictures and points here.

The Jayaman building could, and would be better off in a city, which Sofetios is perfectly capable of doing. He gets a place every map and goes inactive with it, like the giant shop he has in Carolustadt. The flower autoshop is fine, but I’ve never seen him rp in there.

 Don’t brandish your ents as an example of “good” freebuild. You gave people a lot of grief over them.

The desert temple is a semi-OOC structure similar to the GM graveyards. Some implementation of it will always come about.

Holm is a place that would have gotten a successful charter.

Belvitz exists because staff wouldn’t allow Human nation placement on the spot it is at, explicitly because the area is freebuild. Semicompetent people seized the location, then lost it, and then the settlement was revitalized again by Adria. Now it is declining again. Having the imperial capital there would have been great, instead of the constant freebuild sprawl and swap.

And I have no idea what Halsworthy is, I don’t know of anyone ever living there.

And this is an argument for why the map should have a region placed over it?  And people should have to go on the forums and fill in OOC paperwork just to be considered for the privilege of being allowed to interact with the world?

Where are the glass houses? Where are the sand penises we are always promised? People generally take pride in their creations on this server, and the things they create are an absolute credit to Lord of the Craft. Denying them the basic freedom to play the server is pointlessly selfish.

59 minutes ago, Wolfdwg said:

Freebuild ruined this map. I’d rather not have the next map be ruined by spastic modern day house builds with glass walls.

Got any evidence? I’ll share some of the areas which players, who you have insulted, put their heart and soul into in order to make the server better.

The Jayamen Resort

Ents in the Old Dunshire Forest

Desert temple remembering departed players

Holm

Belvitz

Halsworthy

These are the most interesting, well-thought out places on the map. Built by players who are part of the world, not spawned in during some out of character pre-building phase. 

You may make the argument that these could have been built even if there was a region over the map. Really? The ents never would have been built, Jayamen would  never have obtained a charter by himself. Even the freebuild towns and cities would have been at the whim and discretion of individuals who could deny them and tell them to go elsewhere.

Players make the server good, not application forms and paperwork done on the forums. Never, ever believe that you can restrict and dominate people into having fun, enjoying themselves, or making the map good.

I made the following post a couple of weeks ago and no one had any counter-argument to it. Freebuild is, if you want a good map, absolutely necessary. Voting against it is like turkeys voting for christmas:

People use the word ‘freebuild’ like it’s some special policy or doctrine that is decided upon or declared. Really, it’s just every minecraft world ever. It’s about freedom to play the game and enjoy the server in the purest way it is intended, and is a reason why we are all here on the server in the first place.

It’s the freedom to gather resources freely, to shelter from monsters and players, to have some land to call home, or be able to leave your stamp on the world. It’s about having a living, breathing world in which everyone can contribute, not just the power whores who want to dominate others and cling on to their privilege through skype or discord.

The biggest nonsense I hear thrown around about freebuild is how it ‘decentralises’ the server. People who say this do not know what the word decentralisation means. Hypothetically let’s imagine freebuild did not exist in Atlas, and therefore Belvitz/Holm/the entire crossroads area did not exist. The map is now decentralised as the cities are spread out into the corners of the map, split down several different roads, and because the entire map is regioned there is nothing but desolate wasteland in between. Thanks to freebuild in Atlas, we have a nice centralised area, full of fantastic builds such as the only ents in Atlas. 

And if you think finding people is difficult because of freebuild, you ain’t seen nothing yet. On a map with a region covering it, players will not want to stay on the server. They will log in, try to chop a tree and be refused, try to chop a few more with the same result, they won’t see any other signs of activity or human life because no one is allowed to build on or touch the world, and they will simply log off. You won’t find people to RP with, because people will not want to play the server.

When I come across a freebuild, I find them to be the most interesting areas of the server. It shows that a person and his friends were here, on the server, enjoying themselves, building up their community, and putting thought into their personal bit of land, leaving their stamp on the world. It may be abandoned, but that’s just a symbol of the passage of time in our world. I fly around Aegis, our map from 2011, and I find amazing builds so far away from the centre of the map that I think ‘Why did they build this? Why did they dedicate hundreds of hours of their lives to this?’ and I’m grateful they did. 

I would rather see a map littered with memories than a sterile dolls house world full of missed opportunities.

12 minutes ago, Unwillingly said:

“It’s weird how they deny protection from any group that offers it to them, so they’re left struggling to survive. It’s almost like Sutica actually gave them protection at one point.” Cyrene pondered, soon tossing the notice away.

So finally ye reveal why ye cause so much trouble in Dunshire. Why are ye all still so bitter about being rejected by Halflings? Yer like my ex wife! Face it, we have prospered in Dunshire, and none of us wanted to live in yer awful city. We have had protection from orcs twice, humans once, two golems, and a guild called The Edict or something. Stop being so bitter.

1 minute ago, SeventhCircle said:

 

While from the photo it looks like a lot of green plains, Only one biome is actually a plain and even inside of it we add cliffs and ravines. Trust me we absolutely did not want a repeat on this front.

I hope so, but from the map it still looks as though past mistakes have been made of pushing sand into one corner, snow into another corner, and just filling the rest with grass. 

Also, Halflings meet all 3 of the criteria required to take part in calling dibs on a piece of land. I know you most likely can't say now, but I'd love for the Halflings to get off to a good start after being given such a hard time for the past 3+ years

Are you not concerned about the prevalence of grass biomes? There is barely any snow, barely any sand, forests are scarce. This current map was quite boring on release and I remember you writing about how it suffered from grassy plains syndrome. 

10 hours ago, The Templar said:

Dude. When he ignored the clerical death laser, we were all ready to start ranting. We spent the entire warclaim charging it up with our gimped lightsharing only to.. Have no effect. Whatsoever. All three Paragons, our endgame, were present doing their goddamnedest in sanctified form, risking pretty serious injuries via their unprotected wings. Nada. No effect.

This says nothing about how Aeso has refused to let holies do /anything/ to September or the trees beyond a token 1% damage across three warclaims. 

No one cares about your made up roleplay magic during an important battle over the fate of the world...who would have thought? The sooner you realise any magic made up on the forums has such limited applicability in game, the better. You and your cleric friends next time should get some armour and weapons together.

The first week of Spooktober is well under way in Dunshire

1 hour ago, ZachoSnacko said:

I ask, why not change? It brings something newer to the idea of Ascended and strays from the previous iteration along with not having a total focus on undead.

I think this post strays so far from the entire point of 'lore' - which is to show the life of the server passed down from generation to generation of players. This is just made up nonsense written on a forum thread, it has no relevance to anything which happened in the past and very little of what actually occurs in game. 

But Ascended should have been removed at the end of Aegis and have been breaking and making up their lore ever since, so what more can I really expect.

40 minutes ago, Mavromino said:

These ARE the actual Ascended now.

But what happened to the actual Ascended? What caused the change from the original Ascended to this current iteration? They are completely different.