Minecraft Multiplayer: GWJ World

If people can participate in the central metropolis at their own will, then why even enforce an entire world radius? I think it'd be easier to just define the radius of that metropolis, say at 512 (assuming we were throwing around 1024 as the diameter), and whoever wants to wander outside of that can if they want.

The Xbox map took a while to traverse and it is only 864 x 864. Imagine if that entire map was a city. Now multiply that by 16. That's how big a radius of 2000 is.

I'm currently building a 128 x 128 mob grinder over the ocean and even THAT is huge.

In theory enforcing a world radius increases interaction and decreases the load on the server. In practice, it might mean that a biome is complete missing. The most likely to be missing are mushroom islands, which would mean we'd need operator intervention to get mycelium. Of course, we could scum world seeds for one that had all biomes within whatever radius we wanted.

A 512 block radius makes the city about half the size of Monaco. If we thought of the city as Chicago, the iron farm would be Gary, Indiana.

Oddrune wrote:

In theory enforcing a world radius increases interaction and decreases the load on the server. In practice, it might mean that a biome is complete missing.

Which is why I recommended small biomes.

I'm for small biomes as well.

Oddrune wrote:

In theory enforcing a world radius increases interaction and decreases the load on the server.[...]

I thought that the point was to encourage interaction, but not enforce it.

Whichever route, I like small biomes.

Should we plan the central city size on what is needed for infrastructure with a little room for expansion if we forget something or come up with something else? Then a larger outer area can be made at leisure or not.

We should be able to ballpark the needed buildings ahead of time and leave an extra row or whole circumference for unplanned buildings.

Library,
Smelter,
Farms,
Post Office,
Crafting Facility,
Train Station,
Nether Gate Room,
Armory,
Potion Room

I am sure I missed some but this is just off the top of my head.

skylarhawk wrote:
Oddrune wrote:

In theory enforcing a world radius increases interaction and decreases the load on the server.[...]

I thought that the point was to encourage interaction, but not enforce it.

Whichever route, I like small biomes.

Isn't that what I said? A world radius forces interaction only if the radius is relatively small. A moderate radius merely encourages it. The proposed radii are all large enough to accommodate those who don't wish to be in the city.

I don't really care too much about the world radius, unless it helps the server run smoother. We did have some problems with this world after the mycelium quest.

That said, it would make the overviewer map look cooler if the edges weren't all ragged and tendriled.

You know we have conversations like this before every reboot and in the end stuff just happens more organically. Wasn't the current world (or was it the previous one) supposed to have Midgar as the spawn city?

Rykin wrote:

You know we have conversations like this before every reboot and in the end stuff just happens more organically. Wasn't the current world (or was it the previous one) supposed to have Midgar as the spawn city?

Is it bad that I don't know what 'Midgar' is? (I googled it.)

manta173 wrote:

Should we plan the central city size on what is needed for infrastructure with a little room for expansion if we forget something or come up with something else? Then a larger outer area can be made at leisure or not.
[...]
I am sure I missed some but this is just off the top of my head.

Apartment like areas outside the city center would be cool. I mean, everyone still wants somewhere to call "home", but something cool/clever like a row of 8x8 adjacent lots for people to build their apartment on would be fun, but bigger lots wouldn't be hard to do either, especially if it's in something like a ring around the industrial/manufacturing areas.

Oddrune wrote:
skylarhawk wrote:
Oddrune wrote:

In theory enforcing a world radius increases interaction and decreases the load on the server.[...]

I thought that the point was to encourage interaction, but not enforce it.

Whichever route, I like small biomes.

Isn't that what I said? A world radius forces interaction only if the radius is relatively small. A moderate radius merely encourages it. The proposed radii are all large enough to accommodate those who don't wish to be in the city.

I don't really care too much about the world radius, unless it helps the server run smoother. We did have some problems with this world after the mycelium quest.

That said, it would make the overviewer map look cooler if the edges weren't all ragged and tendriled. :)

Tone on the internet is so awkward, so I hope that I didn't sound overly aggressive. I get what you're saying about the server load, and clearly we are talking about an already huge radius. I think the concept of limiting the world just sounds a little "unmindcrafty" if you will. But, as you said, if it makes the server run smoother for everyone, then that works for me. And it would make dat map look pretty sexy. I probably wouldn't leave the walls of the main city if we built one anyway. ┐(^-^; )┌

I think if we really want a community city at spawn in a theme like Midgar. I think that someone is going to need to design it and make a schematic that could be followed. This would all need to be done before we start a map as well before too many people run off. We would need to know what building materials, important coordinates and dimensions(center, edges, heights) for many of the larger structures and for the city itself. Even then I think that person might have to make the frame of the city first.

As a side note I like the idea of having a themed spawn city on each map. But I also want to find my own area to build in as well.

I use excel to plan out my designs... colored cells for the win. lol

Can I get in on this? Username is Nosdarb.

I think one of the factors that helped create the spawn city on at least one of the past servers was that we were also running one of the portal mods (without, I think, other worlds). One big incentive to spread out is to be able to mine resources without stepping on anyone's toes. Being able to instantly pop back to the home spawn meant that everyone had a much easier time having both a city home and a remote fortress.

Minecraft's huge disincentive to joining with other players is that the easy resource source--mining--requires virgin territory to mine. The addition of communal farms and so forth do create an incentive to pool together, but the huge transit times, even with an efficient transportation network, make spawn more of a distant home base. And there's not a lot of crafting that's involved enough to benefit too much from having an urban core.

That said, if you wanted to start a joint city, you could probably pick a spot near spawn and start building. Or make spawn itself the core of a larger suburb.

Gremlin wrote:

I think one of the factors that helped create the spawn city on at least one of the past servers was that we were also running one of the portal mods (without, I think, other worlds). One big incentive to spread out is to be able to mine resources without stepping on anyone's toes. Being able to instantly pop back to the home spawn meant that everyone had a much easier time having both a city home and a remote fortress.

Heh, that never really occurred to me before, but that's totally what I was doing in that world- I had my main home at spawn and half a dozen specialized outposts all over the map that I would port to if I needed a specific resource.
That's still my favorite minecraft world. I miss "the good old days."

plavonica wrote:

Einbjorn and I already looked into building a Midgar-like city for spawn. Turns out it's just too big if you want any detail at all. Like impossibly enormously monstrously huge.

What sort of size were you looking at for it? I suppose to make it look Midgar like it would have to be quite massive, and then there is the fact that there are two layers.

I still like the idea of a massive domed area for the spawn village. With the much higher ceiling height you could get a pretty massive dome done.

Yep, exactly the issues I'd wrassled with. The other thing is... sometimes you find places that are simply perfect, and inspire construction. With limited terrain, you get a land rush for elevated locations and such, and worse, places that don't give you ideas.

If I may suggest something that worked pretty well, just lay out a general street plan in cobble or slabs around spawn and then just ask that everyone follow proper light placements. Use signs to claim plots, have a standardized rail system, and then just let it grow outward. Megaproject makers will naturally gravitate towards the boonies, people can ask for permission to build bigger structures (more plots, for example, to make a town hall out of quartz) in town, and there can be more interactions with constructive aesthetic critiques.

I'd be up for helping with the city.

I've always wanted to build a hopper based sorting system store house... thing.

Also, perhaps we want to try starting a new world for building a city for two weeks or something and switch back to the current world after that?

philosopher wrote:
plavonica wrote:

Einbjorn and I already looked into building a Midgar-like city for spawn. Turns out it's just too big if you want any detail at all. Like impossibly enormously monstrously huge.

What sort of size were you looking at for it? I suppose to make it look Midgar like it would have to be quite massive, and then there is the fact that there are two layers.

Iirc, "...a circumference of ~40 miles..." - exitiumm, Minecraft Forums

Einbjorn wrote:

Iirc, "...a circumference of ~40 miles..." - exitiumm, Minecraft Forums

Yeeesh... not sure that is something I would want, or even suggest, to take on with creative mode.

Ugh, Midgar again. It really went nowhere last time because everyone thought it'd be neat to have but no one actually wanted to build it. Or even really design it.

So I see my original statement really spawned (pun intended!) a lot of discussion!

Yes, my suggestion for a tight radius at the start was as a way to encourage us to interact more early on. At this point, we're mostly Minecraft veterans here and we don't bat an eye at traveling a few kilometers to find a build spot. I do this too. I am not exempt. I may very well be the most anti-social regular Minecraft player.

However, I miss being able to easily visit other players' work. I miss the chaos of a mass collaboration effort because everyone immediately zips off into the wilderness.

My idea was just to have a tight border radius at the beginning and widen it over time. Will Plav have to do without his iron farm for a while? Yes. (*GASP*) But at this point, we've had a lot of restarts and a lot of new worlds and I think it it'd be good to start shaking things up and do what we can to keep the game fresh.

Like I said, it's just a suggestion I'm throwing out there. I'm also not saying we should have a restart soon.

In other news, who's feeling like going on an expedition for horses? The latest update from Mojang says we'll be getting horses sometime next week.

If anyone wants to make an expedition party, there's a few chunks of plains on the NW border of the Witch Works that I was thinking of expanding post update. Obviously we can all go find new chunks to get horses post update, but in the spirit of our recent, more community centered discussion, I thought I'd make an open invitation for anyone that wants to come look with me. We'll be finding us some mounts and riding back to spawn in style. I've got about 5 or 6 saddles and materials for plenty of leads, so if more than that many people want to go exploring with me we'll need more saddles.

I think the problem with small radius is for people like me, who want to build somewhat organically and keep the nice, wild views, maybe sculpt part of a mountain or something. Then someone comes and sets up nearby and builds a 150 block tall grinder cube right across the local terrain...

To each their own, but leave enough room for the burrowers who like to have a relatively wild natural vista from the front porch.

NO!! We're moving Hobbiton right next to the foul machinations of Isengard!

LiquidMantis wrote:

NO!! We're moving Hobbiton right next to the foul machinations of Isengard!

Backwards right? I thought for sure the story takes a distasteful resident of Isengard and places it right inside of Hobbiton.

Isengard was hella fun to build in Dwarf Fortress.

That complex under spawn is really cool. How long has this been here?