War World Revival

[Voxonic]

I'm writing this on behalf of Myself and Izaaklol12, however I'm sure similar views are held by the following players:
Taxman, Daddylol, Tyranalar, Danthemab, Harmac147, Bboylol, Daxern, Ziggy, Trolo, Onete, Technocratx, Naymah, Dilligaf, Shazzyshizz, Leone.

I'm mainly directing this at Chris_NZ, however if any of the mods or admins want to jump on this I obviously won't complain.

After a few years away from the server (But not the game), and while still keeping in touch with some of the players and friends I made here, it has occurred to Izaak and I that the main reason we left/stopped was because of the removal of WarWorld AKA Factions. There are a few threads regarding that period of change, which I'd like to refer to, so here are the links:
https://forum.lolnet.co.nz/threads/faction-improvements.5897/
https://forum.lolnet.co.nz/threads/warworld-reset-yes-or-no.6513/
https://forum.lolnet.co.nz/threads/war-world-dead.6488/

The links given are in chronological order

Factions on Lolnet started to die off before it was inevitably removed as an option. Due to this, after some discussion with mods online at the time, I made a post in 2015 with some ideas for improvements to factions to make it more modern and playable, with the underlying hope to bring life back to one of the best Minecraft game modes IMO. Despite that post, and some others regarding the same thing gaining some traction, nothing came of this.

As the server continued to die, the idea of a reset came through, and the vote on that was actually to reset it. And despite not being present on the forums for that discussion, myself and Izaak would have agreed with that decision. The main idea there being that a reset would increase popularity, as the old world was well worn, with little to do, compared to modded Minecraft or even just survival.

Either way, the events concluded with WarWorld not getting a reset, nor was it sustained either due to a complete player drop off (fair enough). IMO, a reset would have allowed for new builds, complemented by the new features added to Minecraft over the years. It also would have been an opportunity to learn from what was good and bad about WarWorld and make it a better experience overall, regarding faction structure, MCMMO, and general gameplay.

Izaak and I have/had played WarWorld since its first iteration, and I can honestly say that it was the best period of Minecraft gameplay for me. I would very much hope that this actually gets considered, and for the all new faces (which honestly feels like everyone who plays now D: ), I think you're missing out on some of the underlying enjoying parts of the game by not having this available to you.

Sidenotes:
- When suggesting a revival of factions, I think it would have to be done in a way to avoid the construction of bases with 100+ walls, and without any major advantages given to those who donate, otherwise the true fun of the game is lost (Maybe not allowing lava to flow would fix this?).

- For any of the players I listed up top from back in the day, or even new people who are keen to get a classic factions world going, feel free to add me on Discord:
Oxonic#8545

- I'm currently in uni break with little to do, so if one of the main reasons reviving this isn't viable, I'm happy to actually help make the server, whether its to do with faction spawn, or even server configuration (currently studying engineering).

- Lastly, any chance old server worlds could be uploaded to this website/made available? Having access to the WarWorld 1.0 and 2.0 worlds would be awesome.

Thanks Everyone!
Vox

 

[Chris_NZ]

Hey Vox,

So this is a bit awkward but of June 22, 2018, I officially retired as Minecraft Administrator, so I don't really have any say on what servers can be revived or what server files can be made public.

Anyway, I'll point out the main flaws that Faction servers have with Lolnet as a community, and the experiences I had running it.

• Factions / WarWorld / PvP causes a toxic community that conflicts with the current rules.

It's no question that this is something that happens with Player vs Player games nowadays, with people calling out "hax" and "f this guy", and even complaining to staff that stuff happened that shouldn't have. As staff, we had a discussion around how we could manage this to make it possible for players to have all this fun as well as keeping the rules in check, which left the Factions server having its own chat. The problem with that is it felt like we were leaving the server disconnected from the rest of the network, which meant a staff member had to be active when players were active in order to even support it. Problem for this is in the next point.

• Hacking

With Vanilla Minecraft, it is quite easy to mod the client side to have unfair advantages that can't be detected by the server, which in a Factions type server, is perfect. This basically means staff either have to use plugins to prevent this, which can make the game quite buggy, or actively keep an eye on players. The latter meaning this isn't a game for staff, but more like a volunteer security job where they cannot play due to having advantages.

• Vanilla doesn't have as many players on Lolnet these days

This is just a fact, sorry to disappoint.

So uhh, there ya go. If it doesn't seem right, it's because work has ruined my brain and I'm trying to go back a few years.

Cheers,
Chris_NZ

 

[Voxonic]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for your reply detailing why WW was let go. It's sad to hear that you're no longer an admin, but I wish you the best moving forward .
Do you know who would I have to speak with, or get the attention of, about releasing old server files? Also regarding what is listed below?

I realize now that there isn't much chance of WW getting a revival, however here are just a few of my thoughts. PvP has always had that underlying toxicity about it, and I agree that it definitely does not align with what Lolnet is about, and it would definitely have to be kept separate in a sense. But maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing, having it as an option, but with given warning. Not to say that it should not have rules, but maybe a disclaimer.

I think that if there were a message displayed upon entering factions, saying that due to a different gaming atmosphere surrounding PvP, and the difficulty for staff to monitor a server kept relatively separate from other Lolnet gameplay, users should not expect, nor receive support from staff to enforce the rules. But, it would ask that the rules be followed almost out of courtesy to maintain a level playing field. At the end of the day, the only things which aren't controlled by the factions plugin are abuse and xray/hacked clients (Not at all meaning that abuse is a minor offense).

I understand that this could give way to some unruly behavior and misconduct, but if it's seen as a condition of bringing back WW, then I know I'd be ok with it. And at the very least, that way the added strain to the staff here would be reduced.

The bit about Vanilla Minecraft not having many players is a sad, but very valid point hahahaha.

IMO, I know that Lolnet started out the same way that many others small "lan" type gaming Minecraft servers started; just playing between some mates. The difference being that Lolnet became official. Factions is the gametype that I think of when I remember that style of gaming; group up until the dragon is defeated, then build your own thing and go ham between one another. To me it is sad that this has been let go, as I know it used to be a staple for all large MC Servers, but I do understand why it has disappeared the way it has. I suppose what we all remember of it is just a version of survival with strange bases and griefing.

Anyway, cheers for your time, and even if a revival doesn't get reconsidered, it would be awesome to have those server files available just to reminisce

Vox

 

[dezil_nz]

i don't see a revival happening none of the current staff are interested in making a factions server and for the reasons described it does not fit in with what we do

server files will not be released I'm not even sure we have them anymore

Cheers Dez

 

[X_erG]

My best memories of war world was abusive admins spawning items in and getting away with it for so long
Also, i miss Chosen.

- The Bears, Shortbus.

 

[TaxMan0_0]

I'll throw in my two cents, on the downfall of War World. But damn Vox. Seeing the usernames you've listed there; can't help but feel a little nostalgic.

The death of WarWorld is a murky case in my opinion. I wasn't really there to see it truly die, but rather heard about it through a couple of lads who were still playing. I, however, remember the array of reasons as to why WarWorld was in general not as popular as its 'sister servers.' Let me explain!

The general environment of War World and Factions PvP is overall unappealing to the majority.

War World is as we know is a Factions PvP server, the core objective of the game is to declare war on other factions that didn't align with your own, commence an invasion, or full-out conquest on their territory and claim their valuables. There wasn't any sensible line of thought when it came to choosing your enemies or alies, you would stroll on out of spawn and instantly make enemies just for being alive. I myself am guilty of this as I personally issued the /enemy command on every single faction in existence with no real justification other then to assert dominance. As Sir David Attenborough once said; 'These cunts ain't shit.' In seriousness causing havoc in the server for the sake of havoc was fully anticipated in War World.​

Because of this line of thought, and without the presence of a real policing force to keep the peace (unless people went too far in chat). War World lends itself to becoming the breeding ground for toxicity. The general environment of War World within the context of the entire Lolnet server as whole wasn't very kind and forgiving compared to the other servers such as Vanilla, SkyBlock, etc. I recall every time a new player and a couple of his buddies expressed interest in playing War World they always wounded up quitting maybe two days afterwards, citing the general feel of War World as unwelcoming and unfun. This was no thanks to large factions who had all the power and resources to invade newcomers and prevent them from rising up, these factions generally weren't the kindest as expected of a Factions Server.​

​

Similarly to the previous point, this environment whilst can be a breeding ground for toxicity can inspire other things. For example the usage of cheats or hacked clients. Users who felt disadvantaged, fell to the toxicity or trolls would use cheats on War World which drove some users away. In my experience the use of cheats or hacked clients occurred most frequently in PvP environments on Lolnet, for example Hunger Games. But the presence of cheats there were quite minuscule compared to that of War World.​

Among the worse I remember in War World were;​

-In WW1 a faction which IIRC had mined either 20 or 200 blocks worth of diamond through X-Ray usage.​

-Users blatantly flying across the map to avoid fights or to get to point B quicker.​

-Users using force-field style cheats that auto-attacks anyone that comes within striking range. Similarly auto-clicking cheats.​

-Users using X-Ray cheats to build up gear quicker or to scout out bases in the ground. I remember people being a bit creative and using X-Ray texture packs because 'it technically isn't a cheat but a texture pack!'​

-Users being able to see in pitch black (though some people used this trick which can be achieved through editing gamma values).​

-Among the popular cheats of the day I remember; Nodus was a name that sprung up that had every cheat in the book.​

​

Cheats weren't the only illegitimate ways to have an advantage over other factions. The abuse of known bugs/lagging or the loop-holing of rules occurred most frequently in War World. At the launch of War World iteration 2 there was a relatively small box spawn that consisted of only a marked floor. Thats it. Because of the small size of the spawn a particular faction decided to build a giant wall around it that prevented players from exiting and gathering items, the wall was faction claimed so users were unable to destroy it. This eventually was resolved and a rule was introduced that prevented this sort of spawn camping from occurring.​

That was one of the more lighter loop-holing, other fun stuff include allegedly certain staff using certain powers to gain certain advantages.​

​

The abuse of certain bugs or intentionally lagging users was at best unintentional when it came to Survival or similar (for example repeated accounts of users farming a trillion chickens). I'll admit I did get approached once for trying to start a giant gold farm about as big as Pluto Survival Spawn but...back to War World- The intentional use of bugs such as;​

-Breaking blocks and seeing whats inside the base for a second before the block respawned telling you that you can't edit enemy territory.​

-Spamming blocks as you simultaneously jump atop them in order to tower and see over certain obstacles before the block despawns because again you can't edit enemy territory.​

-Ender Pearl spamming to be able to warp through walls and floors as opposed to TNT cannoning to invade other factions.​

weren't against the rules or weren't properly policed. Using these bugs became meta (and still is in other faction PvP servers if I'm correct) in War World iteration 3 onwards when users were given more freedom to use resources like TNT (users weren't able to use the TNT in the first two War World iterations IIRC) or visiting the End to farm Ender Pearls. These bugs weren't game-breaking but they gave users an unfair advantage who knew how to use them, some of the worse bugs include duplicating items or using the world's chunk-loading to see underground locations before the chunk loaded. I'm not insinuating that War World is bugged and largely unpoliced but rather because these can't be fully policed this gives War World a bad reputation as a place for bug abusers.​

​

Intentional lagging similarly to abuse of certain bugs became prominent in War World iteration 3. Not all factions used it but one particular faction was famous for it, this faction had built a massive gold farm outside spawn which dropped the frames of users. A resource-cheap method was to place hundreds of item frames in areas where the faction intended for users to experience frame-rate lag/drops. Lag on its own is enough to drive anyone away or discourage them, but when intentional and placed in strategic points where it can inflict the most headache is massive.​

​

PvP mechanics changed in the 1.9 update andmade PvP overall different and not as exciting as pre 1.9. This is more related to Minecraft as whole rather then War World but a popular opinion in the PvP Community was that the 1.9 PvP mechanics change 'killed' the PvP aspect of Minecraft.. or according to some people was another step towards the downfall of Minecraft. Without the use of certain plugins PvP is subjectively less enticing and fun with out the original spam M1 mechanics.​

​

Factions PvP is inherently a messy place and drives most away if they aren't looking for some action.

But don't get confused, I still love Factions PvP and the chaos that ensues along with it, however in the nowaday context of Lolnet, War World just doesn't belong. The majority of users today simply wouldn't be interested in what War World has to offer because it's different; Its more competitive and serious then other gamemodes. A contrast to the laid-back, chilled Lolnet I've known in recent times.


TL/DR:
-WW on Lolnet is unlikely to return if ever. RIP.
-A culture change in Lolnet where PvP has fallen out of relevancy. The rise and dominance of modpacks, where people want a more chill, relaxed atmosphere; things that are contrasting to WW.
-Mainstream MC was all about the HungerGames, Mini-games, PvP which coincided with the time of WW.
-1.9 PvP mechanics slowed down interest in factions and PvP in general (I wasn't there to witness it I just heard about it so).
-Me reminiscing the old days. I love you all, (even you Izaak ).

Also shoutout to SlayerX_NZ for being the worse moderator in the history of WW maybe even Lolnet.

 

[Chris_NZ]

Also shoutout to SlayerX_NZ for being the worse moderator in the history of WW maybe even Lolnet.

I'll second that!