For little over a year I ran a private Minecraft server for myself and some friends. It was fun, we had some great times, some quiet nights punctuated by “GAH! Damn Creeper!” and a lot of searching. Operating at around 10 players on and off it went well until the release of Landmark sorta eroded my limited playerbase.
I’m not interested in vetting new people so while I could certainly advertise and raise the playerbase significantly I don’t feel that’s my best option at the moment. Hosting is cheap so I’m taking the opportunity to play with some Mod Packs and see what I can change the experience into.
Of the time spent as an admin I learned one important lesson. Don’t give people Op status. I feel I lost a couple people to rapid burnout when they sudden had access to all the tools and toys. Minecraft is a game of survival, discovery and adventure and by granting my players godlike status I shortened the progression and trivialized the challenge.
Minecraft isn’t a hard game in the first place, where the only measure of status comes from proving your cleverness in design or your dedication to large structures. Some projects thrive on people with Creative Mode because they’re pursuing a specific goal. The players over on the Game of Thrones server, WesterosCraft, are rebuilding a whole world. When they’re done, i’m not sure, but I know you don’t approach an idea like that with merely Survival Mode.
For my little friends/family server I think I did myself and them the greatest disservice by granting such unlimited power. Lesson learned.
I have the server up and I still play while I toy with mod packs and wait to see what new ideas come out of Mojang. Sometimes you might find me there, deep in the dark or tending my farm.
C’est la vie.