concerning the economy changes, if its points or money they are basically the same thing just different names. it is a form of currency you are using so in the long term there will be no difference if you kept with money or switched to a point system they both do the same thing and work the same way. you get money/points, you use them to buy said material. so i do not see the necessity of changing to a point system if its just going to be a new currency instead just change the way currency is used and works. if there is still to be a market of sorts then changing it to points is not really a change but the name. i just don't see the point in changing to point instead of in game money if they do a very similar thing. you can change how to get currency, how to spend it and how much value it is worth but the name of it can stay the same those who have paid real money for their currency it was said will be reimbursed to the equivalent of what they received in the new currency. its easy to do just look at what the worth of the currency is now and what you will change it to and work it out from that. i think that is a good idea for those who paid real money so they don't loose out on it. as for starting with money, i assumed we already did with a small amount but i don't see it  to be relevant as your trying to make it a survival world with the option of a market, that was the reason for its use. if people come for survival they do not need in game money and if they desperately need something and are often online usually if someone has a lot of it they give them it or trade with other items anyway. its only for things such as quarts, beacons, mob heads for some that you actually might have to go to the market for as you cant get a beacon with out doing so. i don't see any issues with what we have now but if you want it harder to use farms for getting money Ozzy is right in just making unfarmable blocks sellable to the market. if you are thinking having players sell the items then they will mine it themselves sell it in their own stores and charge their prices and if they leave then another store closes. eventually we will end up where we are now with a group who all help each other and 10-20 online at any time max.

what i would like to see is not a headline of a change that is being considered but a description of what you wish to change, why, how, and the impact you believe it will create pro's and cons. and basically what you want to achieve by the changes. this way we can all look over it understand exactly what you are thinking of and give a more constructive output to help you all decide what to do. as right now a lot has been said and some of us could have the wrong idea of what you mean and we don't have the full picture.

- "Simplification or removal of the economy system." its pretty simple already, just it works for some not others i'm still unsure of what is wrong with it.

- "Addition of pvp modes" we already have pvp arenas which are fun and your own fault if you loose stuff there. what sort of pvp do you have in mind and where?

- "Addition of a player trading system." can you explain what you want brought in as we can already trade with in game money to each other, some people have built their own shops and trade between themselves. we even have a trade chat for it, so i am unclear on what new is being looked at.

- "Points system where players accumulate points for things like voting and doing everyday survival activities. These points can be used to buy protection or rare items." if you keep the economy with a market you can already buy rare things there. this seems like just another currency to me and when voting (although broken) you gain "points/votes" and the top 3 win prizes anyway. and doing everyday survival things and getting points for it i don't see how that will work. could you explain.
and why points why not in game money. it will be silly to have 2 currency's so if done this way and a market/player trading they would all have to be the same currency.

- "Change to a player defined protection field system" what do you mean by this? the protection stones we have are good but it you mean you get a patch of land and can protect it say by 20x20 from build height to bedrock then sounds good or you build a wall and the size determines cost say a 10x10 cost 100 IGM (in game money) a 20x20 cost 200 IGM 30x30 300 IGM and so on. (its just an example to simplify what i mean) but i would like to know more.

I write all this with the utmost respect for all staff, i know it is not easy and there is a lot to do and a lot to consider that i am unaware even exists. I just like to know more in depth of all changes to help make this server great. and are we looking to make the server better for the players who play or to bring in new members? what is the overall goal?. if you want new members i would happily discuss advertising and ways to boost it that does not require any or little funds.

I apologize for the long post I feel more information is needed as i explained at the beginning what info i wanted to know, i hope i didn't bore you too much i know I've missed info lost in this thread or some of it has been spoke about so much I've lost the plot all together but i look forward to hearing in detail more on all matters.

HoaxZ

@HoaxZ They sound like Minecraft/Bukkit issues to me with not much Optical can do on his end.

no worries, i have no idea where issues start or how to solve them (im not clued up on that sort of thing) just thought id mention it incase something can be done. thanks for your reply though

Quote from: Nick3306 on March 19, 2016, 06:41:33 pm

Quote from: Cora on March 19, 2016, 05:35:10 pm

Quote from: Nick3306 on March 19, 2016, 05:10:50 pm

advertising costs money, a lot of money actually. So no, we have not thought about it at all as optical is the only one to make the decision to advertise.

Except that Optical is always open to ideas, and if the point of this is to bring up ideas to raise your player count - then perhaps people could be coming up with advertising ideas to help. Maybe new perk ideas to help pay for advertising, fixing the voting like he mentioned etc. Point is, other people might have some golden nugget ideas. Advertising doesn't have to be on a pay-ad basis. There's social media, and all sorts of other resources that I'm sure people could come up with if we asked them about this point too. Like Roza said - what's the point in all the hard work and changes, if no one will see them?

I understand that, but it just feels weird to me to attempt to tell someone how to spend their money, maybe it's just me being weird lol

LOL!! I get it Nick, that IS weird. But that's why they're ideas - not demands. Get the great minds of this server come up with some ideas and bring them to Optical - whether they be free or cost money. Let him then decide what he does/does not like. He's very reasonable and will hear anything out as long as there's a logical reason for it -- or at least that's my experience.

the best form of advertising is word of mouth, yes many dont want to play on an old world full of abandoned projects so a new world is a good idea. But to spread the word you can tell friends/family/acquaintances/colleagues at work or if you see people chatting in comments on youtube or twitter point them in Opticrafts direction.  the biggest advertisement is free and is us. we can all spread good things about this server and discuss it with others. if all of us do these things where possible on top of actually voting when we click the vote button (by the way the one that ask's for a maths answer doesn't accept the correct answer) we can maybe bring in a few more people and those who come in we try to encourage them to go out and advertise to their friends and family to bring in more people (obviously dont say do advertise just ask them to inform anyone about us) once more people come and more advertise you will get people come and go but once a member and into memberworld we hope those ones stay and make great members. the idea is we are all responsible for advertising and its free. if the staff can think of ways to help with links or banners or anything that will be great. something that will catch peoples eye and make them try. nothing complicated as when they join they need to feel as if they are welcomed and belong. anyway that is not part of advertising, but we all can push out and advertise anywhere that is free. then if you think of other cheap ways on cheap sites that is up to you staff and Optical but that is the best free form i know of and if we all do it, it does work well.

Good Luck,
always remember to put in 100% effort, play the "grey" man so don't stand out too much especially at first as those who do are usually for the wrong reasons. never forget when its your time in the evening it isnt actually your time you have to sort out for the next day so before you head out or relax ensure all is done for the next day or more.  finally they are looking to make the weak and unsure about what they are doing types quit so if you really want it just hang in there it does get better especially after training. oh and avoid those who cant handle a weapon properly, you dont want to get shot by mistake  . if you would like advice or help feel free to chat though i cant help much on american equipment. i do wish you the best.