1.2.5, expanded borders, anti grief and more!

[optical]

Server IP: smp.opticraft.net

Hi guys,

Its been awhile since I posted on anything new with regards to the server, and I apologize for that. Its been a hectic and turbulent few weeks for Opticraft and myself - I'm really sorry about that!
We've grown massively in the past month, well over tripling our population in a very short span of time, and as a result we've had a large amount of growing pain, making things tough for moderators and community members. Thank you all for sticking through it thus far, its really appreciated.

Now, onto the news. Firstly, Minecraft 1.2.5 will be released tomorrow, and it is OK to update as soon as it comes out, there are no protocol changes, so the server will not need an update.

We have been working at expanding the worlds borders and creating new towns in the new area's. The wolds border well be pushed out, resulting in 2-4x more area in the world as a result. Exact numbers will be finalized soon, but you can be sure there will be plenty of new land for everyone.

Along with the new towns, the old warps will be blocked off and we will be making it harder to leave spawn by foot in order to encourage new users to use the new land. This also means jungle biomes will finally be accessible to everyone.

In the next week or two we will be introducing a new Guest/beginner world. This will be the new starting location for all users on the server. It will be very similar to the current world, and it will be moderated. In order to leave the guest world and build on the member world, new users will need to sign up on our forums. The primary point of this world is to help prevent grief on the main world where our serious members are building. More details on this will be released closer to the time, I am excited to see how this will change the landscape.

As you all may have noticed, we recently launched an automated anti grief system. The system aims to automatically detect and ban malicious users. I won't reveal too much about its technical implementation, but rest assured it will not detect false positives. Since its release 48 hours ago, the system has already banned over 200 griefers. With more aggressive tuning, the effectiveness of this is destined to increase.

In the staff department we have had a large number of resignations of late due to the large increase in workload. As a result, moderator applications are open, so head on over to the forums and apply if you're looking to help us out.

Finally, we will be offering protected zones for cities very shortly. This will prevent large cities from being griefed, and allow the mayor to control who is allowed in the city. Gaining protection will not be easy however, and small towns will not be covered. More on this soon!
City applications are open

Thanks for reading - I hope you're as excited about our future as I am.

Cheers,
Optical

[matticus21]

The anti grief mod is a great addition

[Hasan (Tabooti)]

Finally, we will be offering protected zones for cities very shortly. This will prevent large cities from being griefed, and allow the mayor to control who is allowed in the city.

Finally indeed

[omaroo2]

Massive update optical !
This will help the server a lot, now the server is 100% safe!
And there will be 10% of possible grief that can be handled by mods, but it is way better than before !
Protecting large cities is also an awesome idea, instead of buying ps

Btw will there be factions?

[lLLEGAL]

I doubt there will be factions, but great update, Opti.
I've seen many players get banned by Antigrief. ^^

[clawstrider]

Along with the new towns, the old warps will be blocked off and we will be making it harder to leave spawn by foot in order to encourage new users to use the new land. This also means jungle biomes will finally be accessible to everyone.

With this, you mean you will no longer be able to warp to North/West/South/East Towns? Or how do you mean blocked off?

Also, what are you doing to stop people leaving spawn by foot?

But all in all, sounds great! Thanks Optic, I look forward to seeing the new worlds.

Oh, and can you take stuff between worlds, and if not, would you be able to request some of the items in your house to be destroyed, and moved to the new world? It sounds good with the new world, but if it comes at the cost of restarting...

[optical]

With this, you mean you will no longer be able to warp to North/West/South/East Towns? Or how do you mean blocked off?

Also, what are you doing to stop people leaving spawn by foot?

But all in all, sounds great! Thanks Optic, I look forward to seeing the new worlds.

Oh, and can you take stuff between worlds, and if not, would you be able to request some of the items in your house to be destroyed, and moved to the new world? It sounds good with the new world, but if it comes at the cost of restarting...

The warp signs will be removed, but /warp will remain.

The spawn will be fenced off in most of the main paths, with warp signs steering them to the station.

Yes, inventories will be shared betweem the worlds.

[tbpb2010]

Finally, we will be offering protected zones for cities very shortly. This will prevent large cities from being griefed, and allow the mayor to control who is allowed in the city. Gaining protection will not be easy however, and small towns will not be covered. More on this soon!

 

[D00MKNlGHT]

What are the conditions for the city protections? Enderpolis wants it too!!(even though it is fully protected)
And are the borders expanded already?if not yet when?

[Smiteme69]

In the next week or two we will be introducing a new Guest/beginner world. This will be the new starting location for all users on the server. It will be very similar to the current world, and it will be moderated. In order to leave the guest world and build on the member world, new users will need to sign up on our forums. The primary point of this world is to help prevent grief on the main world where our serious members are building. More details on this will be released closer to the time, I am excited to see how this will change the landscape.

This is a fantastic idea.

As you all may have noticed, we recently launched an automated anti grief system. The system aims to automatically detect and ban malicious users. I won't reveal too much about its technical implementation, but rest assured it will not detect false positives. Since its release 48 hours ago, the system has already banned over 200 griefers. With more aggressive tuning, the effectiveness of this is destined to increase.

I have seen many banned by this 'auto mod' nice work.

As for mod apps, I might apply.

[Mark_Dutch]

Happy to see these new changes 

[SpikeyThorn]

Thanks so much for this update optical, i was wondering when the world was going to be wiped/extended !

[Alber_Oliva]

This is awesome, I remember joining in Feb. and there would only about 30-50 people on. Now there is 120-160 peeps on! I'm looking forward to these new updates.

[lLLEGAL]

This is awesome, I remember joining in Feb. and there would only about 30-50 people on. Now there is 120-160 peeps on! I'm looking forward to these new updates.

When I joined there was only 10-20 people. And mostly people from classic.

[thedude114]

Will any player-made houses be changed because of the 2 world addition?

I'm also glad about the anti greif addition. I can finally farm and breed animals! No greifers or starving poeple destroying my wheat and killing my pigs!