Boy a lot has happened this month! It’s really too much to digest all at once, but we’re going to recap everything that has happened in September. We’ve got lots lined up in October as well, but that will be released first through our Patreon Newsletter on the first of the month, which is a good segue into our September Roundup.
September Highlight #1: Patreon
Yes, we finally launched Patreon, after 5 years and change of being in operation. We’ve got some great rewards lined up for people in all tiers, and we like to think that we’ve made it as fair as possible with regards to all the other features we’ve added lately.
You can check the Patreon page here if you want more details on what you get in each tier, but I also need to use this opportunity to outline a few changes happening on the first of the month.
Patreon Change #1 — No Mid-Month Rewards
Now, how I thought Patreon worked, is that it would charge your cards as soon as you signed up, even if you did that in the middle of the month, and then pay out on the first of the month, but I was mistaken. So basically this month amounted to a free trial run for you guys, which is cool by me anyway. The outpouring of support in light of thinking it worked this way is absolutely appreciated.
Since it doesn’t work that way though, what we have to advise people of is that you will not be able to receive rewards if you sign up in the middle of the month. Instead, all rewards will be delivered on the first when the donations are processed.
So if you’re a Patron, just take note that these will be processed on 10/1 (tomorrow). We want to make sure it won’t throw your family budgets off, and you can always cancel before then if you need to.
Patreon Change #2 — MOAR Rewards!
That’s right, in light of feedback I have received, we are making the following adjustments:
- Silver Tier patrons will be able to use the Command Zone
- Gold Tier patrons will be able to use /repair all and be exempt from AFK kicking (which is now 20 minutes)
- Awesome Tier patrons will be invited to participate in a monthly Secret Beta project, where I need participants to test out all the cool new doohickeys that I plan to drop on the rest of the playerbase later.
We hope these changes are positive ones, considering they were made in an attempt to temper policy updates with extra goodies. Either way, this is what we’re going with starting tomorrow, Monday, October 1st.
Patreon Change #3 — Patreon Twitch Days
Minecraft is our first and most-loved game, but going forwards we will be offering additional game servers based on what revenue allows. The first stream day for all games will be using the Patreon channel for Discord. Since Married Minecraft falls on the first day of the month, on that day we’ll be in the Patreon channel during our broadcast. Patrons in the Silver Tier and up have access to this channel.
September Highlight #2: Events
We had a few events this month, not the least of which was the Ender Dragon Fight that took place on Labor Day, where we had the fight twice in one day! We maxed out the server that day during the first go, meaning we had 30 players on at one point!
That night, we reset The End world and did it all over again. We almost maxed out the server for this round as well, but didn’t quite get there. Still it was a lot of fun, and since then The End has been open for player exploration.
Even before we fought the dragon though, we had to fight our need for speed, with the server’s first ever Chicken Race!
The ladies put together a pretty sweet racetrack for our super-fast ridable chickens, everybody who participated received a complimentary chicken helmet, and we did a few hundred laps while discovering bends and borders that we needed to fix up. While this was essentially just a test run for the track, we’re gearing up for the real deal, which we will be bringing you in November — The Chicky 500!
Of course, the Married Minecraft Mondays are always an event in-and-of themselves and we had plenty of good times during those streams too. Now that we have a real format (i.e. randomly teleport to people while shaders and hi-res packs are on) we’re taking our show on to the Big Time a.k.a. Twitch Affiliates! Give us some bits!
Here are some captures from the last couple of episodes:
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September Highlight #3: Economy
We’ve added economy features now using our new currency — SAMCoin! With this you can take a trip over to the brand new Serverus Shack and spend it on enchanting tools, buying XP, and other special tricks and kits we will be rotating in and out from time to time.
You can also sell your redstone blocks at the shack: One stack of blocks nets you 500 SAMCoin.
MineConnect
On top of the economy sits our integration with SomeAwesome.com, lovingly called MineConnect. With this, you can convert any points you get on SA into SAMCoin on the server.
Furthermore, our Silver Tier Patrons will now be able to connect to the Command Zone, which allows you to purchase certain command permissions for a day or a week.
Command Costs
While we still have Command of the Week, we’ve pivoted a bit to allow the economy system to handle a few different commands so they are more permanent fixtures of the server. As of now you can use the following commands:
- /repair – $100 per use
- /heal – $50 per use with a 60 second cooldown
- /warp ct – $1000 per use (in case you get lost)
Daily Lottery
Lastly, players can now benefit from a random Daily Lottery, which will give everyone on a random amount of currency or XP, at a random time of day. Maximize your chances of hitting the jackpot, the longer you are on!
October is Almost Here!
With October just around the corner, we’ve got a lot on the plate for you to get excited for! We’ll be putting out the Patreon Newsletter tomorrow and then a corresponding article a couple days later. If you still want to be an October patron, you’ve got until the end of the day to sign up. Thanks!