Protocol Archives - Some Awesome Minecraft

As of today we’re at 777 members. It doesn’t seem too long ago that we were at one-tenth of that.

With any serious positive growth, there comes a time when you have to look at your approach and figure out how you can do it better. Today is one of those days.

Tonya and I have been doing this for over 2 years now. We’ve seen many players come and go. We’ve seen some admins come and go. We’ve even seen some worlds come and go. It’s kind of crazy.

For the most part, we’ve taken a step back and let the admin ladies handle all the formalities with the public-facing, day to day work. That really isn’t going to change at all, but we’ve decided to take on more specific roles so that the admins can focus more on player assistance.

So as of today, Tonya and I are rescinding our label of “Admins” and taking on the label of “Owners” instead. If you didn’t know that we were the actual server owners yet, then that’s probably a good indication that we needed to make this change.

So What Does That Mean For Us?

In a nutshell, it means that Tonya and I will be handling the duties of Conflict Resolution and Server Maintenance, respectively. If you have a technical issue or question, it’s best to bring it to me directly instead of bothering the admin ladies. If you have a complaint, then you should bring it to Tonya.

We prefer that both of these things not be asked about or made public in the group. For one thing, let’s say for example that you suspect that you were griefed, then it does you no good to post this immediately in the group. If the attack were deliberate, you will only be giving satisfaction to the griefer, and on top of that, the griefer will know that we are on to them and may change their methodology. The best approach is to let us know quietly, so we can investigate behind the scenes and avoid any misunderstandings.

If Tonya and I then decide that it is best to be presented to the group for gathering additional information, we will do so ourselves. Technically this has always been something we asked for in the server rules but we don’t really enforce it, you won’t get in trouble if you do so otherwise, the process is purely for your benefit and the group’s.

How Will the Admins’ Responsibilities Change?

For the most part, they won’t. The admins will still be keeping an eye on things, and helping out players. This new system helps us with internal processes and keeps redundancies down. If you ask an admin for something that should be asked of either Tonya or myself, they will direct you to do so.

Despite the fact that our admin team has doubled in the last year, this means that a shotgun approach to all duties is much less effective. With these new procedures in place, we can reduce the time devoted to non-emergency functions, which helps us focus more on your gameplay experience.

So How Should I Get In Touch With You?

Feel free to use the contact form on this site if you’d like to reach us, or you can send us a PM at the following pages:

Christopher Morris (Serverus)
Tonya Morris (ToRiMiLi)

Please make sure that these messages are for legitimate technical issues, lag questions, or player complaints. Assistance for things like command blocks, shops, sorting, Toad Hut, etc are still admin duties. If you have any questions about these policies you can also reach out to us for clarification.

Thanks,
– Serverus

I’ve been asked before why I continue to do this. Suffice to say that the answer is not “money”.

As the principal investors in Some Awesome Minecraft, Tonya and I are often met with incredulous stares over the amount of money we pour into this endeavor. Believe me, it does not go unnoticed by us on a monthly basis. However, as a couple who have found themselves in the unique position to create a community where we can share our love of video games and combine it with our desire to give others the opportunity to bond with their children, we found that Minecraft was the perfect mix of both. If we had let that chance pass us by and did nothing instead, or worse, kept it to ourselves, we wouldn’t have been able to live with that decision.

So what does that have to do with taking donations? Quite a lot actually. I’ll try and break down the reasons that we have committed to over the last year and a half…

1. You’ve already paid $26 (or more) for Minecraft

In fact, if you’re like us, you’ve already paid upwards of $200 for Minecraft (7 PC accounts, 2 XBOX accounts, 4 Pocket Edition accounts, soon a PS3 account). So why would you want to pay more just to PLAY the game? We know you’ve invested as much as you can into playing the game, and like us, you’re probably part of a family that is trying to make ends meet. Asking for more, without reason, would feel wrong.

2. You shouldn’t feel the need to pay for what we can afford

Tonya and I are not rich by any means, but we can afford to pay for these servers. We also pay for the Starbound server, and a few other things related to the Some Awesome community, but we’ve budgeted that into our monthly bills. This is not the by-product of wealth, but this server has grown with us and we’ve made concessions to accommodate that. We’ve had the privilege of leveraging a great community of gamers to seed these servers with players, that’s all anyone could ask for with regards to assistance.

Don’t get me wrong, if something were to happen where we could no longer afford the servers, we would ask for donations to keep it running, but that is a VERY last resort.

3. Money and Friendship do NOT go hand in hand

We consider you all to be great friends. In fact, most of the best friends we’ve made, have been through this group. If you’ve ever been in the position where you owe a friend money, or you have a friend that owes you money, you know that it only dampens the relationship you have with that person.

4. Donations = Obligations

If you need any proof of this, just look at Congress. Campaign “contributions”, lobbying, etc. These are the things that ruin a good system.

Now I’m not saying that all, or even most, of you would take advantage of the fact that you had given donations, but it is always a present danger. Quite frankly, as someone who is very receptive and empathetic, I know that I would have a hard time banning someone who had donated. Even if it was something as simple as a suggestion for changing a rule or an addition to the server, I would HAVE to take their donation into account. Honestly, I don’t want something as frivolous as a donation to skew what I think is best for this server.

5. Mojang and their EULA

Recently, Mojang started enforcing their stance on “pay to play” servers. Mind you, we had discussed, at some length, the idea of monetizing the server using BuyCraft or similar, to generate some income to help us pay the costs associated with Some Awesome Minecraft. I’m actually happy now to say that we decided never to do that, because it would have become something we were dependent on, and we never want to be dependent on outside sources to maintain the uptime for these servers.

6. Our Admins are picked from the freshest beans

I think it’s worth letting people know that our Admins are not paid. They do this because they love the game, and because they love you guys. Should the need arise, we want to know that we can choose our Admins from the pool of players NOT because they can contribute monetarily, but because they will always do what they think is best for this community. Money only serves to dilute the interests that come with such a responsibility. Simply put, our Admins are here because they know they have something to contribute that is much more important than money.

Now, if it ever comes to pass that SAMC is making a profit, they’ll be compensated handsomely of course 😉 But it’s nice to know that’s not an expectation (and honestly we’re at LEAST a year away from profitability).

WE APPRECIATE YOU ASKING THOUGH

Don’t get us wrong, it’s REALLY nice to know that you guys want to chip in, but we made a serious decision at the beginning of this that we want you to be able to play and enjoy these servers without having to contribute. We absolutely appreciate everyone just sticking to the rules, and trying to make the server a great place to play, for all ages. That’s all we ask.

And if you have a great idea for the server, know that if we implement it, it’s because we think it’s a great idea, and not because you threw us a few bucks.

If you want to really help, then please share our group and the Some Awesome community with your friends wherever you can. We are more than happy to send you business cards to hand out, or do whatever we can to help you spread the word.

You can also purchase Some Awesome T-shirts, buy through our affiliate links, or just visit our websites. Every little bit helps, and gives you something in return for your participation, which is important to us.

More than anything though, you can help by donating to the causes that we get behind, particularly our yearly stint with Extra Life. Your money is better off helping those truly in need.

Always For The Community,
– Serverus

Some Awesome Minecraft

Category: Protocol

Growing Pains