Best Posts in Forum: News & Announcements

Recently, MeepCraft has undergone a leadership change. On July 12, 2013, due to specific hardships that we were facing with our leadership, our team replaced MeepNetworks with the original MeepCraft minecraft server which is now solely owned by myself and operated by the MeepCraft development team.

Previously, I had given a co-ownership opportunity to an individual known as CrueltyGaming to whom we invested 20,000 dollars to fund the datacenter. He brought many technical benefits to MeepNetworks and offered his time to help manage and grow the establishment. While his intentions were for the betterment of the server, we observed over the past few months that his changes were not benefiting the welfare of the server but rather diminishing its level of potential success.

It's not easy to turn the #1 Minecraft server in the world, with 1,100 players online simultaneously and one of the most active online communities in Minecraft into a small hamlet hardly peaking at 300 players. Somehow, that's what happened under the direction of CrueltyGaming. Several hilariously dumb decisions were made, such as the cancellation of the MeepHalo project, the cancellation the CreativCubed server, for the sole reason that sharing 50% of the profits with any third party was "unacceptable". And ironically enough, just as soon as these projects were cancelled or let go, we ended up sacrificing huge opportunities in advertising and server development. Under CrueltyGaming’s directive, the original community forums and custom systems were deleted, the entire original staff of MeepCraft was fired and disbanded, and it was rumored that the very next directive was to reset the Towns world with a new rank system (which would result in the removal of the ranks that you payed for!).

For the last 2 years I have spent a great portion of my time building and developing the community and game of MeepCraft. We had collected over a hundred thousand dollars in cumulative donations and almost 95% of those expenses were put back into helping develop and improve aspects of the server. When CrueltyGaming locked me out the machines, as had happened multiple times in the past, it was a moment of realization for me. For the next 48 hours, our team recreated the entire original MeepCraft server from scratch – without the original server files! I am especially thankful to my friend Coelho, (who is the developer of our cloud system), for contributing a hypervisor machine, on which we will be developing the new MeepCraft cloud.

It is the best interest of the players and administration of MeepCraft to remove this individual from authority. It is a great sacrifice to leave behind our investments but the correct choice is now clear. The decisions made under his administration were clearly not beneficial in the very least. I believe that the main lesson we can all learn from this is that with any large organization, you can go sole proprietor or board of directors, but by all means stay away from dual partnerships. You should always keep your goals and ideals close to your heart and stick to them. I will sleep better at night knowing that we will be enjoying a higher level of enjoyment and success in all aspects of this game.

- Fuzzlr
(Miguel)

More gamemodes such as The Walls are coming soon to MeepCraft

 

Two years ago today, I started a Minecraft community called MeepCraft. This Minecraft server, which I started on my own laptop, has grown to become one of the longest running large Minecraft communities in the world. With over 1 million players served, MeepCraft continues to make countless memories and experiences for the thousands of people around the world that play daily. It was even mentioned in a Forbes article for its innovative and unique virtual economic model.

From the very beginning, MeepCraft has been unique for its large open community. This community setting has allowed us to grow and maintain the server’s most essential asset: dedicated and devoted players. There is no price tag that can be put on the value of the friendships and unique experiences that have been made over the years. As players, your commitment and dedication to the server has maintained its existence both financially and developmentally, and it has allowed the preservation of a community that, in my opinion, is what makes MeepCraft unique and iconic.

As a 16-year-old, I am incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to own and administrate one of the world’s largest Minecraft servers. I have learned so much from this experience! These last two years have been so great and I am so thankful for everyone who has helped make this possible.

Special mention to those who have made a positive and legendary impact on MeepCraft (in alphabetical order): Alien_Venom, aPlasticKnife, btilm305, Chicka2b2b, Coelho (Onis_Luck), Cooleysworld, coolkid1288, damaster97, DancingCactus, Deinen0, Deviant210, DianaB72, Exclaimer999, FluffbearRCT, GreenTempest, iFartonChilren, ImNotBlonde, jamdelaney1, jcbetro1011, Kabixi, Kazarkas, LexKristen, mjacobinc, MrsMegan, Nanniro, nubberoni, Oroperion, Pimpkachu, PhoenixPuppy, Rosenow, Saiyer, SdubsSM, Silent_One, Sirrr_Pig, shainthewolfman, Sjoeppappentrap, Skaros123, Sneekers, TheEditson, Tsong_Jien, zortron

 

Are you excited for the new spawn and the new changes that will be added in the update? I definitely am!

Here are some photos of the new spawn that I took today.

 

When I started the server as a private server between my family and friends, I did not expect it to grow to become one of the most successful and long-lasting Towns servers of all time. MeepCraft has been around for five years, which makes it one of the oldest active Minecraft communities out there.

The picture I attached shows the very first town that I built on the private server in 2011. Back then, the server did not have a name, and only my brother and dad were playing on it. Soon, I invited some of my friends to join and they became the very first Administrators on the server. MeepCraft launched as a public on January 2012.

For years, MeepCraft has retained a consistent and solid player base. In the beginning, there were many problems with MeepCraft, and it was a very unstable and constantly changing environment. There were many obstacles that we overcame as a team, and these obstacles became valuable life lessons for me.

I cannot stress how grateful I am to everyone who continues to support and dedicate their time to improve the server and keep it running. Without you, MeepCraft wouldn't continue to be the great community that it is today. I think over the past 5 years we have matured to become a vibrant and positive community. The community provides constructive feedback and support at every step of the way, and that is something that I hope will continue to be a defining characteristic of MeepCraft.

Many people become sick of games, especially ones they have been playing for five consecutive years. I hope that your enthusiasm for MeepCraft never fades.

To celebrate this achievement, we are having a new Five Years of MeepCraft sale! Enjoy every rank and package 25% off on the server store.

 

During the month of April, we will be working on projects that will increase activity on the server and make the economy stronger and more attractive to new players.

Development

Thanks to the addition of two new developers, @Spyda6 and @lordusan, we will be able to put more effort into creating new server features and improving existing ones. In addition to this, our high staff team has been busy making decisions that will affect the longevity and enjoyment of the server and community in the coming months.

Minigames

We relaunched Infected. This game has been one of MeepCraft's most popular minigames and we are very excited to continue updating it. Due to popular demand, we plan to replace the Hunger Games with the popular game mode Skywars in the coming weeks. We also plan to replace our existing CTF minigame with a new creative variant created by @DBLOSEVN that we call Capture the Snowman.

A maintenance issue with our Creative server gave us the opportunity to rework it and improve its features. @DBLOSEVN and @Cooleysworld are hard at work with a new updated Creative server with a new awesome plot system and spawn created by @andrewrobins. We are very confident that you will love the new updates for Creative.

Economics

The update to 1.9 is a great opportunity to rework the shop system. The new shop changes are designed to be a little more friendly to new players and introduce more ways for players to make money. We plan to review the shop system over the coming weeks and fine tune it.

We are going to lower the price to establish a town. The price is currently 250K Meebles. When you create a town, 200K is charged from your account for town establishment, and 50K goes straight into the town bank to prevent the town from falling. In order to allow new players to participate in the "mayor experience” within 1-3 weeks of playing, we are going to lower the total price to 150K Meebles (100K actual price).

Advertisement

Thanks to the above economic updates, it will be a great opportunity to advertise the server and provide some much needed revitalization to the community. Thanks to our rank sales, we will have some small advertisements for the server on April 8, April 9, and April 10. Special thanks go to @Cooleysworld who provided a donation for a portion of this advertisement.

Architecture

Our architects are looking at new ways to improve the gameplay experience, and we are currently considering ideas for a possible remake of MeepCraft's second spawn created by James Delaney.

Purchases

Thanks to the initiative of @KlutchDecals, we will be rolling out a MeepCraft merchandise shop which will contain items like t-shirts and cool branded accessories that players can buy to show their support for the server. Buy purchasing these products, players will not only be able to support the server: they will also be able to wear a cool t-shirt.

In regards to purchases, we are going to be making some changes in the rank system hierarchy to comply to additional demands from Mojang's EULA. These changes will likely not affect current rank holders negatively - we will try our best to maintain the experience for all paid players. In the meantime, please continue to support the server by purchasing a rank at meepcraft.com/upgrade.

 

The End User License Agreement contains rules that Minecraft servers need to follow. Minecraft's EULA is designed to prevent pay-to-win situations and taking advantage of players. We are legally obligated to change our rank system to comply with the EULA.

All current rank owners will keep their ranks. Our rank system will stay the same with the exception of the Ultimate rank. The price of the Ultimate rank is currently $320, and according to the EULA any rank over a hard limit of $200 is considered to be taking advantage of Mojang's intentions. Providing the ability to fly in-game to a paying customer is also a violation of the EULA. Due to these rules, we have decided to give Ultimate rank owners the Legend title.

• VIP - $9.99
• Premium - $19.99
• Exclusive - $39.99
• Elite - $79.99
• Supreme - $159.99
• Ultimate -> Legend - Priceless

We always try our best to consider the best interests of rank owners and contributors to the server. We have been hard at work brainstorming ways to maintain the value of each rank while still being compliant with the EULA. Although this will be upsetting to many players, especially those who will miss the ability to fly, we will be providing Ultimate with the Legend rank. This rank will have all the EULA compliant perks of Ultimate and will be unobtainable unless you are a current Ultimate rank owner.

The following rank perks are not compliant with the EULA and will no longer be available:

• /fly
• Changing Spawners
• Fix
• Heal
• /feed (removed at a later date)
• Breathing Underwater
• Smelt
• Nightvision (/nv)
• Mini game bonus

The following rank perks are not compliant with the EULA, and they will be given to all players:

• Mine Spawners
• View spawner info
• Own 6 Creative Plots
• Use WorldEdit in Creative
• /speed in Creative
• Clear plots in Creative
• Download plot in Creative
• /tpahere

Removing rank perks is definitely not good news for people who've contributed to the server, but we are planning on adding these remarkable EULA-compliant features to VIP, Premium, Exclusive, Elite and Supreme to make up for it:

• Glow Items - Give any item in your hand, a shiny enchanted effect.
• Add Rows of Hearts - Change how many hearts displays on your client (10,20,30,40)
• Fireworks - 30 Fireworks you can launch for spectacular effects! Ride your fireworks
• Gadgets
  • Flamethrower - Spray flames all over to heat things up!
  • Raining Pigs - Special Delivery
  • Slime Party - Rock out with a group of slimes
  • Flappy Bird - Spawn a chicken, control it’s flaps, avoid any blocks!
  • TNT Tag - Tag, you're it! BOOM!
  • Apollo - Ride up on a rocket
  • Parachute - Open up a parachute with chickens that slowly drop you
  • TNT Fountain - Many activated TNTs shoot up in a fountain pattern
  • Tetherball - Spawn a tetherball chicken to play with a friend
  • Ghost Rider - Run around on fire
  • Rainbow - Create an gigantic awesome rainbow display
  • Railgun - Shoot fireworks from a gun
  • Walt Disney - Create an ice capsule around yourself
  • Pants Dance - Your pants flash different colors
  • XxPoopBlockxX - Create an poop bomb that explodes all over everything
  • Bat-a-rang - Shoot bats at players
  • Self Destruct - Fuse yourself, and explode over everything
  • Slime Storm - Many slimes come down and shatter
  • Fun cannon - Shoot fun with your gun
  • Paint Gun - Shoot buildings with paintballs and color the world!
  • Junk Jet - Shoots random items everywhere
• Custom Furniture
• Custom Blocks
• Purchase Unwrappable Presents
• Slot Machines
• Chest Lock

We are aware that many people will be upset because of these changes. However, we are looking forward to moving forward and running a server that will be more fair and fun for all players. We are very excited to take a step back, add all the new features, and improve the rank system as a whole. Thank you for supporting the server.

 

I hope you're all having a great day! This is a message to all Meeps who have just started their school year, and older Meeps that wish they were still in school. I'm in school too, and I've been pretty busy.

I'm taking 2 AP classes in school and I get a lot of homework from those classes everyday. I'm also a part of my school play. This year we are performing Beauty and the Beast and I think it's going to be a lot of fun! After school I attend rehearsals for my advanced singing class. We are going to sing at a stadium in a couple of months and I'm really excited! I'm also excited to be part of my school's tennis team this year. We have both JV and Varsity teams, and we've been undefeated for a couple of years!

I recently went to a Vampire Weekend concert in Brooklyn with my friends! It was a lot of fun because we got to see the band live.

Here's a picture that we took of the concert:

So I've been a bit busy and I'm sorry I didn't give you an update on important things, like what's going on with the server!

There's a pretty touchy subject that was being discussed, and that's the recent removal of jobs. A lot of people have mixed views on what direction the economy should go! The jobs plugin had both negative AND positive effects on the economy. Before we start advertising the server to everyone, we need to make sure that players have ways to make money without destroying the economy! We encourage everyone to use the MeepShop to earn Meebles, while we work on solutions to the inflow and outflow of Meebles!

I'm so excited to show everyone the new spawn that's coming to MeepCraft. I showed it to some players and they all said they liked it a lot. But before we let you use the new spawn, we have to do some tweaking and techy stuff to make sure everything's ready!

I hope all of you are having a great day mining blocks on MeepCraft! I enjoy mining too and my favorite block is 36.

EDIT: Im also sorry we didn't bid for advertising for September, my clock was off one hour and I missed the bid! (we'll get it right next month)

 

Gadgets

VIP - Cowboy, Disco Pants
Premium - Pyromaniac, Ghosts
Exclusive - XxPoopBlockxX, Suicidal Sheep
Elite - CATapult, Railgun
Supreme - Paint Trail, Slimevasion, Fun Cannon
Legend - Paint Gun

We are happy to announce that gadgets are now available! You can type /gadget to use this new feature. Some gadgets were not listed here. That is because we are in the process of working out some bugs with them.

Skywars

We have finished our Skywars game mode and are working on ironing out the last few bugs before we make it available to the public.

Boosts

Players will be able to purchase boosts, such as 2x XP, the ability to fly, and enhanced speed. When purchased in the server shop, everyone on the server will have access to the abilities for a limited amount of time. This buyable perk will be available in the shop soon.

New Spawn

Here is a sneak peak of a small part of the new spawn we are creating with the help of the architectural team.



_____________________________________________

I would like to apologize about not posting updates. Over the past few months I have been operating in the background to keep the server up and delegate tasks to complete current projects. My activity is limiting, but there is progress being made. The biggest problem is the lack of revenue. Because there is a lack of revenue there is no funding to pursue advertisement. The server itself is functioning perfectly and retaining a healthy amount of player retainment, however that number decreases due to lack of incoming players. The areas in which we are most lacking would be in marketing and development.

We have rarely pursued anything other than paid advertising in the past, due to the fact that we have always had adequate funding. At this point we do not have adequate funding due to the EULA changes. Due to the changes we have lost a majority of server revenue and are unable to take risks when it comes to advertising. Therefore growth has to be more organic. The changes come during a particularly rough time because we are inundated with development work, which includes the updates to Minecraft 1.9 and 1.10.

While evaluating this problem, one must consider that while some servers suffer from the EULA, there are a few that are still running successfully. I have wondered why MeepCraft falls so distinctly into the former group. My explanation for this is that MeepCraft is based heavily around the economy. An economy server is dependent on factors such as power, wealth, and economic advantages. In the past, our revenue model has been dependent on players seeking economic advantages. Giving those advantages to paying players is what has driven our revenue model for almost 4 years.

When we are asked by Mojang to remove these economic advantages from our shop, we are basically being asked to remove 90% of our revenue model. The server will struggle to survive this way, and even the most creative solutions may not be enough to compensate for the loss.

While this may seem to be very bad news, there are a number of solutions to this problem that may help alleviate in the short term. A strong economy server requires a large number of participants. I strongly encourage all players to actively promote the server, whether in your social circles, and remind everyone that organic growth depends not only on our continued work on the server but also your efforts to refer new players to it.

 

I recently built a new room in the donator lounge! The Sonic Room is a place where donators can host drop parties or special events. There are three trampolines and two parkour walls in the room, as well as a sky jump viewing area. In the future, we will be hosting drop parties in this room and throughout the spawn. Thanks for donating and helping us keep the server running!