SwanofWar

hey folks,
 
ultra busy time of the year for me, however after tomorrow it should calm down a little to allow me time to come and finish a few things around town.
I will hope to get on either Sat afternoon or Sun evening to have a bit of a tidy up and sort out our 'hobbit hole' in the middle of the houses. If anyone is around just give me a shout and we can play a game or do some work or just even chill out for a bit.
 
hope you are all behaving and keeping well.
 
see you in game soon
 
Nikki
 
p.s massive thanks to Darren for being understanding in regards to my current absence in game

Hi all,
 
after having a wander around town today, I discovered a little cave in the middle part of all the houses. so have decided to extend it a little bit, and put it to the good folks of YAMS to come up with some ideas for the area. had a chat with Myth007 and he had some great ideas which included:-
health spa/sauna underground casino zoo Hobbit hole (my idea but Darren said I am not allowed to be a hobbit and have to come out to play) Secret shrine to the Town Moderator, maybe?!?   (also my idea) the area can be made to go down a couple of levels, but going up too much will require terraforming the land again above and I want to try and keep that as natural as possible. The opening for this area is currently located at x:142, y:68, z:-1084. Feel free to have a wander there and see if you can come up with any ideas/suggestions of what we could have there.
 
I am about to get food but will be back later today if anyone wants to work on anything with me. Or even just to chat about possibilities.
 
many thanks
Nikki

Since November 2012 the coliseum has hosted BattleArena, but its now time for a change!
 
I would like to announce that the YAMS Coliseum is now hosting Paintball - pure war! pure fun!
 
I can guarantee you wont be let down by this game, features include:
Red and blue teams with red and blue armour. Inventory saving when playing 13 ranks - get more kills/wins/points to level up! Lobby rank armour - the more you play the different style armour you will have on in the lobby. Rank chat names - when chatting everyone gets to see your rank, only those in the paintball game will see it. The shop - get money for kills/wins and then spend it in the shop. Rank up to unlock new weapons, from grenades, rocket launchers to airstrikes and more! Random gifts - weapons will be send to you from time to time while in game, use them while you can! Fun, fun and fun! If you would like to play simply type: /pb join - minimum of two players required.
 
Please post feedback as I'm very excited about this addition to YAMS.

As discussed in the Future of YAMS topic, I was thinking about adding a room with signs displaying warps/commands to all the different games we have in YAMS as not everyone is aware we have all these games, there used to be signs in the old spawn tower (though not warps) but they got took out.
 
Well I'm pleased to announce at the bottom of spawn tower you can find a place that lists most of the games we have along with required warps/commands to get to them, there is also a community build teleport location - if a moderator ever wants a teleport button to a big town build, they only need ask me.
 
Please go and take a look. Good or bad idea? Feedback please.

Firstly thanks to Darren for taking the time to post a mini history of YAMS, it was great to see some of the pictures from past builds/towns/worlds. (even had some kitty flashbacks with my Puss in boots skin  ).
I believe there is a future for YAMS, our current world still has a lot of unused/unexplored areas so as to how long do we have left here in our current world I would say a lifetime if we can work together and keep things fresh and update as and when we feel things need it. (i.e. spawn tower has had a massive makeover as has mining world hub recently).
I know YAMS  struggles  now and then for getting players involved with public builds, often because not everyone can get on at similar times, or those that are new are unsure what they can and cant do for the builds.
I will say though sometimes it just takes a couple of nights to transform a whole area and often it might only take 1 or 2 people to make a big difference. (I spent two nights almost alone in YAMS last week so I decided it was time to make some bigger changes around Snowheim and it now has a fab underground stables and horse access so u can take you horses for a ride underground. Which am pleased to see its already being used). Was also able to add to some existing building with help of players who were online at the time.  So to be honest I am not really sure what else can be done to help activity for bigger builds other than just be spontainious, if there are a few on just comment on what needs done and see how quick those that are on can do it.…. We always seem to get so far and just fizzle out.
Personally I like the current town themes, although with new materials appearing on most updates lately maybe a closer look at the towns in the future to see what changes could be made. I feel if plots were removed it would then lead to issues with how big can u build your house, how far from a town can you build, with the current plots everyone is close to their town centres and information centres etc.
I think a free build world would be best as a special event like previously done, or we may find players living in the free build world instead of helping in the community.
Hmm…. That’s all I have to say at the moment, no doubt as others add their say I may comment further as they may remind me of something I wanted to add.

Ok did some work on it tonight.
 
@Tuna - I've done most of the redstone work for you on your quiz thing, I would like to show you and explain what I've done, I've removed the questions as changed the walls but I liked the questions so have wrote them down on paper so put back up when I talk to you.
 
@Ryan - Did your preasure plate maze for you, would be nice to speak to you too about it.
 
So that's nearly two rooms done, not bad for the time I spent on it, now we just have one more room to fill with something really exciting then its the last congratulations room and we will be done. Thank god!

The shops in the Marketplace change from time to time, and the addition of new shops isn't always noticed.  It can also take people a full trip around both floors to find the shop they're looking for, or they can miss it altogether.
 
So what if we set up a simple shop map for both floors, to quickly show people who is selling what and where?  It can be a simple wall with signs on it, saying who's on what floor, or we could do a setup with item frames and each person places a single item that represents their shop in an actual map layout, or any number of other options.
 
A couple of my ideas:
 
 
 
 
 
 

I now have a basic setup of the pressure plate maze just to get it working in the test build. Will see how big I can get the maze without it breaking

On the launcher push edit profile to the bottom left, then select the profile, then somewhere there is a drop down menu wthT probably says "Use Latest Version" then change it to 1.6.4 and u should be good

I think that she means having a couple of posts outside each building, so that when riding from one building to the next, you can hitch your horse there qhilst you go in.
 
It's true that we should also have stables in every town, but I see the use of having one or two hitching posts outside every building.

In every town we should add "hitching posts" outside of the farms and other community building because a lot of people get around on horse and its annoying trying to find your horse because there was nowhere to hitch it. Just an idea, it wouldn't take very long to set up either
 
 
~Nicole

There's no reason why towns can't have these, I'm quite surprised the only town to do anything for horses so far is perivale!
 
If you would like see something horse specific like this in your town of farefall it might be worth posting about it in the farefall topic so ryan can hopefuly approve and you and others can build it!

Minecraft 1.7.2 has been released.
 
May I remind you that as before with previous updates, we cant update the server to Minecraft 1.7.2 straight away for the simple fact that we have to wait until Bukkit / CraftBukkit and plugins have updated themselves to the latest version of Minecraft, without these plugins we could not guarantee the smooth running of YAMS.
 
I expect this update to take a while as a lot has changed. There is currently no statement from Bukkit concerning Minecraft 1.7.2, however as soon as they post one, if they do, I'll let you know.

Minecraft 1.7.2 is not a backwards compatible update, meaning if you update to 1.7.2 you will not be able to connect to a 1.6.4 server (what we are currently on).

If you are using the default Minecraft profile which automatically upgrades its self and would like to come back onto YAMS, you will need to create a new profile within the Minecraft launcher using version "release 1.6.4".
 
As always I will keep you updated on the latest news of updating, if you have any concerns relating to YAMS and Minecraft 1.7.2 please feel free to ask in here and I'm sure someone will be able to answer you. Though some questions we wont know the answer too till it happens!

As explained in the past, please remember things may take a little while to be fully sorted once we do update.

Thank you,
Darren and the rest of the YAMS Staff.
 
P.S. On other news, 1.7.2 does not fix the issue of signs causing huge FPS drops, want this fixed? Up vote the issue!
P.P.S We do have something in store for next week that will help a little.

Well, Darren and I have replicated this in spawn town!
 

 
All we need now are more ideas for rooms!
If you go to the testing world there's already the one that Zhon and I build, so feel free to experiment.
Lets try and get this done before Halloween
 
Sorry the picture is so big...

and blatantly stolen from me. XD

Update from Captain Marbles and me:  Our funhouse room design is complete!
 
 


 
 
And when you enter the room, this happens:
 
 
 
The goal is to get across the ever-shifting floor, choose the right pit to drop down, and make it to the next room.  If you pick the wrong one, you have to start the funhouse over from the beginning.  Come try it out in testbuild when you've got time!

Ok I've got fed up of waiting, so as only one other person (thanks nick) agreed with loosing one room in favour of extra space for redstone between floors, I've gone ahead and placed the foundations for the rooms.
 
Stone = spacing between floors, only dig up when need to place redstone etc.
Cyan = Where the flooring goes, each floor should be different like last time.
Slabs = Ceiling, each floor should be different like last time.

If you do a search for amusement park or theme park, you will find topics suggesting this already. The problem is I make space for things like this that people want then no one actually does anything, so what I have done 2 times before (this world and old world) was setup a Halloween area and if that was a success in terms of how long it took and people actually getting involved then I would dedicate a theme park area, something I have personally wanted since day 1 of YAMS.
 
Unfortunately however while the Halloween area is now complete it took way too long and not many people got involved or left things unfinished.
 
I suggest you go and take a look at the Halloween area if you haven't already and see if you like it (though I'm sure you've been there playing games with us), we can certainly add to it this year, no point in having 2 Halloween areas.
 
Also I have hinted multiple times since day 1 that Maplehold should have a proper wooden roller-coaster with all the details, however this also hasn't been done, if you would like to see this happen it's worth making your voice heard in the maplehold topic, changingtuna88 is now in charge of maplehold.
 
There's also plenty of other things that need doing too, fun house in spawn and the University to name two, would like to see these started on again before I even start thinking about Halloween.
 
 
Correct, we also have a hide and seek game there.
 
 
Have moved back, it was in the correct place, the community build project is for building project suggestions too, I consider this one, suggestions and feedback is more about how YAMS is run, plugins, forums, rules etc.
 
 
 
 
I will create a topic eventually, would like to see the spawn fun room completed first though!

Minecraft 1.6.3 / 1.6.4 has been released fixing a bug in preparation for 1.7.
 
May I remind you that as before with previous updates, we cant update the server to Minecraft 1.6.4 straight away for the simple fact that we have to wait until Bukkit / CraftBukkit and plugins have updated themselves to the latest version of Minecraft, without these plugins we could not guarantee the smooth running of YAMS. There is currently no statement from Bukkit concerning Minecraft 1.6.4, however as soon as they post one, if they do, I'll let you know.

Minecraft 1.6.4 is not a backwards compatible update, meaning if you update to 1.6.4 you will not be able to connect to a 1.6.2 server (what we are currently on).

If you are using the default Minecraft profile which automatically upgrades its self and would like to come back onto YAMS, you will need to create a new profile within the Minecraft launcher using version "release 1.6.2".
 
As always I will keep you updated on the latest news of updating, if you have any concerns relating to YAMS and Minecraft 1.6.4 please feel free to ask in here and I'm sure someone will be able to answer you. Though some questions we wont know the answer too till it happens!

As explained in the past, please remember things may take a little while to be fully sorted once we do update.

Thank you,
Darren and the rest of the YAMS Staff.

Was browsing the Minecraft related interwebs, and came upon this screenshot of a new biome in the snapshot. It's called 'Ice Plains Spike' biome.
I think it looks absolutely awesome
 

So me and madrad went for a 11.2 mile walk today, down many pathways:
 

 
Across our travels we encountered a gate opening of some sorts.
 

 
Interesting we thought, what could be inside.
 

 
In we walked, encountering barren waste land.
 



 
It looked like something was built here at one time, but what we wondered?
 

 
So much laid in ruins, this place looked like it had been destroyed by TNT.
 

 
Then we sssssssssspot ssssssssssssomething!
 

 
BOOM goes the creeper! Now we know what happened to this place....
 

 
Minecraft is everywhere and no this was not photoshopped or made by us, we actually did find this in the middle of nowhere!

The player shouldn't take anything from your chests or anybody's chests for that matter without yours or the owners permission. The exception to this is the likes of community room chests and the ones in and around the farm. If they take from your chest and you didn't allow them to then this would be deemed as theft. Something which we do not tolerate here. If this is the case please do /modreq with your concern and I or another member of staff will look into it.
 
Hope this helps and you are enjoying YAMS so far

YAMS is now over 2 and half years old and we are still alive and growing, and though it's not at the same rate as it once was, it's still great seeing both new and long term members come on YAMS and enjoy it for what it is, a community.
 
We loose for a multitude of reasons, that being: their personal lives are busy, not agreeing with the way I run this community or because they got themselves banned.

We don't do enough self promoting as I'd like but at the same time I don't like shameless self spam promotion. I know servers that go around spamming everywhere they can think off, I don't agree on this. We mostly rely on these forums and word of mouth. Server lists don't always work and when they do they attract the wrong kind of people, stealers, griefers, trolls etc...
 
I do want more players to join us and work harder on having more active players instead of players that come on and then go away for months at a time, we do so many great things on YAMS it’s just such a shame that so much of this is not seen by people out there.

I try and leave whitelist off as much as possible, but sometimes it has to be on, normally because of a lack of staff on a certain times (that's not saying I want my current staff to have to be on 24/7, it's not fair on them) or because we have had trouble makers.

When I take whitelist off, sometimes it seems like the staff suddenly disappear at no fault of their own (lunch, dinner time, going out etc). It seems whenever I take it off, I end up being the only member of staff on the server and have had to do multiple tours all at once, now I don't mind doing the tours at all but as an admin I have loads of other stuff to do to, do I give a tour to a new person of fix something that’s been annoying current players? Trying to balance it all out can be quite stressful at times, so I end up putting whitelist back on until more staff come back on.

Now most of YAMS is setup so if there is no staff on new players can still work things out (if they read all the signs) however I like the personal touch, it's not something you see at a lot of servers, someone greeting you and actually helping you around, though some people say things like "what don't you trust me why are you spying on/following me" its not that at all, its more to help them out so they know exactly what to do and wont get in trouble later.

Unfortunately however a lot of players do eventually get themselves in trouble, this is mainly due to there not being enough follow up from staff. Once they have left someone in Sandbox they should regularly keep checking up on this player over the next couple of days or more to ensure they are doing well and understand the approval process, even help them on their houses if need be.

So this should be happening but it doesn’t always happen as there's so many other things that need doing on YAMS too, not to mention the fact that people also like to play (I don't blame them) instead of feeling obligated they have to do yams work all the time.

Anyway I know I've said this many times before and I'm sure I'll say it again and again, but id like to get these things sorted and take whitelist off more, every day I see people join and get refused because of whitelist, we used to be in the top 1-5 of various Minecraft Searches. Searches such as: Family friendly minecraft server, Family friendly minecraft servers, banned from minecraft and many more but we have now fallen onto page 2, this is not good...

So why not just take whitelist off and try and get them to sign up to the forums? Well as I said above it’s the amount of people with authority we have on the server; we still have various time zones in which no member of staff is on! We have various protections in place but as I said earlier I like new players to be shown around and explained everything when they join. This can be done by regular members if no member of staff is on but this doesn’t always happen or happens badly as they are missing the required training or don’t fully understand the rules themselves.

It's just a shame that when I do take whitelist off we end up putting it back on a lot because of griefers and such. You try and be nice by allowing people to come on your server and they treat you, your staff and the server badly – it’s not nice for anyone. Safe to say these kind of people are always dealt with. It's just such a shame that you give them a 15 minute tour only to see them banned an hour down the line.

Ok so enough rambling, it's time to recruit more staff so we can have whitelist off more often!

Here's a little information about what a Community Support Officer job entails:

1. Greet new players.
If you love to meet new people, you are proud to show them around this great server, help them find resources, give them building ideas, or just chat with them for company then you already have the most important skills.

2. Reinforce server rules.
Are you familiar with the server rules posted in Spawn Tower? Do you encourage players to read or re-read them when they don't seem to know/remember how to behave? Would you feel comfortable muting players who can't seem to control what their fingers type in public chat? Can you handle the pressure of putting someone in jail when they get caught breaking the rules? Are you willing to investigate the reason behind the behaviour and give them a second chance? Do you set a good example for others by just being you?

3. Report bannable offences to Mods/Admins.
Occasionally there are times on the server when all the Mods/Admins are offline for a moment. As a CSO, it is important to document griefing by taking screenshots of the damage or the playerlist of people online at the time. Do you mind taking a little personal time to contain/clean up griefed areas? Do you feel comfortable posting in the forums, something along the lines of “I saw so and-so do such and such today and here are some screenshots of the damage along with locations."
 
4. Be a part of a team
As a CSO you would become part of our team of staff so you would need to work well in a team, can you work well with others? From time to time I seek advice from all staff on changes I which to implement in YAMS, can you actively take part in these with good feedback?
 
5. Acceptable to job role change.
Understand that from time to time you job role may change and you may be asked to help out on other things that are totally unrelated to what you normally do but that give a benefit towards the community. You may also get the opportunity to be in charge of a public building or specific Job. If you are shown to be active and good at what you do, then there's also chance for progression to Moderator.
 
6. Enjoy knowing that you are part of the reason YAMS is the best place to spend your Minecraft time!
Think about what you like most about YAMS and how to keep it being a place you visit to get a good dose of community spirit. We have such diversity here with people from many ages, interests, and countries. We might each have our differences but the best thing about all of us is that we have so much in common. We just have to get to know each other to find out what those common interests are and to introduce new ideas to share. That's what community is about, so if you would like to support the YAMS community, apply to be a trainee CSO.
---

To apply, you must be registered on the forums in order to reply to this post (keeps it open and fair). Please give a brief summary of why you think you would be right for the job and what you can offer that others cant. Take a moment to look back over previous applications (April 2013, January 2013, August 2012, April 2012, October 2011, June 2011, April 2011) if you need ideas of what to say but please be original and bare in mind that a lots changed since them applications (don't just copy and paste we will know).

Also it doesn't matter if you post now, or wait until someone else posts, your post should be your words not someone else's and anyway your post is not the only part we base your application on, we will also base it on things such as your previous forum activity, severity of past crimes and how much time you have spent in game and when you are on are you helping the community.

We want to know which assets you will bring to the staff team. Why you and not that other person?
Good Luck!

Closing Date: 1 week from date/time of post.
Amount of positions available: undisclosed.
 
Past applicants (who were unsuccessful before) and ex staff (who's circumstances have changed) can reapply, hopefully you have taken previous feedback into consideration.
 
This topic is for applicants to post their applications only. Please do not post other stuff or like other peoples posts, thanks.

Decide to help mom with dinner and everyone has to make a big deal about it

Mine will be Epona!