~The MCME Times~ [09/07/14]

Opening Statement

Over the last two weeks lots has changed. Four staff members and two rangers have resigned due to the new schoolyear starting. As a result of this the MCME times has seen a change in writer, along with some project staff filling in the gaps left behing in Harithilien.
All of these changes pale in comparison to the recent changes to rank names and structure though. We'll start this edition of the times by taking a look at these changes.

Rank Name Changes & Merges

As all of you who have been on in the last week have noticed the rank names have been changed and some ranks have been merged together. Here is a simplified overview:

Oathbreaker: This rank has stayed the same in name and function.

Droog + Commoner: These ranks have been merged together forming the Adventurer rank. The adventurer rank has the same permissions as the old commoner rank.

Artist: This rank has stayed the same in name and function.

Ranger: The name of this rank has been reverted to Guide, the name with which the rank was conceived.

Artisan, Foreman and Steward: These ranks have been merged together to for the Designer rank. This means build mods now have a unified set of permissions. Though all three ranks have now been merged into one there can still be a certain level of specialisation.

Bounder: The name of the rank has been changed to Enforcer.

Valar: The ranks name has been chagned to Vala making it gramatically correct for the first time in a year. :') <- tear of joy.

If these changes have left you with feedback or opinions you want to share you can do so here.
If you encouter any technical difficulties as a result of the changes (missing permissions etc.) inform us here.

Project Progress

Cair Andros (Pretty Much Done): The last few details such as roads, trees, and grass have been added to wrap up this project finally thanks to the hard work and dedication of both @freshmilkymilk and @Thatruben . Well done guys on a job well done as the final product is really something to marvel at.

Harithilien Part 3 (In Progress): With @Fireinferno13 resigning this project is now under the leadership of @iSMiTHz. At this time jobs are being ran digging rivers that have been marked on the terrain. Other than that there is a build competition going on for Haudh in Gwanûr. If you want to join in you can do so here.

Misty Mountains (In Progress): @Finrod_Amandil is currently working on redoing the Misty Mountains in order to both improve the path and make them all pretty for the surroundings of Moria. Since last week the eastern slopes of the misty mountains, west of Lothlorien, have been changed back from sand to stone. There is also a really cool new glacier if you can find it.

Rivendell Revamp (In Progress): The most noticeable changes in Rivendell are the trees, which look very lovely, and the roofs. Other than that there have been many other changes to the terrain, the roads and the buildings, the furnace has been overhauled entirely.

Dol Amroth (In Progress): After terraforming the terrain for Dol Amroth itself, the process of terraforming everything around the city has begun, be sure to check out the mountains surrounding it in order to get a good before and after image as there is no stopping @demonataz once he has started.

Pelagrir (In Progress): The center Island has been completed. With a tower overlooking the rest of the still barren Islands. Some planning is already in place though, and a new (very small) island has been erected in the anduin.

Annuminas (On Hold): Wollip has had to put the project on hold for a while untill his new PC could replace his laptop that died. The concept builds for Annuminas are looking great though, and you should definitely go take a look, and perhaps get some practice in so you might help them when the building starts.

Media of the Week

This week features a really cool picture of a house in the paths of the dead, and the watchtower in lothlorien by @moloha, Moloha's other pictures can be found here.

Build of the Week

Though not a lot of builds have been finished this week I think the center island of pelargir turned out to look very good:

Status Updates

Promotions:
@speeder45 and @CEFKILLA41320 have rejoined there old rank of Guide.
I (@MaDIIReD) have also returned to an old rank, Enforcer.

Resignation:
@freshmilkymilk has had to resign so he can focus on other things. We will remember him and the wonderful fresh beverages he bestowed upon us forever and always.

Meet the Guide

Name: CEFKILLA41320
Age: 17
Country: United Kingdom, England

How did you find out about MCME and when did you join?
I found out about MCME from an old internet friend in the summer of 2011. We were getting bored of Dead Rising 2 and Black Ops and started looking up stuff to do on the internet. That's when I found the first Jesse Cox video of this awesome server. For some reasons (mainly not owning minecraft) I didn’t join the server until February the 18th 2012, but I’ve been active ever since then.

What was it like when you were a thrall/commoner (droog/member)? Any nostalgic moments?
When I was a droog the server was dedicated to working on rohan. I was there for the last day of the Anduin dig and a couple days later we started on the Isen. I pretty much spent my entire drooghood digging out the river and talking to people on Ventrilo. My favourite thing was changing my magic carpet to stone and trolling the droogs on the dig job (best thing about being a member ).

Why did you apply/shoot for Ranger in particular?
I had already spent about a year and a bit as a guide/ranger over the last two years or so and after messing up a few times I was hoping to work my way up to getting it back again. Over the last 7 months I’ve just been trying to stay away from unnecessary drama and conflict and tried to actively participate in more events on the server.

What is your favourite thing about MCME?
My favourite thing is that I can’t really come up with a favourite thing. That says a lot if you think about it. (thank jord for this cop-out)

Do you have any other hobbies outside of MCME (besides MC and gaming)?
I play a few sports such as Cricket and Badminton. I’m also a big fan of film and music. I watch a lot of dramas, comedies and action films. I’m also a huge fan of Doctor Who and Game of Thrones. I’m not a big reader since I have pretty awful dyslexia but I do own most of Tolkien's and George RR Martin's books and have multiple editions of all of the Harry potter books.

Community Outreach

Path of the Fellowship: @Finrod_Amandil has been working on mapping out the entire path of the fellowship with little footprints in the ground (you have probably seen them here and there). Here is a map if you are interested! Currently the path continues all the way past Rivendell!

Facebook Page: Have you checked out the MCME Facebook page? It is updated almost daily and provides not only great updates on the server, but also top screenshots, builds, promotions, and more! In other words, be sure to like us HERE.

Planet Minecraft Page: As stated before, please vote for us every day HERE. This helps draw attention and commemoration towards the server and is really appreciated by the community. So do your part and support MCME!

Times Feedback: Have a thought concerning the presentation of the MCME Times and how it can be improved? Because I am always looking for new ways to mix up and improve the Times experience through any means necessary and, if you have a comment or concern, its likely that someone else had it as well and just didnt say anything about it. So be sure to message Fire your thoughts on the forums.

Closing Statement

So there you go. Quite a turbulent week with a lot of changes coming in, but strangely enough at the same time a lot of older people have returned to ranks they held years ago, think Tryfor, speeder, cef, yours truly etc.

I'll leave you with two quotes:

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
-Alan Watts

Initially there were a lot of complaints about the rank merge of droog and commoner, but as people actually played with the rank these complaints have gotten less severe. I do hope with some time people will not feel so sad at the loss of a colour anymore.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
-Lao Tzu

I just stumbled upon this quote while looking for one that could fit with the ranks merges, but I really like it and I think it applies to MCME. After all we've done a lot of revamps, and made changes in direction without which we might (probably would) have been done by now. For me that would have been horrible because it would have been the end of this wonderful journey of building we're on.

 

[_Shen]

An Artist may be good at building, but hopeless at helping out new players.

You have obviously never seen @DSESGH in action...he sometimes answers people's questions faster than I do! (and that's quite an achievement!)

 

[Lady_of_Rohan]

@Jex_Infinite why don't you apply for Guide then? : D

 

[Jex_Infinite]

@Jex_Infinite why don't you apply for Guide then? : D

Because I'm not dedicated enough to the server. I would have the rank taken away from me in about a month due to inactivity.

I could always apply for the sake of applying and trying to become more involved, but as a Guide, I'd rather just teach people about the lore, rather than about MCME's history.

 

[MaDIIReD]

If these changes have left you with feedback or opinions you want to share you can do so here.

 

[_Shen]

Hello Middle-Earthians! We've all had our turn with the talking pillow, but it looks like we're getting a little off topic! We appreciate everyone's opinions, and we'll be sure to take them all into consideration.

“May the hair on your toes never fall out!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Locked

The almighty Ryanturambar has locked the thread @MaDIIReD

 

[Lady_of_Rohan]

Because I'm not dedicated enough to the server. I would have the rank taken away from me in about a month due to inactivity.

Then contempt yourself in being an Adventurer : D

 

[TheSpeedy_]

~snipsnap~

Dedications isn't measured in time spent on the server. It's measured by effort. So you are busy, life is full of unexpected occurrences, we all have them. A rank doesn't separate you from others, I know your name first, rank later. There are plenty of adventurers I know well. Some I know better than members who've I've interacted with since early 2012. Anyone can make a difference in the world. It takes patience, effort, and a desire to want to make change. It doesn't occur overnight. It takes time.

Server history is important, nearly as much a book lore. There are members like you, who haven't shown up in years, but they are still as much a part of this server as you and I. We don't use server lore for bulk to add to tours, we do it in remember since of time gone by. Ultimately, there are members of this server who are not artists, guides, or staff who are more friendly, informative, and engaged with the community. They love this server's community, and they show it by giving back. So don't think that you're waisting time on becoming artist, guide, or whatever. As long as you're learning something in the process, you've grown from where you were before it began. That is what life of about, learning, growing. You won't get anywhere in life focusing on what you can't do, because of reason x, y, or z. Take hope my friend, for you have much to share with the community, no matter how much you're on.

 

[CEFKILLA96]

@Jex_Infinite I don't think you know fallen mate. xD

 

[Origin131]

I realise I'm quite new but I think the rank combination was a massive mistake.
I put a shed load of effort into my themed build because I wanted to make a good first impression. I was then accepted as a commoner, only to sign in and find that this was pointless.

Now anyone can fly, and all those who became commoners have been de-valued, the original incentive removed and all credability stipped. The jump from "Adventurer" to "Artist" is too great now that the commoner rank is gone.

 

[JordD04]

I realise I'm quite new but I think the rank combination was a massive mistake.
I put a shed load of effort into my themed build because I wanted to make a good first impression. I was then accepted as a commoner, only to sign in and find that this was pointless.

Now anyone can fly, and all those who became commoners have been de-valued, the original incentive removed and all credability stipped. The jump from "Adventurer" to "Artist" is too great now that the commoner rank is gone.

Don't think of it as a removal of commoner but as a removal of thrall. If anything the gap to artist is smaller because you don't have the extra step of commoner from thrall.

 

[wyliewylie]

I just liked it because it was easier to distinguish new players, who might have a lot of questions or whatever.
And of course it gave new players something to shoot for and feel proud about (despite it being really easy) so that they would be motivated to do more for the server.

Also, blue names.

Anyway, this change really bothered me at first, but over time, i kind of lost interest in caring

 

[DSESGH]

I'm not going to waste my time in FreeBuild to become an Artist, purely because I won't spend enough time on the server. I am not that active of a member, but I do want there to be recognition for the lore masters like @FallenSanity, @Fornad and @Finrod_Amandil beyond being an Artist or Designer.

EDIT: I didn't mention Jord because seriously now, it's not like any doesn't know he's a lore nerd.

Still want a meaningless 'Lore Master' rank.

EDIT2: I do not approve of the Commoner/Droog merge, just because a new player won't know who to look at for help and guidance. An Artist may be good at building, but hopeless at helping out new players. Having a blue name was helpful to newer players, as they could tell that they must have been playing for an amount of time, and probably know their way around.

There are not many Droogs that I can actually say knew anything about the server, however, a great deal of commoners do. Maybe this is because the blue made the names more memorable, or because they were inclined to act more weathered.

If artists may be horrible at helping new people, why isn't the same true of commoners?

 

[Top_Gun]

I wonder if a reasonable compromise might be to distinguish people who had spent a certain amount of time on the server, at least in the visual sense. That way, we'd retain the old Commoner benefit of suggesting who was more readily able to provide help to new members, while not creating any sort of ability distinction.

 

[TheSpeedy_]

~Snip~

That was explained here: http://mcmiddleearth.com/threads/ra...ration-and-new-plugins.1470/page-2#post-16960

 

[Tyranystrasz]

*Cough, Cough* Osgiliath *Cough,Cough*

 

[DSESGH]

You have obviously never seen @DSESGH in action...he sometimes answers people's questions faster than I do! (and that's quite an achievement!)

Oh, I didn't see this at first. Thanks

 

[Jex_Infinite]

@Jex_Infinite I don't think you know fallen mate. xD

I do know Fallen. He's probably one of the dopest MCMErs.

If artists may be horrible at helping new people, why isn't the same true of commoners?

It was just an example. The same can be said for anyone, which is the point.

 

[FallenSanity]

snip snap

While I agree there should be some degree of meaningless rank *cough*Honoured*cough*, and I'm more than a little glad to have been called a lore master, some people who would be deserving of such a rank at this point in time are not only rusty when it comes to lore (looking at you FallenSanity) but also hugely inactive on the server as a whole, thus rendering the rank moot (once again looking at you FallenSanity).

 

[Top_Gun]

That was explained here: http://mcmiddleearth.com/threads/ra...ration-and-new-plugins.1470/page-2#post-16960

I don't think Q really addresses my exact idea there. He's talking about the time before someone can apply for Artist, which I agree shouldn't have any sort of limits put on it; if someone's really good at building, they should be able to jump in and help ASAP. I was more thinking along the lines of what used to happen when there were just Commoners and Thralls on the server at some given time. Most of the time, the Commoners who were frequently on were those who had been active on the server for a good long while, and so the Thralls kind of learned to look for that blue name if they needed a question answered. That's what I think we're missing by throwing everyone together into a single rank now: sure the staff members can know who's who by their names, but a new player won't be able to yet. I don't think it'd need to be any sort of crazy time requirement either...let's say something like 30 or 40 hours in-game. It's easy enough to get, but enough time to show that you're someone who's been hanging around for a little while.

 

[Glov]

People can adapt, people can learn, separating the two gains nothing substantially beneficial in the end.