~The MCME Times~ #11/16 - Staff Meeting

Opening statement

Yeah the Times are late again... BUT! They have as much content as never before! I even had to take some planned content out again because the post had more than the maximum 20'000 characters... Thus I don't want to use up any more chars in this intro, but instead present you some more interesting things!
Enjoy!
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Whats Up?

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Breaking News: Staff Meeting #17

On Sunday we had our first Staff Meeting of 2016. Here I will present some of the topics that were discussed. Please feel free to voice your opinion on these topics below!

• Giving Artists access to the Job plugin:
  The first topic was already one of the longest and most difficult ones. We have noticed that Designers more and more often create Jobs for Artists. Thus the suggestion came up to give Artists to some extent access to the Job Plugin.
  
  The main concern was on one hand that being able to lead jobs is simply not a requirement for Artists, and it may be possible that the Artist leading a job cannot properly handle the job or an other kind of unwanted situation results from it.
  
  Another concrete idea we had is creation of a temporary Foreman-like rank that has access to the Job Plugin, but expires when a minimum amount of job per time (e.g. 2 jobs per week) is not achieved. Downside of that is additional administrative work and inconsistent amount of work for jobs, so that it may simply be impossible to fulfill the requirement with proper jobs.
  
  In the future the Plotbuild plugin may allow more flexible permissions for Artists as it will be possible to create Plotbuilds with Artists as Plotbuild staff, something that could be used to make jobs managed by Artists.
  
  
• Support for creating videos:
  While talking about Public relations and which channels (Facebook, Youtube) to use in which way (we mainly want to use Facebook more intensively again) @_Luk was speaking up asking for help with creating videos for the MCME Youtube channel. We want to carry this on to you dear readers: If you have some skills in video recording and editing and would be interested making official MCME videos, please contact @_Luk or @Tyranystrasz!
  
  Furthermore @Tyranystrasz brought up the idea of having 360° videos, e.g. of Moria locations.
  
  
• Head Designer support:
  With having laden a lot of jobs onto my back by now I am now trying to share these jobs out again so that I can be a bit more flexible with what I am doing, when not all my free time is used up for administrative things. As it looks now @Fireinferno13 will support me with some help on the MCME Times, @Ivan1pl may take over the lead of the Themed Builds and @Eriol_Eandur, @_Luk, and @bender400 may take care of reviewing the Artist apps. Thanks a lot already for speaking up!
  
  
• Community Meetings:
  @Fireinferno13 brought up the idea of having meetings to exchange suggestions and concerns between all members of the community. As I reckon with not enough interest, not enough topics and too much organisation work (It's tedious enough to organise a staff meeting ) I did not support the idea. As counter-suggestion I brought up allowing everyone to listen to the staff meetings as they take place, and be able to contribute to the discussion through chat. But concern with that was that it may be too hard to regulate.
  
  As solution I will make an AMA (Ask me Anything) resp. Q&A (Questions & Answers) thread where you can voice all general concerns, ideas and so on, as this may be the easiest and most flexible solution to allow more communication between staff and non-staff.
  
  
• Modded MCME?:
  Upon various suggestions from all corners of the community I brought up the question whether we should think about using mods as a requirement for MCME, to have more blocks available, and maybe more client side features firmly in use, e.g. the Better Foliage Mod.
  Main concerns, and reasons why MCME is still vanilla (mod free) are difficulties when installing (incompatibilities with certain operating systems), maintenance discomforts (every user has to update when something changes, as opposed to plugins that only the server has to update), along with that with newer Minecraft versions we get more and more options to get more blocks through vanilla mechanics (3D block models, randomized textures) we all agreed not to consider using Mods (beside irrelevant optional graphic mods as Optifine and Shaders) on MCME and stay vanilla.
  
  
• Boosting Donations with PVP attributes:
  The amount of donations has ceased a lot recently. They are vital to keep MCME alive! The idea that was brought up for the meeting was giving advances on the PvP server (which is currently being reworked by @DSESGH to be more reliable). But the idea was quickly discarded, not only as it may cause legal problems with Mojang (they forbid to restrict game content with money) it would of course also ruin the fun. Still in consideration may be small features that do not change the game, colored nametags and similar.
  Please consider donating now and then, even if it is only 10$. Else we soon have to consider more desperate solutions! We already lost Freebuild due to lack of donations, so make sure we don't loose anything else!
  
  
• Proper Moria Kickoff:
  Since a very long time we say that Moria will properly start (be in close focus, many staffs and non-staffs working on it) when Gondor is wholly done. As the last parts of it (especially Andrast, Belfalas and Tolfalas) may still take a while to complete we did set a deadline for the wait now and plan to start Moria properly this summer!
  Furthermore Despot suggested that the main city part of Moria will be done carefully step by step, reasoned by the area being very densely filled with things. After that we may split up the remaining areas and treat them like sub-projects with a staff member leading one of it each.

Project Progress

Andrast (In Progress) - Lead: @jacenpeter

Only a small bit of progress this week, centered around a small lake in the White Mountains.
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Anfalas (In Progress) - Lead: @kisos

The hard work continues in Anfalas this week. Two villages have been finished. One was under the leadership of @Eaglz (/warp Valleyway) and the other was a town shared by @Darki190 and @Durin_IV (/warp Sunderborough). Many farms were also built near these towns, by myself and @WalpoleLegoMen. A friendly farm competition has started between @Wroxxite and @toeyoman. Whoever wins will get to do one of the two remaining villages in Anfalas. Some other farm constructions are happening nearby. @Tyranystrasz and @_Luk continue to work on their villages. And @Finrod_Amandil and @Ivan1pl are wrestling new rivers all over the landscape. Anfalas is truly a team project.
- kisos
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Fornost Reruin (In Progress) - Lead: @Fireinferno13 & @Demonataz

Project continues step by step, at this point it should (hopefully) be expected that the keep will be finished in the coming week or so now that the artist team can put more time into it. Otherwise, expect many more wall jobs this week as Fire is free once again! Terrain work also continues thanks to Demon.
- Fireinferno13
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Lamedon (In Progress) - Lead: @Eriol_Eandur

No progress this week, Eriol is on vacation.
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Misty Mountains (In Progress) - Lead: @Emilio_ (Eregion), @Finrod_Amandil (Misties), @Mandos (Gladden Fields)

I have continued working on both sides of the mountains; on the western slopes I together with some Adventurers and Artists started planting the first bunch of the numerous bushes the terrain will get, and on the eastern side I finished the terraforming in another few chunks.

Emil has also continued a bit on his Hollin Ridge to ensure the fellowships path being complete when we were travelling through during the Audiobook.
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[Public Project] Fennas Drúnin (In Progress) - Lead: @thomasd16

Thijs and thomas have been reworking the wall for Fennas Drúnin to make it less uniform and more "organic" and realistic. Meanwhile the number of houses in Fennas has exploded! Some staff may be unhappy that so many Artists work on Fennas currently, but they ain't being lazy...
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Plugin Development

Animation Plugin (New) - Dev: @Ivan1pl

This is probably the secret main announcement this week! Yes the Door Plugin to have clickable animated doors, as well as the Moria gate that opens when you type "mellon" in chat is about to return at last! I have no clue for how many years people have been screaming for this to happen, but according to recent reports of Ivan, the plugin is already at least 50% done!
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Plotbuild Plugin (Testing in progress) - Devs: @Eriol_Eandur & @Ivan1pl

The Plotbuild Plugin will make it possible to make plots on the main map that can be claimed and be built on by anyone and then be easily reviewed and managed by staff.

No changes since last week.
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New New Player World (Ready for implementation) - Dev: @Eriol_Eandur, Assistance: @_Luk

A new Intro Quiz for new players.

No changes since last week.
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Moria Teleport Plugin (Testing in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_Eandur

For seamless teleports to and from new Moria aswell as inside Moria.

Finished, testing in progress on devserver.
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Minigames Plugin (Small fixes in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_Eandur

A plugin to easily run various minigames like Hide and Seek, Races and Quizzes.

This week I can present you a showcase of the Race gamemode of this plugin! In the first video you'll see an unabriged recording of how to set up a Race, and in the second one you see that Race in action, thanks a lot to the staff members who tuned in after the lengthy staff meeting!

Setup:


Race:

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MCME-Architect (Testing in progress) - Dev: @Eriol_Eandur

MCME-Architect is an assortment of small plugins of all kinds that make building on MCME easier and more enjoyable.

No changes since last week.
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Resource Packs

Mordor Pack (In Progress) - Lead: @bender400

New Smoke Texture - Creator: @BRASHEXODUS

Animated smoke/Brown stained pane​

New Granite and Andesite - Creator: @Tyranystrasz

New Granite/Andesite​

3D Chain and Waterlily - Creator: @NEEPcrafter

3D Models​

Tower Windows - Creator: @Tyranystrasz

Tower's Window​

Saplings V.2.0 - Creator: @Fireinferno13

Saplings
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Rank Updates

We got two Artist promotions this week! Congratulations to:

• @SmaugJuice
• @simon88_swe

Media of the week

As Media of the week I present you a freshly made map of Gondor:

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Other news

Audiobook review

This saturday we at last left Rivendell, walked along the mountains over the beautiful Eregion ridge into the lands called Hollin and at last to the eerie scene that is the Moria West Gate. We entered Old Moria and proceeded through the darkness and ended up dwelling in the 21st hall

Thanks again to @Wraith_Knight for the screens!
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Lore Bits #8:

To save some space in the Times, and save some time, I simply present you another intrigueing article by Michael Martinez about the "Nameless Things" below Moria:
http://middle-earth.xenite.org/2014...ss-things-gandalf-refers-to-below-khazad-dum/
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Upcoming

Themed Build

Theme: Almaren
Resource Pack: Gondor
Thread: #9/16 - Almaren
Note: Theres almost no concept art on this location available. This simply means you gotta be very creative!
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Scheduled Events

Tolkien Reading Day Audiobook!

On Friday is Tolkien Reading Day! To celebrate the occasion we will listen to the first two chapters of a fanmade Audiobook of the Hobbit.

Start: Friday, March 25th, 19:00 GMT
Duration: ~1.5 - 2 hours.​

Audiobook session 8

We hear drums, drums in the deep. They're coming.

Make sure you'll be coming to and help support Gandalf screaming YOU CANNOT NOT PASS! (Yeah Tolkien did not make it as cool as in the movies... silly Tolkien).

March 26th, 19:00 GMT unless I announce something else.
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Tours

There are no Tours announced for this week yet, but keep an eye on this thread and request a tour if you want one!
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Jobs & Plotbuilds

Jobs for next Saturday will be announced in this thread over the course of the week. Be sure to ask Designers for jobs at any time, maybe they can offer something!
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Community Outreach

Screenshots for Facebook

@Tyranystrasz has access to the MCME Facebook page and is regularily posting screenshots of our builds there! Lend him a hand and submit your best screens here: MCME screenshots for Facebook
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Closing statement

Whatever I do, whether it be the Times or anything else, I try to make it excellent.

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
- Aristotle

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These Times have been proofread by Fireinferno13.

 

[DynoDaring]

When I was leading a job digging streams @Thijs1801 was afk and the job ended but thijs wasn't there to end the job I had to trust the people in the job not to go and build stuff in the job area.

Should this happen again Smaug please go on TS and find a Staff (either Designer or Enforcer) to end the job.

 

[TheSpeedy_]

I remember that time I was banned from the server but refused to leave the forums because I feel the need to fill my unquenchable desire for attention to satisfy my underdeveloped sense of accomplishment.
Now on to Randy with the internet Forum Weather report:

Spoiler

 

[Ardelenia]

@BurgundyStig that's different, you requested a ban
@Ivan1pl I really hope you won't be offended if I continue to call them DoebiDoors™ instead of IvanDoors (I like the alliteration)

Now on to responses to the Times:

1. Thank you for continuing our vanilla-ness. I don't have a very good argument to back it up but this is one of my favorite things about MCME.
2. Community meetings: I think you're doing things well right now @Finrod_Amandil, for example with the posting of Staff Meeting "notes", but I hope that you don't completely dismiss the idea of all-server meetings. IF the situation should arise where there is enough stuff to talk about, or a particularly big single issue, etc, then a community meeting would be a good idea and I'm sure we could figure out how to handle it logistically. I agree though that we don't need a regularly scheduled meeting.
3. Again, I applaud the presentation of WIP plugins via videos. Also, that's a very lovely map of gondor you made.

 

[Ivan1]

@Ivan1pl I really hope you won't be offended if I continue to call them DoebiDoors™ instead of IvanDoors (I like the alliteration)

It's called "Animations"

 

[TheSpeedy_]

It's called "Animations"

"If you ain't first, yer last!"
#DoebiDoors