![[E] BumpyBob0007](https://mc-heads.net/avatar/Steve/128)
Hello all Minetown players, and welcome to the first dev diary for our new map! These will be released every Monday over the next few months until we are ready for release! We will cover all forms of development for the new map - such as policies, plugins, picking a seed, and much more! We want to make sure all of you know everything you can about our new world! Today’s dev diary will be covering an important aspect of the server that most of us do not give much thought to unless there’s a dispute - the rules.
Minetown, not being an anarchy server, has always had rules. The oldest set of rules that I could find on the internet archive (wayback machine) are from December 18, 2010. Back then, the rules were:
1. Do not grief other players or their structures. This includes attempting to destroy their structures with water, lava, TNT, or with tools. If I catch you doing this you will recieve an IP ban and will never be allowed in the server again.
2. Respect everyone, especially your admins.
3. No stealing other peoples items or materials.
4. No item duping
5. No modifications such as item spawning and flying.
6. No asking to be ranked up. Doing this will lower your chances a great deal.
7. NO BUILDING 1 BLOCK WIDE TOWERS TO THE SKY LIMIT! These are so annoying and really make the world look tacky. (side note, we’ve included a “don't leave 1x1 towers around rule” - Main rule 4.1c. I had no idea that a variation of that rule existed over a decade ago!)
8. Please use nice language. Remember that young children play in this server. Lets please keep this a family friendly environment.
9. Spread out and don't build near spawn. If you build near the spawn you are asking to be messed with by griefers. The owner will not reset the server for griefed buildings near spawn. This is your ONLY warning.
A small section of the rules page as it appeared on August 7, 2011 As time goes by, and as the playerbase, server, and Minecraft itself change, these rules have changed and evolved. Different eras of Minetown have seen multiple management teams enact their own rules and policies that are unique to different eras of Minetown. Building right next to spawn without permission was banned throughout much of Classic. When I first joined (November 2012 - circa 1.4.2) there were hard limits on beacons per player. Schematica was completely banned (not just printer) at times during Agharta. AFK policy has been flip flopped who knows how many times. The nether and end were off limits to claiming from Classic until the nether update. New additions to the game sometimes bring about new rules.
In other cases, new rules and policies arise from edge cases in the old rules. Take, for instance, TP trapping. Killing people and taking their stuff has been illegal in the overworld for a long time, and so getting unsuspectingly TP’d to someone in the overworld just to be murdered and have your stuff taken is obviously against the rules. But, what about the nether? It’s legal to take someone’s items after you kill them in the nether. So...what happens when you teleport someone unsuspectingly to the nether, and then kill them? The victim might’ve thought you wanted to trade something with them, but instead met their end to a fiery sword. Technically, it was in the nether...so what happens? This edgecase has existed for years, but didn’t really become an issue until the nether became much more viable in 1.16. Suddenly, this issue was popping up constantly, and a decision on the legality of it needed to be made. The solution? A new rule, no TP trapping. Essentially, the rule was basically this:
This solved most issues with TP trapping, and was communicated to the server essentially as “TP trapping is banned.” For most active players at the time, this made sense. It was a logical extension of the existing rules, and wasn’t confusing. However, this rule wasn’t actually written down somewhere directly connected to the rules. When you ran /rules ingame, all you got was a few extremely basic rules, and this wasn’t one of them. When you checked the website it wasn’t on there either. As a new player, you would have to learn this rule by directly asking staff, or by picking it up from other players. That isn’t a great long-term solution for everyone.
See, historically many different management teams have tried to develop a simplified rule system to display on the rules and website. It may seem like simplicity is a good thing, but those edge cases always exist, and they still request firm policy decisions to be made about them. Massively simplifying the rules often leaves the rules poorly and confusingly communicated, creating uncertainty for both players and staff. That isn’t fair to everyone, and we wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen going forward onto the new map. Our goal this week was to standardize all of our rules, and to develop a system that makes sure our rules are clear to everyone.
Our first step in this process was to simply list out all rules and corresponding edge cases that we have. For example, let’s look at our rules against claiming too close to other players. Different rules apply depending on whether or not you are near spawn, in the overworld, or claiming next to a very large claim. In total, this rule was defined as:
In the overworld, do not claim within 200 blocks of a large (> 15,000 blocks) and developed claim or within 100 blocks of a normal claim. However, this rule does not apply if...
...the claim is within 200 blocks of an official server rail line.
...the claim is within 500 blocks of the spawn point.
...the claim is around a transit claim (such as a claim over a road, rail, or iceboat line).
...you fail to notify staff about removing a claim in the buffer zone with a significant build or equipment on it within 30 days of the claim’s creation.
Next, we organized the rules into categories and developed a system for organizing the rules into categories and giving each rule an index that could be referenced. The claim placement rule mentioned above was indexed as Main Rule 3.2, which each individual component further indexed from a-d. For instance, Main Rule 3.2a states that the claim distance requirements do not apply if the claim is within 200 blocks of an official server rail line.
Once that was done, we revamped the rules page into a new, easily accessible page that displays every single rule that the server has. Each category of rule is shown, and each individual rule is shown upon loading the page. Additionally, for the more specific applications of rules (such as the a-d mentioned in Main Rule 3.2) a drop down is available when you click on the >. From now on, every rule that is enforced by staff will be on this page, and it won’t seem like we’re making stuff up on the fly.
We also updated the ingame list of /rules on each server. These are a simplified version of the full list of rules, but still much better than the previous list on each server. Below are the before and after for the list of rules on Main:
TOP: /rules on Main before the update. BOTTOM: The updated /rules on Main Additionally, during this process we also took the time to formalize our rules surrounding certain topics, and introduce new rules accordingly. Some important examples of these are below:
Printer in Litematica: Printer functions are banned, as are other forms of client automation. Litematica is allowed, but using the printer function to automatically place the blocks is not. This is covered under Global Rule 5.4a.
Autoclickers: Autoclickers, or some automatic program to repeatedly press a key or mouse button is also banned. However, simply using something physical (like a book or a piece of tape) to hold down a button is allowed. This is covered under Global Rule 5.4b.
Market Plots: Shops at market lots must have at least 5 reasonably priced items on them, and must contain some sort of structure on the lot. Additionally, players who lose their shop three times will not be allowed to purchase a fourth. This is covered under Main Rule 6.4.
These examples are mostly formalizing and transcribing rules that had already been enforced previously. However, there is one major new addition, and that is Global Rule 2.5 - Harming the Community. In the past, there have been players that - while not necessarily directly breaking any rules - have been incredibly toxic to the community and have forced different players to quit. We didn’t want to remove certain aspects of the server for everyone else just because a very small handful of players act this way. To solve this, we introduced this rule. For the vast majority of players, this does not and will not ever have any effect on you. This rule will only target the most extreme and toxic offenders, and is stated as follows:
2.5 Harming the community
In very rare cases, it may be necessary to warn players for toxic behavior that harms the community without explicitly breaking the rules.
Again, this will only apply in the most egregious examples, and for the vast majority of our playerbase it will not impact you at all. However, if you are a player who feeds off making other players miserable, you might want to clean up your act. If you're making other players quit, we aren’t going to stand for that anymore, even if you technically haven’t broken any rules.
Final Thoughts:
This may seem like a lot to take in, and it may seem a bit confusing at first. Don’t worry, this isn’t law school, and we won’t be expecting you to take a test over the rules. As mentioned earlier, this was mainly an organization and codification of existing rules that had already been enforced. The list of /rules ingame should be sufficient to cover the majority of questions surrounding the rules, and the much more detailed list of rules on the rules page should cover every remaining edge case. Going forward, all new rules will be added to the rules page, instead of simply being announced and then not written down anywhere. Additionally, while this is the complete list of rules right now, it is not the permanent list of rules for the next map. We may make modifications to these rules as we get a better understanding of the complete plugin environment for the next map. More on that in the coming dev diaries!
The rules are no longer a nebulous and seemingly arbitrary list. They are clear and firm, and available for everyone, not just staff to see. We hope that this makes the operations of staff more transparent and makes sure that no one feels mistreated.
Minetown, not being an anarchy server, has always had rules. The oldest set of rules that I could find on the internet archive (wayback machine) are from December 18, 2010. Back then, the rules were:
1. Do not grief other players or their structures. This includes attempting to destroy their structures with water, lava, TNT, or with tools. If I catch you doing this you will recieve an IP ban and will never be allowed in the server again.
2. Respect everyone, especially your admins.
3. No stealing other peoples items or materials.
4. No item duping
5. No modifications such as item spawning and flying.
6. No asking to be ranked up. Doing this will lower your chances a great deal.
7. NO BUILDING 1 BLOCK WIDE TOWERS TO THE SKY LIMIT! These are so annoying and really make the world look tacky. (side note, we’ve included a “don't leave 1x1 towers around rule” - Main rule 4.1c. I had no idea that a variation of that rule existed over a decade ago!)
8. Please use nice language. Remember that young children play in this server. Lets please keep this a family friendly environment.
9. Spread out and don't build near spawn. If you build near the spawn you are asking to be messed with by griefers. The owner will not reset the server for griefed buildings near spawn. This is your ONLY warning.
In other cases, new rules and policies arise from edge cases in the old rules. Take, for instance, TP trapping. Killing people and taking their stuff has been illegal in the overworld for a long time, and so getting unsuspectingly TP’d to someone in the overworld just to be murdered and have your stuff taken is obviously against the rules. But, what about the nether? It’s legal to take someone’s items after you kill them in the nether. So...what happens when you teleport someone unsuspectingly to the nether, and then kill them? The victim might’ve thought you wanted to trade something with them, but instead met their end to a fiery sword. Technically, it was in the nether...so what happens? This edgecase has existed for years, but didn’t really become an issue until the nether became much more viable in 1.16. Suddenly, this issue was popping up constantly, and a decision on the legality of it needed to be made. The solution? A new rule, no TP trapping. Essentially, the rule was basically this:
- If player A issues the /tpahere to player B and then kills them, it is unquestionably TP trapping
- Player A convinces player B to send a /tpa under the guise of something else (such as a trade of some kind), and then player A kills B, it is TP trapping
- If Player B sends an unprompted tpa request, player A can legally kill them in the nether, and it is not considered TP trapping
This solved most issues with TP trapping, and was communicated to the server essentially as “TP trapping is banned.” For most active players at the time, this made sense. It was a logical extension of the existing rules, and wasn’t confusing. However, this rule wasn’t actually written down somewhere directly connected to the rules. When you ran /rules ingame, all you got was a few extremely basic rules, and this wasn’t one of them. When you checked the website it wasn’t on there either. As a new player, you would have to learn this rule by directly asking staff, or by picking it up from other players. That isn’t a great long-term solution for everyone.
See, historically many different management teams have tried to develop a simplified rule system to display on the rules and website. It may seem like simplicity is a good thing, but those edge cases always exist, and they still request firm policy decisions to be made about them. Massively simplifying the rules often leaves the rules poorly and confusingly communicated, creating uncertainty for both players and staff. That isn’t fair to everyone, and we wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen going forward onto the new map. Our goal this week was to standardize all of our rules, and to develop a system that makes sure our rules are clear to everyone.
Our first step in this process was to simply list out all rules and corresponding edge cases that we have. For example, let’s look at our rules against claiming too close to other players. Different rules apply depending on whether or not you are near spawn, in the overworld, or claiming next to a very large claim. In total, this rule was defined as:
In the overworld, do not claim within 200 blocks of a large (> 15,000 blocks) and developed claim or within 100 blocks of a normal claim. However, this rule does not apply if...
...the claim is within 200 blocks of an official server rail line.
...the claim is within 500 blocks of the spawn point.
...the claim is around a transit claim (such as a claim over a road, rail, or iceboat line).
...you fail to notify staff about removing a claim in the buffer zone with a significant build or equipment on it within 30 days of the claim’s creation.
Next, we organized the rules into categories and developed a system for organizing the rules into categories and giving each rule an index that could be referenced. The claim placement rule mentioned above was indexed as Main Rule 3.2, which each individual component further indexed from a-d. For instance, Main Rule 3.2a states that the claim distance requirements do not apply if the claim is within 200 blocks of an official server rail line.
Once that was done, we revamped the rules page into a new, easily accessible page that displays every single rule that the server has. Each category of rule is shown, and each individual rule is shown upon loading the page. Additionally, for the more specific applications of rules (such as the a-d mentioned in Main Rule 3.2) a drop down is available when you click on the >. From now on, every rule that is enforced by staff will be on this page, and it won’t seem like we’re making stuff up on the fly.
We also updated the ingame list of /rules on each server. These are a simplified version of the full list of rules, but still much better than the previous list on each server. Below are the before and after for the list of rules on Main:
Printer in Litematica: Printer functions are banned, as are other forms of client automation. Litematica is allowed, but using the printer function to automatically place the blocks is not. This is covered under Global Rule 5.4a.
Autoclickers: Autoclickers, or some automatic program to repeatedly press a key or mouse button is also banned. However, simply using something physical (like a book or a piece of tape) to hold down a button is allowed. This is covered under Global Rule 5.4b.
Market Plots: Shops at market lots must have at least 5 reasonably priced items on them, and must contain some sort of structure on the lot. Additionally, players who lose their shop three times will not be allowed to purchase a fourth. This is covered under Main Rule 6.4.
These examples are mostly formalizing and transcribing rules that had already been enforced previously. However, there is one major new addition, and that is Global Rule 2.5 - Harming the Community. In the past, there have been players that - while not necessarily directly breaking any rules - have been incredibly toxic to the community and have forced different players to quit. We didn’t want to remove certain aspects of the server for everyone else just because a very small handful of players act this way. To solve this, we introduced this rule. For the vast majority of players, this does not and will not ever have any effect on you. This rule will only target the most extreme and toxic offenders, and is stated as follows:
2.5 Harming the community
In very rare cases, it may be necessary to warn players for toxic behavior that harms the community without explicitly breaking the rules.
- Warnings will be voted on by the staff team and require a ¾ majority before being issued.
- Warnings will include a two-week grace period to allow any warned player time to show improved behavior.
- Warnings will progress through the standard disciplinary track as their own separate set of offenses.
Again, this will only apply in the most egregious examples, and for the vast majority of our playerbase it will not impact you at all. However, if you are a player who feeds off making other players miserable, you might want to clean up your act. If you're making other players quit, we aren’t going to stand for that anymore, even if you technically haven’t broken any rules.
Final Thoughts:
This may seem like a lot to take in, and it may seem a bit confusing at first. Don’t worry, this isn’t law school, and we won’t be expecting you to take a test over the rules. As mentioned earlier, this was mainly an organization and codification of existing rules that had already been enforced. The list of /rules ingame should be sufficient to cover the majority of questions surrounding the rules, and the much more detailed list of rules on the rules page should cover every remaining edge case. Going forward, all new rules will be added to the rules page, instead of simply being announced and then not written down anywhere. Additionally, while this is the complete list of rules right now, it is not the permanent list of rules for the next map. We may make modifications to these rules as we get a better understanding of the complete plugin environment for the next map. More on that in the coming dev diaries!
The rules are no longer a nebulous and seemingly arbitrary list. They are clear and firm, and available for everyone, not just staff to see. We hope that this makes the operations of staff more transparent and makes sure that no one feels mistreated.