I'm back.. and what happened?

[zoniczedro]

So after many, many years I have finally returned after an onslaught of exams atop of more exams. I thought it would be nice to write a little post about the history of this server and my history playing on it (and hopefully some people reading this will remember who I am).

I remember when I used to be AdvBuilder on the classic server and when I finally bought Minecraft, I moved here and was active around 2010-2013. I left HP-Empire and took charge of a town after Sismut decided it would be better in my hands rather than in the now-inactive Mustark’s whom I had met years before in classic and was the one who promoted me to AdvBuilder.

After just a few months, MaxstenVille was the most active town on the server, and with its growing membership I became my current rank of Lord. The server was getting 4 - 8 people on a day regularly and there was a real sense of community.

A year or so later I started my first period of inactivity. The town declined and I handed my mayorship to Yupie to revive it once more. The town was revived and the server had a short period of activity again, but it wasn't to last. Player numbers started to drop and near the end of this low plateau in player count, I founded a new town with my friend, now as vice-mayor, in Bart's new empire. As always with towns, there was a short burst of activity and then nothing. I'd then disappear for several years, falling out of love with the game and concentrating on my exams in amongst various other reasons.

I like to come on from time to time just to see how the server's doing. As far as I can see it, the server's pretty much dead. Most recent posts on the forums are from years ago and it seems the server would be lucky if it got just a couple of players a month. It's a real shame as I just think back to the server's heyday around five years ago which contrasts completely to how it is today.

Now that I have more free time, I’d love to come on and play more regularly, but the server’s inactivity is somewhat off-putting as I’m sure it is to many other players. A catch-22 situation has developed where no one comes on because no one is on. I feel the only way to get the server going again would be a sudden boost of advertisement. Even if it only gets a couple of active players on at first, that will still set the ball rolling. I’m also willing to help out in any way I can.

Regards,
Leo
aka Zonic

[yupie_123]

What, who are you?
I don't remember you..

Sad to see the server so inactive, I remember having spent quite a lot of time on the server and really enjoyed it. Especially the community made it fun. But people move on and there's always stuff that gets in the way of just casually playing. Hopefully the server can get back to what it used to be some day.

I do get on from time to time but generally speaking Minecraft isn't my first choice - go to - game anymore.

[tryzzo]

Howdy old timers!!

A pleasure to see that there is still interest in the server and MC in general from the great community we use to have on HPCraft.
I certainly was not on the server as long as both of you guys, but i had my fair share of time, fun and excitement! It is unfortunate that the crowd suddenly faded away and left the server non-populated, and like Zonic says, the catch-22 situation went fast and is now still hitting the server.

I also tried to join the server once in a while hoping to find a familiar face and to visit with nostalgia the places we used to hang out and build.

As for re-activating the server, not sure advertisement only will do the trick. The server is not on the latest version of MC (way outdated actually), the map is years old and those who have built it are either long gone or (hopefully) do not care as much as they used to.
And for my own experience and reluctance to play on the server was partially due to the experience being broken. This is a huge drag on the players capabilities to build stuff in survival. Tool repair is crucial for big projects, especially with the new enchants and items. But just a personal input.

So a fresh map restart, a couple plugins, an advertising campaign within old members and out in the wild can inspire a new activity wave.

If i can help in anyway.

Yours, Tryzzo.

[yupie_123]

I believe the major issue here is that Heinz probably has no more interest in the game, like many people right now. He is the only person who could really revive the server and with him busy with his adult life now, I don't think he'll be able to do much.

Maybe passing the server on to someone else? Might be a bit much to ask though because of how much work was put in the server by him...

[tryzzo]

Not even sure he remembers he has a MC server running

[HeinzPeter]

Haha, i do remember! :]
Still having backups and some tiny server side maintenance..
But yeah, I'm not playing any more and I remember the good old MC days.

The server is still online!
Last time I wanted to update to the latest version, I had some problems..
Not sure when I have the time to check that again.

But I'm always happy to see people joining.
Our IRC channel is still online as well and I see when people asking stuff there.
Latest action:
<HPM-Relay> <- w123luke♂ left the game.
<HPM-Relay> <- ztc0611 left the game.

:]

[Coolio665]

Yeah, reviving this server and its community would be amazing, but it does seem rather impossible. The once booming community where literally everyone knew everyone has almost entirely moved on; I don't think that many people would either be willing to or be able to come back to this server, so if it were to start up again it would likely be all new people. I sure do miss this server, as you all do. I agree that we would need to bring the server out of its outdated-ness and bring appeal to it once more, but I also realize and fully respect that this server is no longer a part of Heinz's life. But I would also miss the memories of the peak era of HP Craft, so if the server does come back to life, maybe we could build a monument of the major parts of the first main world.

The main way to getting players to keep returning to the server is that so valuable and almost unattainable sense of community. A real, thriving community that this server was able to attain, and I can imagine how difficult it would be to create and build up one such as that. We would need to make every new-comer feel included, as long as we want them lmao, and they're not immature (such as I was when I first joined the server >.> smh).

Anyways, there's a lot of different things that could be done. I am for reviving this server, but I am not sure to what extent I would be able to offer my help, as I am a junior in high school, so I practically have no time for Minecraft, and especially will not as a senior next year. But if a revival project were to begin, I would at least try to see if I could help. And I also don't know if I've lost interest in Minecraft, or if it's just because I've lost time to be able to play it. I'm not entirely sure. But I do remember my time here and what it was like, and I would certainly like to relive that if I could.

[tryzzo]

First step would be to be on one of the latest versions of MC.

I am clueless as t how to help on that though...

[HeinzPeter]

the problem on using the latest version is to update the API and all plugins as well :[

[Zentoshima]

So thats mean, we must play with 1.9.2? I have no Problem with that, but I think no one will play with an old version
But you´re back?

Zentoshima