I joined this server with my son a few months ago, mostly to play zombies. Then we tried the other servers and I found skyblock was a new minecraft experience for us to play together. Those early days were amazing! I found most everyone eager to help, answer questions and help show that this server was overall a good safe place for my son (mostly) and I to play. Then some people that were extrememly helpful became mod(s) and I was happy for them because they had helped me out quite a bit when I first started. Then the typical thing happens to most people who gain power, they abuse it. This friendly helpful person became a bully. I understand there are rules, and they should be enforced. But it became clear there were several groups that play on the server and those in the elite group were almost never warned or reprimanded for their behavior by the mods/admins and anyone else getting slightly out of hand were verbally slammed. Any comments to the contrary were also slammed by other players. Now that school is back in session there seem to be less players, but several people continue to leave and I wonder if its not the environment not being as friendly as it once was. People asking for help go unanswered and get yelled at for asking multiple times. People asking for items or looking for trades that don't have the ability to auction get the same treatment, and of course there are people bullying. I have only played a few months and stupid me, have dedicated a lot of time and money because I loved playing on this server. Now I am starting to regret this dedication because I don't have fun listening to inappropriate sexual conversations when a mod/admin isn't around, or someone telling me to end an auction because they think my price is too high and their auction is soo much more inportant than mine it can't wait another 10 seconds for it to end. I don't have a full grasp of the economy and being told /auc e in msg or public chat doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. Just because I have a high rank doesn't mean I know anything about the workings of the skyblock server. A simple "hey, did you make a mistake on your auction, you might wanna cancel and relist for price X." Instead I said no I wouldn't end my auction because it had 10 seconds left and I get rude treatment. When I ask why I was told to end it, I get an LOL. When I asked again because I was serious and didn't understand, I got a people do it all the time answer. Being rude all the time doesn't make it right. Most of the time I spend on the server is with chat disabled. I don't get to bid on auctions or talk to the friends I do have because the rest of the crap makes it an unpleasant experience. I would like to think I have been very helpful to a lot of people because I think that is what makes a great server, the idea of a community that helps each other as well as the online relationships. I know this server can be that way because it was when I started. I am not calling anyone out by name and I don't have screenshots or logs or whatever. I am an old man and I enjoy playing minecraft, usually with my son or neighbors. It saddens me that there has been such a huge change in the general feeling and behavior on this server in the last weeks. Please try to make changes to save this server, at the very least take a watchful look at how things are going on the server, maybe you can look at chat logs if they exist to get an idea that I'm not some grumpy old guy complaining about the kids music today. I know that some people might recognize the situations I am describing and I truly do not mean to throw anyone under the bus. I do not have issue with anyone individually. I just hope my criticisms get read and if I'm lucky recognized and help the server become amazing to play on once again. Thanks for reading this novel, Tekblade
Hey Tek, I appreciate your candor and I appreciate that you brought up your concerns. I do agree that the environment and general attitude of the server has changed even since I joined back in March so I know what you mean. Unfortunately we can't control every player, we can't be on 24/7, and we do miss things. Please feel free to message a staff member if you see something that you think we've missed or aren't responding to something. We've got a lot going on usually and I definitely know I don't see everything all the time. We do what we can. If you are having an issue with a certain staff member (even myself) and feel that you can't talk to that staff member about the issue, I would definitely bring it up to another staff member or go to a higher staff member. If you see this behavior going on, from staff or players, I would try to get screen shots and report anyone breaking the rules on the forums or message a staff member. And I'd just like to say that you have been very helpful and active on Skyblock. I'm only sorry that you don't enjoy it as much as you used too and that I wish we could fix everything to make it better for you and all the other players. I will see what can be done.
Power usually cloud peoples mind, I understand that and it saddens me. They choose the way they act, even after being told off. We step in once they cross the line or break any rules, we do not enjoy banning people or scolding them, we try to do it in the best way possible to not start an argument and hopefully still be on good terms with each other. But then again, not everyone will understand or listen. They do rebel and force their own opinion which makes things harder, some staff have to adapt to this and change their behavior so that they can handle all kinds of situations. They do no mean to be "cold" towards anyone, they just have to sometimes. It's a bit stressing so sometimes we're not in the happy mood yet try to not cause a scene so you guys can still enjoy yourselves. As for players, I may not be your cup of tea or someone may not be yours but we can't please every single one, that's how the world works and though we may not like it. We do try to talk to players and hopefully both of us would come to an agreement, some players would only find fault with us or start unnecessary trouble/argument. It depends on who you are up against. I'm sorry you have to face those kind of people. I hope things would change and everyone could enjoy themselves once more. Life is not always smooth sailing. Please continue to enjoy the server, look for us if there's anything troubling you and we'll try to make it better.
@Tekblade You can certainly contact me for any issues that you've had. (There are less staff around for the following reasons, which is still no excuse). I myself just started back to college this semester and working a job (i do saltwater fishing charters for a living). A lot of people have started back to school, are beginning to get busy with sports kicking off amongst many other things. Thanks for the constructive criticism. If you have any issues or suggestions you can definitely shoot them my way here on the forums, or you can PM me for my skype. Thanks for being a hardworking & dedicated player. Sorry to hear of some of the rude things you have to deal with...sometimes things change over time. Though, we have to adapt to these situations and fix the problem(s). We intend on picking up some more staff and helping to improve the playing environment, (If you also haven't seen Craftbukkit was DMCA'd...aka a copyright infringement.) So at this point we're all stuck running in circles because CB or Spigot cannot update to a full 1.8 release which is holding us back from pusing out updates or....really at all doing much of anything.
