I've been thinking about Render distance... What If we could pay $20 to get a Render distance of 10 chunks instead of what feels like 3-5. $20 from each player to pay for the need to increase server performance to aquatint for the new render distance!
I like the idea but I do nt think its possible yet unless they make a plugin that does it and also may make the server lag
I believe that it isn't possible to change the render distance for specific people, just for the player base overall. Although, eventually Andrew will change the loaded chunks for individual players to a higher number.
