So, now that the resource world is up and running, let's talk about the previously discussed "super-survival" world for those of us who like getting our iron the old fashioned way. I'd most like the opinions of people who are possibly interested in moving to the new survival world, or are on the fence--what would tip you one way or the other?
As previously discussed, the "super-survival" world will replace the old world that no one visits anymore, and that world will be available for download for anyone who wants to visit our constructions offline. If anyone has problems with that plan, speak now or forever hold your peace.
We've already decided that there should be "no explicit farms." What constitutes a bad farm, though? I'm assuming we're excluding iron golem/zombie pigman/witch farms, but what about a wheat farm where you pull a lever to release water that clears out the crops, and then you have to replant all of them by hand? What about a more automated wheat farm that uses bonemeal in dispensers to force the plant to grow a lot faster, and you basically just need to stand in one place and right-click repeatedly? What about "traditional" mob farms for skeletons/spiders/creepers/zombies? What about blaze or enderman XP farms?
Is the issue with the materials being farmed, or the level of automation used to farm them, or some combination thereof?
I have a vague idea of what sort of restrictions I would place if it were entirely up to me, but I'd like to know what other people think. We need to establish a fairly concrete set of rules so there's no confusion later.
Should I aim to use server mods where available to prevent things (possibly completely disabling certain types of mobs), or should we use existing in-game mechanics? Something like amending the server's no-griefing rule to allow griefing of qualifying automated farms in the SS world might be fun, I think Pablo would like that one
Also, I was chatting with Pablo about another point as well--how should I situate the gate in the SS world? Generate the world and wherever the random start point is becomes the "center" with the gate? Or maybe look around for a bit for an interesting location? Generate the world, go myself, and not be able to leave until I've built a gate using legitimately acquired obsidian?
Specifically, I was thinking it might be beneficial to have the gate be in or near an NPC village. Our current main city has several interesting buildings, but it can often feel fairly dead. I was thinking that having us start from an NPC village and build up from there could help for things to feel more active when there aren't many people on. Would there be a concern with easy access to NPC trading causing economic problems from that point?
Any thoughts are welcome, especially if I've missed some things...