It seems that applying an 18+ or over rule can get responses ranging from the benign to the totally out of line. I've had both in PM, strangely enough never as a reply in the server thread, but that aside.
There's a reason I have that rule. First of all, given the average age of the minecraftian population, I am an old fogey. At 35, the last thing I want to do is sign onto my server and have to spend 3 hours figuring out why jimmy jacked suzie's cookies, and whether the "he said she said" game 2 other people got into needs to be dealt with. On a previous server I have been on as a regular player, things like that quickly devolved into things involving TNT, lava, and other such shenanigans.
So I made an 18+ rule. I've bent it a few times, but recently I decided it's going to be a hard rule. If you're not 18, I'm sorry, you're not welcome. (The few under-agers that I have on the server are an exception, however, since they have proven they fit in - but I'd rather play the game than spend it watching and making sure things are working out).
The funny thing is that I am quite convinced the rule is justified. Most of the benign responses came from the 16-18 bracket, who could in fact understand the reasoning behind it. The out of line ones, well, let's just say these days 13 year olds know a lot more colorful language than I thought possible. One response in particular stood out, and basically went along the lines of "who are you to decide who plays on the server or not". To put it in different terms, the response was more or less saying: "who died and made you God?".
Well now. I run the server. I pay for it to exist. This, in fact, makes me God. And this God is not a merciful God. This God has standards he wants people to adhere to. This God requests a simple thing as the "one rule" on the server: don't be a jerk, otherwise known as "use common sense".
And it seems that this isn't to the liking of quite a few younger players. Judging from the nasty PM's I've gotten since putting the rule into the server post, it's apparently a totally justified rule.
Looking for a friendly community? Look no further, and join the BlockStackers! We run a Vanilla whitelisted server, a Feed The Beast server, and a Survival server with some twists.
1. Why is this posted in this section? shouldn't this be in a server section.
2. What possessed you to write this?
3. I read the whole thing don't know why
4. I understand the rule, but remember there are some childish adults out there
5. Sorry you have had such a negative experience with the servers. hope things go better for you and goodday to you sir.
I agree. It's something that comes with age, and 18 is a fair age. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can prevent these immature middle school students... I might write a Bukkit plugin that evaluates a user based on their grammar and keep a score. Sounds silly, but there is a correlation between grammar skill and age. It won't keep all the lucky ones out though :/
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caHarkness's Modded Minecraft Server | caharkness.com | 24/7 | Open to spectators, ask to play | View Post
Ideas I would like to see in vanilla Minecraft: 1) A grinding machine — similar to a furnace, but breaks down items like a leather tunic into pieces of leather. 2) Recycling — the ability to smelt metal tools and pieces of armor back into their respective ingots. 3) A hammer — used to break down cobblestone into gravel, and gravel into sand. 4) A study — a work bench that takes an enchanted item and a plain book to extract enchantments at the cost of experience.
I'm 48, and when kids play on SMP with me it just gets hellish at times. I'm trying to play survival and meanwhile they're griefing my stuff with "op" privileges that the admin gave them for whatever reason.
There are mature <18 users on my server though, sadly most of the underage community just plain sucks.
When I open my server there most definitely be an 18+ rule. Or if choose not have a whitelist I will post in spawn that any excessive immaturity will result in a ban. Basically if you annoy people you're gone.
I've been an Admin a few times and let me tell you, the whole underage community can bug the hell out of you. I once saw a kid that wouldn't leave spawn until someone gave him armor and a diamond sword. People eventually gave in just to shut him up.
Point is, adults and children shouldn't mix in Minecraft. They have completely different agendas.
I agree. It's something that comes with age, and 18 is a fair age. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can prevent these immature middle school students... I might write a Bukkit plugin that evaluates a user based on their grammar and keep a score. Sounds silly, but there is a correlation between grammar skill and age. It won't keep all the lucky ones out though :/
I like how Mojang makes a rated E game, and 16-18 year olds decide it's their own personal property
and go around saying things like "you shouldn't even get to play Minecraft if you're under 16 yrs old trololololol"
I'm not implying that you said that, in fact this topic is perfectly reasonable, but it just brings to mind the
eternal war of the age gap and the fact that it isn't getting any better.
Point is, adults and children shouldn't mix in Minecraft. They have completely different agendas.
Sorta generalizes the entire underage minecraftian population?
I agree however i never had such bad experiences. Once on a prison server i killed someone and he kept asking and whining to give his diamond pick back.... Other than that and other very minor experiences its not been that bad. But i understand your point of view.
<sammy> Okay..being a mod is like playing Sims because you have all this power...you create a world for your people...you try to make it safe...happy...you monitor it to stop problems...you check their needs and try to meet them...but no matter what you do, sooner or later people are going to stand around waving their arms and yelling illegibly about something you've done wrong.
<TheBeeSingsWithMalice> And then you start herding them into the pool and taking out the ladders...
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” — Albert Einstein
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig." — Robert Heinlein
If you want to have a private server to be with your buddies and 18+ go ahead, I don't see why you're ranting here. I've ran a public, any-age Minecraft server for well over a year and a half. I have people who play that are 10 years old, and I have people in their 70's playing also. It all depends your tolerance as a server owner.
Putting an age limit won't make your drama go away. If you want to run a professional server, be cool, talk to people, and don't be a jerk as owner. If you can't tolerate kids making mistakes and being themselves, don't have kids and don't play a game that is based around the under 18 group.
Sincerely,
The Kind King
So many posts to reply to, but I'll start with this one just because, well, I see a well reasoned counter argument here
My server is public though, I use a whitelist, but other than that anyone who wants to can ask me to get whitelisted. I'm not saying there's no adults acting like a bunch of proper prats, but the key difference is that when it happens with an adult, I can whip out the "boot of doom" and get my point across with a swift kick. With many of the younger kids, it will just result in more drama and the need to start banning.
Now, there is one part of your post I take offense to actually; I can tolerate kids making mistakes. I have a kid as well. What this has to do with running a Minecraft server isn't entirely clear to me. The thing is that a mistake is just that, it's a mistake. happens, and it happens to everyone at some point. What I don't tolerate is people (kids or adult) causing to happen. It just seems that the younger section of the population has a larger amount of people whose sole purpose is just that.
Also, Minecraft never has been targeted at the under 18 group, it turned out that way due to how it first gained popularity, but it's a game for all ages.
Whether an 18+ rule stops the drama is still to be seen - let's say it decreases the amount and longevity of any drama. Will it last? We'll see if it will or not. If it all goes to hell in a handbasket I'll be the first person in here to tell you you were right
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Looking for a friendly community? Look no further, and join the BlockStackers! We run a Vanilla whitelisted server, a Feed The Beast server, and a Survival server with some twists.
Sorta generalizes the entire underage minecraftian population?
I agree however i never had such bad experiences. Once on a prison server i killed someone and he kept asking and whining to give his diamond pick back.... Other than that and other very minor experiences its not been that bad. But i understand your point of view.
He does have a point though in the sense that (generalisations incoming):
- Adults tend to want to build stuff and explore; the act of getting diamond pickaxes and such is secondary - it's great when you find diamonds, but they're a means to an end - the end being the construction of something or other.
- Kids tend to want to "win" the game. Since you can't truly win in multiplayer, the way to "win" is basically to have the most diamonds. Building things is secondary to obtaining diamonds and other "rare" bits that can be put on display as a way of saying "look, I won!".
Of course there's some adults that do the kid thing, and some kids that do the adult thing. Not saying there's 2 strictly separated agenda's happening, but in general this is how it plays out. The good thing, however, is that Minecraft as a game does offer gameplay elements to satisfy both agenda's, it's just that putting them both together on multiplayer can often lead to drama and other un-fun things.
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Looking for a friendly community? Look no further, and join the BlockStackers! We run a Vanilla whitelisted server, a Feed The Beast server, and a Survival server with some twists.
Xirian, my point is people over 18 cause just as much as people under 18. I've had more problems with a 40 year old than I have with a 12 year old, true story, but I rather not post the whole thing here I do understand why you want to do it, though. I myself am 18, adults (Talking about people above 25~) treat people pretty badly, except the ones that play with their kids that is. Anyways, I will stop ranting on your rant thread now
Seriously feel free to rant here, it is a rant thread after all I won't say that adults are better behaved than youngsters, I mean it swings both ways. I've seen adults acting like kids and seen people that were mature, calm, didn't cause any trouble that turned out to be 12 year olds. It's just that from personal experience (and yours may be different), I found that the ratio of "bad" adults v.s. "bad" youngsters is in favor of the 18+ crowd.
True, up to a point. There is the thing where personally I want to be available for players to ask questions, but once you get an answer, accept it. I've witnessed occasions where someone kept whining for a diamond pickaxe, and in the end got banned for it since an hours worth of "but why not" was more than the admin wanted to put up with - after having already answered "no, go find diamonds and make one, there will be no spawned items".
There are certain amounts of nagging you have to put up with being a server admin, but there is a limit to how much.
For example, I run my server partly because I can, partly because I want to have an environment where I can play with likeminded people, and party because, well, why not. And by doing so I realise i have responsibilities to take care of; ensure a good playing environment, ensure a stable server, and ensure people's questions are answered. But since I also play for my own enjoyment, it has to stay enjoyable. People asking me the same question over and over again will eventually be told to be quiet about it or get put in a small obsidian cubicle with Mr. Creeper of human resources.
The tl;dr of that: I run the server for other players and myself, I don't run it just for other players.
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Looking for a friendly community? Look no further, and join the BlockStackers! We run a Vanilla whitelisted server, a Feed The Beast server, and a Survival server with some twists.
Not really. I mean there are some kids that are perfectly mature. I am referring to the ones that ask constantly for tools and other handouts, and complain about if the mines haven't been reset when they don'd truly need to be. These individuals tend to want to get to free as soon as possible, and don't care about any time that they spend on the lower cell blocks. I guess you could say that most kids don't really like this liminal space, they like to either be on the free block, or nothing, and will do most anything to hurry their time on the other blocks, even though I found the most action on the a-block, when the kids get to this line, they go straight to the mines to get to elite.
Seems like most kids just want to get to the end without enjoying the time inbetween. Also, didn't host the server, just an admin. The nagging was so bad that one of the co-owners had to abandon the server and it eventually fell apart.
This does not refer to all of the kids on the server, though. There was a 14-year-old who decided that he wouldn't go any farther than a-block because it was the most fun.
2010 till middle 2011 minecraft was so mature, then i don't know what happened.
I guess Team Avol***on are to blame.
Uhh no. No no no no. Minecrafters have never been mature. They were immature in Classic, and they're immature in the full game. There has always been annoying kids and griefers in Minecraft.
November/December 2010 were certainly more tame then any time after then, since advanced hacked clients were rare (with the exception of MCCheat). Q1 2011 saw a slow but large increase in the availability of hacks, in Q2 hacked clients became more common and sometimes released to the public, in Q3/Q4 griefing exploded in popularity. Since then, it's been growing rapidly.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” — Albert Einstein
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig." — Robert Heinlein
In my honest opinion, age is a pretty crappy factor to measure someone's maturity and actions. If you really want to see what people would be like, have a more descriptive application or look at their previous posts :p
Oh, as a footnote, I'm 17 haha. Guess I wouldn't make the age limit.
In my honest opinion, age is a pretty crappy factor to measure someone's maturity and actions. If you really want to see what people would be like, have a more descriptive application or look at their previous posts :p
Oh, as a footnote, I'm 17 haha. Guess I wouldn't make the age limit.
I never said age was a good factor But it's the one that's available. Statistically the chances of finding a mature player are higher if they're 18 or over, so that's what I use. I could give people a 3rd degree questioning, of course...
And footnote wise, you are correct, you wouldn't make the age limit, and while that is unfortunate, I found that making exceptions to the rule tends to be more of a pain in the butt than it's worth sometimes
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Looking for a friendly community? Look no further, and join the BlockStackers! We run a Vanilla whitelisted server, a Feed The Beast server, and a Survival server with some twists.
I'd like to point out that there are people under 18 who are just as or even more mature than an 18 year old or even someone older, I myself am 14, I own two servers, both are pretty successful, I will get pissed off a lot at the really immature kids on my servers but really you have to live with it, not everyone in the world is perfect. Actually on my server I have a kid who was probably the most mature person on the WHOLE server, probably the most mature of everyone that I've played with on Minecraft, he makes a REALLY good mod application, the second question; How old are you? His answer: 9. I was really surprised that all this time some kid who is probably as mature as a 20 year old was really 9...It shocked me...I do understand where a lot of you come from when looking at something like age, but you do have to understand that there are kids out there who are mature, probably more mature that 85% of this forum's community. So please don't hate people younger than 18 just because of the few immature jerks out there.
There's a reason I have that rule. First of all, given the average age of the minecraftian population, I am an old fogey. At 35, the last thing I want to do is sign onto my server and have to spend 3 hours figuring out why jimmy jacked suzie's cookies, and whether the "he said she said" game 2 other people got into needs to be dealt with. On a previous server I have been on as a regular player, things like that quickly devolved into things involving TNT, lava, and other such shenanigans.
So I made an 18+ rule. I've bent it a few times, but recently I decided it's going to be a hard rule. If you're not 18, I'm sorry, you're not welcome. (The few under-agers that I have on the server are an exception, however, since they have proven they fit in - but I'd rather play the game than spend it watching and making sure things are working out).
The funny thing is that I am quite convinced the rule is justified. Most of the benign responses came from the 16-18 bracket, who could in fact understand the reasoning behind it. The out of line ones, well, let's just say these days 13 year olds know a lot more colorful language than I thought possible. One response in particular stood out, and basically went along the lines of "who are you to decide who plays on the server or not". To put it in different terms, the response was more or less saying: "who died and made you God?".
Well now. I run the server. I pay for it to exist. This, in fact, makes me God. And this God is not a merciful God. This God has standards he wants people to adhere to. This God requests a simple thing as the "one rule" on the server: don't be a jerk, otherwise known as "use common sense".
And it seems that this isn't to the liking of quite a few younger players. Judging from the nasty PM's I've gotten since putting the rule into the server post, it's apparently a totally justified rule.
2. What possessed you to write this?
3. I read the whole thing don't know why
4. I understand the rule, but remember there are some childish adults out there
5. Sorry you have had such a negative experience with the servers. hope things go better for you and goodday to you sir.
caHarkness's Modded Minecraft Server | caharkness.com | 24/7 | Open to spectators, ask to play | View Post
Ideas I would like to see in vanilla Minecraft: 1) A grinding machine — similar to a furnace, but breaks down items like a leather tunic into pieces of leather. 2) Recycling — the ability to smelt metal tools and pieces of armor back into their respective ingots. 3) A hammer — used to break down cobblestone into gravel, and gravel into sand. 4) A study — a work bench that takes an enchanted item and a plain book to extract enchantments at the cost of experience.
There are mature <18 users on my server though, sadly most of the underage community just plain sucks.
I've been an Admin a few times and let me tell you, the whole underage community can bug the hell out of you. I once saw a kid that wouldn't leave spawn until someone gave him armor and a diamond sword. People eventually gave in just to shut him up.
Point is, adults and children shouldn't mix in Minecraft. They have completely different agendas.
and go around saying things like "you shouldn't even get to play Minecraft if you're under 16 yrs old trololololol"
I'm not implying that you said that, in fact this topic is perfectly reasonable, but it just brings to mind the
eternal war of the age gap and the fact that it isn't getting any better.
Sorta generalizes the entire underage minecraftian population?
I agree however i never had such bad experiences. Once on a prison server i killed someone and he kept asking and whining to give his diamond pick back.... Other than that and other very minor experiences its not been that bad. But i understand your point of view.
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig." — Robert Heinlein
So many posts to reply to, but I'll start with this one just because, well, I see a well reasoned counter argument here
My server is public though, I use a whitelist, but other than that anyone who wants to can ask me to get whitelisted. I'm not saying there's no adults acting like a bunch of proper prats, but the key difference is that when it happens with an adult, I can whip out the "boot of doom" and get my point across with a swift kick. With many of the younger kids, it will just result in more drama and the need to start banning.
Now, there is one part of your post I take offense to actually; I can tolerate kids making mistakes. I have a kid as well. What this has to do with running a Minecraft server isn't entirely clear to me. The thing is that a mistake is just that, it's a mistake. happens, and it happens to everyone at some point. What I don't tolerate is people (kids or adult) causing to happen. It just seems that the younger section of the population has a larger amount of people whose sole purpose is just that.
Also, Minecraft never has been targeted at the under 18 group, it turned out that way due to how it first gained popularity, but it's a game for all ages.
Whether an 18+ rule stops the drama is still to be seen - let's say it decreases the amount and longevity of any drama. Will it last? We'll see if it will or not. If it all goes to hell in a handbasket I'll be the first person in here to tell you you were right
He does have a point though in the sense that (generalisations incoming):
- Adults tend to want to build stuff and explore; the act of getting diamond pickaxes and such is secondary - it's great when you find diamonds, but they're a means to an end - the end being the construction of something or other.
- Kids tend to want to "win" the game. Since you can't truly win in multiplayer, the way to "win" is basically to have the most diamonds. Building things is secondary to obtaining diamonds and other "rare" bits that can be put on display as a way of saying "look, I won!".
Of course there's some adults that do the kid thing, and some kids that do the adult thing. Not saying there's 2 strictly separated agenda's happening, but in general this is how it plays out. The good thing, however, is that Minecraft as a game does offer gameplay elements to satisfy both agenda's, it's just that putting them both together on multiplayer can often lead to drama and other un-fun things.
Seriously feel free to rant here, it is a rant thread after all I won't say that adults are better behaved than youngsters, I mean it swings both ways. I've seen adults acting like kids and seen people that were mature, calm, didn't cause any trouble that turned out to be 12 year olds. It's just that from personal experience (and yours may be different), I found that the ratio of "bad" adults v.s. "bad" youngsters is in favor of the 18+ crowd.
True, up to a point. There is the thing where personally I want to be available for players to ask questions, but once you get an answer, accept it. I've witnessed occasions where someone kept whining for a diamond pickaxe, and in the end got banned for it since an hours worth of "but why not" was more than the admin wanted to put up with - after having already answered "no, go find diamonds and make one, there will be no spawned items".
There are certain amounts of nagging you have to put up with being a server admin, but there is a limit to how much.
For example, I run my server partly because I can, partly because I want to have an environment where I can play with likeminded people, and party because, well, why not. And by doing so I realise i have responsibilities to take care of; ensure a good playing environment, ensure a stable server, and ensure people's questions are answered. But since I also play for my own enjoyment, it has to stay enjoyable. People asking me the same question over and over again will eventually be told to be quiet about it or get put in a small obsidian cubicle with Mr. Creeper of human resources.
The tl;dr of that: I run the server for other players and myself, I don't run it just for other players.
Not really. I mean there are some kids that are perfectly mature. I am referring to the ones that ask constantly for tools and other handouts, and complain about if the mines haven't been reset when they don'd truly need to be. These individuals tend to want to get to free as soon as possible, and don't care about any time that they spend on the lower cell blocks. I guess you could say that most kids don't really like this liminal space, they like to either be on the free block, or nothing, and will do most anything to hurry their time on the other blocks, even though I found the most action on the a-block, when the kids get to this line, they go straight to the mines to get to elite.
Seems like most kids just want to get to the end without enjoying the time inbetween. Also, didn't host the server, just an admin. The nagging was so bad that one of the co-owners had to abandon the server and it eventually fell apart.
This does not refer to all of the kids on the server, though. There was a 14-year-old who decided that he wouldn't go any farther than a-block because it was the most fun.
Uhh no. No no no no. Minecrafters have never been mature. They were immature in Classic, and they're immature in the full game. There has always been annoying kids and griefers in Minecraft.
November/December 2010 were certainly more tame then any time after then, since advanced hacked clients were rare (with the exception of MCCheat). Q1 2011 saw a slow but large increase in the availability of hacks, in Q2 hacked clients became more common and sometimes released to the public, in Q3/Q4 griefing exploded in popularity. Since then, it's been growing rapidly.
"Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig." — Robert Heinlein
Oh, as a footnote, I'm 17 haha. Guess I wouldn't make the age limit.
I never said age was a good factor But it's the one that's available. Statistically the chances of finding a mature player are higher if they're 18 or over, so that's what I use. I could give people a 3rd degree questioning, of course...
And footnote wise, you are correct, you wouldn't make the age limit, and while that is unfortunate, I found that making exceptions to the rule tends to be more of a pain in the butt than it's worth sometimes