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Taken. (8:50am - 11:50pm EST)

In a way it is. Depends where you use it and for what reason though.

In your own maps, who cares?

If you are playing a Pass It On or a server that is requesting you not use mods, yeah, it certainly and without a doubt, is cheating.

Servers and map operators should give thought to XRay pack usage.

When it comes to maps with currency, there is no denying it as a cheat. It's a little less offensive than SinglePlayerCommands/TooManyItems/Millionaire, as they can just give themselves infinite items if they wanted to, but it is still offensive and an unfair advantage over anyone not using it themselves.

I kinda would like to see a feature implemented in the future to allow server hosts to deny connections if players do not join with a certain credentials, such as not running specific mods and/or texture packs, now that you bring this question up.

Quote from FactoryKat

Look at Machina laying down the law LOL.


Thank you for your help actually, it's nice to know someone's keeping an eye on things when I'm too busy to check in. And I'm on the fence with MC Edit honestly. I can see how it would be useful but the point of the map is to build. If you're using it to fix something (bugged chest or need to repair something big but don't have mods) that's one thing, but editing in a whole building/resort is somewhat of a cop out. I use Too Many Items to spawn in materials and SPC to help with getting around, etc. but everything is still built by hand. Plus, like Machina said, someone created a big slice in the world, most surely by accident but it still happened nonetheless.

And the time limit is FIRM. 3 hours MAXIMUM. I encourage you to continue building when the map is free, to keep coming back when you can but if you don't have time for the map right when you take it, then come back later when you can devote an hour, two hours or the full three.


Front page will be updated shortly actually. I was making some adjustments to my house before the map was taken again. :tongue.gif: I don't know if I should take my own map for a short bit and quickly re-do it, or just wait.

No problems. The MIA issues have just been bothering me as of late.

I adamantly would like to see someone else's work, created or simply started within the time frame, and have a good back and forth progression of the map. We should be running this something like a team, because it is technically a team effort. That's why I waited a few hours for metoxys to respond and get the map up. He's been with the map for a bit now, before I joined in, and I respect that he has been mining, instead of using SPC to gain his inventory. Just, I would like him to communicate when his turn time is up, so I know he's working/uploading and not suddenly MIA. I don't mind giving him some addition time to wrap up before getting it uploaded. (adfly got hacked today, and there was an uploading issue, that was reasonable)


That being said, Kat, I'd love for you to join in on the map as you find time to do so. I think it should be common practice to be part of the project you've started, showing up at least once in a while. Keeps that team/community feeling going. :smile.gif:



BTW, regarding these "takes", Tulaash, time is different all around the world. Could you please put your time region when you make such a claim?

Also, I hope you get things worked out, but you can't book a session hours ahead. :tongue.gif:

You can claim you'll try for a time frame, but otherwise you still need to be here to make claim at that hour, at that minute. I made a claim myself for a morning session once, only to find metoxys beat me to my desired session. I couldn't be mad, to our rules he was in no wrong, so I chuckled, as finally someone came in to break my take cycle hold on the map. It gets boring being the only one working for 9 consecutive turns (it was consecutive, right? I'll have to check).

I also hope things work out with your PC. If you need a new WiFi, ASUS sells a Wireless N Micro-USB card for like $20-$30, and you can extend the range/reception of it with a USB extension cable. I used to have a Linksys on board card... trash, and about 3x the price. It works on Laptops too as a replacement, for when the WiFi inside dies from heat, as data transfer loads can cause it to overheat and melt its connections (HP is terrible for that, I swear they designed a few models simply to stimulate the need for PC repairs).

I can also suggest you a place to get parts and a generally cheap build if in the US.

I decided after seeing issues arise in the Pass It On threads (one which I am currently active in, and others I was browsing prior to deciding on the one I chose), that a guide could be useful for those who want to start a Pass It On or wish to understand how to keep their Pass It On from getting ruined, and thus you either restart a fresh map, or give up on the idea entirely. I don't like people giving up things they enjoy, so I'm here, hoping to be of some help to empower you through your challenges.

This guide is also in part for those who play in them, not just those who run/operate/manage Pass It On maps. If you participate in the map, you in part run it, and are responsible to help enforce the rules set by the map starter. You can learn how to be a better participant from reading this guide as well.


Before we begin, read this terminology:


Pass it on [PIO] - "Pass it on" is a map that you work on then pass to another specific player. The player who passed it on may request certain rules be followed for the players who recieves the map to follow and pass on when they are done with it. Generally, there are no rules to this, as Pass It On maps are done between friends, or a close group who trusts each other.


Turn Grab [TG] - "Turn Grab" is where a player who has been passed a map makes a thread to hand the map off to whoever responds with "Taken". Generally, there are rules that that person makes to be followed when posting the map's availability in this manner. Those rules tend to include that the first person and every person after him/her is to return an uploaded file of the changes they have made to the map within a certain amount of time from when they posted claim of their turn with "Taken". Only one person, who has announced "Taken", may work on the map for the said period of time. After time is up, that person posts "Returned" and the link to the uploaded file of their changes, so the next person to announce "Taken" can progress the map from where that person left off. This repeats so on and so forth. Commonly, mislabeled as "Pass It On", because "Turn Grab" just sounds so so horrible.


Free Grab [FG] - "Free Grab" is where a player who was passed a map posts the map file to see what anyone would do with the map. Typically, this is all your Role Playing maps, Adventure Maps, etc... just it was a Pass It On previously. There are no turns. There may be time limits. Anyone can work on the map at any time, because they are not waiting for another person to post their changes to the map so that they can have a turn to work from that person's changes to the map.



Making Rules & Guidelines

First of all firsts, you need to consider how you wish for the players/builders to go about their experience in the map you will pass off to them. This is the first idea that will encompass every part of the Rules and Guidelines for your map.

What is here is but an outline based off what I have observed in my experiences with these maps and their management. It is here to give you options to think about if you are uncertain how to start your map off or how to manage it as it progresses, if not ensure from the start that it progresses as you would like it to.



Rules

Mods:


Are they allowed to be used? If so, which ones?

Generally, SinglePlayerCommands either is or isn't allowed, depending on time constraints and your goals (goals like item hunting become pointless with SPC players). If someone has AEther installed or not, etc. These will effect the map, and at times mods can ruin the map. WolrdEdit has been the worst to be allowed so far, to find out a player using it ruined someone's work or cut a huge line through the map straight to the void. I would suggest not permitting its use if you run a [PIO] or [TG] map, though in true [PIO] it would matter less if the peple are your friends. It won't matter in [FG] as it isn't effecting anyone else, as nobody else besides yourself is working on the map.


Property and Respect:

Will players have to stake out and make land claims?

Will players have to put their name on their work?

Will you accept any changes to the map?

If things built are destroyed/torn down/replaced by the work of someone else?

Will you tollerate disrespect/rudeness?
(allow a player, who is disrespectful to the work of other player's who worked on the map, to take and submit their "improvements", or will you request that others watch out and skip the submissions of these players if you are not around to put them in their place?)

The maps I've seen ask you not to touch the work of others, if they have put their name on it or announced their work in the thread, or posted it as their work somewhere. Generally, you ask for approval of the person who made whatever it was before making changes. This is why the ruling is generally to put your name of your work.

Age holds no bearing to rudeness. Anyone at any age can be rude, intentionally or not. Depending on how they were rude, you need to determine how you react to it, if not at all.


Time & Turns Limits:


How long can a player take the map for?

Typically I see 3-5 hours being the norm. 3 hours granting use of SPC (SinglePlayerCommands) to not waste the time mining so progress will actually be made on the map. 5 hours is what I see in maps that do not permit SPC to be used, thus 5 hours may be spent entirely on mining.


How many turns can a player have?

Can a player take the map, return in the time limit, immediately take it, and then return it again, repeating this cycle as much as they want? Will you request that that player must wait X amount of time after returning the map before they map proceed to take it again, to prevent map hogging, or will you allow it for large scale projects?


Terminology: Turn - The allotted amount of time one is given to make changes to the map. The turn generally starts when you say taken, or from the nearest quarter hour from your post to give you time to complete downloading and installing the map. A player who takes the map should state what their time frame is for their turn (IE: 11am to 2pm is a 3 hour turn). It ends when your time from that start time is up. Players should not be calling that they are taking the map at X hour in the future, when there is no guarantee that they will ever be able to fulfill that statement.


Communication & Turn Abandonment/Forfeit:

How much time beyond a player's turn session (time they have for their turn) will you grant them before they should be deemed as missing in action (MIA) and permit other users, who are assertive, to call that player's turn void, and take the map himself/herself?

Are there reasonable excuses or are the rules what they are for a reason, that reason being to keep the map progressing and not have the map indefinitely taken by someone who never will or never intended to return the map?

Life is lived when we as people communicate with each other. To have good communication is to live and progress.

As a player/builder/participant of a [PIO] or [TG], you -MUST- have communication with the rest of the players to keep the map going steady. A lot of players tend to call that they are taking your map, then go missing without notice or mention, stalling the entire day for anyone else who would have wanted to work on the map. Their is shared fault though, because those being stalled decided to not be assertive about the rules you posted, or your rules do not allow them to be assertive and say, "Dude, your turn is up. I'm taking it now. Not going to wait all day for you, the rule is X hours."

The ruling is generally that players need to post within 30 minutes of their turn's time being up to communicate that they are done or in the process of uploading the map to pass off, or simply post the link to their uploaded changes to the map.

If they do not return in that time, the player is assumed to have abandoned/forfeited/gave up on the map, and the map is open for grabs to the next player who calls "Taken", using the prior latest posted file (that was accepted). The work of the person who went missing is now not accepted, their turn is skipped, all because that person did not communicate.

Yes, they could have been in their restroom doing sudden business running minutes late, they could have been sidetracked watching TV, or they could have been seriously hurt, or had to head out on a whim's notice for any reason. That does not matter, as the rules are made by the one running/managing the thread and turns to keep continued flow and progress to the map so it will not be allowed to be halted due to negligence, unless you as the head of your [PIO]/[TG] project permit it to happen. (Sucks to have your work mean nothing, but if you walked out of your job without notifying your boss and returned days later, you'd find yourself fired, your prior efforts meaning very little to get the job back in most cases.)

Players being held up should be assertive about the rules posted, otherwise other players will disregard the rules, make their own, and hand you a map that fits their perspective, which could mean the entire world destroyed and rebuilt so their work is the only thing left standing.

No, I'm not joking, it does and has happened, or at least very close to it has happened. Maps have been returned with houses rigged to blow up with TNT and take out every house around them as well. The assertive player will notice it, mention it on the thread, download the map again (prior to triggering the trap to overwrite the change), and take their turn from that moment onward (generally allowed practice).



Guidelines


Theme:

What is the theme of the map? Is it a mixture of styles? Does it try to build based on a certain time period of structures or is it just classic old English / rural farm buildings? Will this project require the players to use a specific texture pack while the build?


Goals:

Specifically if you do not permit the use of SPC or certain mods that allow players to cheat their inventories, you can make goals. I've seen a few who have thought up simple goals, such as what buildings need to be made, to go exploring for a certain amount of a particular item (IE: Find enough diamonds to build a 5x5x5 cube).


Spawn Area & Sign Boards:

I have seen maps that use signs to relay the rules, guidelines, and goals of the map, located at a centralized spawn point, where the player will spawn if he/she dies. Because of the turn based nature of these maps, I have encountered Sign-In boards, where players put their name, turn count, last date they were active on the map, etc. I've also seen message boards and currency boards that give the player an idea of the direction the map is going, what people need help with (Yes, some request others to help them finish their work). Both are a great idea, -if- players keep up with them. This goes back in part to respect of players towards the other players who have or are working on the map, where players ignoring the rules or signs may become a problem. Ignorance is not bliss to those effect by the actions of the ignorant.


Torches & Game Settings:

This is something that is constantly brought up. While torches look nice, they lag up other players when excessively used. It is a matter of respect to those who don't have the computer power you might. Most [PIO]/[TG] maps ask that you simply moderate the use of torches. The flame animations are what cause the issues for the players effected. Glowstone works nicely, and looks better if you run certain texture packs, but if you do not run SPC, getting it from the Nether is annoying and time consuming.

Game settings are another thing I've yet to see players bring up. Any change in the settings will be transferred over. So if you change difficulty or video settings, the next player is going to be stuck with your settings. It is generally asked that you be kind and take a moment to set the setting back to whatever they were.

In specific, most [PIO]/[TG] maps ask you to work specifically on PEACEFUL mode, to prevent creepers from damaging what has been built (again, out of respect for what people have built, though some may request you actually play with mobs on a set difficulty for the fun of it, ok with mobs wrecking the place, as long as you tell the story of what went down).



Other than that. These are all on you:


Contributor's Listing: You should oversee your map's progress, to over look and settle any issues that arise between those playing the map. So you should make time to have a list of contributors edited into your main post, updated every so often, so that players feel recognized for their efforts.


Latest Map Posting: You really don't need to. It will likely cause more confusion when your recognized latest file posted is days old, someone grabs it, then players question where their builds went when that person returns the file. I highly suggest you don't. Just keep an eye on the tread to respond to any issues if someone is for some reason uncertain if the last posted file is acceptable or not (for those who are not assertive when people break the rules and post a changed file).


Original Map File: You can chose to post the file openly, or you can chose to not post it and take your time to personally pick and chose who to PM the map to. This is when you might post the Latest Map in the thread, simply for everyone to see, but only granting those who you pick to take and return map progress. Typically, it is just posted, and turns are not decided that way, so you will have covered this as of starting the topic.


Another note that you can run [TG], and [FG] at the same time, from the same thread. It'll be a bit of juggling, and players will have to be VERY SPECIFIC if they are taking and returning the map for [TG] or [FG], but you can do that.



And with this, I conclude the guide on starting the topic and managing it as it goes. Remember, it is on you to manage it and keep the map alive if you truly care about the project. If you don't have time, find someone you can trust to help you manage the thread with you. Otherwise, you leave its fate in the hands of those who take it and are patiently dedicating their time working on it. If the world gets ruined, have players know to go back through each previous updates and halt the availability of the map 'til they find the save before things were ruined and chose to either re-start from that point or just accept the damage and do their best to progress despite it.

I'd post examples of a map, but every [PIO], [TG], and [FG] map so far is in itself an example you can learn from. Independent research is a great habit to pick up.

If you feel I missed anything, need clearer explanations, or would like me to make a guide for another aspect of this map type, feel free to ask of me and I'll see if I can do what I can to assist you.

Hope you enjoyed reading this, and that it has in part helped you out. These maps can be a lot of fun despite the work involved, both on the person managing/overseeing their operations and those participating in them. Much luck to you all in your maps! :wink.gif:

Quote from bigjeep

taken. this seems like a decent map.
hopefully you guys dont mind that i take it till tommorow some.ive spent a little while on the spawn area, i replaced the grass with green wool and in the storage room i used furnaces. i also made a pretty large private island using worldedit. this took me a while, so if you dont mind id like to work on my island some tommorow. this thread doesnt have too many users anyways, so hopefully im good.

and a lot of users have some bad taste in buildings. im gonna have to mc edit in my mountain resort sometime and show you guys how its done.

Yes, will mind. Turns are 3 hours each. With a roughly 30 minutes period after that to get the map uploaded and posted here as "returned", where nobody can call "taken" on the map. So if you had wanted to take it that long, you post taken, return to the thread in 3 hours, return a progress file, take it again, and return it again in another 3 hours.

The idea is to keep up communication on the thread so we know you have not gone MIA on the map. Too many go MIA and it confuses/stalls the people who want to and could have contributed something. (Which is partly why "this thread doesnt have too many users anyways")

However, your comments on other people's work are harsh and offensive. You can not have the map, ever. Will not accept your submissions.

Also, WorldEdit is no longer allowed. Someone already sliced a 4 wide line in the map from water level to the void. Imagine you spend hours on something to have someone else completely destroy it by sloppy WorldEdit use.

Quote from KAllan989

Hey can I have a go at this map.
It would please me if you said yes, also I agree to every rule you have set out.

You came in right as someone was taking the map, but had you taken it and returned it in the 3 hours time limit, yes, you could have gotten away with it (this one time, because he was trying to go beyond the 3 hour limits and badmouthing).

Quote from lDreamStealerl

Taken

You took it and did not return it in the 3 hours time limit.

Map is open for the next person to say taken.

Returned. Hilltop Home (Latest 8-18-11 11pm EST)

I ended up doing the walkways. Just about all of them. I hate 1 block wide walkways, you end up walking onto the slabs that are sidewalk? Either way, did that.

Noticed that metoxy's mine is connected to the mine I found over by killerhamster222's mansion shell. Interesting to say the least. (XRay texture pack showed it)

May finally feel able to go back to the area I was working on. lol.

k4nguru failed to return map in 3 hrs time limit. :dry.gif:

Going by Kat's rules, your turn is void. :sleep.gif:

The map has been open for the past 2-3 hours. :mellow.gif:

Taken. 8pm - 11 pm EST.

ok it works! Map returned successfully. :smile.gif:

Finally get to see what you did. I was waiting for -anybody- to do something. XD

(that string of turns was nice but it gets boring being the only one building.)


Edit: :blink.gif: uhh... what exactaly did you build? Charcter moved onto the bed, but what exactally changed? I went looking over the map... i'm not noticing change, unless you have been building in AEther? (I don't use AEther btw)

Link reports malware. :shrug: :/

edit: that was weird. tried again. it seems to be working now.

Ok... another hour has passed. It sucks, but if anyone calls next before you get it uploaded it's rightfully free for the taking. :/

Quote from metoxys

Didn't give up. Just having problems uploading it to Megaupload. Uploading it on my Dropbox atm

Alright. Understandable. As long as you didn't go MIA on us. :smile.gif:

Metoxys... it's been an hour over your turn. You took at 7:15 EST (4 hours ago), should have returned at 10:15-10:45 EST. Did you give up?

Taken and Returned. Hilltop Home (Latest 8-14-2011 3am EST)

Something was bothering me. So now there is a double rail line leading from the spawn/storage to the town that everyone was building at. Rigged quite simply too. Should be fine for now, getting back and forth between those two areas.

Returned. Hiltop Home (Latest 8-14-2011 12am EST)

I decided to renovate the spawn area. Signboards are now lower to the ground, and wider. Did my best to ensure no messages of any value were lost. Redid the rules going by discussions on here.

I created a new supplies area. Looked through every chest prior and threw everything into the new Waste Burner. The new area has lots of basic materials in stock now.

I plan to later add in another board to go over goals and progress of them.

That's about it. I'm probably going to grab it again in 8 hours to finish that all up, when I wake up in the morning. lol.

Taken. Turn 8. 9pm - 12am.