So anyway, about Minecraft PvP serversFollow

So I got bored with filling boxes with diamonds on conventional SMP servers. I thought I'd try my hand at a "PvP" server.

I am addicted to Minecraft all over again. There's something about the looming threat of other players that makes the game so much more interesting. The challenge of building up a secure base that other players cannot break into is actually a lot of fun. You can claim land with your faction (like a guild) and the more people you recruit, the more land you can cover, until inevitably you come into conflict with another faction and make war with them.

Blocks cannot be broken or placed on land you've claimed (with certain exceptions), however, treasure boxes that are not protected can still be accessed. Killing other players on the server reduces their "power" over the land, and if they kill you and your guildies enough, your land will begin to go unclaimed.

The server I joined is called EvoCraft. It utilizes the MCMMO mod that allows the creation of subtle character classes who can use magic and abilities, and a leveling system that gives perks for skilling up.

Upon logging in you can choose to either create or join a faction. There are few larger, more prominent factions with impenetrable fortresses of doom-- the rest are mostly people popping in and out of the server attempting to establish themselves and falling prey to "sharks" who are trying to secure more land and treasure. I am part of an underdog faction of sorts-- one just barely on the radar, called "Zodiac."

The other day our castle was sieged and completely wiped out by the powerful bully faction, "Boogeymen." My wife and step-daughter were outside the gates picking flowers when they came-- killing them both. I ran outside to protect them and they killed me, and Snitch, the faction leader, causing us to lose enough power through our deaths for them to break through our walls and loot our chests. We since abandoned that castle and have constructed a new, more secure base further away from the spawn area.

There is a feeling of danger and mortality that isn't present in regular Minecraft gameplay here. You really have to take everything into consideration. You can't just invite random people into your faction and into your base, but people do every day anyway, then cry because all their stuff is gone. The moment you log out, there will be people coming across your base and looking for weak points for which they can enter. It is really... really @#%^ing hard, but that is the best part.

Edited, Jun 26th 2011 5:23am by Kuwoobie

Every time our base is successfully raided, sometimes when we're all online and in the base even, we come up with new ways to improve security.

I have to say it's incredibly satisfying watching intruders fall into traps I set up, or nailing them with arrows and fireballs from higher grounds and watching them explode into a flower of diamond equipment and weapons to be collected and used against them.

Today is actually the first day this week I've logged in to find my base fully intact thanks to all the work I did yesterday fortifying the walls and covering them with curtains of water. I didn't realize before that people could construct "TNT cannons" to destroy hard surfaces that are claimed from a distance. Mages can also use fireballs to destroy weaker materials such as dirt and wood that are protected by claims. Beastmasters can spawn creepers that can also breach security. The only sure way to keep something safe is obsidian, which I use to secure my treasure chests and have begun to line the inner walls with.

The server became really boring after finding all the hidden spells and building base nobody could get into. That and the only guy I met on there who was halfway decent got banned because he didn't know how to x-ray without being detected.

Like most Minecraft servers, it was populated with mindless drooling preteen degenerates. It's extremely rare finding anyone who isn't, and when they get banned and you're left alone in a cesspool of filth it just isn't fun anymore.

Because of this I think it would be interesting to have a mod where it's more directly competitive, like between two people or two teams. For that to work it would have to be limited to a specific area. Probably via adminium walls to keep everyone in - maybe with viewing areas for spectators?