"Welcome to the Desert of the Real"
March 1, 2016 3:07 PM   Subscribe

 
It's like some people decided to recreate 4chan out of voxels.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:23 PM on March 1, 2016 [8 favorites]


prixels
posted by howfar at 3:46 PM on March 1, 2016 [22 favorites]


Weird and interesting, thanks for posting.
posted by Diablevert at 3:56 PM on March 1, 2016


“It looks like he’s seen me and he’s running away,” says James. “He’s running away and he’s jumping up and down. It looks like he’s just trying to say hello by jumping up and down. I don’t recognise his name, so he’s probably a new guy. He’s just as scared of us as we would be of him.”
It's like a nature documentary, but somehow less civilized.
posted by Rangi at 4:01 PM on March 1, 2016 [8 favorites]


James hands me a map which I briefly think will be come in handy, but on closer inspection this turns out to be a depiction of a character from My Little Pony.
posted by Artw at 4:07 PM on March 1, 2016 [8 favorites]


TBH a lot of it looks like the kind of thing I used to make with the Wolfentein editor.
posted by Artw at 4:08 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I sort of love the idea of wandering around and finding these long-ruined bases. Is it like that on normal minecraft servers? I imagine that even without the active destruction elements, there would be a certain rate of abandonment as players move on.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:13 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I thought this was really cool back when it was Julian Dibbel writing about the Patriotic Nigras in Second Life. Now I just feel like I’m over it. There will always be a lot of edge lords doing amazing things in video games.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:14 PM on March 1, 2016


Curating chaos...
posted by Room 101 at 4:23 PM on March 1, 2016


I'm assuming the MeFi Minecraft server is a social justice paradise with huge bedrock statues of Anita Sarkeesian everywhere.
posted by Artw at 4:27 PM on March 1, 2016 [17 favorites]


Reminiscent of the Closed Map Experiment.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:29 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm assuming the MeFi Minecraft server is a social justice paradise with huge bedrock statues of Anita Sarkeesian everywhere.
posted by Artw


Har! Oh, the biting social commentary! Truly, you cut to the quick.
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:31 PM on March 1, 2016 [9 favorites]


Was going more for "gentle wit", TBH.
posted by Artw at 4:37 PM on March 1, 2016 [4 favorites]


Breaking things in minecraft requires more work than one would expect.
posted by ethansr at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2016


He talks about them as "hackers", says the one guy is running a "hacked version", describes them like they have superpowers for surviving the place. I'm a lot less impressed with the prowess of someone who's on a vanilla server with client-side mods and talking like they're a badass for being able to survive. PvP isn't my cup of tea, though I totally get why some people like it. But if you're relying on newbies to show up not knowing that other people have mods, all this seems like is a containment server for all the people nobody wants to play with on any other game: cheaters, spawn campers, and guys who think that ethnic slurs are high humor.

If it keeps them busy, I'm all for it, but lionizing the participants is a bit much.
posted by Sequence at 4:45 PM on March 1, 2016 [6 favorites]


The line in there about how "what passes for ‘griefing’ on other servers is just a form of weather here" really speaks to me. I don't play on servers as lawless as this one but I do play on a 'hardcore' server (if you die you get banned for a while before you can come back) where there is an unpredictable mix of nice folks who build cool stuff and give newbies food and tools and not-so-nice folks who murder and burn shit down. Whenever I log on to find my supplies raided or my village razed this is exactly how I try to think about it—not as the work of discrete individuals who I should be mad at but as the result of a destructive force of nature. A chaotic, greedy tornado that occasionally blows in and forces me to decide whether to rebuild or move on. It still stings when I see the cratered remains of something I built and it breaks my heart when someone slaughters the villagers I have rescued, protected and watched grow up.. but I think that it is all worth it because without the risk of loss those achievements would feel hollow and empty. I wish there were more servers out there that were anything goes (except hacking) but I guess most people want the peace of mind offered by protection plugins and admins who are willing to revert damage.
posted by metaphorever at 4:49 PM on March 1, 2016 [4 favorites]


God that sounds like pretty much the worst place in the history of ever, but I found this bit strangely moving:
“I think the funniest sign that I’ve ever seen,” says James, “I was probably about 20,000 blocks away from spawn. There was no sign of life, it was all untouched, natural terrain. I was pretty sure I was generating fresh terrain, I was that far out. And I find a sign and it says: ‘Nothing you ever do means anything’. Just… in the middle of nowhere.”
posted by dersins at 5:08 PM on March 1, 2016 [18 favorites]


Nothing

You ever do

Means anything

Burmashave!
posted by Adridne at 5:11 PM on March 1, 2016 [26 favorites]


Yeah, it's a sort of nihlist playground, innit? I suppose that's part of what I find interesting about it. I can understand the sort of sadistic pleasure you'd get from griefing the norms. What's compelling about returning again and again to slasher central? If the baseline expectation is violation, can there really be frustration when it occurs? And yet it seems there's a sort of rose in the desert quality to it, too. The sign, or the base they found after digging a million miles east. A compulsion to build precisely because everything is expected to tumble. You put up a sign in the middle of nowhere on the slim, slim chance that someone will run across it someday --- you'll ever know if they do --- to say that nothing matters. A wry joke falls in the forrest, ha- silence. The Dadaists would have approved of this I think...
posted by Diablevert at 5:59 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


If it keeps them busy, I'm all for it, but lionizing the participants is a bit much.

Isn't lionizing, perhaps auto-lionizing, what keeps them there?
posted by clew at 6:07 PM on March 1, 2016


"Inside the Quake server where aimbots are allowed!" would probably be less fun as an article.
posted by Artw at 6:13 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Huh. Apparently Notch just came out as a Gamergater. https://twitter.com/notch/status/704828353627295744
posted by egypturnash at 6:27 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh dear. Notch is having some kind of Twitter meltdown about "free speech" now in a very tedious way. Sample "joke".
posted by Artw at 6:33 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


I think it's a joke? I don't particularly care.
posted by Artw at 6:33 PM on March 1, 2016


Same day I want a Minecraft license. Not to be a dick, but just to see what all the hubbub is about.
posted by Samizdata at 6:38 PM on March 1, 2016


Eh. I'm enjoying Minecraft, but I enjoy building, and have no interest in the sort of server where some folks are raiding other people's stuff for funsies.

Then again, about 2/3 of my enjoyment comes out of "okay, this mod is interesting, what if I cross it with this one? Does having these things together break one or the other's balance?"
posted by Archelaus at 6:53 PM on March 1, 2016


I sort of love the idea of wandering around and finding these long-ruined bases. Is it like that on normal minecraft servers? I imagine that even without the active destruction elements, there would be a certain rate of abandonment as players move on.

On the Aporkalypse I used to occasionally dig out a space underground and put something neat in it, little tombs waiting to be found. Once this turned into an underground dwarf base.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:10 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Is Notch serious or is he just cranky because people were needling him and he's in the "I don't want to hear about my privilege even though that's what lets me say that these things are all silly and should be ignored" camp?

Because if he's serious, then that's the second GamerGate-related dismaying news I'll have had today. :-(
posted by Scattercat at 7:24 PM on March 1, 2016


I'm sorry but

MetaFilter: berating each other, issuing unimaginable bile about children and minorities.
posted by cmoj at 7:39 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


A nihilistic griefing PvP server sounds like it would be kind of fun. I can take a pass on the 12 year old verbal offensiveness though.

I'm assuming the MeFi Minecraft server is a social justice paradise

It's not MeFi exactly, but the MeFightClub server Aporkalypse was a nice friendly server where a surprisingly large number of people got along building stuff together for 2+ years. It was pretty great. MFC has an ethos of "Rotato" which boils down to "don't be a jerk" and it's pretty nice.
posted by Nelson at 8:01 PM on March 1, 2016 [2 favorites]


Really interesting article. I'm almost tempted to visit, I can see the appeal of trying to survive in such a harsh environment. Not so much the bigotry though.

On the Aporkalypse I used to occasionally dig out a space underground and put something neat in it, little tombs waiting to be found. Once this turned into an underground dwarf base.

I totally did this too. Somewhere near the East wall (I think) there's a 2001 monolith waiting to be unearthed...
posted by equalpants at 8:24 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]


s Notch serious or is he just cranky because people were needling him and he's in the "I don't want to hear about my privilege even though that's what lets me say that these things are all silly and should be ignored" camp?

He's been on some kind of shitty "what about free speech" jag all day where "free speech" is very much right-to-be-an-asshole, so as I say I almost don't care if it's a joke because it's the same shitty thing anyway. Sigh.

So many kids love that thing. So many. Ah well, I guess at least he doesn't own it now.
posted by Artw at 8:31 PM on March 1, 2016


One of my relatives set up a server that only his three girls and their friends (ages 7-12) can play on. Ironically he did to to protect them from others. In practice it's basically this. You will hear a howl of anguish from the upstairs living room and see the kid on the ipad in the kitchen smirk. You'd think the violence spilling over into real life would keep it in check but no. Not at all.
posted by fshgrl at 9:39 PM on March 1, 2016 [11 favorites]


I think that it is all worth it because without the risk of loss those achievements would feel hollow and empty.

God sent Minecraft so we'd understand and forgive Him.
posted by Segundus at 11:32 PM on March 1, 2016 [4 favorites]


Given Notch came out as an SJW 7 hours later and wanted GGers to unfollow him after watching a video, I suspect Notch is trolling or trying to get people to unfollow.
posted by Deoridhe at 12:34 AM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yeah the impression I get is that Notch is completely burned out on video games and wants to just be left alone in his mansion forever. So if he can alienate all of video-gamedom, terrific.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 1:05 AM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's extremely tedious.
posted by Artw at 6:13 AM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


all this seems like is a containment server for all the people nobody wants to play with

Letting people be sociopaths in addictive virtual worlds strikes me as an improvement on mass incarceration. Just like I've always thought we should put all the worst criminals together in a camp in the middle of the Brooks Range with nothing and no one to help. Good luck folks!

But this is even better except we still have to feed them.
posted by spitbull at 6:55 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm assuming the MeFi Minecraft server is a social justice paradise with huge bedrock statues of Anita Sarkeesian everywhere

It wasn't; it was full of big nerdy things though. I built the Ghostbusters HQ & Barad Dur, others made enormous Star Wars builds, there were giant flying saucers and the big tall walking things from War of the Worlds, lots of giant pig statues, lots of really elaborate "redstone" engineered stuff, a model of a famous cemetary, and some giant humongous builds that were just all imagination...so maybe not your first thought when you think "MeFi Minecraft server", but when you look around at the builds and meet the other players and find out no one is out to get you or take your stuff, you'd be like "yeah this makes sense".
posted by Hoopo at 9:23 AM on March 2, 2016 [2 favorites]


Thanks, that was a fun read even though I don't have anything to do with Minecraft.
“I can’t show you from here,” says James, “but below where we are there is nothing but anvils.”

“What?”

“Someone has put, underground, about 600 anvils. Don’t ask me why.”

We find our way to a small passage, flooded with water. We go below and emerge in the tomb beneath the pyramid. James is right. The chamber is full of anvils. Hundreds of anvils. I feel like an Egyptologist being trolled by Tutankhamun.
posted by languagehat at 11:37 AM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


If you look up the Wikipedia entry for "Money can't buy you happiness" it's just a picture of Markus Persson.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:56 PM on March 2, 2016 [4 favorites]


One of my relatives set up a server that only his three girls and their friends (ages 7-12) can play on. Ironically he did to to protect them from others. In practice it's basically this. You will hear a howl of anguish from the upstairs living room and see the kid on the ipad in the kitchen smirk. You'd think the violence spilling over into real life would keep it in check but no. Not at all.

Reminds me of this Penny Arcade strip (And the accompanying blog posts) where Tycho's son used dynamite to wreak havoc on Gabe's son's server.
posted by ymgve at 2:50 PM on March 2, 2016 [1 favorite]


It wasn't;

Why Hoopo? Why is this in the past tense? Why???
posted by howfar at 3:02 PM on March 2, 2016


Yeah, it sounds bleak and interesting and all, but... I set up a private home server for my son using an ultracompact PC and a Spigot build just to protect him from shit like this.

I mean, come on. He's not even 7 yet, and if some jerk broke his house and stole his horse he'd be truly upset.

(Also private server that he doesn't know the password to = he can't play unless I boot it up, log in, and start the script. Plus, as it's no fun to play alone, he doesn't play without me playing too. So, win on all sides.)
posted by caution live frogs at 3:07 PM on March 2, 2016 [3 favorites]


We use Minespan, because I can't be bothered setting up a server locally, and my daugter passes the location to her friends to long in - though I do worry just how secure that is.
posted by Artw at 3:19 PM on March 2, 2016


Artw, hosting services generally allow you to set up a whitelist of people's usernames. I'm not sure what your host might use, but you might contact support; it wasn't hard when I had one set up for myself and friends. I haven't seen it happen personally, but my assumption is that these hosts have a limited pool of IPs, so just not publicizing it doesn't necessarily make it safe. Not a big risk, but.
posted by Sequence at 3:50 PM on March 2, 2016


Why Hoopo? Why is this in the past tense? Why???

Hahaha

I know it's back, but it's missing a bunch of the later iterations i was more familiar with, having joined later. I was walking around the server a couple months back and barely recognized it
posted by Hoopo at 4:13 PM on March 2, 2016


I've had a lot of fun on the MeFi realm, lots of very cool stuff there. But lately I've been playing with my kids, brother, and nephew on a Mojang realm.
posted by wintermind at 6:52 PM on March 2, 2016


Why Hoopo? Why is this in the past tense? Why???

The server owner smothered it like Lennie in Of Mice and Men with a rabbit.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:49 AM on March 3, 2016


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