SWARMcraft - Just when you thought you were out, we pull you back in...

There's a joke there somewhere about the Swarm and in and out....

Anyway, this thread is to gauge the interest of starting up a new Minecraft server specifically for the Swarm. Many of us were addicted to it earlier this year, but after the upgrade to 1.4.2, activity died off and Ritt, understandably, took down the server.

Lately, there seems to be an increased interest in starting a new server for everyone to get in on. While Swarmtopia is/was amazing (and some of us still want to venture to The End as a group) the leanings seem to be towards starting a whole new world, with a new fantastic point of view.

Some of us have tried looking into hosting a new server ourselves, but have faced obstacles that have prevented that from being a reality. Lately, Jill has been looking around at different sites that offer server hosting for games, including Minecraft, which come at a cost based on the length of time you want the server for, as well as the size of the server.

With the increased interest that's come up recently in the casts and Skype chats, I feel this is something we should look into as a group. While I don't know the exact site (Jill can provide that) Jill said that an 8 person server costs roughly $97. Obviously, that doesn't mean it would be limited to only 8 people total, just 8 people at one time (Ritt's Swarmtopia server had a limit of 9).

Since I don't know what everyone else's finances are like, I wouldn't mind fronting the cost of the server, and then having those interested in playing paying me back via PayPal or something. But, before I would even fathom doing so, I'd like to know a) who else is interested in having a server set-up for the Swarm and would be willing to chip in for it and b) how long should be get the server for to start with?

Costs would be minimal if we got enough interest (even with only 8 people, that would only be roughly $12 a person for the entire year, and who can't afford $1 a month?).

So share your thoughts, your ideas, your suggestions, and let's see if we can get this back up and running (and begin losing hours upon hours of our lives to it once again).

Let's do it. I want in.

Goodbye cast. . . .

I assume the buck a month would be sent via a paypal account or some nonsense?

Biddle me in, as well.

I'm down for it and all but I'll have to look into the finance part of it. I don't think I can't afford it, however, I also don't have a lot of time to spend on it. I'm not going to be a freeloader, either. I would love to reinvent Swarmtopia.

I assume Id have the money for it, assuming we get enough people to split it several ways. Definitely down for some swarmcraft.

Since the server is 1.4.6, some of us may need to use this

Ok, so the server is rented, as I chose to rent it for a month to make sure it worked to our liking before paying for additional months. This month is on me.

I'm still working on setting up some mods, like nerfing the creepers, but by tomorrow, the server should be available to whoever wants to join up.

The IP address for the server is 108.61.44.210:26465 but before you can get access to the server you'll have to send me your game screen name so I can add it to the white list, which we need to have for it to be a private server. Just send me a PM here, or if you're in the skype chat, send me a message there and I'll add you.

Ok, folks.

I got an e-mail today from Multiplay letting me know that our one month is almost up. The server was set to run out in a week, so, since there hasn't been much talk about how we are going to set-up payment (or if we were even going to continue on), I went ahead and paid for the second month as well to give us more time to get that all sorted.

So far, things seem to have been running well. The server seems pretty stable and secure. Some of the mods I've put on have been simple to manage and haven't taken up much space, and there's been a decent turn out so far with some of the people who have signed up making some pretty ambitious projects.

The door is still open for new players to join in and start playing around. I would still just need your screen name so I could whitelist you, and then you'd be good to go. I'd really like to see more people get in on it, because the more people playing, the more fun it is as you get to see what everyone else is up to, what projects they're working on, and can even start getting some community projects starting. Plus, there's always the chance of finding The End and I'm also looking more into what I can do to set up adventures like what Ritt had that time (still looking into that though).

So, hopefully the interest increases, or at least sustains, and we can keep this going for a while longer. If anyone has any feedback on anything, I'd love to hear it.

I might know a person or 2 who could be interested in joining a server. But more importantly GIVE ME CREATIVE MODE FOR A DAY! At this rate im going to need a new house for cobblestone lol.

Andrew Valentine brought up a good point to me today while logged on. I suppose if the expectation is that people might start chipping in for the server, that we should have some way to actually chip in.

I think Jill made a Paypal account, but I also have my own personal Paypal account that I currently do not use. So, if people wanted to chip in they could just send me their money and I'd put it towards the server. Right now, an 8 person server, with free Mumble server (which I can set up if we want to do so) is only about $12.50/month. If we renew for 3 months we get a 10% discount, so it only costs about $32 total for 3 months. If we decide to upgrade to a vent server, it's 50% off a Vent server per month (which I think is about $2 extra a month for a 10 slot server), and if we want to add more slots to the Minecraft and/or char server, then that will cost more as well.

My Paypal account e-mail is el_moochador@hotmail.com. If people want to start putting money in towards the server, I'll take that and renew the server based on what is raised. Given the number of people that have played so far, if everyone pitched in like $3, we'd be able to renew for 3 months easy. If anyone does pitch in, and send it to my account, please send a note stating who you are so I know who has pitched in. Obviously the hope is that whoever is planning on playing, is also planning on pitching in.

Of course, how we go about this is up for discussion as well. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

It's that time again, folks. Renewal for the server is up in a week. I've already received some donation, but the more we get, the longer I can set the renewal for. Hoping we can get enough donations to renew for 3 months this time, then we don't have to worry about it for a while.

If there are any questions or anything, let me know.

Ok, folks, the latest Minecraft update (1.5 - The Redstone update) has come out. Because I know not everyone has a legit copy of the game, I will not be upgrading the server right away. However, I will be looking to do so in the very near future. I will keep my eye open for a free copy of 1.5 for those of you who need it, but suggest that you all do the same. I'm looking to upgrade the server probably within the next two weeks.

Also, to update the subscription, I'm paying for the server again this month. I couldn't change the other for the renewal length on the Multiplay website, and they had to go into my account and manually apply the option. So, next renewal date, it will be renewed for 3 months using the money that has been donated so far. This will take us into July, so we'll be good with the server for a decent amount of time.

Here's the link for the Swarmcraft map.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b0zfrtgh8iw699b

We really do just go in bursts on this game, don't we? Complete obsession for a time, then total apathy. THEN OBSESSION AGAIN!

Pretty much. But at least the map will still be around for the next time we obsess.

We should think about adding a few mods to the sever I don't play on

http://www.pcgamesn.com/minecraft/twenty-best-minecraft-mods

I'm definitely up for trying some of those out.

If people let me know any mods they want me to add to the server, I can see if it's available through the host site.

I'd rather not put on a mod map unless we set it up as an event or something.

For those that may need it, the new IP for the server is 162.244.165.61:49376

Any idea on when you'll be upgrading us to 1.7.9?

I can upgrade it anytime anyone wants me to. Thing is, Bukkit isn't that far up to date yet so we'd be back to Vanilla for a bit. Bukkit 1.7.5 might cover enough up to Minecraft 1.7.9 (as Bukkit 1.7.2 covers up to Minecraft 1.7.5) but there haven't really been any major improvements between 1.7.5 to 1.7.9. I can see if Bukkit is more up to date yet, but if it's not, and we change it, we'll lose the creeper nerf.

Nah, creeper nerf is pretty vital. Otherwise, I just spend the whole time in a bad mood.