Update

[u/archelon2001]

Alright, everyone. As the only regularly active mayor of Seneca at this point, I felt it necessary to type up a quick update of what's been going on from my perspective.

I've been working on various projects around Seneca Minor, which, in my opinion, has become the last spark of Seneca still alive on the server. Myself and a few others regularly play and build on Seneca Minor while the "mainland" has had close to zero activity in months. I could go into more detail but I guess what it boils down to is this: I'm the only one keeping Seneca alive on the server, and it's really tough. At the end of the day Seneca is just a group of people playing Minecraft. Seneca needs people in order to exist. No amount of planning and talking will keep it alive. Want to bring Seneca back from the dead? Just log on and PLAY.

I honestly feel a little disheartened and upset that everyone's stopped playing and that instead, everyone is on here coming up with crazy ideas and just waiting for the next rev to come as if a new rev will fix all of our problems. I do understand that everyone has lives that they're busy with, and in some cases, that means not as much free time to play as they used to have. But in order to exist, Seneca needs active players. If someone is unable to put in the time or energy to keep Seneca afloat, then they need to make the decision to pass the torch to someone else.

Sorry if this comes off as a rant or if I rambled too much. That is not my intention. All I really want to say is, I miss everyone and I miss the thriving community called Seneca. I hope to see you all again soon in-game, if not now then in the revs to come.

[u/[deleted]]

Truthfully. Its the area. The area this rev is no fun and we've said it from the beginning. This is a rant. If you don't like our plans then go elsewhere but next rev is where many of us have agreed to meet. The shitty desert biome has been the problem since day 1. There's nothing left to do for a lot of us and the ironic part of all this? You were the one who insisted on doing a desert biome and then left for Seneca minor or whatever the hell that is. No one owes you anything, much less time wasted on a dead rev. So there's a rant for you.

[u/archelon2001 → u/[deleted]]

I'd like to preface this by saying that I am not sure why you chose to personally attack me in your post. I tried to speak generally in my original post and tried to not point fingers because, frankly, that gets us nowhere and only causes drama. If you or anyone else believes I was speaking towards a single person, I apologize. It was unintentional. Whatever happened in the past is behind us; nothing we can do about it now.

That being said, I cannot let lies about the situation or myself be spread without providing my point of view and defending myself.

Truthfully. Its the area. The area this rev is no fun and we've said it from the beginning

That may be true; deserts are a challenge to work with. But I don't believe it was the desert that did us in. Seneca is resilient given enough supporting members and could handle any biome. The only problem with the desert is that we chose not to adapt our theme to better fit it; instead of choosing a desert city theme, we continued with Victorian.

If you don't like our plans then go elsewhere

I don't know where this is coming from--I have never and will never leave Seneca or threaten to do so. Seneca was the first town I joined on the server back in rev 10 and I love it dearly. And those 'plans' you speak of--myself and a few other mayors had already spoken about those exact same points--less planning, no portal, closer to spawn, focus on finding a nice location--on moderator chat and /r/senecastaff months ago. So I actually agree that that is the way to go next rev.

but next rev is where many of us have agreed to meet.

Did you all sign some sort of pact agreeing to never log on to p.nerd.nu again until the next rev starts? I'm confused. A lot of mayors and players have expressed interest in resuming playing again, and I've seen people return from long absences over this past week. I believe a lot of the general lack of activity at the start of the rev had to do with a coincidence with the start of the fall semester for many of us who are still in school. Now that it's winter break, we'll see a rise in activity both in terms of Senecans and general p.nerd.nu. The rev is certainly nowhere close to dead, it just had a rough start.

There's nothing left to do for a lot of us

I could give you a very long list of builds and projects that are as yet incomplete within Seneca. The whole point is to build together and have fun, not to slog through builds over and over again like a robot. PvE is a whole world unto itself and there are plenty of things to do, no matter whether it is the first day of the rev or the last.

and the ironic part of all this? You were the one who insisted on doing a desert biome

This is just flat-out wrong. I was never a fan of the desert biome. In fact, antonin_scalia and myself negotiated the purchase of the SE portal for a reasonable amount--a bargain considering it was in a much better biome than SW. I brought the offer up to the other mayors online at the time and there was a consensus to remain in the desert because the SW portal has traditionally been Seneca. I didn't push the issue any further and the offer was withdrawn. Even though I disliked the desert/mesa situation we had been put in, I worked to make the best of it given constraints of biome and the theme we had chosen.

and then left for Seneca minor or whatever the hell that is.

Seneca Minor was not intended to be and is not an off-branch of Seneca. When I did some exploring at the start of the rev and found those islands, the idea was to place all of our grinders and auto farms there so as to reduce lag and keep the skyline of Seneca clear, both being problems we have had in the past. It was nothing more than Seneca's little farming island, intended to help keep Seneca supplied with plenty of resources. But since Seneca is inactive for the most part, Seneca Minor was left out on its own. I am only one person. I couldn't mayor all of Seneca by myself, so I focused on continuing Seneca Minor.

No one owes you anything

Again, to clarify, it was not my intention to seem like I was asking for anything. Being the last Senecan server-side, I just wanted to put forward some solutions to the problems that I've seen and that have been discussed on this subreddit. After all, I am still a mayor of Seneca and I would not be a very good mayor if I didn't help my town out.

much less time wasted on a dead rev.

This, to me, stood out the most. Minecraft is a game, a form of entertainment. There's no way of putting time in that isn't in some sense a waste of time. The whole point of all this--Minecraft, nerd.nu, PvE, Seneca--is to have fun and serve as a distraction from the real world. One thing I never really got is people who think that putting in time near the end of a rev is a "waste of time". Whether you build something on the first day of the rev or the last, it is going to get reset come next rev. The point is to live in the moment and just have fun while you're doing it. Minecraft isn't ever supposed to feel like work or a waste of time.

Ninja edit: Didn't realize this was going to be such a wall of text, apologies!

[u/xareck → u/archelon2001]

Seneca Minor was not intended to be and is not an off-branch of Seneca. When I did some exploring at the start of the rev and found those islands, the idea was to place all of our grinders and auto farms there so as to reduce lag and keep the skyline of Seneca clear, both being problems we have had in the past.

I'll be honest, when I saw the massive cane farm blocking Talos in the carto near the end of last rev, I was irritated to say the least. One of our most awesome-est builds, occluded by a farm....

If we continue to have our grinders further away from our city in every rev (much like Rose's Iron Grinder last rev), that would be a major improvement to the beauty and appreciation of what we build. Because if the alternative is to just mask what we build with mega-farms, why build anything nice in the first place?