x-posting this from /r/feedthebeast. It's a new idea that could be either great or terrible or great and terrible. I learned most of what I know about FTB from these forums, so I think it's time I gave back.
There's a lot, so I'll bold the key bits for skimming.
Forge is brilliant in a lot of ways, but running a civilized public server without robust permissions and anti-griefing is tough. Either your admins become cops, your server becomes Somalia, or you have to hide behind a whitelist... which stagnates the growth of your server and community. None of those options is maximum fun for anyone involved. (Well, maybe for Dwarf Fortress values of FUN!!...)
While building SurvivalTech, we figured out how to open our server to full public participation, while making law enforcement almost entirely unnecessary. My diamonds are in an unlocked chest, less than a minute’s walk from spawn, and I guarantee no one will steal them.
Ladies, Gentlemen, Miners of all ages: Presenting the SurvivalTech DMZ.
What We Did:
New players (“Guests”) are placed in a stable Mystcraft age, open to the public and without permissions, regions, or complex security protocols. IT folks will recognize this right away: we stole a page from perimeter networking theory and created a DMZ dimension using Mystcraft and Simple plugins.
(If you parsed that last sentence as simple, straightforward English, you can skip the next two paragraphs.)
This lets us use the multiverse design of FTB itself as a permissions structure. Players can join SurvivalTech, build, mine, and create whatever they like in this Guest dimension. Chat here is visible throughout the server, so you can introduce yourself and get to know everyone as you play. (Admins have full run of the Multiverse, so you’re not on your own. Don’t panic! (; )
When you’ve played in this Guest world awhile, you can ask to be granted Citizenship (“trusted” status within the multiverse). There’s no hard and fast law to how this decision is made, at least not yet. Trusted Players will start dropping by to check out the sort of stuff you like to build, or paying closer attention to you in chat. When a metric handful or so of Trusted players vouch for you to the Admins, you’ll be given full run of the SurvivalTech multiverse.
When we say full run, we mean it. Make Ages, quarry up nether forts, go nuts. We’ve given you the keys, because you’ve shown you can be trusted with them.
Now, this isn’t to say that the SurvivalTech multiverse is anarchic. Wheaton’s Law is still the law of the land: Don’t Be A Dick and everything will work out just fine.
There are a few limits, based on computational realities. SurvivalTech is free to join and free to play, so we’ve had to make one or two policies about resource-intensive activities or objects. Making Ages, for example: The right to make a permanent Age of your own has to be purchased (with IC2 Credits, not real money. Play more, get more computing power), and the server automagically deletes unregistered ages every night. But by making strategic use of Mystcraft’s multiverse system, we’ve made most security plugins entirely unnecessary.
Our anti-griefing protocols are written into the laws of physics, in a way. You don’t need cops to enforce gravity.
Why It Works:
Whitelisting is great for security, but bad for community. Strangers can never drop by and become friends, and there’s no way to know who can’t be trusted without trusting them and hoping for the best.
Plugins and aggressive Admins treat every player as a potential griefer and work from there. Two results: You’re only as secure as your grasp of the region, faction, and security plugins, and law enforcement is only around if the Admins are online. (The problem of bullying Admins is a whole ‘nuther issue.) That’s not fun.
SurvivalTech’s solution is much, much better. Anyone can drop by and play in the Guest Dimension/DMZ (which is gorgeous, by the way), and can apply for access to the rest of the multiverse after they’ve hung out long enough to like the server and the people who play there.
Before someone’s trusted, they’ve not only proven themselves but actually care about the place. They don’t want to mess with the other players, because they’re not strangers anymore. They’re part of the SurvivalTech community. Why grief your friends?
Guests and Trusted Players have more fun and Admins don’t have to be cops, all without any kind of plugin kung fu or complex permissions. Everybody wins.
Tweaked multiverse physics as perimeter network security and community-building. That, friends and neighbors, is how we roll.
If any of you are curious about the nuts and bolts of our system, we’d be happy to provide a setup walkthrough or image gallery. It’s a good strategy to deal with a common issue and the more servers use it, the more fun we’ll all have.
If you prefer to check stuff out for yourself, the server address is SurvivalTech.us9.creeperhost.net. All are welcome.
There's a lot, so I'll bold the key bits for skimming.
Forge is brilliant in a lot of ways, but running a civilized public server without robust permissions and anti-griefing is tough. Either your admins become cops, your server becomes Somalia, or you have to hide behind a whitelist... which stagnates the growth of your server and community. None of those options is maximum fun for anyone involved. (Well, maybe for Dwarf Fortress values of FUN!!...)
While building SurvivalTech, we figured out how to open our server to full public participation, while making law enforcement almost entirely unnecessary. My diamonds are in an unlocked chest, less than a minute’s walk from spawn, and I guarantee no one will steal them.
Ladies, Gentlemen, Miners of all ages: Presenting the SurvivalTech DMZ.
What We Did:
New players (“Guests”) are placed in a stable Mystcraft age, open to the public and without permissions, regions, or complex security protocols. IT folks will recognize this right away: we stole a page from perimeter networking theory and created a DMZ dimension using Mystcraft and Simple plugins.
(If you parsed that last sentence as simple, straightforward English, you can skip the next two paragraphs.)
This lets us use the multiverse design of FTB itself as a permissions structure. Players can join SurvivalTech, build, mine, and create whatever they like in this Guest dimension. Chat here is visible throughout the server, so you can introduce yourself and get to know everyone as you play. (Admins have full run of the Multiverse, so you’re not on your own. Don’t panic! (; )
When you’ve played in this Guest world awhile, you can ask to be granted Citizenship (“trusted” status within the multiverse). There’s no hard and fast law to how this decision is made, at least not yet. Trusted Players will start dropping by to check out the sort of stuff you like to build, or paying closer attention to you in chat. When a metric handful or so of Trusted players vouch for you to the Admins, you’ll be given full run of the SurvivalTech multiverse.
When we say full run, we mean it. Make Ages, quarry up nether forts, go nuts. We’ve given you the keys, because you’ve shown you can be trusted with them.
Now, this isn’t to say that the SurvivalTech multiverse is anarchic. Wheaton’s Law is still the law of the land: Don’t Be A Dick and everything will work out just fine.
There are a few limits, based on computational realities. SurvivalTech is free to join and free to play, so we’ve had to make one or two policies about resource-intensive activities or objects. Making Ages, for example: The right to make a permanent Age of your own has to be purchased (with IC2 Credits, not real money. Play more, get more computing power), and the server automagically deletes unregistered ages every night. But by making strategic use of Mystcraft’s multiverse system, we’ve made most security plugins entirely unnecessary.
Our anti-griefing protocols are written into the laws of physics, in a way. You don’t need cops to enforce gravity.
Why It Works:
Whitelisting is great for security, but bad for community. Strangers can never drop by and become friends, and there’s no way to know who can’t be trusted without trusting them and hoping for the best.
Plugins and aggressive Admins treat every player as a potential griefer and work from there. Two results: You’re only as secure as your grasp of the region, faction, and security plugins, and law enforcement is only around if the Admins are online. (The problem of bullying Admins is a whole ‘nuther issue.) That’s not fun.
SurvivalTech’s solution is much, much better. Anyone can drop by and play in the Guest Dimension/DMZ (which is gorgeous, by the way), and can apply for access to the rest of the multiverse after they’ve hung out long enough to like the server and the people who play there.
Before someone’s trusted, they’ve not only proven themselves but actually care about the place. They don’t want to mess with the other players, because they’re not strangers anymore. They’re part of the SurvivalTech community. Why grief your friends?
Guests and Trusted Players have more fun and Admins don’t have to be cops, all without any kind of plugin kung fu or complex permissions. Everybody wins.
Tweaked multiverse physics as perimeter network security and community-building. That, friends and neighbors, is how we roll.
If any of you are curious about the nuts and bolts of our system, we’d be happy to provide a setup walkthrough or image gallery. It’s a good strategy to deal with a common issue and the more servers use it, the more fun we’ll all have.
If you prefer to check stuff out for yourself, the server address is SurvivalTech.us9.creeperhost.net. All are welcome.
) Fascinating.