Idea for Large New FTB Server

[nd23rin]

I have 32GB Xeon server which I plan to run a large FTB server on. My biggest issue has been that I can't figure out a way to make a large FTB server interesting enough as a community. In other words, FTB is really fun, but I have found that most people tend to just set up shop and work on their own. So, I am trying to tie more of the community aspect of it in and I had the following idea:

Players pay a monthly entry fee in order to be involved in a building contest and then at the end of the month they get a % of the total pool in prize money. Teams could enter as well, just that the prize money would be split. So if the server has 100 slots and 40 people enter at $5 entry fee, pool is $200 and winner gets 75% of that ($150) and the other 25% ($50) goes towards costs of server upgrades, admin, website upkeep, etc. Winners would receive a special tag showing that they have won for a month and would be shown as winner on the website, etc. maybe a youtube video on the channel to showcase what they built.

Or perhaps instead of money, incorporating in game credits used to buy bigger plots of land with something like Towny to help builders have more space to expand.

So, Im not even sure how to work this from a standpoint of whether its even legal to do this or is it gambling? Would it be better to make the prizes things like steam gifts, or something like that.

Is this even a good idea to you guys out there? Like I said, Im just looking for ways to incorporate the community aspect of a large vanilla server with FTB while challenging people.

Thanks

 

[netchip]

I have 32GB Xeon server which I plan to run a large FTB server on. My biggest issue has been that I can't figure out a way to make a large FTB server interesting enough as a community. In other words, FTB is really fun, but I have found that most people tend to just set up shop and work on their own. So, I am trying to tie more of the community aspect of it in and I had the following idea:

Players pay a monthly entry fee in order to be involved in a building contest and then at the end of the month they get a % of the total pool in prize money. Teams could enter as well, just that the prize money would be split. So if the server has 100 slots and 40 people enter at $5 entry fee, pool is $200 and winner gets 75% of that ($150) and the other 25% ($50) goes towards costs of server upgrades, admin, website upkeep, etc. Winners would receive a special tag showing that they have won for a month and would be shown as winner on the website, etc. maybe a youtube video on the channel to showcase what they built.

Or perhaps instead of money, incorporating in game credits used to buy bigger plots of land with something like Towny to help builders have more space to expand.

So, Im not even sure how to work this from a standpoint of whether its even legal to do this or is it gambling? Would it be better to make the prizes things like steam gifts, or something like that.

Is this even a good idea to you guys out there? Like I said, Im just looking for ways to incorporate the community aspect of a large vanilla server with FTB while challenging people.

Thanks

Whatever you do, _never_ use Towny. I hate it. You have to vote to earn money to buy blocks. And if you don't vote, you lose your land. No thank you, I like to be not bound to a server. I play on multiple servers and can't vote twice a day.

Better use GriefPrevention and give blocks based on playtime.

 

[gattsuru]

I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. I'm also going to presume that United States law is your major focus, although note that technically international compliance can matter if you have international players (although actually enforcing laws internationally just doesn't happen on the 1k USD range, expansive readings of US law can and do get people in jail).

In-game currency is almost always legal, even if you do gamble with it, as long as it can not be converted back out into real-world cash or goods. There have been some limited thoughts about considered in-game stuff from a tax perspective, such as in World of Warcraft economies, to count as income, but the US government has pretty reliably held that under current law it only can consider something money if it does not exist "solely within the lone environment". ((This is also one reason why carnivals and arcades tend to use tokens and tickets, in addition to the advantage of large whole-number purchases.))

Actual dollars are messier. You do have to report and pay taxes on most forms of money crossing your door, not just the obvious stuff. The least complicated legal way to set this up would be as self-employment income, which is taxable once it exceeds a certain and fairly low threshold -- you'd hit it with just that theoretical 200 USD/month scenario, and the marginal tax rate can be somewhere around 10%. It's possible but very very difficult to set up as a small business, the requirements vary by state and sometimes locality, and it's probably not worthwhile until you hit a much higher scale than an individual Minecraft server. Then we get to the question of reward...

If you're setting up cash as the reward, rather than an in-game item, it may count as a gambling or a raffle, and almost all states prohibit or very heavily license raffles run by individuals or for-profit businesses and federal law prohibits any way you could set it up. ((Most forms of gambling over a certain threshold have additional tax and paperwork requirements, which might be relevant here, but are honestly the least of the issues involved.)) Because MineCraft can involve a large degree of skill, however, it is likely more a game of skill (see Humphrey v. Viacom, holding fantasy football bets where knowledge is relevant to success as being "games of skill"), which are have an exception under federal law. However, state law varies : some states prohibit or license games of chance, others require that there be an option for free entry, some have limits on what types of entry fee can be charged, and yet others just require a metric ton of paperwork. I would advise consulting a relevant lawyer if you choose this path.

Actual dollars also involve payment processors, which gets into a complicated realm. Many will not take customers that do anything that could be perceived as gambling in any circumstance -- PayPal in particular will almost always refuse to act as a merchant processor.

 

[namiasdf]

I think finding a bunch of people who want to work as a team to build something bigger, might be the better way.

i.e. Find a dedicated bunch with a common goal. Assign roles, project management and all that jazz. I think that would be extremely fun, given the wide range of things you can do in FTB.

Have a team dedicated to the resource management, building teams, technical teams, etc. People can play multiple roles and can switch as well. You can even do it on a basis of each project, have some people dedicated to certain aspects.

For example, when starting off, the main concern is food, the basic resources and a starter EU source. Have one person dedicated to gathering food, a few to scout for resources, a few to dig, a few to build and some to develop the initial energy source.

I think that exercise in teamwork would be the most rewarding/valuable/fun in terms of FTB. From what I hear, FTB was meant to be a challenge pack, this would allow for much greater challenges to be completed.

The reward is having a highly efficient system built through teamwork. It also means that ideas can come from everywhere, which as I've found in FTB, are important. Too many different ways to do too many things. =)