Hi, most of you won't know me, but you can call me Curry. I've been playing Cubecraft on and off in the past year and have played on the server ever since 2016. Before I really shifted over to CC, my main server was the now defunct Hive (Java). Naturally, this isn't to preach about Hive, but rather to learn from another big Java server that nose dived and died in the span of a year, so I hope both devs and players will listen in, so that in the years to come we still have these beautiful communities, and games to bond over. (Hey, quick post note, i end up using devs and staff team interchangeably... oops. but yes the main two groups I'm talking to here are the players and the staff as a whole)
For the Players
Backlash
When something drastic like this happens, backlash is natural. The big one would be from those with ranks, who want their money back, and those who lost the games they loved, which especially in this case is such a substantial part of the community. The anger or sadness that all of you feel are, naturally, valid. However, showing this anger to the devs will just further their mindset that the java servers are unsustainable, since there's not even a community that appreciates their work. If you've ever done something for someone, you'll know how much it sucks to have people pull long faces at you even though you tried (even if you failed, or screwed up badly).
Personally I play blockwars, and I love the game. But that doesn't mean that I can pretend I don't spend up to 10-15 minutes sometimes bouncing around the lobby hoping someone will join. It sucks to see these games go, but I hope most of you can see the tiny silver lining that is that they're aiming to return these games. They haven't said "we're getting rid of these games forever so that these other games can flourish". They're basically closing the server for four months, and I think that's the view we need to see. They've given a select few games to play still if we get bored or something, but the server is literally undergoing renovation. Those games you love, they can come back, if you want them to.
But it is important that the community doesn't just sling hate all over, you can say that CC keeps screwing up and the server is as good as dead, but you don't realise until it's about to close (and then closes) how much you miss the unique games you can't find anywhere else. Especially if you love multiplayer on Java with a closely knit community, there aren't many of them out there where you can still play a substantial game, instead of a pathetic one with like 2 players.
Will the games come back?
Well, if the server doesn't close. I really try not to burst your bubble, but when Hive did a revamp, it really was the beginning of the end. To this day some of us speculate that Hive just wanted to focus on Bedrock, where they were more successful. Anyway, the Hive devs made a few costly mistakes during that revamp (I'll underline these below in the section to the devs in hopes they read it), so it does not mean that this renovation of CC means it's on the way to close.
Personally, I believe that whether the games come back or not is up to the community. Sure, the devs may try to draw new people in, but they can only do so much. As your respective communities, try to do things that help the game thrive, bring players who keep coming back, and find new ways to improve the game (yeah i know most of you have been doing this last one)
How can I possibly bring more players?
Uh, it's tough. But, you've got four months. I'm gonna use the TD community as a rough example here, even though I don't really know any one of you so this is not a representation of the TD community in any way. But, say you play TD. In these 4 months you try to search for other servers to play TD or some other game on, and meet new people there and make friends. Let's say you have a TD discord already, you can ask if they're interested to play TD. Then, when CC announces its reopening, as a whole community of TD players you can show that the game has good demand, enough to warrant it to come back. When the game comes back, if the numbers are consistently healthy then we'll have people coming to play, who might become new regulars too. It's a lot of work, but I think especially if you care about the community, it's worth it.
It must be said though, that you need to maintain a pretty positive gaming environment to keep new players around. So... hopefully your communities aren't too toxic :')
Server Reopening
Prepare to be disappointed. No, seriously. The first few weeks are going to be rough, with things that you thought were going to reappear not showing up, games that you love absolutely bugged with things only someone with like 100 hours in the game would know about, stuff like that. This doesn't mean the devs didn't put in effort, but if you've ever even tried coding you know how hellish it is, and there might be stuff you as a programmer don't catch even when things function well. Be patient with the devs (even if it's hard because it seems like they refuse to listen to you and aren't doing anything), they've got a lot more on their plates. If any of you in the community have knowledge of how things work, you can even try to suggest to the devs what to do to fix the bugs.
For the devs (and staff team!)
Backlash
I'm sure this reaction is expected, but I hope that you're able to see through the anger and uproar that is the knee-jerk reaction of the community, and hear what they really want. As players, we always feel that the staff team tends to not have our interests as a priority, or that you're so distant from the game that you don't know why it's so precious so you just struck it down, etc.
But I really hope that all of you are approaching this revamp with the absolute intention of reviving the server. I hope that your marketing genuinely reaches out to potential new players, that your additions are in line with what the community wants, that you actually see a future for this server instead of just being the sick unwanted brother of Bedrock Cubecraft. You have a dedicated playerbase, and we hope you don't spurn us.
Bigger and Better?
This may not be the case, and going bigger can sacrifice quality that us players want. A mega revamp to 1.19 is risky, but please, for starters, don't try and squeeze in all the new things 1.14+ has to offer, and focus on making what we already had stable. We can take things slow from there, we'll stick around if we have things to stick around for. There is no point at all in coding all of this in only for it to flop. Four months isn't a lot of time, and I really hope you guys don't stretch yourselves too thin.
Mother doesn't always know best
Please, please, please, listen to your players. A playerbase without a staff to run and uphold a server is useless, but so is a staff team that has no playerbase. The biggest mistake Hive made was that it went off on its own as a staff team to do whatever it wanted to do, and that in turn led to more resentment from the players.
We don't need unnecessary changes. Like the compulsory blockwars autoqueue? No one wanted that. I understand if it was a move to not have waiting time in the lobbies, but some of us are fine with that. Making it optional would have been nice. But the point is, if the community doesn't want/need something, and it's going to cost you more time and effort to make it, then there's no point wasting resources to make a feature that people don't even like.
It can be very hard to hear player feedback, but maybe the staff team can consider holding sessions somewhere (maybe on discord?) where they gather together just for the purpose of hearing what players have to say. Not just in a "this is a bug, fix it" way, but where there can be dialogue between staff and players, and between players themselves. This can really show what the general community feels about a situation, and at the same time you can see what the community needs. Yes, I know this takes a lot of effort, but this also shows us that you care about us.
Sorry, we're still a little lost
Most of us are teenagers, some maybe just a little older. Frankly, we have no idea what we're talking about sometimes or how to manage our emotions properly. Sometimes our criticism is harsh, unfounded, and just abhorrently nihilistic. But I hope you understand, some of us have spent our own money to support this server (and we don't make a lot), some of us have so many memories we don't want to see just vanished into thin air. This makes us feel unseen, unheard, and as if the staff team doesn't care about us other than for the money.
As a team mainly comprised of adults, I do hope that you will be able to take the high road on this and still listen to us even if it's hard and annoying, even if it seems like we just want this to fail. We're not easily satisfied at all, and sometimes we don't know how to show appreciation. But, this was the audience you chose to cater to, and these are some of the challenges that come with it. It's all part of growing up that we don't really know what we're doing, and reacting to something so drastic like this can be tough.
Closing the server: some requests
But if the team does feel that the server has to close, either now or in the long run, there's a few things I request, if it's possible to do so.
1) Let us download your maps and use them, especially those you won't be porting over to Bedrock. Maybe you could even have a small scale server instead where it's just memories of all the maps, or for us to play makeshift games on our own with friends. It just feels like such a waste for these beautiful pieces of art to vanish into the ether, and it's nice to revisit these maps too. Some of us may even be talented enough to code our own version of these games and we'd love to replay our favourite maps!
2) Release the open source for your games. When Hive closed, tons of recreations popped up. The fact of the matter is, we still want to play. And it'll be nice if we can play it the exact same way it was done on Cubecraft. I'd personally really miss playing Ender...
3) Don't just pretend we never existed. Hive wiped their forums so fast after they closed, with no archives anywhere. The discord has no trace of the java channels, no memoirs of it whatsoever. That is so invalidating to our experiences and memories, and also just for people to wrap up conversations on forums or go back to find something they didn't think of saving. Hopefully you'd be able to find a way to preserve some of these things.
For all
Final Words
This news is shocking to all of us, and it's very new territories that most of us aren't sure of navigating. We need to realise the importance of us as a community, and that if we put effort into this, we'll be able to come out on the brighter side of things next year. Hopefully we are all able to listen to each other and our concerns as we go through these trying times.
For the Players
Backlash
When something drastic like this happens, backlash is natural. The big one would be from those with ranks, who want their money back, and those who lost the games they loved, which especially in this case is such a substantial part of the community. The anger or sadness that all of you feel are, naturally, valid. However, showing this anger to the devs will just further their mindset that the java servers are unsustainable, since there's not even a community that appreciates their work. If you've ever done something for someone, you'll know how much it sucks to have people pull long faces at you even though you tried (even if you failed, or screwed up badly).
Personally I play blockwars, and I love the game. But that doesn't mean that I can pretend I don't spend up to 10-15 minutes sometimes bouncing around the lobby hoping someone will join. It sucks to see these games go, but I hope most of you can see the tiny silver lining that is that they're aiming to return these games. They haven't said "we're getting rid of these games forever so that these other games can flourish". They're basically closing the server for four months, and I think that's the view we need to see. They've given a select few games to play still if we get bored or something, but the server is literally undergoing renovation. Those games you love, they can come back, if you want them to.
But it is important that the community doesn't just sling hate all over, you can say that CC keeps screwing up and the server is as good as dead, but you don't realise until it's about to close (and then closes) how much you miss the unique games you can't find anywhere else. Especially if you love multiplayer on Java with a closely knit community, there aren't many of them out there where you can still play a substantial game, instead of a pathetic one with like 2 players.
Will the games come back?
Well, if the server doesn't close. I really try not to burst your bubble, but when Hive did a revamp, it really was the beginning of the end. To this day some of us speculate that Hive just wanted to focus on Bedrock, where they were more successful. Anyway, the Hive devs made a few costly mistakes during that revamp (I'll underline these below in the section to the devs in hopes they read it), so it does not mean that this renovation of CC means it's on the way to close.
Personally, I believe that whether the games come back or not is up to the community. Sure, the devs may try to draw new people in, but they can only do so much. As your respective communities, try to do things that help the game thrive, bring players who keep coming back, and find new ways to improve the game (yeah i know most of you have been doing this last one)
How can I possibly bring more players?
Uh, it's tough. But, you've got four months. I'm gonna use the TD community as a rough example here, even though I don't really know any one of you so this is not a representation of the TD community in any way. But, say you play TD. In these 4 months you try to search for other servers to play TD or some other game on, and meet new people there and make friends. Let's say you have a TD discord already, you can ask if they're interested to play TD. Then, when CC announces its reopening, as a whole community of TD players you can show that the game has good demand, enough to warrant it to come back. When the game comes back, if the numbers are consistently healthy then we'll have people coming to play, who might become new regulars too. It's a lot of work, but I think especially if you care about the community, it's worth it.
It must be said though, that you need to maintain a pretty positive gaming environment to keep new players around. So... hopefully your communities aren't too toxic :')
Server Reopening
Prepare to be disappointed. No, seriously. The first few weeks are going to be rough, with things that you thought were going to reappear not showing up, games that you love absolutely bugged with things only someone with like 100 hours in the game would know about, stuff like that. This doesn't mean the devs didn't put in effort, but if you've ever even tried coding you know how hellish it is, and there might be stuff you as a programmer don't catch even when things function well. Be patient with the devs (even if it's hard because it seems like they refuse to listen to you and aren't doing anything), they've got a lot more on their plates. If any of you in the community have knowledge of how things work, you can even try to suggest to the devs what to do to fix the bugs.
For the devs (and staff team!)
Backlash
I'm sure this reaction is expected, but I hope that you're able to see through the anger and uproar that is the knee-jerk reaction of the community, and hear what they really want. As players, we always feel that the staff team tends to not have our interests as a priority, or that you're so distant from the game that you don't know why it's so precious so you just struck it down, etc.
But I really hope that all of you are approaching this revamp with the absolute intention of reviving the server. I hope that your marketing genuinely reaches out to potential new players, that your additions are in line with what the community wants, that you actually see a future for this server instead of just being the sick unwanted brother of Bedrock Cubecraft. You have a dedicated playerbase, and we hope you don't spurn us.
Bigger and Better?
This may not be the case, and going bigger can sacrifice quality that us players want. A mega revamp to 1.19 is risky, but please, for starters, don't try and squeeze in all the new things 1.14+ has to offer, and focus on making what we already had stable. We can take things slow from there, we'll stick around if we have things to stick around for. There is no point at all in coding all of this in only for it to flop. Four months isn't a lot of time, and I really hope you guys don't stretch yourselves too thin.
Mother doesn't always know best
Please, please, please, listen to your players. A playerbase without a staff to run and uphold a server is useless, but so is a staff team that has no playerbase. The biggest mistake Hive made was that it went off on its own as a staff team to do whatever it wanted to do, and that in turn led to more resentment from the players.
We don't need unnecessary changes. Like the compulsory blockwars autoqueue? No one wanted that. I understand if it was a move to not have waiting time in the lobbies, but some of us are fine with that. Making it optional would have been nice. But the point is, if the community doesn't want/need something, and it's going to cost you more time and effort to make it, then there's no point wasting resources to make a feature that people don't even like.
It can be very hard to hear player feedback, but maybe the staff team can consider holding sessions somewhere (maybe on discord?) where they gather together just for the purpose of hearing what players have to say. Not just in a "this is a bug, fix it" way, but where there can be dialogue between staff and players, and between players themselves. This can really show what the general community feels about a situation, and at the same time you can see what the community needs. Yes, I know this takes a lot of effort, but this also shows us that you care about us.
Sorry, we're still a little lost
Most of us are teenagers, some maybe just a little older. Frankly, we have no idea what we're talking about sometimes or how to manage our emotions properly. Sometimes our criticism is harsh, unfounded, and just abhorrently nihilistic. But I hope you understand, some of us have spent our own money to support this server (and we don't make a lot), some of us have so many memories we don't want to see just vanished into thin air. This makes us feel unseen, unheard, and as if the staff team doesn't care about us other than for the money.
As a team mainly comprised of adults, I do hope that you will be able to take the high road on this and still listen to us even if it's hard and annoying, even if it seems like we just want this to fail. We're not easily satisfied at all, and sometimes we don't know how to show appreciation. But, this was the audience you chose to cater to, and these are some of the challenges that come with it. It's all part of growing up that we don't really know what we're doing, and reacting to something so drastic like this can be tough.
Closing the server: some requests
But if the team does feel that the server has to close, either now or in the long run, there's a few things I request, if it's possible to do so.
1) Let us download your maps and use them, especially those you won't be porting over to Bedrock. Maybe you could even have a small scale server instead where it's just memories of all the maps, or for us to play makeshift games on our own with friends. It just feels like such a waste for these beautiful pieces of art to vanish into the ether, and it's nice to revisit these maps too. Some of us may even be talented enough to code our own version of these games and we'd love to replay our favourite maps!
2) Release the open source for your games. When Hive closed, tons of recreations popped up. The fact of the matter is, we still want to play. And it'll be nice if we can play it the exact same way it was done on Cubecraft. I'd personally really miss playing Ender...
3) Don't just pretend we never existed. Hive wiped their forums so fast after they closed, with no archives anywhere. The discord has no trace of the java channels, no memoirs of it whatsoever. That is so invalidating to our experiences and memories, and also just for people to wrap up conversations on forums or go back to find something they didn't think of saving. Hopefully you'd be able to find a way to preserve some of these things.
For all
Final Words
This news is shocking to all of us, and it's very new territories that most of us aren't sure of navigating. We need to realise the importance of us as a community, and that if we put effort into this, we'll be able to come out on the brighter side of things next year. Hopefully we are all able to listen to each other and our concerns as we go through these trying times.
