Challenge

So, there's a lot of debate I could bring up regarding goings on of late in the server of Minecraft I go around in. There have been a few bugs that people have carelessly let mess with other folks, and plenty of other things to discuss in way of projects, intents, and so on and so forth. At this point though I'm thinking mostly about the challenge of the game.

So I have moderator powers on this server (or at least partly so). The question is; do I use them?

I have no issues returning items people are cheated out of by glitches or teleporting around (if I can get that working again) to help people figure out the game and make decisions. The public transit system isn't done yet, but that's part of what I keep thinking.

If people could teleport or be teleported anywhere anytime they wanted... why build a public transit system? And maybe it sounds a lot better to you, to just be able to go somewhere, rather than needing to collect resources for and build a long series of rails and carts to move people across the country side to the various settlements. But fundamentally one has to think of Legos (or Megablocks and Linkin' Logs as you prefer, I had them all) when they play Minecraft. And the whole fun of it is making things. At first you just build them to make shapes that amuse you or catch your fancy. And eventually, you build on patterns, with purpose. Mimic a viable architecture, or practical solution. Depending on your pieces you made moving parts, rail systems, cranes, traps- ENTIRE MACHINES. And it was a lot of fun. That's why I play this game. A simple system, simple restrictions, open end. You move to survive. Learn the game. Pick up habits. Find preferences. Creativity takes over. You get ideas for things to build. You begin. And as you go... you let the challenge inspire you. Find better ways to do things. Edit designs. Decide if the difficulty of making it means its not worth building... or if you find a better way, or just slog through it. And in the end, you look at what all that work produced... and you're damn proud of those silly blocks. That's the fun of it.

But a lot of people in it like to spawn items, not just that are unattainable otherwise or to solve problems. Constantly. The server has expanded at an exponential rate. People joining, a lot of them. Some items spawned. Exceptions made. And then the mods for walking across the sky, the runes, and so forth...

I begin to wonder "how much is too much?" Sure, it's convenience in a game. Who should care?

But when are we killing the game for ourselves without realizing it?




God, it sounds like that whole "SCIENCE SHOULDNT PLAY GOD" argument except I don't feel retarded saying it.

Why I think it's okay for science, within moral realms, to play with nature to better humanity can come later. Whether I think people are capable of sticking within the bounds of that responsibility, I'll note, is not quite the same as whether I think it's right or wrong to do, if it can be done.