Happy New Year!!

From all of us at the Big Sister Gulliver Minecraft Server (and our Little Brother side server), we'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2015!!!

Best wishes to you and your families, and may all your dreams be realized for the coming year!  ^^

Welcome Commissioner Jammy!

Hello all!

I am ecstatic to announce that Jammy has been promoted to the rank of server Commissioner, after a long and successful run as a deligent and vocal deputy.

Jammy was always a unique individual even before she came to our server... even when she was little more than a mere player head with a steampunk skin, she brimmed with a cool spunk that begged one to learn more. Sure enough, she arrived a quirky, talkative and energetic individual, a nice counterpoint to the shy and quiet demeanor of her small cohort of friends. And although she immediately had no technical or resource qualifications to be thought of as staff material, make no mistake... there was a hint of potential, much like a glimmer of hope to a seemingly-impossible cause.

Thus started an interesting evolutionary tale of a young player, unsure of herself and her place on this server, working to defy the odds to suddenly bring the very change she wanted to see in the world, and in herself. She would communicate with me several times, expressing a passing interest in the possibility of making Deputy, but being honest enough about her own limitations to decline the offer on several initial opportunities. But true to her spirited nature she could not settle with that defeat for long, and so she lifted heaven and earth to change that... to brand herself into someone I could trust with the safety and security of our server, to be open to all conflict scenarios no matter how difficult or unsettling they seemed, and to review all documentation and try to be as great an expert as her own technical and memory limitations could allow. She even overcame her earnest inability to build anything beyond an oak plank box house, and proved to herself that yes she was able to build more... much more, from towns, to roads, to bridges and so forth.

It was this relentless and successful [yet polite and honest] can-do spirit that ultimately gained her the Deputy title she worked hard to earn, and since then she has been tirelessly doing her best to protect our server, entertain its players, get discussions going on the forum or on Steam, and generally pitching in wherever she can. If she feels unable to accomplish something, she will still try... and more importantly, if she feels she needs help, she will ask for help -- anything to get the job done, and done right. This is something that other fellow staff members often-times forget to do as well... ask questions, get help, learn to work as a team to compensate [or compilment] each other's strengths and weaknesses. Precisely because of her humble beginnings, I feel Jammy excels at turning insecurity and indecision into a rallying cry for strength and rapid action in the face of adversity, all the while remaining courteous and cheery [albeit fully capable of spunk and sass should it be called for]. And while she isn't always able to protect our server and our forums at all times, when she does she makes herself heard, loud and clear.

After nearly a year of memorable service, I feel Jammy has proven herself to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration.

Jammy was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a superb 88% voter turnout, with 14 votes in favor and two abstains.


I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Jammy a well-earned vote of confidence!

Merry Christmas 2014!!!

Seasons Greetings, everyone!

It's amazing how much can change in a year... this time last year we weren't even technically our own server, but the wheels of change were definitely moving in that direction.  And now we're here, stronger than before, still creative and vibrant, and ready for more fun-filled adventures and companionships in the coming year.  ^^

But of course we mustn't forget where we come from, and it's only fitting that we celebrate Christmas once more at the Shatterdawn Christmas tree, where we had many fun times both building it and opening its many presents.  Tomorrow as you open this years presents (many more as there's so many more players), be thankful for all that was done before you, all that you do to keep this a great place, and all that we will continue to do as we strive forward into the future.  

May we celebrate this day for many more years to come, in the comfort of the friends and family we hold dear!

Happy Holidays!!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Hello all!

Despite a long and intrusive testing period that disrupted the already-underwhelming October Flavor, I am pleased to announce the availability of the December Flavor for Little Brother!

It was a long, hard battle and we nearly missed having it be a huge epic candy world with little to no holiday cheer... but in the end, we managed to save Christmas after all!

This time we're featuring a lush Minecraft 1.7.10 world that's been given the seasonal treatment by Wintercraft, one of the best and most adorable Christmas mods out there.  And to enrich the game world, we're also throwing in a few extra presents:  the absolute-bleeding-edge-latest Biomes O' Plenty and Mo' Creatures.  Now you can have ALL the blocks and mobs you could ever want!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!!

This December Flavor is ALSO marking the first time we enable Dynmap on Little Brother!

http://littlebrother.mcserver.ws:8123/

So now you can track and chat with friends on this server as well!  Talk about multi-tasking!  :D

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using Minecraft 1.7.10, and Forge 10.13.2.1236.
• Wintercraft, Biomes O'Plenty and Mo' Creatures will be the mods featured.  
• The map is generated based on Biomes O Plenty world generation, with a snowy biome intentionally chosen for the spawn point.
• Flammole and InvisibleDragon continue to be the permanent moderators.  Jammy will also be our Monthly Moderator for quality and training purposes.
• Difficulty is set to "Easy Mode" since... tis' the season.  :)
• A Dynmap is employed with this flavor, although Wintercraft blocks might not display.

For Installation:

1. Create a new Little Brother profile in your launcher and have it set to Minecraft 1.7.10 -- run the game at least once to download the necessary Version files.
2. Download Forge 10.13.2.1236 for Minecraft v1.7.10 and run the installer.
3. Back in the Little Brother profile, set the Game Directory to a new folder of your choice and the Use Version to the new Forge for 1.7.10, and run the game.  This will allow game files (including the /mods folder) for this Little Brother profile to be created in a separate folder, thus eliminating the risk of overwriting your standard Big Sister files in the main Minecraft directory.
4. Download Wintercraft v1.1.0 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://gruntpie224mods.weebly.com/downloads1.html
5. Download Biomes O Plenty v2.1.0.1019 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://files.minecraftforge.net/BiomesOPlenty/
6. Download Mo Creatures v6.3.0 and CustomSpawner v3.3.0 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://mocreatures.org/downloads
7. Copy all the mods listed above to your /mods folder inside the custom folder you specified in the Little Brother profile's Game Directory. 
8. Load the game using the Little Brother profile, add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

And that's it!
We may even have a Christmas Building Contest using this world later this month, so be sure to stop by for a bit and play in this Winter Wonderland!

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!!  :D

Big Sister Updated to Gulliver v0.14.3!!!

Annnnnnnd... WE ARE NOW IN GULLIVER FOR 1.6.4!!! WOO!!!!!!  

Hello everyone, I have the pleasure of announcing that Big Sister has officially and succesfully transitioned over to Gulliver v0.14.3 for Minecraft 1.6.4, in addition to Forge Essentials 1.3.0.4. The update was done carefully enough so that almost everything APPEARS to be working as before, although there are some temporary caveats for now....

1. Currently "/give @a" does not work as a command, so for now I can't do my mass cheese dispersals like I enjoying doing off-game. This is something I just discovered now, so I've sent this to Tarig to see if he can fix it -- while not a deal-breaker, it's certainly a loss of functionality.  However, "/give @p" and "/give @r" work just fine.
2. It's quite possible that /pulse now works properly, meaning that any attempt done to account for the inaccurate position of the redstone block now won't be necessary. This also means that due to the offset it may not work properly, so any command block machines that use /pulse may need to be adjusted.
3. In-Game NBTEdit is currently inoperative due to Adfly deciding to have an outage at this time, so I can't get the 1.6.4 version.  This should only be temporary, and of course this only affects /opped players. ^^
4. Dynmap was updated to the latest 1.6.4 version, and yet still has issues displaying player heads properly -- it may be that the only way to fix this is to completely purge the old folder and rerender the entire map from scratch with the latest dynmap.  This however will be quite the task, so if we decide to go this route we will have to do it some other day, and after our marker locations have been backed up somewhere.
5. Of course we all know about the problem with TabbyChat -- due to not having a Forge version for 1.6.4, the requirement to have TabbyChat for RPs will be lifted until further notice. You are free to chat via the regular console, or install TabbyChat standalone or LiteLoader on your own. ^^
6. And finally, due to the aforementioned Adfly outage, I had to revert Little Brother to the October Flavor straight up, meaning it is still running Minecraft 1.6.2 mods.  Sorry, but this too is temporary.  

If you haven't already prepared for this update, you can find the new installation guides below:

Gulliver v0.14.3:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ud6wys5kfac2d0n/Gulliver164Installation_ForgeAutoInstaller.pdf?dl=0

Optifine:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m99dnvfb7akvbpk/OptifineGuide164.pdf?dl=0

Anyway, if you encounter any bugs while you come in and play during the weekend, PLEASE let me know in the forum's support thread and we'll try to get them addressed (or referred to Mion or Tarig).  Let's enjoy the transition and the improved Optifine, and of course the better slime and fast bats, as we wait for the next awesome update. ^^

Upcoming Update to Gulliver v0.14.3

Alo peoplez!

All the necessary preparations and testing on Little Brother of Gulliver v0.14.3 and Forge Essentials 1.3.0.4 have been completed! Many apologies to all the hordes of people who were inconvenienced by the interruption of the October Flavor of Little Brother (I will be sure to compensate all two of you). :P

Also many thanks to Mion and Tarig for making all of this possible, you two are our heroes!  ^^

I will be scheduling the deployment of Gulliver v0.14.3 and the latest Forge Essentials to Big Sister this Saturday, November 22nd, at 12:00am CST!!

Please be ready to update your clients if you haven't already done so! The new installation guide can be found here:

Gulliver v0.14.3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ud6wys5kfac2d0n/Gulliver164Installation_ForgeAutoInstaller.pdf?dl=0

Optifine:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m99dnvfb7akvbpk/OptifineGuide164.pdf?dl=0


You will notice that there is no TabbyChat guide. This is because there is no version of Tabbychat for Forge 1.6.4, although Forge compatibility does resume in the 1.7 versions as it got transferred to a new mod maintainer. While Tabby can be installed standalone or using Liteloader, this is significantly more complicated than what we previously did, and therefore not worth the effort for a mere secondary mod.

So at least until we transition into the 1.7 era, I will be suspending all Tabbychat Requirements for roleplay until further notice, and make TabbyChat installation purely voluntary for anyone who still values it as a useful filtering tool. ^^

Please join the discussion on the forum if you need to ask questions, or would like to make a suggestion regarding the resumption or the discontinuation of the October Flavor of Little Brother.

Thank you and be prepared for good times ahead!!! Certainly Mion will be happy!

Welcome At Last, Commissioner Liz!

Hello all!

I am thrilled and overjoyed to congratulate Liz for her promotion to the rank of server Commissioner, after a successful run as our longest-running Deputy on our server!

Like the proverbial sleeping giant or dragon, Liz came to us remarkably shy and willing to hide in the shadows of others, yet occasionally let free a burst of wit, intelligence, or biting commentary that belied her quiet selflessness. It was thanks to this potential, as well as her mental fortitude and helpfulness, that earned her the place as our very first proper Deputy on our server, a distinction she has quietly but proudly worn for the past 10 months. During that time her participation ebbed and flowed from exceptional to hardly perciptible, as she seemed content with the powerful yet leisurely life of a Deputy; it came to the point where she simply would have no interest to advance and challenge her potential.

But in hindsight it seemed like she was biding her team, and we have for the last few months enjoyed a reawakening of this lion, seemingly out of hibernation, and willing to give it her all. Her communication has broadened considerably, her participation in the forums is more frequent than ever before, and she has actively participated in in-game activities and projects to the point she's practically as ubiquitious presence in the afternoons. Freed from any fear of reprisals, she has authored a number of award-winning application reviews and continues to be a growing star in this arena. And best of all, she has actively and openly embraced the lessons learned here as a matter of self-improvement, and is proud enough to recognize her own potential for advancement to the extent she is willing to work hard to earn it. And earned it she has -- Liz stands tall as an icon of patience, humility, and aspiration, and I believe she has proven after nearly a year of service to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration.

Liz was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a 75% voter turnout, with 12 votes in favor and four abstains.
I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Liz a well-earned vote of confidence!

Happy Halloween And Congratulations Commissioner Spookster!

Hello all!

Happy Halloween (and as of now, the day after, Feliz Dia de los Muertos!)

Just in time for Halloween, I am pleased to give a ghostly congratulations to Spookster for his promotion to the rank of server Commissioner, after a successful run as a very active and helpful and Deputy.

The life of Spookster on our server represents a shining example of transformation as ever can be described. Though a passionate builder and caretaker of long lost relics, he was early on a player craving for attention, engrossed with himself, prone to complaining and bitter when he failed to achieve what he wanted. This persisted for many months, and despite his best efforts to impress with lavish buildings, constant favors and server-wide notoriety, he was never going to achieve what he wanted with the many faults he demonstrated in those early days. And so he let go of those wayward ambitions and proceeded to focus on the core values of his time on this server, enjoying the game for what it was worth, having fun with his friends, and participating in projects for the fun and out of the kindness of his heart, and assuming a calm and peace-loving demeanor that was a far cry from the bitter barnacle we knew before.  

In the greatest of ironies, it was when he stopped trying to forcefully become staff that he suddenly became staff material, and when given the chance to prove his mettle with the Deputy rank we certainly got more than what we bargained for. He continues to be an excellent player and builder with almost-peerless attendance, but is now armed with a quiet-yet-friendly air of maturity, ample communication skills, a willingness to help with app reviews frequently and consistently, and above all an interest to learn from his mistakes and improve upon them. Spookster is the embodiment of what a player can achieve not by bragging and begging, but by respecting and embracing the values that we hold dear to us in our server community; therefore, he has proven himself to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration.

Spookster was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a 75% voter turnout, with 12 votes in favor and four abstains.

I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Spookster a well-earned vote of confidence! 

Gulliver v0.14.3 Released!!!

Alo peoplez!!!

The day you've been waiting for is here!  Gulliver has updated to v0.14.3, which means it is now compatible with Gulliver v1.6.4!!!!  This in itself isn't terribly exciting since the difference between 1.6.2 and 1.6.4 is not visible -- but believe me that 1.6.4 is the last and final requirement to a 1.7 release.  All our early preparations for a 1.7 migration (via the Ark project) will not be in vain, so I strongly encourage you to continue building within the Ark region, and try not to do much outside of it.  ^^

Although the main feature is v1.6.4 compatibility, Mion has also added plenty of bug fixes, as well as enhancements to bat speed and the way slime functions for tinies.  You will now be fully slimed up, and no longer run the risk of plummeting to your death if you so much as sneeze and let go of the shift key. XD

Anyway, as per usual when testing out new releases, I am commandeering Little Brother and temporarily suspending the October flavor (which no one ever seems to play anyway XD ), while it gets loaded with our Gulliver UAT [User Acceptance Testing] environment.  For the uninitiated, the UAT environment uses the Dream Land map by TheTripping Kangaro0, which is an interesting fantasy setting to explore.  :)

As for what to test, please review Mion's Changelog, but for the most part you can test bats, slime and dogs, and any other function you normally use a lot in-game; when the latest Forge Essentials gets set up as well later this week, we will need testing of that too.  Testing should continue for at least one week, at which point it should be structurally-safe to deploy this to Big Sister; this also gives users time to safely install the latest Gulliver on their clients, as well as time for me to update my guides and the Tabbychat tabs. :)

Anyway, please install and test the latest Gulliver v0.14.3, and if you encounter any bugs or problems, PLEASE report them to Mion's thread....

http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/minecraft-mods/1282337-mc-forge-1-6-4-gulliver-the-resizing-mod-v0-14-3

And if it's installation trouble, be sure to include error logs as well to help her determine the source of the problem.  

Speaking of which, I was treated to a rare sighting today -- thank you so much for visiting us!  :D

Congratulations Moderator Flammole!

Hello all!

It is my pleasure to congratulate Flammole for his promotion to the rank of server Moderator, our first publicly-appointed Moderator to ever go through the full rank spectrum, to fine player to Deputy, to Commissioner and now to this prestigious rank! 

Flammole need no introduction. Moderator on Dravics', great player on Gunia's, level-headed owner of Skyscraper, and valuable Deputy/Commissioner here on Big Sister and Little Brother. Flammole has described himself as a patient person, and it shows... he has slowly but surely worked his way up to a level whereby we can trust him, directly and with full confidence, with the safety and security of our server. I hereby proudly offer Flammole the opportunity to be a Moderator on our server, so he can extend to us the same devotion and responsibility that he has offered to so many of our predecessors.

Flammole was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a whopping 94% voter turnout, with 15 votes in favor and one abstain due to unavailability!

I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Flammole such an enthusiastic vote of confidence! 

One-Year Server Anniversary Address

Alo everyone!

It is my pleasure to announce that as of now, October 15, 2014, we have officially completed one whole year that our Big Sister server has been in existence!  That officially makes us, as far as I know, the second longest-running Gulliver server of all time.  Our parent server, Gunia's Server, still leads with an admirable 1.5 years worth of uptime -- but I say the way things are going, we'll one day be able to make our parent server proud.  ^^

So it's time to put on my gala dress again...

One year... and to think for a while the server wasn't going to last one month.  XD

But I'm getting ahead of myself, first let's talk celebrations.  Sadly, this is not Cay Day (our REALLY important server holiday, lol), so we don't have any celebrations planned.  There may be some impromptu events, games and cheese-giving by some of my awesome staff folk and generous players, but overall this is a time to reflect on how far we've come from our humble beginnings. That's not to say we don't have any "party favors" for you guys, and in fact I do have a few technical goodies to offer as an appreciation for all you've done to make us a wonderful place to be:

• I updated to the latest version of Dynmap for 1.6.2 Minecraft... although this did not fix the 1.8 skin problem, let's see if it offers some other benefits.
• I removed the mining fatigue effect that would mysteriously occur after players died and respsawned -- removing the module that did this will also likely improve performance a little as well.
• I removed the TP delay for ALL players, so no more having to wait 5 seconds just to teleport.
• And lastly, for Veterans and up, we made available a new command called /virtualchest that acts as your own personal backpack and portable enderchest, where you can store even MORE of your valuables safely.  Former Dravics players may recognize this as the power you'd get when donating -- but here you get it for free just for being awesome.  :)

There were at least two more things planned, but they both fell through at the last minute so for now this is all I can provide you all.  But even so, I hope it will make your gameplay experience just a bit richer, and I hope this is testament to the commitment we give to our server and all its fantastic players. ^^

Someone once said that our server was no fun compared to Gunia's or even Dravic's server, and in all honesty that may in fact be true.  There is something to be said about a raw Gulliver experience, uninhibited by fancy rules or protocols, true to the nature of the game, challenging your wits and survival skills in a hostile and unfriendly world, and making beautiful things out of that.  It is primal and rich in improvised play, where kids can be kids, adults can be kids, and there is not a care in the world other than endless socialization.

But sooner or later things have to grow, and as much as I enjoyed my time in a laissez-faire Gulliver server, approximately one year ago today I found myself lost and confused, with our beloved Gunia server offline for 3 weeks, and all or buildings gone and disappeared.  The IP address for Gunia's server ceased to register, and barely a word was spoken about it on any of the two forums; both staff and players alike were equally confused as to the cause, but spoke with a resignation of the inevitable.  There was no further communication about it, no interaction, no banding together to wade through the mysterious blackout, no hint that any kind of organization was in place. Just a loud indifference that steadly chipped away at the confidence of all players who remained long enough to care.  It seemed, for all intents and purposes, the death throes of the last remaining Gulliver server in existence -- and for all their talk of fun and friends, none of the people who complained about our server ever cared about those of us on October 2013 that were literally left in the dark.

And this after previously enduring bullying, thefts, swarming, inapproriate roleplay, callous disregard for property, feature-stagnation, and of course a complete and utter lack of communication.

This was still a dark period in my life for me IRL, so I was left with a choice... leave and never return, or actually do something about it.  And so I did, and I largely have Cay to thank for the idea of creating an alternate server that could serve as a mirror site to Gunia's, and an emergency backup server for the seemingly-inevitable blackout periods.  As I later found out the blackout was caused by a computer malfunction, it was also a good opportunity to offer her a commercial-grade server, one that could free her machine from the never-ending torment of server hosting.  Best of all, we would offer this server to her and her staff for them to manage, so we would get the stability we wanted while not impacting the simple fun we had enjoyed all along.

And so we did, and on October 15th, 2013, the server was purchased, and the news sent out to all available staff members who would listen.  No action was taken right away, leaving me time to beautify the spawn point, create the primitve resizing machines (still standing today), importing the World Tree, and expanding out the early Spawnington settlement to more than just a few houses. The decision on what to do with our "Sister Server" was still up in the air even after Gunia's Server was restored.  Eventually, our offer was accepted, and on October 27th, 2013, the doors were first open to a "beta" group of players, followed by the official server unveiling the next day:

http://guniasgs.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/9436998-sister-server

These were humble beginnings of offering a helping hand to Gunia's staff in exchange for running it themselves, and letting me continue enjoying the calm and peaceful life that I so relished of those early days as a "humble baker".  Sadly, due to the ever-present miscommunication, I found out too late that no one wanted to take responsibly for running or maintaining this new server; and so once again I took up the mantle and improvised a pseudo-admin job without an official title of any kind or full control over the content of the old forums. It grew increasingly difficult for me to maintain the status quo that we all cherished, and it wasn't long before some players and staff alike noticed that I was being taken advantage of by people eager to saddle me with all the work so long as they could roleplay all day.  

Hence, the illusion of fun and friends withered away for me, and in its place was the cold reality of my own entrapment in a system that simply didn't care to continue, bored of Minecraft and Gulliver, longing to jettison us all perhaps in favor of some middle school-aged clique. Only this time I was not alone, nor was I in the dark or powerless to stop the vicious cycle of laziness and irresponsibility that threatened to ruin all that we worked for.  This time there was organization and communication, as we no longer sat on the sidelines as spectators to a massive derailment, but rather active drivers of the steam locomotor that was our server, with ever-growing control of its future direction.

And so in December of 2013, events transpired that would see us become our own separate server, the "Big Sister" server, with our own forums, our own unique whitelist and command structure, our own security apparatus and currency system.  We would preserve worlds from servers long thought abandoned, and use technology to augment the land and gameplay experience.  We would acquire our Little Brother server to act as our summer retreat away from our server, offering the same laissez faire approach as Gunia's server, but with an interesting twist every month.  And we would learn to respect builders and their works, and vow to never engage in any of the callous, irresponsible policies of the past that would see server admins destroy countless hours of work purely on a vain whim.  

But most important of all... we would strive to communicate, communicate and communicate.  We would offer this blog and its forums to inform our players of happenings, and guides to facilitate complexities of installation of the like.  We would train staff to communicate with each other, and coordinate menial tasks, construction projects and backups.  We keep in touch even off the server, sharing a challenging game elsewhere, or exchanging new ideas and learning opportunities.  In essence, our server is more than just a Minecraft Gulliver Server, but it is a beacon... a common rallying point to get us through the game and keep us together.

So yes, we have changed, just as I have changed having long lost the persona of a "humble baker" who simply wanted to play peacefully and quietly, and not be a burden to anyone.  But if I could do it again I would, because for a little forfeiture of plain and simple fun, I instead feel older, wiser, more alive and proud of our accomplishments.  I have taken what should have been a mere gaming experience, and turned it into an opportunity to expand my horizons, to learn things that literally have changed (and possibly even saved) my life.  I expected my Minecrafting to be just a "waste of time", and succeeded in letting it enrich my life a bit more; and I only wish for others to have that opportunity to be able to look back and say "these were really truly good times that I will never forget".

So with that I will part with some simple words of wisdom:

"Eat right, sleep well, ask questions, never stop learning, make the best of any situation, COMMUNICATE!! And believe in your ability to do all of the above!"  

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped make this anniversary possible, from my dear friend Cayfie who got me started in this, to UncleMion who wrote this wonderful mod, to even Gunia who intentionally-or-not helped bring most of us together.  To all my dear staff, past and present, who have given their best, put up with my eccentricities, been my friend and greatest supporter in my times of need or plenty, who have helped protect the peace and security of our server, and who represent the future of our server.  And of course, to all my dear players, who spread the word far and wide, give us your hard-earned time and admiration, who showcase your gorgeous art and creations, and who help make us truly a unique and inviting place that I am happy and proud to visit every day.

May we all celebrate this occasion again at least one more time next year!

--Cia

Congratulations, Commissioner Cordelia!

Hello all!

It is my pleasure to congratulate Cordelia for her promotion to the rank of server Commissioner! 

Cordelia is a builder at heart, one of the best and most dedicated builders we know. Barely one week after gracing our server, she single-handedly created one of the largest, naturally-crafted 8x houses on the server. She built roads and bridges when other players cringed at the monotony. She founded an amazing and creative city that embodies all the best and unique qualities about her. If all she offered was her amazing building skills, that alone would have made her an invaluable and irreplaceable player and friend. But thankfully, she is more than just a great builder. In the face of inappropriate adversity, she stood her ground and persevered; and in so doing inspired us to be proactive in the defense of our server's values. As a Deputy she kept a careful watch of new players and assisted her peers with building projects and brainstorming. And although her communication was lacking at first, she tried hard and succeeded in becoming a regular poster and applicant reviewer on our forum. Cordelia is also an embodiment of the kind of player we hope to share our server with; ergo, she has proven to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration.

Cordelia was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a 75% voter turnout, with 12 votes in favor and four abstains due to unavailability!

I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Cordelia such an enthusiastic vote of confidence! 

Back to the Futu... er, Past

Hello all!

I am pleased to announce the availability of the October Flavor for Little Brother!

After all that FTB excitement, some of the folks on the forum suggested a nice blast from the past... a setup that pairs Gulliver, LittleBlocks and CustomNPCs, and throws in the original Dravics server seed to boot (all we need now are custom NPCs of old Dravics staff)!  Talk about nostalgia trip (for some people)!  :D

There's not really much to this arrangement -- functionally it's the same as Big Sister (including the use of Forge Essentials), only it pairs Little Blocks and Custom NPCs, and ramps up the difficulty level.  So aside from a nostalgia trip, consider this a "what-if" as far as what could be possible on Big Sister some day if we opted to enable Little Blocks or Custom NPCs.  Maybe the Past IS the Future!  :D

Or something like that....

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using the exact same version of Gulliver we use on Big Sister, and in fact all of the ranks and permissions should still be the same as well -- although that may be tweaked by the Little Brother staff.
• LittleBlocks and CustomNPCs are the only two mods added.
• The map is a fresh map generated with the original Dravics map seed, so former players from that server should recognize former landmarks.
• Flammole and InvisibleDragon are the new permanent moderators -- AudreyAwesome and Lizeli9 have retired from the position.  Cordelia will also be our Monthly Moderator for quality and training purposes.
• Difficulty is set to "Hard Mode", and firespread has been enabled, to ensure a little extra challenge. ;)

For Installation:

• Download Custom NPCs for 1.6.2 here, and add to the same /mods folder where your Gulliver installation is.
• Download Little Blocks for 1.6.2 per UncleMion's instructions here, and add to the same /mods folder where your Gulliver installation is. 
• Launch Minecraft with your usual Gulliver profile.
• Add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

Good luck and enjoy all the nostalgia tripping!
Just don't forget that the DRC exists on Big Sister, so don't go nuts rebuilding anything.  XD

Homage to Deputies!

Alo peoplez!

Well this is embarrassing, I have been neglecting this poor blog very badly lately.  Consider it a combination of spending too much time building out more of Spawnington, getting addicted to Agrarian Skies, and reading up on a TON of nutritional literature.  ^^

I wanted to break that lazy cycle, but on what... I wasn't sure.

And then it occurred to me.  Up until now I've only been reporting new Moderators and new Commissioners -- and since our last promotion, we've had at least three new Deputies.  So why not announce their ascension as well, especially now that they're ranks are so much like mini-moderators than ever (thanks to the new powers granted the Deputy rank a few months ago).

And so without further ado, here we present our brand new members of our server community, with commentary from ShadowScale and Burgerwarrior who were gracious enough to take them under their wing:

Spookster1

ShadowScale:    

I have chosen Spook for these reasons:

• He is a -very- active member of the server, and has been active for a great deal of time
• He is active on the server forums and makes posts regularly
• He has been on the server for a great deal of time (since dravic's went down)
• Ive known him from Dravics server, and trust him
• Theres been very few incidents of rule breaking (if any) in all that time, and has been very patient 

Minoriko

ShadowScale: 

I have chosen Minoriko for these reasons:

• Has been on the server for a while now
• I havent seen him in-game too often, but I have received positive feedback from other staff members about him
• By talking outside of the server, ive found him to be very mature and helpful with server aspects
• He is readily available outside of the server to contact
• Has no record of rule breaking, and has helped with previous issues on the server before

_Cordelia

BurgerWarrior: 

_Cordelia has been selected for Deputy-ship for fitting the following criteria:

• Staying strong and keeping her cool after weeks of experiencing 
  trouble with several players.
• Being on much more often recently.
• Being a skilled builder of large, public works.
• Being humble, not begging for this position, and being courteous until pushed to the breaking point. Which takes a lot.
• Having a clear moral compass.

Once again, welcome to our staff family, and thank you very much for your exemplary service as Deputies for the last couple of weeks prior to this publication -- you really have gone above and beyond your roles as players on our server, and are critical to helping our server being a wonderful place to visit and enjoy!  ^^

Come Fly the Friendly Skies

Hello all!

I am pleased to announce the availability of the August Flavor for Little Brother!

For the second time since the ill-fated Crazycraft, we're using a massive Multiplayer modpack, this time of the highly-acclaimed Agrarian Skies FTB pack, featuring over 100 mods!

This can best be described as survival Skyblocks with a twist... you have thousands upon thousands of craftable items!  You can engage in exciting quests that server as half-tutorials, half life tenuous lifelines of survival!  You and can go from rationing sticks and twigs, to building massive aerial cities!  The sky is literally the limit!

And since it includes Tinker's Construct and OpenBlocks, fans of last month's flavor will no doubt feel right at home!  :)

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using the Feed The Beast launcher, which automaticallya adjusts to Minecraft 1.6.4 for this modpack.  It does not overwrite your existing Minecraft directory.
• There are way too many mods to list here; you can instead view the mod-listing at this link:  https://feedthebeast.atlassian.net/wiki/display/PML/Agrarian+Skies%3A+Hardcore+Quest
• The map is the standard server "House" map for Agrarian Skies.
• AudreyAwesome, InvisibleDragon and Lizeli9 are the sole moderators; Tarig0 will be our Monthly Moderator on account of his technical expertise with this modpack.
• Difficulty is set to "Hard Mode" to ensure some kind of challenge (as if the challenges weren't hard enough). ;)

For Installation:

• Download the Feed The Beast Launcher here: http://www.feed-the-beast.com/
• Launch, and click on the "Third Party Pack" tab
• Choose to launch the Agrarian Skies modpack.
• Load the game using the Little Brother profile, add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

Good luck and have fun!
And don't subsist only on carrot juice!  :P

Welcome, Commissioner Flamm!

Hello all!

It is my pleasure to congratulate Flammole for his promotion to the rank of server Commissioner!

Flammole comes to us with an interesting history, having been a Moderator on the Dravics' server, and the owner of the Skyscraper server; even so, for the longest time, he appeared to favor a quiet simple life on Gunia's as well as our server early on. He was a great quiet player, hard working both in-game and IRL, and one of the more mature players to join us from the Dravics server. He also earned the trust of both old and new players alike, but never really showed interest in being anything more than a simple player, hence why he was left largely alone to be free to enjoy the fun simple life of a free player. That all changed during the Skyscraper debacle when he not only took it upon himself to fund and manage that server on behalf of his very close friends, but he also displayed the moral fortitude and maturity to rise above the hateful antics of some, and engaged in real diplomacy with staff on our server. He was the voice of reason amid the chaos, and even after that server dissolved he was humble and grateful for the hand we extended in hosting its map and accepting some of its players. Displaying amazing leadership in getting these people acquainted with our values and working to heal many of the wounds caused by the debacle (all the while never forgetting the roots that originally made him such an appealing player), this earned him a promotion to Deputy status through which he has only enhanced his many contributions to our server. For this he has proven to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration. I believe with the new opportunities and responsibilities he will give this server the kind of utmost dedication that he has offered to many other servers before.

Flammole was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a 81% voter turnout, with 11 votes in favor and two abstains.

I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Flammole such an enthusiastic vote of confidence!

Welcome, Commissioner Miisaka!

Hello all!


It is my pleasure to congratulate Miisaka for her promotion to the rank of server Commissioner!

Since writing the best application in the history of our server, Miisaka has always poured her very best at things in a manner that is both approachable and professional. Even as a Novice rank, she was a superb builder, an ethical and helpful player, a concerned reporter of criminal and abhorrent activities, and a great writer. But as a Deputy, she has gone above and beyond her call of duty, assisting with countless whitelist reviews, criminal investigations, interrogations, fact-finding, world-building, brain-storming, experimentation, and efforts to help victims of Swarming. She appreciates the zen simplicty of Minecraft, but takes pride in surpassing expectations even more -- she is less a player on our server, and more an intellectual colleague and friend, and stands as a shining example of the kind of players we hope to share our server with. As such, she has proven to be an individual who can be entrusted with the greater Commissioner powers, as well as our respect and admiration. And although her offgame-communication is still scarce, it's my hope that her expanded responsibilities and goals will offer new opportunities for proactive teamwork!

Miisaka was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring a 81% voter turnout, with 11 votes in favor and two abstains due to unavailability!

I want to thank everyone who participated for giving Miisaka such an enthusiastic vote of confidence!

Minecraft Forum Update

Alo peoplez,

Wow, I haven't updated this in a while, must be slacking.  And in fact, I AM kinda slacking, although in a good way... just busy with work and busy planning out more of Spawningotn.  Another Spawnington highlight is up and ocoming, albeit after I add a couple of more buildings.  ^^

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Minecraft Forum has updated to a new and efficient format, albeit one that uses a new BBCode engine that made total mincemeat of my whitelist application there.  I've since fixed it to the best of my abilities, but if you spot anything odd, please let me know...

Now if any of you know how to display Youtube embedded videos properly in this format, please let me know. ^^;

A Pirate's Life For Me!

Hello all.

I am pleased to announce the availability of the June Flavor for Little Brother!
This is based off Invisi's "Pirates of the Sky and Sea" mod proposal, which features a whole bunch of pirate and technical mods that are bound to lend a "steampunk" edge to your swash-buckling adventures!  :D
It also features some of the mods used in some of the latest Minecraft series, so if you've ever wanted to make your own personal Hambone base, or go off hand-gliding across the entire map, well now you can!  XD

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is reverting back to Minecraft 1.6.4, given that half the mods were still not available for 1.7.2.  
• Tinker's Construct, Archimedes Ships, Bibliocraft, OpenMods and Koadmaster's Pirates are our primary feature mods.
• The map is an original vanilla world auto-generated by the server
• AudreyAwesome, InvisibleDragon and Lizeli9 are the sole moderators, with the empty monthly mod position defaulting to Squirrel.
• Difficulty is set to "Hard Mode" to ensure some kind of challenge.  ;)

For Installation:

1. Create a new Little Brother profile in your launcher and have it set to Minecraft 1.6.4 -- run the game at least once to download the necessary Version files.
2. Download Forge Installer v9.11.1 for Minecraft v1.6.4 and run the installer.
3. Back in the Little Brother profile, set the Game Directory to a new folder of your choice and the Use Version to the new Forge for 1.6.4, and run the game.  This will allow game files (including the /mods folder) for this Little Brother profile to be created in a separate folder, thus eliminating the risk of overwriting your standard Big Sister files in the main Minecraft directory.
   
   
4. Download Archimede's Ships for Minecraft 1.6.4:
   http://www.minecraftprojects.net/archimedes-ships-1-6-4
5. Download Tinkers' Construct 1.5.5.7 for Minecraft 1.6.4:
   http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1659892-164tinkers-construct/
6. Download Bibliocraft v1.5.5 for Minecraft 1.6.4:
   http://www.bibliocraftmod.com/?page_id=48#MC17
7. Download OpenBlocks and OpenModsLib:
   http://www.openmods.info/
8. Download KoadMaster's Pirates v0.4.2:
   http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1857984-164forge-koadmasters-pirates/
9. Copy all the mods listed above to your /mods folder inside the custom folder you specified in the Little Brother profile's Game Directory.  In the end your /mods folder should look something like this:
   
   
10. Load the game using the Little Brother profile, add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

Good luck and have fun!
An' go look 'fer buried treasure!

RIP Gunia's Server (2013-2014)

Hello everyone,

I regret to inform everyone that this is less a blog article and more an obituary to a place very dear to us, full of fun and fond memories.  To those of us who played on Gunia's server, or, like myself, started Minecraft multiplayer on her server, it is important for us to note that it has ceased all active operations.  Gunia herself updated her forum site with the news and personally confirmed the decision with me as well; and the same has already been broadcast by her staff on the Minecraft forum page:

http://guniasgs.webs.com/

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1627087-152-gulliver-server-whitelisted-non-forge/page__st__2400#entry31651760

As of this writing, Gunia's server continues to hold the record for the longest-running Gulliver server to date, having first opened in January of 2013 and transitioned across three world refreshes, and various Gulliver versions.  Hosted on Gunia's home computer, it has outlasted Dravic's, Schmevil's, and other Gulliver servers that had sprung before or during its operation, and was best known for its ease of entry, simple focus on pure survival,  and laissez-faire management.

Big Sister originally began as alternate mirror (or "sister") server to Gunia's server during a time in which her computer was inoperative and the server offline for weeks -- the goal was to maintain both servers in parallel, with Gunia's being the parent server, and the sister server being the equivalent of what Little Brother is today (a cutting-edge test server).  This did not turn out to be the case, but even so we continue Gunia's tradition of respecting survival play, applauding simplicity and self-sufficiency, improving the family-friendliness of the gameplay experience, and minimizing the complexity of the mod requirements.

Despite any differences we may have had at times, I enjoyed my brief time on Gunia's server, and I respected the simple efficiency of Gunia's management style, which, in many ways, came to shape how Cay and I run Big Sister.   It seems like only yesterday that I was a mere Minecraft newbie, taking up Cay's advice to make a simple whitelist application to enjoy a Minecraft experience like no other...

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1627087-152-gulliver-server-whitelisted-non-forge/page__st__2040#entry24471300

Those were simpler days I still miss, days that may never return as I am no longer the same carefree person I was then.  But life goes on, things we love come and go -- the best we can hope for is the luxury of proper closure and the expectation that the memory can live on in perpetuity.  Though our dear parent server is gone, it's memory will live on in the hearts of those it has touched, and in the mandate of the Big Sister server.  We have enormous shoes to fill before we could ever become a "Gunia's Server 2.0", but the fact that we have made this our goal is testament to Gunia's unforgettable legacy.

To Gunia, we wish you all the best in your real life endeavors as you pass through the best years in your life.

And to your server, we wish it a well deserved rest, and hope that one day we can immortalize pieces of its world into ours.

Rest in peace...

Spawnington City 2000

Alo peoplez,

The winds of change are blowing everywhere, and in all respects looking at the server today is nothing like looking at it back in November 2013 (if for anything else, because back then there was no Dynmap).  And nowhere is this more evident than in Spawnington, which went from being a VERY lucky testificate village that spawned near the world spawn, to a bustling metropolis filled with Skyscrapers and fancy buildings.  The whole of Spawnington isn't even finished yet, and already it's a dizzying array of buildings and project works that could take a prospective Tiny weeks to explore thoroughly.

That also includes a lot of my attempts at building or at least zoning necessary structures in Spawnington, and this has happened so fast no doubt many of you are wondering what half this stuff is.  Fortunately, here's a quick run-through of all the new Spawnington structures to keep you informed... ^^

Cay's

Why celebrate Cayfie once a year, when now you can do it 24/7!!  This gorgeous pink sugary structure is the only building currently in Spawnington purely dedicated to 8x players, and it offers all special merchandise available during the Cay Day 2014 celebrations.  So if you missed the fireworks, now you can buy a few and relive the memories (though not for free).  :)

Construction Site

Possibly the most beautiful waste of space ever made, complete with port-a-john and a huge construction crane built for people who miss the old Transit Hub crane.  :)

Utility Building

Yes, as in where you would normally go to pay your electric bill (for those very few of you who pay their own electric bill, lol).  A great place to get free gravel and [soon] cheap glowstone -- anything to help you make the server great, interconnected and lag-resistant!  It's also 8x-accessible, allowing crazy giants access to the rooftops for some dangerously high and lethal parkour.  ^^

Liz Tower

Actually the first experimental use of WorldControl to build something cool and useful in Spawnington.  I donated to our [then] only Deputy at the time as an appreciation for her hard work, but mainly just to get someone else to decorate the interior, lol.  :P

Assembly Hall

Our own answer to the United Nations!  A place for players of all towns and sizes to come together, and talk about peace and cooperation.  Or just brawl and horse around.  :P

Spawnington Mall

Digitally remastered in THX, for ultimate in quality picture and sound!  Still empty at the moment, but stores will come... and at least the exterior architecture is cool and nifty, with the characteristic "wood" feel so common for testificates.  The giant creature is pictured here still wearning the Cay Day 2014 mask... it can't be helped, he's taken a liking to it.  :3

Cinema

The cost of movie tickets these days is outrageous!  So why not stop by the Spawnington cinema for cheap tickets, cheap food, cheap seats and cheap bathroom stalls!  it may not be immediately obvious, but there is also some giant accessibility on the side of the building... they even have their own ticket booth as well.

Spawnington Transporation and Freight Underground Station

The heart of our future subway system interconecting all townships in the Greater Spawnington region.  Why do we need trains when we already have teleports?  Because trains are cool, nuff said!  :)

Fire Station

Few people realize they CAN help with building projects in Spawnington, and the fire station is a perfect example of players wishing to take some building off my hands.  The Fire Station is a great place to start given I had zero idea of how to make it myself.  :)

Radio Tower

Complete with mini radio station at the bottom.  This tower is officially the highest peak in Spawnington as of this writing.  Climb to the very top for an awe-inspiring view of everything, including the top of the World Tree.  The tower is also Giant accessible, just find the stairs on the side.  :)

Hockey Stadium

And yes, it IS 8x-accessible, but only the bleachers... the game is still only for 1x and 2x players.  ;)
Take part in the fastest, wildest mini-game available in this part of the server world!  :D

Landfill

Located in the nearby suburb of BoonDumps, this is where all garbage in Spawnington winds up. And like RL garbage dumps, this one will only get bigger and bigger over time!  Just remember... one person's junk is another person's treasure!  :D

BatPort

I may have mentioned this before in the v0.14.2 update post, but we now have an official BatPort in the city!  No string or bats necessary, you can buy them in the terminal -- just be sure to use the cobweb dispensers when getting on bats, to ensure you have time to catch 'em!  :)

Grassy Knoll Skyway

Located near the new suburb of Grassy Knoll, this deck-truss bridge offers safe passage over the monster-infested swamps, into the area that may one day become a new town.  Lots of amazing new development is happening there as we speak.  :)

St. Spook's Memorial Hospital

And finally,... a place to go to for medical help after you've died one to many times. :P
Gifted to Spookster who was gracious enough to finish the Spawnginton-Glasgrow road!  True, he whined a lot before about not getting his own tower in the city -- but when you do great things that save me a good deal of time, I'm amenable to a favor or two.  :P