Welcome Moderator Spookie!!!

Hello all!

It is my pleasure to congratulate Spookie for his promotion to the rank of server Moderator after his very successful and productive term as server Deputy and Commissioner!

Spookster, or Spookie as we affectionately call him, is all but a household name on the server. Having embraced all the special tools and technologies availabe to a Commissioner, such as World Control and NBTEdit, has allowed him to truly flourish as a creative mind and enhancer of the player experience. Many an adventurous player has gushed over the swash-buckling adventures of his dungeon quests, which improves and far surpasses anything I could have ever accomplished in my own prototype quest. He is an avid renovator and continues his quest with improving and repurposing neglected or abandoned sites on the server. And most of all, he's been a good friend to many, a stalwart defender of the server, an excellent application writer, and a loyal, patient and dedicated staff member; that he associates himself with a dog is only fitting as dogs are likewise intelligent, loving and loyal companions. Whatever indiscretions he may have committed in the past in his long journey and evolution to this point have all been forgotten and forgiven as he has proved his worthiness of our respect and admiration time and time again.

I hereby proudly propose that Spookie be offered the opportunity to be a Moderator on our server, and join the elite cadre of staff members entrusted with unfettered access to the very heart and soul of the server. Thank you.

Spookie 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 all staff who participated in giving Spookie such an enthusiastic vote of confidence, as well as all players who have showered him with much deserved praise and camaraderie!

Livin' La Vida Loca

Hello all!

Well TerraFormaCraft ended up being a roaring success... for about a week and a half. After which interested thinned out once it became apparent that a) clay was very hard to get, b) metallurgy is HARD (>v<), c) the extra food is more tedious than fun, d) THOSE DAMN SPIDERS!!, and e) the entire world looks the same.  I think that really wasn't what I was expecting, so let's not do that again... XD

Anyway, perhaps it's time to return to our roots?  After all, we now have lots of new players who've never known about last year's flavors, and it's not right for them to miss out on some old fun.  So this month, we're reviving a bit of the Stayin' Alive flavor from April 2014... ^^

http://ciabatta-breadalot.blogspot.com/2014/05/stayin-alive.html

We'll see the return of fan-favorite Minecraft Comes Alive, as well as my personal favorite of Mo' Creatures (yay, elephants!); a new and improved Mo' Villages also makes a return, serving as a great compliment to MCA.  CustomNPCs couldn't make it this time since it really isn't enjoyable for non-opped players -- sorry ol' friend, maybe next time. ^^

But NEW to this month's flavor are the additions of the fun Morph mod so you can transform into your favorite mob or animal (YAY! ELEPHANTS!!), Mr. Cray's Furniture Mod (to make MCA more "Sims"-like), and a new exciting addition to Little Brother... the Chocolate Quest mod (for dungeon-exploring, volcano-sieging, swash-buckling adventure)!!! I don't even think I can post a picture of chocolate in such an action-packed light, but... I'll try... XD

Well not quite the same, but that's still a pretty fun movie to watch. >v<

So anyway, I'm pleased to officially announce a whole collection of fun mods for the July Flavor of Little Brother!

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using Minecraft 1.7.10, and Forge 10.13.2.1291.
• We will have a collection of various mods in this release, specifically: Minecraft Comes Alive, Mo' Creatures, Mo' Villages, Morph Mod, Cray's Furniture mod and Chocolate Quest.
• The map is vanilla-generated.
• Flammole and InvisibleDragon continue to be the permanent moderators.  
• HannahShy will assume the role of Monthly Moderator for this month.
• Difficulty is set to "Hard Mode" to see some of the finer Mo' Creatures critters.  :)
• A Dynmap is employed with this flavor, although it is using an Alpha build so block fidelity may not be perfect.

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 10.13.2.1291 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 Minecraft Comes Alive [MCA] 5.0.6 and RadixCore 2.0.2 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://www.radix-shock.com/mca--download.html
5. Download Mo Creatures v6.3.1 and Custom MobSpawner 3.3.0 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://mocreatures.org/downloads
6. Download Mo Villages v1.3.1 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/2525968-forge-172-164-sspsmp-mo-villages-villages-in-more-biomes/
7. Download Morph Beta v0.9.1 and iChunUtil v4.2.2 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://ichun.us/mods/morph/#
   http://ichun.us/mods/ichunutil/
8. Download Mr. Crayfish's Furniture Mod v3.4.7 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/minecraft-mods/1282349-mrcrayfishs-furniture-mod-v3-4-7-the-kitchen
9. Download Chocolate Quest 1.0 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://chocolatequest.wikia.com/wiki/Chocolate_Quest_Mod_Installation
10. Copy the above mod to your /mods folder inside the custom folder you specified in the Little Brother profile's Game Directory. 
11. Load the game using the Little Brother profile, add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

And that's it!

It might be a little complicated installing so many mods, but rest assured that adventure and digital socialization and morphing into bunnies awaits!!!  So go nuts!  XD

Welcome Commissioner Hannah!!!

Hello all!

I'm proud to announce that Hannah has been promoted to the rank of Commissioner, and after completing a superb run as one of our finest Deputies!

There is an old saying about not judging a book by its cover, and Hannah I feel exemplifies this immensely. When I first met her she seemed like so many of the applicants at the time... aloof, timid, unfocused and needy, with a subpar whitelist application, and a knack for attracting unwanted attention. We even had one or two altercations during the first few weeks she was there, and she was often missing for huge swathes of time, so there was no indication whatsoever that she would have amounted to anything. Thankfully, I was wrong, or rather vindicated in my belief that good communication can solve many problems, and in her case Hannah ended up being a wonderful communicator. Even when she did not have to, she still kept in contact with me, still tried her best to be a model player, and did her utmost to follow my advice for self-help whenever possible.

And that I feel is where Hannah's remarkable strength lies... she is a phenomenal listener. It was through her willingness to listen, and apply the knowledge she learned to better herself, that she was able to initiate a remarkable transformation over the past year, more than could be explained by natural growth and maturity. She has healed herself of various preconditions, and has grown less anxious, more talkative, more self-confident and more outgoing. She has grown even more communicative and assertive than ever before, to the point where friends and family alike no longer recognize her (and for all the good reasons!). These days I feel I can count on her for everything from a quick construction favour on the server, to a though-provoking and fulfilling conversation about any matter of topic. Where once she deemed herself incapable of ever becoming even a Deputy rank, she surprised even herself when she earned that qualification far head of schedule. And as a Deputy, she's done a stellar job and is among the ranks of one of the most proactive staff members I've ever known, both publicly and privately in the staff section. It's thanks to her boundless determination and incredible support that I have been able to restructure my project allocations and staff perks, improving efficiencies and making it more rewarding than ever to assist with server management.

Truly, she has been a major catalyst for change, as well as an excellent friend to many of us that have given her the chance to shine; and it's due to her impressive accomplishments that I was overjoyed to have her as part of my team. Now that she's outshined even a Deputy's position, and proved herself to be an individual trustworthy of greater powers, I feel it's only fitting to uncap her potential even further by nominating her for a Commissioner position. May her new privileges and responsibilities allow her to explore new venues for personal growth, as well as mark a new phase of growth for our server and its community!

Hannah was voted in through a parliamentary-style staff election featuring an 81% voter turnout, with 12 votes in favor, 1 legitimate abstain, and three abstains due to unavailability.

I want to thank everyone who directly or indirectly helped Hannah grow over the year she's been on this server. Thanks to you, she loves this server very much, enough to give so much of her time and effort to keep it awesome.  ^^ 

And of course, I want to thank Hannah personally for never giving up, for being a great listener, and for ultimately choosing to believe in herself with great success!  

You did it! And now it's time to DREAM BIGGER! 

Half-Way Point

Alo everyone,

The other day I was thinking back to the obituary to Gunia's Gulliver Server I wrote back last year...

http://ciabatta-breadalot.blogspot.com/2014/05/rip-gunias-server-2013-2014.html

I meant to write this two weeks ago (on the 28th of May), but too many life and server obligations got in the way, so consider this a belated remembrance of our parent server that a new and growing generation of players would not have had the fortune of experiencing for themselves.

It also got me thinking of how long we've been in operation.  At the time of that writing, Gunia's had been in operation for almost 18 months, or a 1.5 years, easily besting out competing Gulliver servers at that time.  In contrast we were not even at our full-year anniversary.

But as of this writing we are now nearly going on 20 months of operation, so officially (as of some time in April), we have matched and surpassed the length of service of our parent server!  And it came and went just like that with little fanfare or realization, probably because we're so used to things running according to plan, or because time simply flies when we're having fun...

Either way, I am very thankful to all of you who have helped make this server... a simple backup server for Gunia's Gulliver Server... the great and enduring success it has been in all the 20 months of its existence! Given how many challenges it has endured during its inception and all the many times it's integrity has been threatened by agents of fear and vengeance, it is truly miraculous to see all of you work together to keep it strong, proud and vibrant, to have it surpass all expectations, and to form from it a kind of community that spreads farther and wider than the confines of a simple Minecraft server.  I truly can't thank you all enough for that!

Now having outlasted any major Gulliver Server before us, and still remaining among only a few other Gulliver servers left (given so many communities have moved on to later versions of Minecraft), where do we go from here?  Clearly we're ready and willing to transition to a later version of Minecraft, Mion permitting, but do we expect to live on and keep this server in operation for all eternity?

I think not, and it wouldn't be healthy enough for us to spend so many of our best years tied to a single digital pastime . The ultimate unwritten goal of the Big Sister Gulliver server is to remain in operation for a minimum length of three years, of which we're now past the half-way point.  After the three years are up, I think it will become time for a server-wide consensus on what to do next for Big Sister (and consequently, Little Brother).  Either we extend the mandate for another year, at which point Cay and I would pass the batons on to newer, younger, and more capable owners.  Or we agree to quit while we're ahead and close the server gracefully after it's mandate is over, after which we make the server map, tools and configuration files public, and allow any interested players to resurrect their own version of Big Sister on their own if they so choose.

The first discussion on extending the mandate will begin on December 15th, 2016. We still have plenty of time to think about this, but two things are certain:

1) We want to fully respect people's needs to move on with things, including highly-successful game servers, and we also want to respect the desire for proper closure as opposed to quick and traumatic terminations.

2) We have no intention to destroy anyone's work here -- regardless of what happens, whether the mandate is extended or not, you will all eventually have full and public access to the game map, and thus can take your creations with you to preserve and cherish forever.

Having the knowledge of our server's finality, as well as our goal to preserve everyone's work, will hopefully instill a comforting sense of place and being, and allow you to better enjoy and appreciate your time here as you decide whether this is something you will want to keep doing for many more years to come.  It may be all fun and games now, but sooner or later you'll have more school responsibilities, college, work life, a loving relationship, a family, and a whole dizzying number of ways life can happen.  Our goal is to entertain you while you wait for those inevitablities, train you for those inevitabilities, and ultimately not get in your way as you finally face those inevitabilities. And if you agree that this is the most responsible thing for us to do, then I'm sure you will help us make the best decision possible on December 31st, 2016 when our voting ends

Thank you!

Terra Forming!

Hello all!

Well Tech World 2 ended up being a big flop, and if anything I feel that we are starting to feel a bit of FTB burnout... despite their ease of installation, each modpack has JUST TOO MANY MODS... enough to saturate the mind and, ironically, stifle creativity -- a true case of being jack of all trades and master of none.  It's about time we took a break from these crazy modpacks and focused on something a little more unitary and measured...

Something like... a full-conversion survival mod. ^^

Enter TerraFirmaCraft!  Like Better Than Wolves before it, it strives to overhaul the entire game mechanics of Minecraft, introducing different kinds of realistic crafting methods, harvesting methods, seasons, breeding, temperature considerations, pottery and smelting, enough to make the game realistic and challenging, but creative and rewarding!  It truly makes this like a whole new game!

So I'm pleased to officially announce TerraFirmaCraft as our May Flavor for Little Brother!

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using Minecraft 1.7.10, and Forge 10.13.2.1291.
• TerraFirmaCraft will be the sole featured mod -- however, it is really all we need, considering how many new blocks and items it introduces into the game (including some amazing new food items, yum!).  
• The map is generated based on the native "TFC" world generation.
• Flammole and InvisibleDragon continue to be the permanent moderators.  Coco will continue to be our Monthly Moderator for this month.
• Difficulty is set to "Normal Mode" since the mod is already hard-enough.  :)
• A Dynmap is employed with this flavor, although it is using an Alpha build so block fidelity may not be perfect.

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 10.13.2.1291 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 TerraFirmaCraft Beta 0.79.18.673 for Minecraft 1.7.10:
   http://terrafirmacraft.com/download.html
5. Copy the above mod to your /mods folder inside the custom folder you specified in the Little Brother profile's Game Directory. 
6. Load the game using the Little Brother profile, add littlebrother.mcserver.ws into your Multiplayer list, and enjoy!

And that's it!

Good luck playing Survival Mode the way it SHOULD be!

And although I don't have any inspirational videos dealing with terra firmaness... uh... here's one that's kinda cool... and kinda deals with... uh... new.... world... ness....... yeah.... XD

HAPPY CAY DAY 2015!!!

ALO EVERYONE!!!
And in particular, our Dear Leader and Grand Owner, Cayfie, without whom this server and everything that has made it great wouldn't be possible!

Not much has changed since last year and you can pretty much rinse and repeat the speech I did back in Cay Day 2014...

http://ciabatta-breadalot.blogspot.com/2014/05/happy-cay-day-2014.html

And while Cay is still not around as much as we'd like, make no mistake she is here, she loves all of us and all that we've done, and she will continue to help make this the best server we possibly can!

Here's to wishing our dear Cay another Happy Birthday, with many many more to come!  And here's to another year of awesomeness together!  ^^

And to repeat the tradition of birthday songs she can't understand, here's one of my favourites... ^^

Don't forget that there are free Cay Heads, cake and fireworks at CAY'S, the official Cay Day department store!!!

ENJOY!! And please post your birthday messages at our official Cay Day 2015 forum thread!!  ^^

http://bigsister.forumotion.com/t620-cay-day-2015

Brave New World

Hello all!

I am pleased to announce the availability of the April 2015 Flavor for Little Brother!

Due to the success of the Magic World 2 FTB modpack, this time around we have its futuristic counterpart, Tech World 2, which showers us with over 70 tech-related mods with nary a piece of magic in sight (other than the native Minecraft stuff, lol)!  If Magic World 2 starved you with its complete and utter lack of pipes, now you can make a whole pipe dream with this!  XD

Here are the details of this month's flavor:

• This is using the Feed The Beast launcher, which automatically 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: http://ftb.gamepedia.com/Tech_World_2
• The map uses a default-generated map
• Flammole and InvisibleDragon are our primary moderators, and Night_Lord123 returns for a second term of Monthly Moderator . Congratulations!  Cordelia will resume the role of Monthly Moderator.
• Difficulty is set to "Hard Mode" to ensure a challenging experience. ;)

For Installation:

• Download the Feed The Beast Launcher here: http://www.feed-the-beast.com/
• Launch, and click on the "FTB Modpacks" tab
• Choose to launch the Tech World 2 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 try to keep your world-conquering plans to a minimum...  :D