Apologies for taking my time getting a response to you. Welcome to our server, by the way!
My handle here is derigin. I am the head of our Minecraft server, and the lead designer for TNA.
gcalex5 wrote:
When is the world planning on being reset and what was the average pre-reset online player count during prime-times?
We're planning to release our new world (TNA) very soon, possibly within a week or so. We've nearly finished everything we need to do. We designed and built a spawn and that is all good to go. Right now we're just making sure permissions work correctly and that all our plugins function as they should.
Over time our server has fluctuated in popularity. Back when Minecraft was still a novel game, we used to get a lot of players. It was not unusual for our server to be packed. That would've been about late 2011 and through most of 2012. Generally, we have a good retention rate; our regulars constitute most of our playerbase, and many of them have ended up staying here throughout the years. Admittedly, our server's popularity has dropped over the last year. We figure this is due to a number of factors: our reach (or lack thereof) to interested players, some issues we've had upgrading back when Mojang was pumping out a new update each week, our need for a new fresh start when it comes to worlds, and the general popularity of the game itself (which has been declining). We're hoping to rebuild our community, but we have noticed that lately our numbers tend to be less than twenty or so players on the server at a time. We have the capacity for many, many more players.
gcalex5 wrote:Could someone describe the type of environment that the server typically has?
That's a tough question. I suppose I'll start out with the basics - the stuff that first attracted me to this server. The community tends to be respectful and friendly; our players don't hesitate to work with others or to integrate players into the community. That's traditionally been our greatest strength. I'll use my own experiences as a player here. When I first started, I set myself up on the fringes of the world. I didn't really know how multiplayer worked. I built myself a nice tower and a good mine, and didn't really try to interact with anyone else. One day two players came by asking to stay in my tower for a night. They were on an adventure to find clay (back when clay was very very rare) and I figured I'd give them food and join them. We fought off mobs together, built a camp together, mined clay together. And, at the end of it, I had two friends that I would continue to join in their exploits and in building projects together. That's the hallmark of our community. The freedom that you have on this server is substantial; our staff are respectful and reasonable, our players are generally friendly and helpful, and our admins try their hardest to keep the server lag-free and functional. We desire to build communities here - not break them - and will do whatever we can to make your experience here enjoyable. It's all about you as the player here.
gcalex5 wrote:I noticed you had a 'guest world' with plots, does that also exist in the member world or is it all open to make towns?
I'll try to tackle both questions:
First, we've always been open to players building towns. You can go wherever you want, start building a town, and see if you can attract players to join you. We don't want to limit your imagination in what you want to build on the server. In fact, my plan once the new world is out is to work with another player to build a town, as well. I once had my own town back when I was just a regular player and enjoyed bringing in new folks into it. So, in short, yes you are open to make towns. You can even make communities of towns, or factions, if you really want to. We've had those before too.
Regarding the "guest city" that was a whole other beast. Back when we were very busy we wanted to figure out a way of helping new players start off and get to know other players. We were worried that their requests for help would be drowned out by others, or that they would give up easily if they couldn't find a place to build right away. Our "guest city" was a solution for that. "Guest city" was a series of plots located in a protected area on our survival world. As a new player once you finished the tutorial for the server you had the option of taking a plot in "guest city" or just venturing out into the wilderness on your own. In "guest city" you'd take a plot, build a house, and once you reached vet status (a certain number of hours of gameplay) you were asked to move on from the "guest city." Mods would freely move your house and the goods you collected for you to any free space on the world that you wanted. The "guest city" wasn't so much a city as it was just a place for new players to get their bearings on playing the game.
With TNA, we are no longer going to have a "guest city." Or, at least, we wont have a "guest city" at release; we could always bring it back if its needed. If we get to the point where our popularity demands it, then we could reintegrate it... but for now we just don't need it.
gcalex5 wrote:Are there any requirements to make a town, or could I run off a few hundred blocks make a town with my gf and then commission a road to it?
Nah, there's no requirements. You can go wherever you want, make a claim, and start building a town if you want. Keep in mind that you could have neighbors next to your town claim that may not want to be part of the town, but that's part of the game. It's all about negotiating and working with others. As far as commissioning a road to your town. We have a very simple rail system that goes out in each compass direction, but beyond that we leave the rest of the transportation up to our players to build.
EDIT: Oh, one last thing with this. It's not a requirement, but it certainly helps the rest of us figure out what is a town or not. We do ask that towns at minimum make a sign somewhere indicating the name of the town. It's not required, but it makes thing so much easier to figure out what is and isn't a town.
gcalex5 wrote:Will the towns still be handled by a plugin like Towny, or are they all going to be handled via Grief Prevention?
For now, we're looking at towns being handled as claims through GP. There's no immediate plans to integrate Towny, unless there is demand by our players to do so.
gcalex5 wrote:Final question I have, is there anyway if I fit into this community and start playing here that I could possibly be involved in some type of Bukkit plugin development for the server?
Certainly. Our staff - admins, mods, etc. - are all made up of our players. We could definitely use the additional help, though we would need to know we could trust you. That sometimes takes time, proven experience, and simply getting to know one another.
I hope that answered all your questions, gcalex5. Please feel free to ask more if you have any.