Branchscape

[LS13]

Unfortunately it is 1:1, not normal nether ratio.

[tanisjihanis]

I think this just about sums up my feelings about the capital at this point.

dyK1fu1.jpg

I think you can start to understand the reason I put out this question. Basically, I'm starting to search for a successor to run the city and assign new project managers in it (keeping a few specific parts, such as the main tree untouched).

I'd love to continue helping the empire stick together, but I can't give this the time it deserves and quite frankly, as I'm sure many of you have realized, those of us who were once very adamant and outgoing in our efforts to constantly improve and expand br have run out of steam.

And here's a little bit of text late at night, don't take it too seriously, as I'll probably regret typing any of it in the morning.

Spoiler! :

It's a little hard for me to go in and change anything about the capital because the memories of the people are overwhelming.

It might seem a little silly to most of you reading this topic, because in the end, it's just a town right? With make believe rules and regulations and endless non utilitarian beautification projects. Just a way to spend time enjoyably. And I'm sure that's all it would be if I had worked on it alone. If I had worked on it alone. Hah, if I had worked on it alone, I would have been finished with it years ago. Just building a big tree, to see if I could do it.

But you see, the issue is that I didn't work on it alone. After about a year of on and off building when I got bored, I realized that the people I had started working on it weren't coming back. So I went on a little adventure in a world I had never seen before. A little trip down the rail into a crazy messed up and social world named fyra. I wandered around a bit before meeting venomm2. He showed me around his town and I showed him mine. After a little while, he ended up working on a build near me. (Haha, still going, us two and our never ending projects!)

Well, with a player next to me to talk to and compare builds with, I got on a lot more frequently. I realized that I really liked working with other players, so I invited a few more people to come and stay with us. Most of them built houses and never came back to the server and I ended up removing the houses. This happened so often that I started running into problems removing houses and having people come back a month later asking me where their house was. But more then a few stayed with me for the long haul, among them ttw, wafflehair, serubin, and many others that are now long gone. I've shared my personal life with quite a few. In turn they've shared bits of theirs and we've helped each other through some rough patches.

With so many people to occupy my time, I was coming up with ideas faster then I could manage building them. So, I worked on making a system so that I would have more time. In the end, this system resulted in me doing little to no real building and I ended up managing all the parts of br which led me to meet those in other towns.

I have had a slightly different minecraft experience then most people. I started off multiplayer and I think escapecraft is the second server I ever tried out. One of my earliest server posts was about branchscape and I'm still working on that town. So, I've spent the entire 6 weeks of my life on escapecraft working on this town. I'm invested in it to the point that in my freshman year of high school I felt like I was living two lives at once, one digital and filled with friends, the other real but filled with work. I suppose you can imagine which one I preferred. But I had time for that lifestyle and loved every bit of it.

This brings me back to my current issue. As the end of highschool approaches for me, real life is more pressing then it's ever been and branchscape has been slipping away. It's hard for me to go through branchscape because the creations have permanence, but they remind me of the people that don't. The missing people that I shared time with, but because of the nature of the world we shared, I won't ever meet them again. And on top of that, due to my negligence, branchscape is empty and dead. What's a city without citizens? Not much better then a game without players, which is what wandering around branchscape trying to fix it up feels like to me.

So yeah, it's been a real nice ride guys but I got too dizzy and I think I need to get off the rollercoaster. I'd still like to check in from time to time if only to watch and make the rollercoaster keeps functioning.

[Victini998]

I'm sad to hear that tanis, but all good things must end at a point. We will all miss you as leader and I hope you do well in high school.

[SMWasder]

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. Branchscape was likely to fizzle out of regular citizens eventually- just look at Ver3. It's just the nature of all internet communities that the majority of members leave after so long, it's not because you were negligent. Seriously, Br has had one of the better runs of server towns (arguably the best). If you want to hear about negligence, I have a town in West Fyra that I built, then never got around to opening at all.

[Gannondorf1000]

Even if we do disband the Empire (which would be sad), I think that at least the core members (I think we know who we are) would continue to be friends and at least loosely stick together. And if you are leaving your mantle as our glorious emperor, then you will truly be missed! I wish you luck in what ever venture you are in. Au Revior

[Tothewhat]

It was sad to read that, but all entirely true.
I'm still very happy with what br has become, "dead" or not.

I wonder if it might be better to leave it at that, and not force it out. Leave it as a happy memory with all of us more original members?

With that I mean what venom once said, "Once you join br, you never leave." Or something of that sort.
We're not going to just forget branchscape!

cheesy, I know, I know

[MrWhales]

Spoiler! :

Someone once explained it to me that people really like to build towns, and build together, but they never want to live there. I think that that is more or less correct about everything, Minecraft is a game of creation, and occasionally destroying. You think up an idea, and you start to think about how you'd do it, how to make it awesome. You get a fire in you, an ambition to make something you can be proud of. Something that lives up to all your expectations and then some. You finally break ground on that project and you're in a sort of honeymoon face with it, everything is working out great! It all looks like the foundations of greatness! Your fire is burning brighter by the day, by the hour, by the moment. “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” - Buddha. Well your fire lights a fire into others and they are so excited and want to help, your fire and their fire and all the others burn bright. You near the end and it's finally becoming what you have slept dreaming in your dreamy dreams about. The greatness, the grandeur, the overwhelming realization that you started this thing from some patch of wilderness at the end of the road somewhere. Soon you wake up to the fact that not only had your fire created your dreams, it has fostered a community, it has created cities, created an empire. You don't want your fire to burn out when this project is done, you don't want it to die at it's brightest moment!

"Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom." - Thomas Carlyle. You want to do more! You ask others of ideas that they want to do, and you tell them of others you've had. And you set to work, your fire has sparked fires in others, and they form under your banner, how could a king not empower his people?! So you push and push, more fuel to your fire as project after project get done. Your fire is burning so bright that other empires fall beneath you and become nothing but ruins and ash in your glorious inferno! But you and your empire and all it's magnificent works steam ahead, creating more! But as the fire grows larger and burns hotter and burns brighter, it is taking more to go, others can't take it, they fall to the curbside and the others feel sorry for their fallen friends but cannot stop, the fallen wouldn't want to machine to cease because they see themselves as nothing more than a plate covering the cogs, the machine can keep going! Steaming, it continues. But it is even brighter!

More fall and more, the stronger begin to take up more weight. Your fire is dimming in the darkness, soon it will be like the others, ruin and ash, broken buildings and spent men. Soon all that will be left is what you have, not what you do, because a man cannot push a giant machine alone, a man cannot fuel the fire without sacrificing himself. In the glowing embers of cities and empires left abandoned by your fire, your machine, your empire, you stand watching as it finally dies and think of all that has passed, and realize that you had a really great time. Irreplaceable memories have been had. You want those again, but what can you do? You think of a few ideas, but there's no more room, and you don't want to leave what little you have left to rot in the ruins.

Whew, whale what I'm saying is that, this is normal tanis and has happened to pretty much every "great" player to grace the server. They leave for their own reasons, and it's sad, but they'll come back, and hopefully you will too, and if not(not trying to sound cruel, but I think you'll realize this is a bit of comfort), people will find another to muster under.

By the way, I'm still trying to create the first project I ever wanted to do 2 1/4 years ago when I joined the server. I joined a somewhat afraid of the world sophomore in high school who was infatuated with a girl it took my way too long to go out with and way too long to get over, and here I am, a sailor in the Navy, after vowing most of my life to never join the military. So things change, and hopefully we will be here if you decide to let us watch you change.

Oh, and sorry I ran off with that last paragraph, I want to build a library.

[SMWasder]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Tanis only seemed to say he didn't know what to do with the Br capital, rather than Br in general or that he was leaving.

[Choiku!]

Tanis, i know we spoke about this a few times right upon my return to playing, annnnd well it would suck to see you go. The main question i wanted to ask you is whether leading the town is an issue or just playing minecraft is. I would hate to see you go, we have become great friends, but in the end you feel you need a break or you need to quit, a few months ago i did too but somehow i found myself back here, and maybe you will too, but take your time. You told me all that has changed in your life and basically you are in the same issue i was, you got busy, and you will stay busy no doubt. I dont think you want to stop playing the game, you dont have time though, but you will manage your time eventually and you will play games, maybe not minecraft, but you will play games a lot less than before. But you said your life is great right now, so enjoy it, i still would hate to see you go, so hti me up on League, i almost never log out even if im afk so ill get your messages eventually >.>. Choose the successor wisely.

EDIT: a few responses
TTW: you are true i did say that and i stand by it
Gannon: Lets not be exclusive, everyone who has ever been in branchscape is a "core" member and we will all stay friends as long as we stay on the server
Smw: Tanis told me a few things in confidentiality and im not going to repeat w/o his ok, but what i can tell you is that from what i was told, he is looking into taking some sort of leave(we haven't gotten the time to completely talk this through) but that's the vibe i got from the few conversations we had. Right now he is tunnel visoning on the new settlement but he isnt having as much fun as he used to. I think it is likely he is going to leave/play less once he is done, maybe step down from leadership or have an interim leader for the whole settlement.

[MrWhales]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Tanis only seemed to say he didn't know what to do with the Br capital, rather than Br in general or that he was leaving.

I felt like sharing what I think tanis realized that I realized a bit ago

[motormaniac]

It's sad, alot of players that have been around since the start are either having life catch up with them or simply burning out. The main community is made up of the people that have been here for a while, and minecraft can only entertain for so long.. It's sad to see you go tanis. But it's for good reason, so don't be a stranger

[tanisjihanis]

Spoiler! :

Someone once explained it to me that people really like to build towns, and build together, but they never want to live there. I think that that is more or less correct about everything, Minecraft is a game of creation, and occasionally destroying. You think up an idea, and you start to think about how you'd do it, how to make it awesome. You get a fire in you, an ambition to make something you can be proud of. Something that lives up to all your expectations and then some. You finally break ground on that project and you're in a sort of honeymoon face with it, everything is working out great! It all looks like the foundations of greatness! Your fire is burning brighter by the day, by the hour, by the moment. “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” - Buddha. Well your fire lights a fire into others and they are so excited and want to help, your fire and their fire and all the others burn bright. You near the end and it's finally becoming what you have slept dreaming in your dreamy dreams about. The greatness, the grandeur, the overwhelming realization that you started this thing from some patch of wilderness at the end of the road somewhere. Soon you wake up to the fact that not only had your fire created your dreams, it has fostered a community, it has created cities, created an empire. You don't want your fire to burn out when this project is done, you don't want it to die at it's brightest moment!

"Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom." - Thomas Carlyle. You want to do more! You ask others of ideas that they want to do, and you tell them of others you've had. And you set to work, your fire has sparked fires in others, and they form under your banner, how could a king not empower his people?! So you push and push, more fuel to your fire as project after project get done. Your fire is burning so bright that other empires fall beneath you and become nothing but ruins and ash in your glorious inferno! But you and your empire and all it's magnificent works steam ahead, creating more! But as the fire grows larger and burns hotter and burns brighter, it is taking more to go, others can't take it, they fall to the curbside and the others feel sorry for their fallen friends but cannot stop, the fallen wouldn't want to machine to cease because they see themselves as nothing more than a plate covering the cogs, the machine can keep going! Steaming, it continues. But it is even brighter!

More fall and more, the stronger begin to take up more weight. Your fire is dimming in the darkness, soon it will be like the others, ruin and ash, broken buildings and spent men. Soon all that will be left is what you have, not what you do, because a man cannot push a giant machine alone, a man cannot fuel the fire without sacrificing himself. In the glowing embers of cities and empires left abandoned by your fire, your machine, your empire, you stand watching as it finally dies and think of all that has passed, and realize that you had a really great time. Irreplaceable memories have been had. You want those again, but what can you do? You think of a few ideas, but there's no more room, and you don't want to leave what little you have left to rot in the ruins.

Whew, whale what I'm saying is that, this is normal tanis and has happened to pretty much every "great" player to grace the server. They leave for their own reasons, and it's sad, but they'll come back, and hopefully you will too, and if not(not trying to sound cruel, but I think you'll realize this is a bit of comfort), people will find another to muster under.

By the way, I'm still trying to create the first project I ever wanted to do 2 1/4 years ago when I joined the server. I joined a somewhat afraid of the world sophomore in high school who was infatuated with a girl it took my way too long to go out with and way too long to get over, and here I am, a sailor in the Navy, after vowing most of my life to never join the military. So things change, and hopefully we will be here if you decide to let us watch you change.

Oh, and sorry I ran off with that last paragraph, I want to build a library.

Very well said Whales.

I heard some questions circling around, so I'm clearing up some information.

1) Am I leaving for good, a while, or playing less in general?

I am going to be taking a temporary hiatus of a week or so and I'll be checking in periodically (think bi-weekly) after that to make sure that the towns are running smoothly or handling empire wide requests. Basically I'm making a full shift in priority over to school work and soon to be job.


2) Am I passing the entire empire or just the capital?

For now, just the capital. If we need a new leader for the empire, I can ceed that as well but I'm looking to try running it with a pretty loose hand.

3) And from venomm, Y I SO SAD?

Like whales said, pretty strong feeling of loss here. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world, but seeing the capital die hits harder then anything else my adolescent and inexperienced self has experienced so far in life.

[Invunarble]

blah blah blah, big wall of text here

Unless if my assumption is wrong, Tanis isn't going anywhere. He's made a commitment a while ago to help with a super secret thing that is being worked on, which would more then likely end up taking all his time up on the server. Unless something changed since my assumption, he'd still be lurking around, just not apparently able to manage Branchscape independently.

As far as complimentary things go, I can't say that I've really had any positive memorable experiences with BR. I've never really gotten myself too involved with stuff, and only until recently did I really communicate much with people from here.

I really did get off to a bad start with mostly everyone from BR, and the least I can say is that I'm glad that we managed to work out our differences for the most part post-Killscape. We were probably equally as disappointed with each other when I was rejected from your PvP team, and when I decided to destroy your base in retribution. So, I'm happy to see that ~6 months later, I've gotten back on good terms with everyone.

[tanisjihanis]

So out of those of you that posted suggestions, which among you are actually interested in running the city?

[Tothewhat]

I don't want to be the top leader, but I'll always love to help out with any plans for it.

[MrWhales]

Not whales, I don't like countries, empires, or large scale organizations that control a lot. The Navy and CUT being exempt from this.

[Sti_Jo_Lew]

I wish I could, but as most of you know my activity on the server is spotty at best. I usually only play for a few hours a week. Hopefully that will change soon...

[Choiku!]

I am interested in running the town, just because of how long ive stayed, but I doubt i can put in any substantial time until summer, although I am playing a bit more recently.

[MrWhales]

What if ttw lead a council of whales, stis, choikus, and tree people that made decisions of things? Since we all felt to comment on it All of our disability to play a lot, or desire to not be in charge, will coalition to make science. And trees, which are science.

[Wildwill002]

What if ttw lead a council of whales, stis, choikus, and tree people that made decisions of things? Since we all felt to comment on it All of our disability to play a lot, or desire to not be in charge, will coalition to make science. And trees, which are science.

It may be because I've got a cold, but I understood about a tenth of that...

[tanisjihanis]

What if ttw lead a council of whales, stis, choikus, and tree people that made decisions of things? Since we all felt to comment on it All of our disability to play a lot, or desire to not be in charge, will coalition to make science. And trees, which are science.

Opinions on this?

[Iron_Fang]

What if ttw lead a council of whales, stis, choikus, and tree people that made decisions of things? Since we all felt to comment on it All of our disability to play a lot, or desire to not be in charge, will coalition to make science. And trees, which are science.

It may be because I've got a cold, but I understood about a tenth of that...

science.

[Gannondorf1000]

Science and trees....... I like it!!

[MrWhales]

What if ttw lead a council of whales, stis, choikus, and tree people that made decisions of things? Since we all felt to comment on it All of our disability to play a lot, or desire to not be in charge, will coalition to make science. And trees, which are science.

It may be because I've got a cold, but I understood about a tenth of that...

A council leadership

[Gannondorf1000]

A council that makes trees for science and make advances in tree science!!!

[Serubin323]

ARHGHGHGHG.
Okay, here we go TAKE 5.

GUESS WHO IS NEXT TO ME RIGHT NOW! YEAH TANIS IS!



It's 2am OMG. So we are going to bed before our tiredness gets us killed.

We plan to go to pax, yay. We plan to go tour colleges, yay. We plan to make videos WITH SOUND, yay!
We also want to host some live streams so y'all can say hi and what not.

We've been trying to post this in video or text form for the lst 15 minutes with little success. Whoops. Been a long night I suppose. Haha

[tanisjihanis]

Who are those fine looking gentlemen?

Oh my! My own handsome mug is staring at me from the screen! Could it be true!?

Why yes, yes indeed. I am in Boston and in fine spirits. We'll be keeping you guys updated, talk to ya ion the morning

[Serubin323]

Live stream!

http://www.twitch.tv/serubin

[motormaniac]

Are those the exact same jackets?

[Serubin323]

Yes... Don't question us.