Howdy, folks. How long has it been since I've last been on?

Well, I'm here to bring up a completely different type of forum game-- one that might not be familiar for some, while some might feel right at home with these types of forum games.
 
Play-by-Forum, or Play-by-Post, games are where each participating individual plays by posting on this thread-- depending on the medium, it may be a role-play, an online game, a party function or something else of a similar caliber. Replies usually follow a certain format to keep the pace of the game's process and to discern between in-game actions and outside-interactions. There are lots of games that involve Player-to-Player interaction, either with (Co-Op) or against (PvP) each other.
 
This particular forum game will be for the interest of a particular game-- one which has seen many moons of various Play-by-Forum interactions and is best known as a Campaign-and-Conquest game in that respect.
 

 

Twilight Imperium is best described as a "Space Opera in-a-box," designed and created by Christian T. Petersen and published by Fantasy Flight Games. Its original conception is in board-game form, but has also taken the route of online (real-time or play-by-forum) game sessions. Twilight Imperium is "a game of epic galactic trade, politics and conquest." In a nutshell, the base game handles up to 6 players-- each controlling one of 10 unique races-- vying for galactic control over the ruins of the Lazax Empire. In the center of this conquest is the legendary planet Mecatol Rex, the former capitol of the Lazax.
 
Each player will utilize their varying strategies to command their galactic forces, develop trade relations with others, engage in high-stakes space battles, fulfill general and secret agendas, organize in diplomatic assemblies and, ultimately, claim galactic dominion over the entire space system.
 
The overall goal of the game is for one player to reach 10 Victory Points by achieving various objectives (or by drawing the Imperium Rex card, which, effectively, ends the game).
 

 
While the game may look complicated at first-glance, the core mechanics that drive the game are, actually, rather simple. Instead of rolling dice or drawing cards to determine actions, each player has an allotment of Command Tokens to use for the various actions. Some actions include tactical troop deployment, reinforcement production, strategy activation, or they may simply pass their turn to the next player. Cards do exist in the game, but are seldomnly handed out so as to not overwhelm each player with too many options to choose from.
 
The base game, in board-game form, can usually last between 6-8 hours, depending on experience level. Play-by-Forum games are played at the pace of the players, fitting their schedule and giving them a chance to decide what they want to do-- which means most PbF sessions of TI can last a few months. With this in mind, who would like to participate in a Play-by-Forum game of galactic proportions? Who would be willing to risk galactic conquest for the name of their homeworld? Who among you would attempt to challenge the diplomatic powers of the galactic empire? Who will conquer the throne of the Lazax Empire and take control of Mecatol Rex?
 
This is a really fun and involving game in which I personally enjoy. If this is something that you would like to participate in, feel free to join! I'm starting out the head-count with 6 players to start, but may bump up to 8 if there is more interest.

Player 1: ---
Player 2: ---
Player 3: ---
Player 4: ---
Player 5: ---
Player 6: ---

There are a lot of online resources for this game in which I am happy to share with everyone.

Here is an example of a PbF game of Twilight Imperium in-progress (one in which I am participating in):

This application is just for record-keeping purposes. Rank in-game has already been changed.

In-game name: Xeadin
Age: 22
Location: Shoreline, WA; USA
Timezone: PDT [GMT -8:00]
Join Date: Sept. 22, 2014 (First started April 14, 2011)
Were you recommended by any staff?: Nick3306
Why you should become an Operator: I've been with the community for a few years now, taking a momentary leave of absence to deal with college. With that out of the way, I am now able to re-involve myself with the community once more. I have had extensive experience as an Operator during the *Classic-creative* era. I have offered support to other players and enforced the rules to the letter, and will continue to do so.

IGName: Xeadin
Name of abuser: tyty765321
Location of Grief: Just outside of Guest2 spawn
Time of Grief: Wed 9/24 [~12:00am PST]
Description: User-in-Question is placing random trees all over the guest world and on other user's buildings. User is also exemplifying strong trolling tendencies in chat.

Screenshots:

Other Information: As I am unable to use Logblock or block change tracking abilities as a Guest, I cannot confirm whether tyty765321 did in fact grief everything in the world, but I can confirm that I did see him placing trees down on an already existing building built by someone else before making this report.

Other users online: Lando_V, Caanite (IRC)

Thank you for taking the time to review this report.

With less than a month to go, PAX Prime is, once again, up and at it in full force. Since it is a huge gaming convention, I just wanted to see a head count of who is attending-- see some familiar faces and meet some Opticrafters in the flesh.

Of course, I will be attending this year...

It's been a long siege for me throughout these two years of exploring the various Minecraft Communities. There have been a lot of tough times and even tougher decisions made, but I'd have to say, these decisions have had a very big impact on my life-- both as a Minecrafter and as a person.

I started off as a wee ol' player, just like anyone else. It was probably the most hectic part of my life (well, not really, but it was a greatly moving change), and all I could really think of was, "What should I do next?" I founded my footing in what most people call nowadays 'cracked' Minecraft (the version that lets you play singleplayer, but not really a multitude of multiplayer servers), and soon I discovered the Classic version of Minecraft.

This was where the real development began.

My roots eventually spread to the Opticraft community circle-- at that point, things were pretty much a blur. Spleef was a hot topic at that time, and a vast majority of people that came often went. Adjusting from Survival to Classic wasn't too hard, but what was really hard to grasp was the notion of dedication. In order to build something in MC, you had to have a certain amount of dedication towards it. There was something that most people call today, called Ranks, that rewarded the dedicated players and gave them a sense of motivation for the community-- whether it was motivational or personal dedication, they had earned a spot in the community that others could follow suit one day.

Developing this idea of dedication, I had worked up the ranks in the community. There were a group of people who were referred to as the operators (or moderators/ admins in some circles) that had achieved a greater reputation from the community members. Some had respite towards the ops, while some held praise. It didn't take too long to realize that becoming one of the 'operators' was going to be tough work. I pressed on anyway, and eventually was granted that title amongst others. From there, things had drastically changed.

This was also when I found the Team9000 community shortly after. The community had a different crowd, but the prospects were, relatively, the same. Minecraft Classic, at this point, was at a booming pace, and the communities were flooded with new players, veteran players, and the common trolls. It took a lot more dedication to reach the same point as I did on the other community, but, in the long run, it was worth the effort to prove myself again. It was also then that my maturity and self-esteem had heightened. Dealing with the constant bickering of the trollish players and helping out the occasional lost new player had given me a greater insight on the meaning of 'community.'

Then, after a year of Minecrafting, things had changed. Much was starting to occur with many communities-- Survival had kick-started with a new era of opportunities that presented itself in new ways. This was also when I gained access to the real version of Minecraft (what people refer to as Premium today). The Opticraft and Team9000 communities still had a booming rush from Classic, but the crowds slowly shifted towards what people called Survival Multi-Player (SMP for short).

Not too long after, a new community had been recently brought up, and I was only slightly exposed to it, until it had caught me in its hooks-- Brony-ism. Little did I realize that this would change my perspective on the world around me-- both in the communities and in real life. I finally had a place to connect with, and things seemed much more clear. It was at that point that I had found the Brohoof community. I hadn't come too far, but the dedication of building had brought me back to my glory days when I first started. I was at a point where dedication mattered, even if it didn't seem so.

Every little thing mattered, no matter which community I had visited. A lot of people had traveled that same road as well, and I was just one of the many.

Recently, I reached a point where my self-confidence and my experience in the Minecraft communities had come to a point where it was about time for me to prove myself once again-- the will of dedication. You never expect to become something most people yearn to become. Today (well, just a few days ago really), I had reached an important milestone-- representing the community of Minecraft as a whole, along with dozens of others at the same level as I am. Out of several millions of other Minecraft players and community members, I am one of the select few, in a team of individuals, to become a member of the Minecraft Forum staff team. Most people think of that as a prestigious accomplishment, while others don't really look beyond the looking glass. I have personally viewed this as just another community to prove my dedication-- the only difference being that all sorts of communities collaborate together in this "Hub" community (smaller groups within a larger, broader group).

This accomplishment not only has taught me a valuable lesson on dedication, it is also a way to represent a New Beginning. We all eventually look back on our lives and think about all of the things we have done and what accomplishments we have gained. Some of us applaud ourselves of these treasures and some regret, but the most important thing is how they have changed us as a whole. I had changed quite a lot since I was introduced to the Minecraft community, and I cannot thank each member enough for all the great memories I have had, and that I will continue to share and cherish for as long as the communities stand together.

From the infant roots to the towering communities, I bid you adieu and happy Minecrafting.

This has been happening on an, almost, constant basis to the point where constant reminders, in individual threads, is just about impossible. This general reminder will, hopefully, rectify this issue substantially.

Please refrain from making one-line supports/ non-supports if you're not going to CONTRIBUTE to a proposed suggestion. That just creates a dead-end post that we'd all have to dodge past, and that's not really beneficial to any suggestion in general-- it's an unnecessary distraction. This is also a form of post count spam (even if you realize you're not doing it).

If you're going to support a suggestion or not, at least offer an explanation so that the original poster doesn't have to get stumped at any 'dead-end' replies.

Replying to a suggestion means that you are offering your opinion on a given idea-- creating one-line posts that say "I support this" or "I don't like this idea" is generally not helpful for gathering the opinions of a given idea. Please share your opinions and show respect for the original posters of their suggestions.

Yes, we all know that the server is having issues with logins at this point. This does NOT mean, "Post a MILLION and one threads stating that you cannot log in." The issue is NOT on our end-- it is on the end of Mojang's Login Servers.

Please standby until we get an update on the current situation. Thank you.

Today, I looked through Twitter and found this: http://i.imgur.com/qDaOW.png

This could possibly be a new way to display items/ blocks for our markets

What are your opinions on this?

@jeb_