IMPORTANT: One Month with Mynecraft

[Raziaar]

I know it's been a rough ride guys. We're nearing the one month mark with mynecraft, even though we haven't actually had one month of uptime.

I want to know your thoughts. Lay them out for me fully how you feel.

I want to know whether we need to keep trying this route or bail and find something else. Be brutally honest about how you feel, because if you're not you're useless to me!

 

[Vegeta897]

Stay with Mynecraft, it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[Robbo]

Stay with them, they have saved me during this exam period and I therefore view them as hero's.

But really, I'm prepaired to wait it out untill they get it going and I have more than enough games to tide me over till then.

 

[YROC]

I'm only willing to stay with them if we're given some free time to play. As it stands now, that was wasted money.

 

[Higlac]

We paid to play the Alpha version of a game on a server that uses custom software to run, downtime is to be expected as new features are added to the game.

The server didn't work at first and the owners gave us extra time and free upgrades. Once this game reaches beta or later and mynecraft is still in business then we'll be golden.

 

[kineaesth]

Stay; they seem like they give a shit, which, despite the issues we've had, is a very redeeming quality.

 

[lord_raken]

^ what these guys are saying

 

[Raziaar]

I'm only willing to stay with them if we're given some free time to play. As it stands now, that was wasted money.

If anybody feels their money was wasted and don't want to be involved, I am more than willing to return their donations back to them.

 

[Raziaar]

That's it? Nobody else has anything to say?

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

I only started playing Minecraft since this server started. I'm willing to give them a chance, but they have issues to work through, not least how quickly they get round to patching in new versions when Notch updates.

 

[Sloth]

I'm agreeing with KA and Vegeta, both that Mynecraft seems to care about getting this working and that over time its found to get better.

Stay for another month.

 

[lord_raken]

I think we should stay. They have their issues but I think most of that is pretty much unavoidable because of these unique setup we have and the fact that the game is still in Alpha.

Even if we pursue other option I think we should remember these guys once the Beta comes out.

 

[HDXX]

What about a move to xenonservers.com ? its 15$ for 20slots. I think we can try that.

 

[lord_raken]

What about a move to xenonservers.com ? its 15$ for 20slots. I think we can try that.

That might work.

Basically I really appreciate the effort the guys at Myncraft guys have put into our server and custom interface, but if the constant updates cause too many issues and hinder gameplay then we may have to go elsewhere, at least for a bit.

If it becomes necessary to leave I think would should send an email to the guys telling them that we appreciate their effort but there are too many problems and we have to leave, but we also intend to return to them as soon as things stabilize.

Or we could just go with the standard interface to simplify things.

That being said I still think we should stick with them.

 

[Sloth]

What about a move to xenonservers.com ? its 15$ for 20slots. I think we can try that.

How do we know that any other server won't be having the same issues as Mynecraft? Seeing that its only hosting Minecraft servers it might even be better placed than others to cope with everything...

 

[phantomdesign]

^ Considering we had far less problems when a member of HL2.net was hosting our server, it is perfectly reasonable to assume other hosts will be more stable.

 

[HDXX]

if you want to test the server. heres a test ip: 69.197.190.215:25565

hosted by them i know the owner and he keeps servers on separate boxes so they are never filled or maxed out.

 

[kazsymonds]

The server has been unplayable for me since the switch. I can be the only player on it and the lag is unbearable. This Steve guy is full of shit, his servers are crap.

I just want to say a massive thanks to Raz though, who has worked tirelessly to get the server working. My feelings about the server in no way reflect how I feel about how you have gone about managing it. One of the biggest kickers for me is that you put so much work in, and what we have is shit, and it's not your fault. We took a group decision to go with these guys, but it's nothing short of poor. You live and learn (unless you are Steve, apparently).

I expect some lag as i'm in the UK, but I don't want to donate until the server will at least let me play with an acceptable amount of lag.

I'm still positive about the game, and playing with you guys with Raz managing it (if you can believe that, after I just posted this message).

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

you know what? I've changed my mind. As it stands, I'm not going to use the server, because everything I do just gets reverted. So unless it's fixed pretty damn quickly or we move to another host, I'm out.

 

[Raziaar]

I hastily wrote this e-mail after getting home from work today and sent it off to Steve.



Hey Steve,

This is Timothy. I figured I would fire off this e-mail to give you a little sort of review of the experience I've had for the first month with Mynecraft.com.

We're closing in on the second month of service soon, and I have to honestly say that this whole experience wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. I had high hopes, and expected the experience to be better than when we were hosting it on a private computer by one of our members... leaving all the headaches behind. However, it's been very much the opposite. I've had more headaches with my time on mynecraft than I ever thought was possible. Almost nothing has gone right, and while I always kept my chin up, we're finishing up this current pay period without any real serious uptime that hasn't had significant issues every step of the way. While we've had uptime during the second part of the month, it was plagued with problems, unlike the first half which we had no uptime at all.

I have people that are donating to my server asking me to stick it out and continue with mynecraft, realizing the potential of your service and understanding that you've been completely overwhelmed. I also have individuals telling me that they can't even really spend time on the server anymore or donate due to the incredibly stressful experiences as a whole, and on a personal level they've experience.

I'm personally somewhere between the schools of thought. I think Mynecraft could really be something great, particuarly upon minecraft release, but I've also been having to deal with all of the problems that our server has endured and ultimately it me drove me to not even playing the game at all on the server since it's been so very stressful.

I'll name some of the specific problems we've had with the server.

1. The first couple weeks we've had issues of no uptime which you were ultimately able to fix.
2. We've had whitelist problems where the whitelist would be disabled upon every update or move of our server, which allowed griefers to come into the world and destroy what we've had. That required a revert, in which quite a few people lost many, many hours of work.
3. Since day one, we've had an inventory reset which wiped out everybodies personal inventory... which is remedied by admins, but very time consuming and tedious and a great big headache.
4. Problems with lag, sometimes severe and noticable by all, sometimes seemingly isolated to a few individuals for unknown reasons.
5. Along with an inventory reset, we later had a Homes Location reset, which caused a great deal of upset among our members who had homes very far away from spawn and had difficulty finding them again.
6. The latest problem is one where we have people spending great amounts of time digging earth, constructing things... and then coming back hours later and seeing that all of their work has been reset by the server. Something I've never seen before, but it's been happening to quite a few of our members. This was the last straw for some and they've completely bailed as a result.

Considering the fact that I have people who want to leave the server and demanding a refund, and people who want to continue with mynecraft(but acknowledging the fact that our first month was very weak and not worth the money paid for the service), I am at a loss on where to go from here. Ultimately I have to make the decision along with my people since it's our choice, but I was hoping maybe you could provide some insight and alleviate some frustrations.

I do know that if I continued with Mynecraft hosting, the experience for myself would have to change for the better. This past month has taken a tremendous toll on me, as I know it has taken on you having to deal with our server issues. I had never intended to be such a headache for you or your team, but I also never expected the experience to be so chaotic and stressful.

Lastly, I would request that no further charges be applied to my card until I can make a decision. I'm not even sure if we're being charged anymore. I know at one point you said you wouldn't be charging us until we were satisfied with the service, but I don't know if that was just a spur of the moment thing.

Please respond as soon as you are able to. I know this is quite a bit to soak up and you won't be happy reading it, but I needed to send it out for my sake, for the sake of the members I'm trying to manage this for, and for you sake.

Thanks,
Timothy


We'll see how he responds.

 

[HDXX]

Nicely said Raziaar.

 

[phantomdesign]

For the last 10 days or so, I've been playing our server and another one. Switching back and forth equally (when uptime allows), and here's my experience.

Our Server:
There was a host of problems, including large amounts of downtime, unexplained lag-spikes, and progress resetting.

Other Server:
There was only ONE period of "downtime," which was when the client was updated. The server was still up and running, however there was a server message saying progress would be reset. Other than that, it experiences some light-to-moderate lag due to the large number of players (20+ consistently) and ability to warp all over the map. Server saves about every 5-10 minutes & has consistent map-renders. Server also has a variety of cool mods, which I would suggest here if we had something stable going.

The conclusion?
Basically... I'm playing on the new server, abandoning the people here and countless hours spent building already. In other words, you'd have to pay me to play on Mynecraft servers. I'm not protesting or anything, but it's just a lot more fun playing on a server that actually works.

Games are supposed to be fun, and the amount of frustration and lack of fun I've experienced on Mynecraft servers is something I'd normally expect to get paid for. I don't think any amount of "free server time" can make up for the fact that I haven't been having fun. In business terms, we paid for a service we didn't receive and as such should receive a full refund. Additionally, we should not use their services because it does not accomplish our primary goals; to have a server that is stable and (relatively) frustration free.

P.S. I don't want my donation back.... keep it for the next server you guys buy.

 

[Raziaar]

No response from Steve yet.

Here's a twitter of a guy who has also been having a mynecraft server, I think since before/around the same time as us.

 

[Quixoticism]

I think it's really time to move on.

Since hearing of all the problems that others have been having I haven't felt like it would be worth it to do anything on the server.

 

[Viperidae]

I say drop them. Only reason I don't play on the server is for fear of losing my progress. My participation has steadily declined since we switched.

 

[Raziaar]

I think I've just been charged for a second month on my card, when we were told we weren't being charged anymore, and still 5 days off from the first charging.

I'm pulling the plug on this.


EDIT: There is a big possibility this guy is a scam artist.

It's only based on this site, but this is exactly the same Steven Hammerly that runs the mynecraft.com website

http://www.angelfire.com/ct3/scamartist/

I'm very... very depressed right now.

 

[Ravioli]

Damn, that sucks

If its really him then you should post a warning on the official minecraft forums too, so no other people get into the same problem.

 

[MJ12]

I'm very... very depressed right now.

Relax mon. We all very much appreciate your dedication in this.

 

[Solaris]

He's obviously a real pro at scamming people too. Look through the threads we've had and on other forums and everyone (including myself) are all talking about how great he is, how good the customer service was etc. when in reality he actually provided nothing more than empty words and promises.

He's obviously done similar things before.

 

[MJ12]

I think it's weird that he uses his real name when Scamming.

 

[ríomhaire]

I think it's weird that he uses his real name when Scamming.

Or maybe it's not and he's a really clever scammer who uses the name of a known scammer to differ the blame when he's eventually caught.

 

[phantomdesign]

I didn’t say anything, but the no paypal seemed rather suspicious to me. What is stupid is this: He could go legit and actually make money. After all that effort put into creating minecraft hosts, and only scamming a couple hundred dollars from it? That’s a lot of effort to rip people off for so few dollars. Although I suppose it's possible he crammed all of his server accounts onto a single computer.

My bank (Chase) allows me to dispute many types of charges, even an ATM withdraw, that were less than 1 month ago.