Wednesday Where Am I? 7/30/14

It's time for Where Am I? Wednesday! Here is your mystery server screenshot:

Prize: 

• Iron horse armor
• A saddle
• Two leads
• A stack of these babies: 

How to Play and Enter: 

1. Search the server for the place in the screenshot!
2. Once you think you've found it, hit F3 on your keyboard to bring up the coordinates. 
3. Jot down the coordinates for X, Y, and Z on a piece of scrap paper (make sure you correctly identify if they're negative coordinates!).
4. Write a letter to Otter by typing the following command:
• /letter Coordinates (XX, YY, ZZ) <YourUsername>
• (Please replace XX with the X coords, YY with the Y coords and ZZ with the Z coords)
• Please sign the letter with your full username.
5. With your written letter in your hand, send it to Otter with the following command:
• /post Otterun

The winner will be announced along with the weekend spotlight.

Read HERE for more information! 

Special Opening Postponed & Tuesday Poll

Grand Opening
Our special event was postponed.  There was a Mojang/Minecraft related issue that effected all servers, so we were down at the time the event was scheduled.

We will try again tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11am Pacific Standard Time.  Click here for a time converter to help. :)

Tuesdays Poll
The results are in for last week's poll:

WHEN A PERSON LEAVES ONE TOWN, HOW LONG SHOULD THEY WAIT BEFORE JOINING ANOTHER?

No limit.	9 (39%)
3 days	1 (4%)
7 days	13 (56%)
14 days	0 (0%)
21 days	0 (0%)
22+ days	0 (0%)

The majority tips in favor of having some sort of time limit to prevent people from town hopping and stealing materials.  We will test out a 5-day limit for people who leave towns on their own choosing (not including town inactivity resulting in the desire to leave).  Those in this 5-day cool down will receive the title of "Explorer" which will automatically be removed after the 5 days are up.

This week's poll is up.  Some people are concerned about banner (see below) design theft being a problem when 1.8 comes out.  This question is about whether Gazer staff should regulate banner designs to ensure that players can't "steal" another player's idea.

HOW MANY BANNERS SHOULD A TOWN/PLAYER BE ALLOWED TO "COPYRIGHT" WHEN 1.8 COMES OUT?

In-Game Banners
While we anxiously await 1.8 and the arrival of banners, play around with the banner maker in the mean time: http://algoin.de/bngn/

It's tons of fun and you can planning what banner you would like to represent your village or just to decorate your own builds!

Wednesday What Am I?
Finally, Wednesday's What Am I will be posted at a random hour on Wednesday as opposed to the set 4am PST schedule.  This will hopefully give people from other timezones a better opportunity to solve it.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the game!

Weekend Update

The winner for Wednesday's Where Am I is... Minja! Congratulations!  Here's the answer to this week's puzzle.  The location was just outside of Haven (though there was a bit of confusion as the location was altered after the puzzle was posted -- sorry!  Otter will be more careful next time). 

If you want to see the original puzzle, click here. If you want to get in on the next Wednesday game, you can read the competition rules here.

Greetings everyone! A few updates. We are planning a grand opening on Tuesday (be on around 12pm Pacific Standard Time to catch it!  Here's a time converter).  We hope to see a big turnout of people attending the opening!

Also, for the Weekly Gaze, it has been postponed to next weekend. The same spotlight, water features, and the same prize will be awarded.

Click here for last week's Weekly Gaze.

Wednesday Where Am I? 7/23/14

It's time for Where Am I? Wednesday! Here is your mystery server screenshot:

Prize: 

• A magical sheep
• Ten daylight sensors
• A stack of these babies: 

How to Play and Enter: 

1. Search the server for the place in the screenshot!
2. Once you think you've found it, hit F3 on your keyboard to bring up the coordinates. 
3. Jot down the coordinates for X, Y, and Z on a piece of scrap paper (make sure you correctly identify if they're negative coordinates!).
4. Write a letter to Otter by typing the following command:
• /letter Coordinates (XX, YY, ZZ) <YourUsername>
• (Please replace XX with the X coords, YY with the Y coords and ZZ with the Z coords)
• Please sign the letter with your full username.
5. With your written letter in your hand, send it to Otter with the following command:
• /post Otterun

The winner will be announced along with the weekend spotlight.

Read HERE for more information! 

Poll: Townless-ness

The results are in from last week's poll!  We were toying around with the idea of opening a new spawn building, to encourage players to build away from spawn, but it looks like our current system is fine and traveling is all part of the Minecraft journey.

WHERE SHOULD NEW PLAYERS SPAWN WHEN 1.8 COMES OUT?

In a new spawn building, far away from the current one.	5 (27%)
In the same spawn snowy building we've all come to know and love.	11 (61%)
I don't have a strong opinion either way.	2 (11%)
Another idea! (Post in the news comments)	0 (0%)

This week Otter would like to know your feelings on people leaving new towns and joining new ones.  Do you think it would be fair to put a limit on how long someone must wait before joining a new town?  Some people feel it takes away from the community feel when players are able to hop around from city to city.  Behind the scenes, it's also kind of a pain to move a single person around 3 times in a week.

The new poll question is this:

WHEN A PERSON LEAVES ONE TOWN, HOW LONG SHOULD THEY WAIT BEFORE JOINING ANOTHER?

If you have other ideas or suggestions, please comment on this post or the GazerCraft Skype group to start a discussion!

The Weekly Gaze

The Weekly Gaze

Greetings Gazers! This week we are featuring interior decoration! 

First up is Omega with his castle's throne room! 

And we have Krys' house! 

And the Resident bridge to Auriel!

Min and Nikki's hotel lobby:

Before I get finished I want to apologize for the abruptness of this spotlight. Been doing schoolwork since 8am (set my alarm earlier than I normally wake up for work!) and barely got it finished at 7pm. Add in a small break for dinner and I am purely worn out. 

I was thinking of ideas to get the spotlight a little more popular. I decided to make it a small competition. I will air every submission just as before, however I will pick one out of the bunch as a 'winner' and give the town or player that submitted it a prize. Granted, it will be hard to give an entire town a prize, it will most likely go to the person responsible for the construction of the project. So if someone built the paths, and another person build the lamps, if they are the spotlight I need to know who build it so they can receive the award.

*Note. If town leaders submit nothing but their own projects they will lose quite often as I will not give a prize to the same person very often.

For next week's spotlight I decided on WATER FEATURES. If you have a pool, pond, hot spring, creek, stream, waterfall, toilet, share them with me! The prize this week will be five invisibility potions!

Wednesday Where Am I? Winner!

Our latest Wednesday winner is none other than Minja!  Congratulations, Min!  The location was atop the cloud in CRMVille (if you haven't been there, you should check it out)!

If you want to see the original puzzle, click here. If you want to get in on the next Wednesday game, you can read the competition rules here.

Wednesday Where Am I? 7/16/14

It's time for Where Am I? Wednesday! Here is your mystery server screenshot:

Prize: 

• A wolf spawn egg
• A name tag
• Half stack of glowstone lamps
• A stack of these babies: 

How to Play and Enter: 

1. Search the server for the place in the screenshot!
2. Once you think you've found it, hit F3 on your keyboard to bring up the coordinates. 
3. Jot down the coordinates for X, Y, and Z on a piece of scrap paper (make sure you correctly identify if they're negative coordinates!).
4. Write a letter to Otter by typing the following command:
• /letter Coordinates (XX, YY, ZZ) <YourUsername>
• (Please replace XX with the X coords, YY with the Y coords and ZZ with the Z coords)
• Please sign the letter with your full username.
5. With your written letter in your hand, send it to Otter with the following command:
• /post Otterun

The winner will be announced along with the weekend spotlight.

Read HERE for more information! 

Tuesday Poll!

The results are in! Here's what the Gazer group thinks about tamable mobs!

Cat	4 (23%)
Dog	7 (41%)
Horse	0 (0%)
Donkey	1 (5%)
Saddled Pig	0 (0%)
Mule	0 (0%)
Rabbits (with 1.8!)	5 (29%)

Dogs hold the place as the favorite, but it looks like a lot of excitement is getting drummed up for up-coming rabbits in 1.8!

Speaking of 1.8... How do you think we should handle spawn when 1.8 comes out?  When 1.8 is ready (and our grief-protection plugins update), we are going to expand our world border, generating new lands so we can find the added mobs and blocks.  

How should we handle spawn when that happens?  Do you think we should build a new spawn build beyond the current world so new members start out there? Or should we leave the old spawn building as is and make everyone travel to find the new lands?

Please vote on the poll.  If you have another idea, please post it in the comments below.

The Weekly Gaze

The Weekly Gaze

Bridges!

Greetings, Gazers, this week's spotlight focuses on Bridges!

First up, Zotterdale with their water-less bridge! Quite a feat from our favorite admin, Otterun!

Next is the Hotdog bridge, an entry submitted by Sirmeatwad. Quite the charming little bridge!

To sum up our spotlight, a bridge in Arendelle spanning their small pond! It is quite picturesque, I love the roses too!

Next week's theme is interior decor!  Have you been able to repurpose Minecraft items to look like real life decorations?  Have you come up with any clever creations for the inside of your builds?  Send a letter ( /letter) to z2liion ( /post z2liion).  Tell her who you are, what town you're in, what your spotlight entry is, and the coords where she can find it.

Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom has joined the ranks of the other villages and it rocks!  This whimsical town looks like it came right out of a Minecraft fairytale!  Be sure to collect the Discovery Warp -- it's located in the boat so you feel like you're traveling there by sea.  If you're interested in joining, talk to Squire Rivalcat!
Coordinates x: 900  z: -1100

Wednesday Where Am I? Winner
We had quite a few participants this round, but the prize goes to the quickest!  This week's winner is SirMeatwad!  Congratulations!  Here's the answer, just outside of Oatmeal's place:

If you want to see the original puzzle, click here. If you want to get in on the next Wednesday game, you can read the competition rules here.  

GazerCraft is on Youtube

Our very own Arrowninja has started a let's play series about his time on GazerCraft.  His soothing voice and quick wit makes it a good watch.  Check it out!

Like Us on Facebook!

If you're a GazerCraft fan and a Facebook user, you can now like us on Facebook!

Please be aware that we cannot see your name or your profile if you like the page.  The only time your name will be shown is if you comment/like posts on the page itself.

Where Am I Wednesday 7/9/14

It's time for Where Am I? Wednesday! Here is your mystery server screenshot:

Prize: 

• A slime spawn egg
• A name tag
• A random music disc
• A stack of these babies: 

(I apologize for using a texture pack. I hadn't realized it was on and when I turned it off, I couldn't get a screenshot as good as this.  Fireworks are hard to take pictures of!)

How to Play and Enter: 

1. Search the server for the place in the screenshot!
2. Once you think you've found it, hit F3 on your keyboard to bring up the coordinates. 
3. Jot down the coordinates for X, Y, and Z on a piece of scrap paper (make sure you correctly identify if they're negative coordinates!).
4. Write a letter to Otter by typing the following command:
• /letter Coordinates (XX, YY, ZZ) <YourUsername>
• (Please replace XX with the X coords, YY with the Y coords and ZZ with the Z coords)
• Please sign the letter with your full username.
5. With your written letter in your hand, send it to Otter with the following command:
• /post Otterun

The winner will be announced along with the weekend spotlight.

Read HERE for more information! 

Poll Results & Get Ready for Wednesday!

The poll results are in!  This is what we are most looking forward to finding with 1.8!

Jungle	0 (0%)
Desert	2 (13%)
Mega/Spruce Taiga	1 (6%)
Mushroom Island	1 (6%)
Stone Beach	1 (6%)
Savanna	1 (6%)
Mesa	7 (46%)
Ocean	2 (13%)

The newest poll is up and the new Wednesday Where Am I will be arriving in 12 hours!  

The Weekly Gaze

The Weekly Gaze

This week we are featuring horses! We have a very special horse here, The-Silver was named after Danerys' steed from the Game of Thrones. Belonging to our very own Otterun, she was a gift from Cassiroll, and was the first horse bred by Cassie, given to Otterun.

Next weekend bridges will be featured! *note that the bridges don't have to be inside your town, but must be built for or by your town*

Junior Moderator Position Open!
In light of an influx of newbies, Otter, Z, and Mal are looking for volunteer junior moderators (with the possibility of full moderator promotion) to help show everyone the ropes and welcome new members to the whitelist.

If you're interested, please fill out an application HERE.  The deadline will be at the end of this month, so have your application in before August 1st.

Wednesday Where Am I? Winner Announced!

With Friday being a national holiday in the United States, Z and Otter are running a little behind as we recover from the weekend festivity.  Z will be posting the spotlight tomorrow, but I wanted to reveal the Wednesday winner today!

This week's "Where Am I?" was a great success!  The winner of the very first competition was ThePunisher1028!  Great job, Pun!

The next one is going to be harder -- check in this upcoming Wednesday to play!  You can see the previous contest here and read the competition rules here.

Where Am I Wednesday 7/2/14

It's time for Where Am I? Wednesday! Here is your mystery server screenshot:

Prize: 

• A wolf spawn egg and
• A stack of these babies: 

How to Play and Enter: 

1. Search the server for the place in the screenshot!
2. Once you think you've found it, hit F3 on your keyboard to bring up the coordinates. 
3. Jot down the coordinates for X, Y, and Z on a piece of scrap paper (make sure you correctly identify if they're negative coordinates!).
4. Write a letter to Otter by typing the following command:
• /letter Coordinates (XX, YY, ZZ) <YourUsername>
• (Please replace XX with the X coords, YY with the Y coords and ZZ with the Z coords)
• Please sign the letter with your full username.
5. With your written letter in your hand, send it to Otter with the following command:
• /post Otterun

The winner will be announced along with the weekend spotlight.

Read HERE for more information!