New Poll! Which weapon would be a fun addition?

Last week, Punisher suggested that we ask about what item players find most valuable in their game.  It seems that most of us prefer iron, given its abundance and durability!

Old Poll Results:

Iron	5 (71%)
Gold	0 (0%)
Emerald	1 (14%)
Diamond	1 (14%)

Votes so far: 7 

Diamonds are fun when you come by a lot and emeralds are great for those of you with villager farms!

This week's new poll is another hypothetical question. Pretending that Mojang makes all of these weapons well balanced and suited for the game, what weapon do you think would be a fun addition?

New Poll!

Last week we asked:

HYPOTHETICAL: WHAT PLUGIN WOULD YOU MIGHT WANT ADDED TO OUR SERVER?

Pet protection/modification	0 (0%)
More biome diversity	5 (62%)
Mail delivery	3 (37%)
Hostile mob diversity/difficulty	0 (0%)
Nothing! Less is more!	0 (0%)

And the majority if you voted that you wished we could have more biome diversity.  During the week of the poll, we did manage to get a mail plugin installed and running as well as one for pets.  

Do '/letter AndStartWritingHere' to write a letter to someone and '/post username' to send it to them.

Do '/pet help' to get help on creating your own, loyal companion.  

Who knows what else the future holds for Gazer?  Maybe the rest of these poll options will be taken into consideration...

Now on to this week's poll!  We all know which ores are rare and valuable, but which ore is most valuable and useful to you in your gameplay?

Poll Results and New Poll!

Here's the results from last week's poll, which was about the new arrow update!  What upcoming feature are you excited about?

Lava coated arrows	1 (10%)
Glowstone coated arrows	2 (20%)
Slime coated arrows	0 (0%)
Gunpowder/coal coated arrows	4 (40%)
Quiver	3 (30%)

Votes so far: 10 

This week's poll is purely hypothetical -- we currently don't have any plans to implement anything.  What we're curious to know is: What type of plugin would you like added to the server?

Poll Results

There's rumors of an arrow update in Minecraft and dinnerbone posted this to the official site!

Read the full story here!  Which arrows are you most excited about?

The results from last week are in!

WHAT IS YOUR MINECRAFT SPIRIT ANIMAL?

Chicken	2 (20%)
Cow	1 (10%)
Wolf	1 (10%)
Ocelot	1 (10%)
Rabbit	1 (10%)
Squid	2 (20%)
Pig	0 (0%)
Sheep	2 (20%)

Looks like we have a wide range of spirit animals on the server!

New Poll: Spirit Animal

Minecraftforums.net recently featured a "Spirit Animal" quiz.  It's short, cute, and the descriptions seem pretty on point!  Take it and find out what your Minecraft Spirit Animal is!

Minecraft Spirit Animal Quiz

Post your username and results in the comments and we'll add your name to this post!  And don't forget to select your answer on the weekly poll!

Contrary to popular belief, Otter is actually a Rabbit!

Otterun - Rabbit
ThePunisher1028 - Sheep
Binlaggin1 - Pig
JT80 - Squid
Zherix - Cow
Cassiroll - Wolf
CuppieQuake - Chicken
Ltaggy3 - Squid

Results!

The poll results are in!  In our world of massive deserts, oceans, and savannahs, it seems that villages, dungeons, and temples are in abundance!  Here are the results from last week's question:

HOW MANY DUNGEONS OR TEMPLES HAVE YOU DISCOVERED?

None	0 (0%)
1-3	1 (16%)
4-6	2 (33%)
7-10	3 (50%)
11+	0 (0%)

Open Applications

Last week's poll results are in!  We better find a snowy biome because everyone wants some wolfies!  A new poll has been posted on the right.

PICK YOUR TOP 3 FAVORITE PETS!

Dogs	5 (83%)
Cats	3 (50%)
Bunnies	4 (66%)
Horses	2 (33%)
Sheep	2 (33%)
Cows	1 (16%)
Pigs	1 (16%)

Just as a reminder, we are now taking whitelist applications.  To see and bump our newest forum post, click the link at the top of the page or visit here:

Minecraft Forum Link

Be sure to welcome new faces you may see. :) 

New Settlement: The United District

Our first settlement has been founded!  Mynamebenben, Sliverin, and Shiznok have created The United District.  It's a cozy little place by a forest, lake, and a certain rare biome! 

If you're up for a nice long walk, why not stop for a visit?  X: -3800 and Z: 900  If you're interested in possibly joining, talk to one of the current members to find out how!

In other news, it seems like the majority of us voted incorrectly!  T'was Sliv, Shiz, and Benben who were first!

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL START THE FIRST SETTLEMENT?

Meat	1 (10%)
Pun & Krys	3 (30%)
Shiz & Sliv	3 (30%)
Xertris	1 (10%)
Z & Otter	2 (20%)

Who could possibly be next?  We have one more settlement slot available.  After that, there will be no more settlements allowed until the current settlements upgrade or until we get several new members.

Polls & Game Update

The results from last week's poll are in!  Here are our favorite ways to travel:

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO TRAVEL?

Walking/Sprinting	1 (8%)
Horseback	5 (41%)
Saddled Pig	2 (16%)
Railroad	4 (33%)

This week's poll is now up:

WHICH MOB KILLS YOU THE MOST?

Last week's Where Am I? is going to be re-flown as there hasn't been a winner.  We're upping the ante with a better prize to see if we can encourage you to look harder.

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

Prize: 

• 20 Glowstone Lamps
• Gold Horse Armor
• A Confused Sheep
• 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! 

The Weekly Gaze

The Weekly Gaze

Greetings Gazers! This week we are featuring Basements!

First up we have Punisher and his basement storage area.

"Not every house has to take up a lot of room on the surface, some of the best homes utilize the ground beneath them. This home's basement has all the storage and tools any player would need, making this home truly a home base for mine craft operations."

That's it for this week's weekly gaze! The winner is: ThePunisher1028! Congrats! Your prize will be available in Z's office at spawn shortly! 

Next week's contest is featuring Fishing Ponds. The Prize will be an enchanted Fishing Rod! 

Remember that anyone can enter into the Weekly Gaze! 

*Note that the pond has to be man-made or altered in some way (bridge, deepened, etc.)

Firework Show

The server has been poppin' lately and it's thanks to our lovely moderators!  To celebrate our wonderful staff and boost in activity, we're going to have a firework show in their honor! Come celebrate Min, Punisher, and Tana!

The show will take place at the Twilight Arena (x:2531, y:107, z:806).  It will begin at 12:30pm 12:00pm Wednesday, August 20th, Pacific Standard Time.  Here's a nifty Time Zone Converter for you to use.  We will make plenty of announcements around that time and we will wait until it's night time in game.

Server Cleanup

We're in the process of doing a server clean up. This does NOT mean you may alter player builds/chests -- doing so is still against the rules.  It just means that we're demoting inactive towns, disabling* inactive Discovery Warp plates, and removing offices to make room for new, active players.

*If you have previously discovered a Discovery Warp, but it has now been disabled due to inactivity, you can still use it.  Disabling just means it won't appear when using '/dw list' and new players won't be able to discover it. 

Wednesday Where Am I? Winner!

Our latest Wednesday winner is Punisher from Sanctuary! Congratulations! The location was just outside of Mourningwood, a forgotten settlement.

New Poll!

Last week we asked about a new plugin, which sadly had some bugs.  While that gets resolved, consider our newest poll: What is the best way to travel?

Polls and New Shop Option

Here are the results for last week's poll!

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

0	2 (14%)
1	4 (28%)
2	6 (42%)
3	2 (14%)
4	0 (0%)
5	0 (0%)
6 or more	0 (0%)

This week, we are thinking of adding a new plugin.  This plugin creates the option to create chest shops that trade items for items.  The plugin we are thinking of getting is called "FancyShop."

Here's a link with commands and info: http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/fancyshop/

Please watch this three minute instructional video for further clarification.  It's light weight and easy to use! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSsyDBMJwJo

So this week's poll is this:

 SHOULD WE ADD FANCYSHOP?

Please watch the instructional video and do some reading before voting, please!

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!

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!

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.

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!  

Poll Results & Game Tomorrow!

Last week, we asked what type of town theme you thought would be coolest and the results came pouring in for underwater bubbles!

Treetop Homes

2 (14%)

Underwater Bubbles

7 (50%)

Sandcastle City

2 (14%)

Glass Dome

0 (0%)

Modern Skyscrapers

0 (0%)

Emerald City

3 (21%)

Floating Islands

0 (0%)

This week's poll is about biomes! With 1.8 will come an expanded server border and a newly generated area to explore! What biome are you most excited about finding?  Cast your vote in the upper right!

New Poll & Promotion Information

Z is busy with work and school while Otter is down to part time work for the summer.  For the time being, Otter will temporarily be taking over town promotions.  If your town is ready for a promotion, please contact her!  You can get her in Skype (Otterun), in game chat (also Otterun), or you can send her a letter (again, in game, '/letter' and then '/post Otterun').  Check these links for information and requirements.

Settlement Information

Village Information

Town Information

City Information

Metropolis Information

We also have a new poll!  Just for fun, what would be a wacky town you'd like to live in?  Answer on the right!

Collect ALL the Heads!

Last week we put up a poll about having mob heads added as a rare drop and the results were overwhelmingly positive!

• Yes, collect ALL the mob heads!
• 17 (85%)
• No! More vanilla!
• 0 (0%)
• I don't care.
• 3 (15%)
• Maybe, but I have concerns (tell Z or Otter).
• 0 (0%)

You can now collect mob heads by slaying either hostile mobs or animals.  Please note that player heads are NOT available as we do not want to encourage unwanted PvP.  Here's a list of all the mobs dropping heads.:

• Skeleton
• Zombie
• Creeper
• Blaze
• Cave Spider
• Chicken
• Cow
• Enderman
• Ghast
• Magma Cube 
• Mooshroom
• Pig 
• Zombie Pigman
• Sheep 
• Slime 
• Spider 
• Squid 
• Wither Skeleton

Some are more rare than others.  If the mob is very easy to farm/grind (chickens, skeletons, etc.), it's head is going to be more rare than a mob that is not (ghasts, mooshrooms, etc.).

A new poll has also been posted about adding DW pads to settlements.  Share your thoughts!

Results Are In! New Poll!

Poll results are in!  We asked if you thought we should reset the Nether, and here's what you had to say:

Yes, materials have become scarce.
7 (38%)

Not yet, let's wait until 1.8.
8 (44%)

No, I've built a lot in the current nether.
1 (5%)

I'm not sure.
2 (11%)

I have another concern (tell Z or Otter).
0 (0%)

The general consensus seems to be asking us to hold off until 1.8, so we will revisit the issue when 1.8 is released (probably next month).  In the mean time, a new poll is up!  This one is about mob heads.

Should we install a plugin that makes it possible to collect mob heads?

Mob heads are technically vanilla (you can get them in the creative inventory) but there is no way to get them when playing survival (except for wither skulls).  There are plugins that make all mob heads available as rare drops when mobs are killed -- even players!  Do you think this would be a good plugin to have on our server, or do you think it would take away from the "vanilla-ness" we're going for?  Share your thoughts in the comments and place your vote on the right!