Rebirth of the Council of Ten

Server Discussions / Feedback Survival
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Hey Survivalists of Season 3!

So as many of you all are aware, I was responsible for the assembling of a small group of wealthy and/or influential people on Survival named “The Council of Ten”. It composed of strong and intelligent players willing to work together to originally conquer baltop and eventually the economy. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, the project was scrapped and shut down, and the building renovated to fit the somewhat well known event now known as “Dummy Debates”. The Council, to this day, is known as a massive failure, and is deemed to be too negative and contradictory to the atmosphere and aspect of what Survival is, to be realistic or even possible.

However, I have a slight wish to recreate it. In contrast to the intentions I had prior to this day, I want to create and/or develop a council of strong and influential individuals who want to work together to improve Survival and it’s expansive community as a whole. They will be in charge of organizing community events and projects, hosting large-scaled discussions with the Survival community about topics and general concerns, as well as brainstorming specific ideas that can one day revolutionize the development of Survival and it’s dedicated members. This idea is on a somewhat large scale as you can guess, and is in desperate need of feedback and consultation.

If the project does indeed begin to work and grow, the first issue would be selecting a few members to be the structural foundation of this Survival Idea Council of sorts (please give name suggestions because that was horrible). I personally will not participate in the Council both because of my controversial reputation and to disallow possibility of potential bias, but do believe that specific traits that underline the identity of a strong and influential member would be dedication and activity, honesty and humility, creativity and co-operation, as well as leadership and responsibility. There can be an application process, or an elective/democratic event with specific electoral representatives, or some other event process altogether. This has been an idea of mine for a very long time now, as I do believe more community engagement will help grow Survival as a whole on a massive scale overtime.

The way the council works is the members will reach out to different segments and/or parties/clans for ideas, concerns, and general comments about their experiences in Survival, and how it can be improved. They would then discuss amongst themselves with the information involved, and then have either a collective or single representative speak to a higher-up staff member(s) (such as an SMOD or Admin) directly. This way you can discuss topics with active members and their valid and justifiable concerns and ideas, without risking negative consequences by giving them any staff powers/abilities. Staff obviously have the right to veto (decline) any ideas the council or general Survival Community presents, but this allows more possibility for direct communication between staff and the MunchyMC Survival community.

Sorry to have written so much! Thank you all so much if you did read this far, and I hope to hear your responses concerning this project idea either in replies or in a private manner. I do hope this project receives some positive feedback, but am open to honest criticism as well. Please don’t hold anything back! Let’s all make Survival Season 3 an epic one :sunglasses:

-Rhino

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Survival becomes an elitist system

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Well I don’t want it to be a supremist group who seizes absolute power over certain aspects; just a way for survival players to express their voices and ideas easier by using the council as a kind of bridge over the gap thats currently there now

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I am confused, do players feel like their ideas aren’t heard by the staff members? If so, what made them feel like this?
It’s a genuine question, because we always made our best to encourage the creation of topics in the forums and discussion around updates/buffs or nerfs whenever survival player have ideas on something, we have an extremely active bug and idea team that are bursting with so many good ideas, and we even encourage players to share with us their ideas or discord dms or in the #survival channel there

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I personally have had quite a few discussions with several members on Survival that wanted/decided to quit or be less active because of less community engagement, and how some have felt that a lot of their concerns and ideas get left disregarded because of the aspect of using forums and discord can be somewhat conflicting depending on their specific situations, and how the level of consideration that goes into their ideas become somewhat finite and inconsequential depending on a variety of variables such as, but not limited to, lack of individual influence, negative reputations, and inability to represent themselves in an environment that thrives on community awareness to certain individuals. Having a council removes barriers such as those, as voices of people usually disregarded based on uncontrollable circumstances can be represented by more acknowledgeable members of the community.

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Ok

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The staff team is based around the idea that “real” players volunteer their time to moderate the server. Therefore, it’s a given that the staff team of the gamemode is well-engaged with the gamemode itself; I can speak on behalf of the survival staff in saying we play survival just like you, grind for gold like you, and have friends both staff and non-staff like you. The survival staff team, along with Munchy’s Bug & Idea team, are all players who work tirelessly with the goal of improving the gamemodes and engaing with players to create the best possible experience.

The Munchy network also has a wide range of methods where players can bring up ideas or concerns to staff members, such as support tickets, the forums here, or simply just messaging a staff member on Discord or in-game. Which brings me to my point, I honestly just don’t see the need for an extra ‘council’ of players – all the jobs you stated fall under the pre-existing duties of the staff team and Bug/Idea team. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

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I am confused for why something like this would be needed. At the end of the day, we are all just regular players, why do we need some elitist system? There is already a survival event team and I have personally not seen any instances where people’s thoughts are not listened to.
In fact I think a few players having a huge monopoly over baltop would just demotivate others to play. Munchy’s staff are already amazing, so I don’t believe a “council” of regular players is needed.
(Bug and idea team exists)

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Staff is well diverse and co-operative with several members of the Survival community as you say. While I understand that there are quite a few staff members that continuously play on Survival and share similar experiences with other players in the community, we cannot gloss over the probability of potential bias or disregard to the opinions and voices of the Survival Community. Can you honestly say that it is possible for a controlling governmental party in any scenario that shows no evidence towards inability to adhere to contradicting interests and perspectives? There are many opportunities that a lot of players do not particularly have access to depending on a load of different things such as age or lack of acknowledgement for whatever reason. If we as a community cannot acknowledge the possibility of underlying weaknesses, how can we grow as community? Why should people be forced to participate on the forums or the discord when they can just voice their opinions anonymously and directly through an unbiased and elected party; a party selected by the general Survival community and not by authoritative positions of power. It is the fact that lots of people are unaware of voices not being heard that shows that things need to change, and I believe that even if without a council, there should be some way for people to anonymously and safely have their ideas and concerns addressed and acknowledged without fearing consequences that might factor in afterward. I believe that there should be a body of committed and dedicated players that can share their experiences and their issues and their ideas without having to commit to a 3rd party program or be granted authoritative attention. Survival is such an expansive and beautiful community, but it can still improve in several ways, and I believe this is a strong way to do so.

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Firstly, I reject the idea that the MunchyMC staff team is a “controlling governmental party,” like I said, we’re all real players who are part of the community just like others.

Secondly, how would your Council ensure that they are more approachable and open to suggestion than the current staff team? Not a day goes by on Survival without people coming to me with all sorts of issues, from in-game queries, to bug reports, to suggestions, to serious personal concerns, and I’m sure all the other staff have similar experiences – I feel like this is a testament to the approachability/friendliness of the staff team. How would a Council of “strong and influential individuals” as you put it, be any less intimidating to a player?

You also state that the council can be “a party selected by the general Survival community and not by authoritative positions of power.” This implies that staff members are perhaps randomly picked from the gamemode, regardless of their reputation with the community – this cannot be further from the truth. I can assure you, if you look up any current staff member’s application on the forums, you will find a plethora of supportive comments from the community under each application.

Once again, with all due respect, I am not convinced of the usefulness of this idea, and how it is different from the systems we already have in place.

A side query, what are the “consequences” that players might fear from stating their opinion or a sending a suggestion to a staff member? Genuinely curious on this part.

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This sounds like an interesting idea :open_mouth:

You guys can by all means go for it, but just make sure to keep your expectations in check. Such a group would not be official nor have any more priority than any other player.

Instead though, I’d recommend aiming for the Bug & Idea team! I think if you are passionate about these sorts of things and are good at respectful debating then this team would suit you well :slightly_smiling_face:

I disagree with the notion that staff don’t listen to player ideas though, that’s just not true at all. The community is as happy as it is with the latest reset because we listened to feedback and ideas from the last map.

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Hey Rhino, your interest in presenting ideas for survival is well received. However, I would like to respond to a few things.

It is within the responsibilities of the management team to shut down any idea that they deem to be harmful to the overall feel and playability of survival. The “underlying weaknesses” you seem to see could be “fixed” by simply applying to join the bug and idea team. Sharing your ideas doesn’t require that rank, however. Just send a message to me, to Ibby, or to anyone that would be willing to share your idea.

We love to hear ideas and general feedback. We always have.

I have gotten few messages about ideas regarding the servers here on Munchy. I’ll be sure to let players know the door is open, but this line of communication has always been available for players to use. If you don’t seek to tell the right people, your ideas will go nowhere.

As beef has said, go for it. Create a small group where you share ideas. We love community engagement and feedback. I personally look for those with passion for the gamemodes they love to join the Bug and Idea Team.

Any player is free to message me with ideas, bugs, and concerns. Your feedback can be anonymous if you would like. I hope this helps with getting your ideas out there.

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I believe any group of people overseeing a community with the ability to punish, develop, and make decisions that influence the future of said community would be considered a form of government. I’m not saying that the MunchyMC Staff is a form of totalitarianism, but rather a group of authoritative people who oversee the general community.

The council will only act as a metaphorical microphone for those who wish to voice their perspectives anonymously. It does not apply any level of authority; rather a group of likeminded individuals who can represent the community without necessarily being given any power over anyone else. To add to this, the council (or any method that works similarly) can be appointed through means of election without the application process of becoming staff. Also, I want to address that just because players can present ideas and concerns to staff continuously, doesn’t necessarily mean that 100% of players feel comfortable addressing issues to staff directly. People will always feel more comfortable being honest when they have the opportunity to be anonymous. For example, it is easier to send a breakup text then to do it in a call. The “council” or any similar group would hold no powers over anyone else, so there would be no fear of retaliation, consequence, or judgement.

I do not believe staff are selected at random. I do however believe it would be easier to have an appointed group represented by the community of Survival, without needing the input of a higher up (SMOD or Admin). The staff process is long and grueling as one can assume, and having a flexible (not fixed) group of representatives allows the inability of bias, and adaptability with continuously changing members.

To refer to the consequences a player can receive, there are several situations where a player might receive consequences from stating an opinion. For example, if a player is upset with the actions of a staff member, is emotional with a personal situation that causes them to suggest a negative idea, or if a player is having a negative interaction with another player(s). If a player were to disclose that information to the “council” and a member were to leak that information, they can be punished. However if a staff were to leak that information however, how would there be any possibility of them being held accountable?

Thank you so much for your input, I love having discussions like these, and it means a lot that you actually put effort into reading these and explaining things that I may not understand or not have knowledge of, because it can be very informing.

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I do like the idea of the Bug & Idea team, but unfortunately wish it was more accessible to more members of the community. Since there is an application process, not everyone can be accepted onto the team despite them having reasonable and creative ideas. While this is necessary, I do believe there should also be an existing alternative for those that lack the opportunity to be on the Bug & Idea team. While Survival is at a good position for the interactions between staff and the Survival community, I do believe that it can still improve. If the council were to, in any way, cause any negative effects on the community and/or gamemode, I would agree that it may not be necessary. However, if there is any possibility of community improvement, I believe that the opportunity shouldn’t be wasted. I do appreciate your input though, and I am glad you are supportive of the idea; as long as it doesn’t cause any negative effects on the community of course.

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It means a lot to know that you can present yourself and other admins to the community as trustworthy and reliable with the option of anonymity when submitting personal experiences or ideas and concerns about the community. However, since people with higher-level positions in staff have more powers, it can be somewhat troublesome for someone wishing to receive no retaliation for their ideas, concerns, emotional experiences, and general input. In contrast to this though, I do personally believe that there is no reason to be weary of presenting personal input to an Admin like you, BF, or Ibby, but still would like to provide an alternative method if people still for whatever reason find it uncomfortable to do so. I don’t think one method is better, superior, or more convenient than the other, but I do wish to present lots of options that make it easier for people to express themselves as it can hopefully better the community as a whole.

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yo i like the concept but i dont have any money and this seems like an attempt at a aristocracy :moneybag:

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Like so many things in Munchy Survival, I feel this would mimic the “real world” (as if our community isn’t “real”, maybe the wrong expression). I reject the idea that wealth is needed to be influential, personally, or that there is any such thing as universal influence on the server. Rather, there are many small circles of influence.

Like, I won’t name names without permission, but last map a kind player who was nowhere near baltop spent hours gathering clay for a build I did, just because he wanted to help out. I saw him being kind to others ever since, by spending time rather than money, and remember that fondly. To me, that is an important form of… influence in a way. Just to illustrate that you don’t need to be a “big name” to have a big impact.

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The council will only act as a metaphorical microphone for those who wish to voice their perspectives anonymously. It does not apply any level of authority; rather a group of likeminded individuals who can represent the community without necessarily being given any power over anyone else. To add to this, the council (or any method that works similarly) can be appointed through means of election without the application process of becoming staff.

This, however, makes sense to me. However, it would have the risk of being formed by an “in-group” of certain people who gain some standing in the community solely because they are good at gathering gold, which would be my issue with something like this. Basically some sort of committee… everyone is free to form one of those, but I don’t think any group of people can represent everyone in the community.

There’s a video on YouTube called something like “what if everyone suddenly spawned in Minecraft” (the premise being that everyone’s consciousness is uploaded to a Minecraft world, and what sort of politics would develop). This post kind of reminds me of that. It was very interesting to watch.

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There were no references to the “council” pertaining to any form of hierarchy or aristocracy as you mentioned. The existence of the idea I’m suggesting is intended to decrease possibility of bias, and allow direct representation without applicable power or direct authority over anyone else.

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No one has suggested that wealth is an indicator for influential standing in the community; in fact, I agree with you. There are many more important factors such as selflessness, emotional compassion, and general contributions to the development and sustainability of the community and its members. That is why the community would be in charge of electing individuals they think should represent the community as a whole; a group of people who have shown traits that people would like to see representing them such as maturity, empathy, responsibility, and leadership. Also, there is no existing idea or concept that doesn’t incorporate some form of government or politics when several individuals and/or parties are involved. Issues present themselves everyday, and concepts such as politics, need to be developed and enacted to solve or prevent future issues. Incorporating politics doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative thing; as long as it doesn’t negatively affect a players experiences or hinder the development of the general community or its interests.

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