Gamma (era)
| Gamma | |
|---|---|
Clockwise from top: Central Park at the opening of the Gamma server, Western Ocean International Airport in August 2016, Floats at Spring Pride 2016, Chat messages showing Music3_0 at the Red Carpet of the Second Eagle Awards a few hours before his ban, Interior of the first headquarters of the League of Cities | |
| Time span | October 4, 2014 - December 26, 2016 (2 years, 2 months and 22 days) |
| World(s) | New World Old World Lab World Games World Space World Staff World[a] |
| Ending event | Expansion of the world to 36,000 by 36,000 blocks |
| Technical information | |
| Server host | SoYouStart (OVH) |
| Minecraft versions | 1.6.2 - 1.11.1 |
| MRT era chronology | |
| Alpha (2012–2013) Omega (2013–2014) Gamma (2014–2016) Epsilon (2016–2020) Zeta (2020–2023) Delta (2023–present) | |
Gamma is the third MRT era, spanning from the introduction of multiple worlds through the installation of the Multiverse plugin to the expansion of the New World from 20,000 by 20,000 blocks to 36,000 by 36,000 blocks, lasting from October 4, 2014, to December 26, 2016. Gamma is the early development years of the New World, including the creation of rules and regulations that set precedence for the server's future, and an increased loyal player base.
Gamma's most notable events include Colafest, the creation of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and the foundation of the MRT Discord. Culture-wise, the era is mostly defined by its continued popularization of events, such as awards shows and game shows, and the creation of role-play organizations and wars. The creation of air facilities and air transit companies was immensely popular during Gamma, resulting in the establishment of restrictions regarding constructing air facilities.
At the October 2016 General Staff Meeting, MRT staff internally discussed possibly expanding the New World before Minecraft terrain generation changed to avoid "mismatching biomes" if the server wanted to expand the New World in the future. At the November 2016 General Staff Meeting, Frumple publicly announced that he was working on a new server-hosting machine, which also expanded the New World. The MRT Server was shut down for the server migration on December 27, 2016, marking the end of Gamma.
Background
As the server's popularity grew, the Old World became overcrowded. The MRT staff discussed the possibility of either creating a new world or expanding the existing world at the January 2014 General Staff Meeting. The new Minecraft 1.7 terrain generation meant that an expansion would lead to disjointed biome generation between the original terrain and the newly generated terrain. Consequently, it was decided that the Multiverse plugin would be installed to allow a new city-building world to be created while still keeping the old world on the same server in the form of another dimension.
| External image | |
|---|---|
 MRT Candidate Seeds album |
On June 23, 2014, it was announced that Frumple had been generating new, random seeds for the New World. The MRT staff stated that the criteria for the "good" seeds were that it had a "significantly sized mesa biome", a "significantly sized snowy biome", "interesting water features", and that the spawn point was adjacent to a plains biome. The world was generated in Minecraft version 1.7.9 with large biomes enabled and structures turned off.
The Gamma server was opened to the public on October 4, 2014, with five new worlds being created: New, Lab, Games, Space, and Staff. The latter four worlds were created to prevent labs, games, and spaceships from taking up space on the New World, as it did on the Old World.
Pre-opening construction
In mid-2014, the new server machine was purchased and the New World was whitelisted to MRT staff only. The MRT staff built the initial 11 MRT lines. The land surrounding spawn on the New World was flattened, except for Central Park, and a grid was created for Central City. The spawn areas of the three other worlds and the New World's MRT Marina were also constructed before the server was opened to the public.
Ranks
The MRT staff decided to change the ranks system, as the current system had little incentive to develop towns. The new rank system was thus created to incentivize town development on the New World. After Member, a new 'Citizen' rank was added, being awarded to given to members who had built a home and a business. A 'Trustee' rank was added above Citizen, replacing the Old World's 'Trusted' rank. The rank had the same permissions as Trusted and required three endorsements from existing Trustees and for MRT staff not to veto the promotion during a 24-hour veto period.
New ranks between Trustee and Moderator were created and were achieved by building towns. Councillor and Mayor required players to receive two endorsements from MRT staff, while Senator, Governor, and Premier were awarded during General Staff Meetings. Each rank had build count suggestions that needed to be met to be eligible for promotion. Additionally, certain builds that were previously banned became rank-restricted. Initially, stadiums were allowed for Senators and above, while airports were allowed for Governors and above.
There were some proposals for a parallel ranks system for players who did not prefer to build towns, such as growing companies or building road infrastructure, but this never came to fruition.
Plugins
| External documents | |
|---|---|
 Economy Proposal document |
With the upcoming Gamma server, new plugins were proposed to be added to the server. Plugins added to the server include an economy plugin, a lottery plugin, and uCars.
At the March 2014 General Staff Meeting, computerghost and LDShadowLord proposed an economy plugin to be added to the server. The proposal did not name a specific plugin. The proposal argued that the benefits of an economy plugin included "more accurate estimations of worth when buying and selling goods and services" and encouragement of development in towns. An economy proposal was approved, incorporating aspects of the proposal such as a minimum income, but also not incorporating other aspects such as taxes and loans.
A lottery plugin was installed in the server, where Members could buy tickets to enter daily drawings of $20 plus the money spent on tickets. The initial drawing amount was raised to $100 in January 2018.
uCars was a plugin that allowed minecarts to be driven on specified non-rail blocks. Initially, players had to buy uFuel to drive cars.
Major events
MRT staff
During early 2015, the server's player base grew, which resulted in an increased need for MRT staff members. MRT staff members were selected following nominations from other MRT staff members during General Staff Meetings. The MRT staff team grew to its largest team, with 18 MRT staff members in December 2015, a record not broken until March 2018 with 24 MRT staff members. At the March 2015 General Staff Meeting, Omricon was re-promoted to MRT staff, becoming the first staff member to be re-promoted after stepping down. At the April 2015 General Staff Meeting, MinecraftYoshi26 became the first Moderator to be re-promoted after being demoted from the MRT staff team. thomasfyfe was the first Administrator to step down to Moderator on the MRT staff team during Gamma on November 7, 2015.
Eight players were promoted to Moderator on the MRT staff team during Gamma, with their names and dates of promotion listed below:
- hntredtie (February 7, 2015)
- CortesiRaccoon (September 12, 2015)
- Omricon (January 10, 2015)
- MinecraftYoshi26 (April 18, 2015)
- ortem (November 7, 2015)
- AlikSong (December 6, 2015)
- AP_Red (November 26, 2016)
- Narnia17 (November 26, 2016)
_frozen and BaronThamesBank were promoted from Moderator to Administrator on the MRT staff team during Gamma on March 26, 2016, and April 3, 2016, respectively.
Six players left the MRT staff team during Gamma. The following dates listed are when the player left the MRT staff team and the reasoning:
- Music3_0 (January 2, 2015; resigned in disagreement with Colafest)
- yeamanator132 (January 2, 2015; resigned in disagreement with Colafest)
- chiefbozx (September 8, 2015; resigned due to inactivity)
- computerghost (November 7, 2015; demoted due to inactivity)
- MonsieurKeks (October 1, 2016; demoted due to inactivity)
- CortesiRaccoon (November 6, 2016; resigned due to lack of interest and perceived lack of motivation of staff)
During Omega, on August 29, 2014, the Old World town of Arcadia was founded by snaf014, tarheelscouse, and others. The town was split into districts, with each district having its own 'District Mayor' rather than one specific player owning the whole town. This concept was brought onto the New World when tarheelscouse, bestmate66, and AP_Red developed Saint Roux on October 4, 2014, which had a similar structure to Arcadia. A policy was formalized on October 6, 2014, officializing Shared Municipalities.
A Shared Municipality (SMP) was defined as a large, shared city consisting of multiple unique districts. The cities in a Shared Municipality were required to be registered with Administrators. Each district in the Shared Municipality was considered a different town with a Mayor, a Deputy Mayor, a town hall, and a name. Shared Municipalities shared perks with the highest-ranked district. As certain construction rules were in place prohibiting the creation of transit hubs, stadiums, and airports, the policy allowed districts that were lower in rank to construct builds that would normally be reserved for a higher rank. This was amended a month later, with a district only being allowed to receive the perks of the rank above it if there is a higher-ranked district in the Shared Municipality.
Numerous Shared Municipalities arose, including the Arctic Plains, Epsilon Region, and the Union of Central Western Territories. The policy allowed the creation of large airports including Epsilon International Airport, Achowalogen Takachsin-Covina International Airport, and Union of Central Western Territories International Airport. As there were transit restrictions in place at the start of Gamma, Shared Municipalities also allowed for the creation of intercity transit between cities in Shared Municipalities. In August 2016, some MRT staff members stated that Shared Municipalities were losing their original meaning as "very few SMPs today represent what [the MRT staff] originally created the policy to satisfy". As a result, changed to the Shared Municipality policy was changed at the August 2016 General Staff Meeting. New Shared Municipality proposals required "greater reasoning" behind proposals to avoid Shared Municipalities being created as a method to get a bigger airport.
At the December 2016 General Staff Meeting, Frumple put forth publicizing a proposal regarding the changing of the rules of Shared Municipalities. Frumple stated that "[MRT] staff have been unable to enforce SMP restrictions... it's too complicated to keep track of whether a player can build or not build something based on their SMP". The proposal called for the elimination of Shared Municipalities and their perks; however; it noted that members, regardless of their rank, would be allowed to work together on a single large airport if at least one of the members is of Governor. Shared Municipalities were officially abolished at the April 2017 General Staff Meeting. The proposal also added the new rule that multiple players and cities could work together on a single large airport, as long as one of the players is of the Governor rank or higher. The maximum size of the airport is 50% of the size of the participating cities combined.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations
A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is an organization with cities working together to facilitate the development and construction of projects. With the opening of the New World, _frozen created the concept of Metropolitan Planning Organizations. _frozen's initial goal was for Metropolitan Planning Organizations to quicken the planning and creation of regional projects. He established the first Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Northwestern Association of Governments, on October 4, 2014. Other major Metropolitan Planning Organizations created in the following months after the creation of the Northwestern Association of Governments included the Eastern Association of Serendipity Towns and the Southwestern Allied Territories.
At the November 2014 General Staff Meeting, _frozen proposed officializing Metropolitan Planning Organizations as a way to control the "proliferation of highways and interstates on the server". The proposal was described as "favourable" but suggested _frozen to send in a more "fleshed out" proposal. Rules were later added to the MRT website regarding Metropolitan Planning Organizations. The rules did not officialize Metropolitan Planning Organizations but rather noted that players would not need MRT staff approval to form a Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations became largely popular during Gamma and Epsilon. While Metropolitan Planning Organizations did facilitate the creation of some projects such as the United Cities Bus Terminal and a few A-class highways, Metropolitan Planning Organizations became more focused on politics and election cycles, with players creating campaigns for positions in the organizations. As a result of drama and conflict that arose due to Metropolitan Planning Organizations in 2018, a new rule was added that specified that "[i]f an MPO is found to be suppressing players from reporting rule infractions, or has been actively covering up unacceptable behavior, MPO leadership and involved players will be severely punished".
Foundation of the MRT Discord
The MRT Discord was officially opened on January 16, 2016, with help from Omricon and Cynra_. The MRT Discord server had voice chats and various text channels. After the MRT Discord server was established, members of the community were divided on using Mumble or Discord. At the February 2016 General Staff Meeting, the "Mumble vs Discord" divide was discussed, and it was decided that both would be kept for the foreseeable future, with General Staff Meetings and major events taking place in Mumble. The creation of the MRT Discord led to discussions comparing Mumble and Discord users.
At the November 2016 General Staff Meeting, BaronThamesBank argued the server should officially endorse either Mumble or Discord to "centralise communication". The discussion resulted in MRT staff noting that both Mumble and Discord would be kept, and the following General Staff Meeting would be held on Discord. The results of the General Staff Meeting also stated that the MRT staff would "eventually be moving away from Mumble and encouraging more usage of the Discord voice channels"; however, there were no actions taken to promote the usage of the MRT Discord.
Colafest
Colafest refers to the events in early 2015 surrounding colaja953's vandalism and harassment, the leaking of personal information, and banning of colaja953, yeamantor132, and Music3_0. On January 2, 2015, colaja953 deleted and vandalized multiple pages on the MRT Wiki. colaja953 was banned as a result of these actions. Moderators yeamantor132 and Music3_0 resigned from their MRT staff position as they disagreed with colaja953's ban and the overall handling of the situation. A day later, yeamanator132 was banned as a "preventative measure", as it was suspected that colaja953 had access to yeamanator132's account as they were friends in real life. Following the event, at the January 2015 General Staff Meeting, MRT staff discussed ways to prevent similar events from happening in the future, including applying more scrutiny on Moderator candidates.
Throughout January and February of 2015, colaja953 used at least 15 alternate accounts to repeatedly join the server to spam chat and cause havoc. As a result, Frumple put the MRT's Mumble and Minecraft server on "lockdown", changing the password every few days and only allowing Members to get the password in batches.
In early February 2015, angelzer0 placed chests in Central Park to allow members to send Valentine's Day cards to one another. A book was placed inside the chest that linked to an edited email thread with private details about Frumple and chiefbozx. This link was later spread to the MRT Skype Chat and MBS's Twitter account. MRT staff began an investigation into where the email came from and who spread it. MRT staff concluded that 0rocketscience0 was the first to share the edited email to the MRT Skype Chat. 0rocketscience0 stated that he received the link from Skelezomperman and did not inspect the link before sharing it, not realizing that it contained personal information about Frumple and chiefbozx. Skelezomperman shared the link to MBS's Twitter and stated that he received the email from colaja953. Skelezomperman retracted the tweet after being confronted by Frumple. Theories arose as to whether the book was placed inside the chest at Central Park by Music3_0 or colaja953. It was later confirmed that Music3_0 was the player who placed the link in a book and quill in the chests in Central Park. 0rocketscience0 and Skelezomperman received a double warning for spreading misinformation and personal information. Music3_0 was temporarily banned for seven days for releasing personal information about Frumple and chiefbozx. Music3_0 later admitted that he "went too far".
On March 28, 2015, following the Second Eagle Awards, Music3_0 was banned due to inappropriate remarks to other players and previous infractions. The ban came out of the blue to many players, as there was no prior indication of the ban and Music3_0 was a well-known member of the community.
Approximately two months after Music3_0's ban, a guest joined the server named Katyalina, claiming to be colaja953's girlfriend. At first, some members had their reservations, but most people treated her as a normal guest, discounting her association with colaja953. Due to the reservations of the MRT's Administrators, she was not promoted to Member. In the following weeks, Katyalina began acting "strangely" and started to make rude comments to other players. Some players assumed that had colaja953 gained access to her account; however, this was never proven. On June 20, 2015, Katyalina was banned.
Colafest caused havoc and overreactions as members became suspicious of new guests during this time, questioning whether they were colaja953 or not. Colafest resulted in stricter guidelines for Moderator candidates and security measures to be put in place to prevent similar events. Incidents similar or related to Colafest were taken seriously in months following Colafest, such as when Seshpenguin had filled chests in the MRT Welcome Centre with heads of colaja953 and was subsequently banned on October 7, 2015. He was later unbanned on April 14, 2017. In the months following Colafest, colaja953 sometimes joined the server with alternate accounts to spam, cause havoc, and simply look around. In 2018, colaja953 privately sent an apology email to the Administrators, expressing remorse for his actions.
City Rank Promotion Batches
When Gamma began, players who wanted to get their cities promoted to Senator, Governor, and Premier had to submit their cities to be assessed during General Staff Meetings. MRT staff who attended the meeting would then collectively decide during the private portion whether the town would be promoted.
On August 17, 2015, Frumple announced on the MRT website that city promotions would be done in batches instead of at General Staff Meetings. To get their towns promoted to Senator, Governor, or Premier, Members submitted an application to the City Rank Promotion Request Form. The batches had applications from the previous month collected into a batch formed on the first day of the month. The batch would then be submitted to the MRT staff for voting, with MRT staff needing to submit their votes by the last day of the month. The results of the batch would then be announced, revealing the voting results. The batch system was suggested during the May 2015 General Staff Meeting as a way to speed up the private portion of meetings, as well as to allow the staff to focus on more important topics such as rule changes. Frumple noted that the new system would "[ensure] that all staff will have a say in a promotion, since we've had some issues getting [a] sufficient quorum for the last few GSMs".
At the September 2017 General Staff Meeting, the MRT staff decided that Premier candidates would be evaluated at future General Staff Meetings and would no longer be reviewed in future City Rank Promotion Batches. In August 2018, the batch system was eliminated in favor of a system that considers cities on a "rolling basis", eliminating batches and speeding up responses to 14 days.
Major builds
When the New World opened, members were only allowed to claim one MRT station and start one town. Members were also prohibited from making "excessive" land claims. Following the November 2015 General Staff Meeting, members were allowed to claim two MRT stations for their town once their town had "grown organically enough to reach it". It was also announced that members were able to start their second town once they reached the Mayor rank and a third town once they reached the Governor rank. At the November 2016 General Staff Meeting, following concerns voiced by MIKE24DUDE, the rules limiting the number of towns owned were abolished.
Unlike on the Old World, New World towns were often built far apart due to the large amount of space available and the creation of rules that prevented such. In a post-opening announcement post on the MRT website, chiefbozx stated that a "good distance" would need to be kept between towns, with a minimum of 500 blocks required between town halls. The latter half was not enforced strictly in the New World's first few months. The 500 block measurement inspired a new rule changed at the June 2015 General Staff Meeting, which had the rule "Do not claim areas that infringe on other people's builds" changed to "Do not claim areas that are within 300 blocks of another town, unless you have permission from the mayor of that town". This rule came to be known colloquially as the '300 block rule'. Some players wanted to build near other players and worked out border agreements, resulting in certain areas being hubs of construction, such as at Tribiome Island and the area around the Seneca Canal.
Central City
Planning a city located at the center of the New World to succeed Spawn City as the server's spawn location was discussed during Omega. The city was planned to be laid out in a grid pattern with a park at its center. The city's road infrastructure and its park, later named Central Park, were constructed before the opening of the New World. Central City was selected as the city's name, with other considered names including Canadian cities, ancient cities, and potato-based puns.
Central City served as the center of the New World MRT system. Except for the MRT Circle Line, Central City housed at least one station from each of the MRT lines built before the New World's opening. Central Park housed 'warp booths' that allowed players to warp to MRT line termini and four stations along the MRT Circle Line. Central Park also housed Multiverse portals which teleported players to the Old, Lab, Games, and Space worlds. On February 6, 2015, _Kastle sent a proposal to the MRT Administrators to make changes to Central Park, including adding an MRT Welcome Centre, a model train line, and rivers and lakes. _Kastle received permissions to edit Central Park. For the winter holidays, _Kastle, lalaboy, and MinecraftYoshi26 worked together to produce a temporary holiday-themed Central Park containing large spruce trees and a new Welcome Center.
To build in Central City, members needed to be at least of the Councillor rank. This was later lowered to Citizen at the May 2017 General Staff Meeting. Early major builds constructed in 2014 in Central City included Central Park, the MRT Mail Hub, and the Admod Building.
Lab World
The Lab World was created as, on the Old World, members had created redstone laboratories and areas for builds to be copied. It was announced that a Lab World was going to be created so that redstone labs and other builds would not take up space on the New World. Members began using the Lab World to place franchises and vehicle templates, in-construction builds, and redstone contraptions. At the February 2016 General Staff Meeting, CortesiRaccoon noted that the Lab World had become a "complete and disorganized mess". As a result of the discussion, Frumple discussed the creation of a new Lab World with "properly planned... defined plots"; however, this idea did not come to fruition.
As a result of the Lab World becoming increasingly filled with more builds in the future, the Lab World was later expanded and staff began initiatives to remove completed airports that had been pasted on the New World and unneeded builds, which included creating a Discord channel in 2020 to list builds to be removed.
Premier cities
Premier was the highest construction-related rank that was announced as a part of the new ranks for the New World. Premier cities were described by MRT staff to be "the most recognized and admired on the server, and represent the pinnacle of architectural design and city planning". Premier cities were required to be 'EPIC' – expressive (have a variety of buildings), planned (organized and "well-thought-out"), individual (unique from other cities on the server), and culturally significant (significant to the MRT community culture). When Central Park was redone by _Kastle, warps were added to teleport players to Premier cities.
Applications for the Premier rank first opened at the February 2015 General Staff Meeting for the April 2015 General Staff Meeting as it was the earliest possible time for a player to reach that rank due to time requirements between ranks. At the February 2015 General Staff Meeting, it was also announced that despite ranked towns only being allowed on the New World, kekkomatic would receive the honorary rank of Premier for his Old World town of Arisa as it was "an epic, well-known city... even though it is on the [Old World]". The discussion of giving Arisa the honorary rank originated from a comment from littlegopher1.
The first Premier cities on the New World were Airchester and Achowalogen Takachsin, being promoted on May 2, 2015. Two other cities were promoted to Premier during Gamma: Whitechapel and Kenthurst.
Premier cities often set de facto standards for judging other cities of lower ranks, especially against Governors attempting to be promoted to Premier.
Transit
The culture of transit during Gamma is largely highlighted by its popularization of air facilities and the airline industry. During Gamma, the first roads of the New World Highway System and the first warp trains were constructed.
MRT system
Before Gamma, Version 5.0 of the MRT system was unveiled by Frumple as a Christmas gift in December 2013. The stations of the system were used in the New World MRT lines. Planned maps of New World MRT lines created by chiefbozx were released on the MRT website. Construction of MRT lines took place before the opening of the New World by MRT staff. All of the lines on the planned map were successfully constructed before the opening of the New World, except the cardinal direction lines — the MRT Northern Line, the MRT Eastern Line, the Southern Line, and the MRT Western Line — which were planned to be constructed after the opening of the New World. On October 4, 2014, the date of the opening of the New World, there were 400 MRT stations built across 11 MRT lines.
In late November and early December 2014, Music3_0 constructed MRT stations in Zaquar, in anticipation of an extension of the MRT Zephyr Line. On December 30, 2014, Music3_0 created the Zephyr South extension, the first extension of the MRT network on the New World since its opening, extending the MRT Zephyr Line from ZS18 to ZS31 in Zaquar. Following approval at the January 2015 General Staff Meeting, Just_robinho and chiefbozx began building the MRT Eastern Line, the first new MRT line to be constructed since the opening of the New World. Construction was completed a few months later, with EN8 to ES26 being completed. Other MRT line extensions began to occur during Gamma, including extensions of the MRT Mesa Line and the MRT Taiga Line. Construction also began on the MRT Northern Line and the MRT Western Line.
The extension of MRT lines led to some conflict among players as there were issues regarding some players claiming stations before the line builders allowed and some claims being too close to other towns.
Air transit
With the rank overhaul for Gamma, all construction of air travel construction on the New World was restricted to towns of the Governor rank. It was also announced that when the New World opened, airports would no longer be banned from being built on the Old World. As the ban was lifted on the Old World, numerous airports were created rapidly. Major airports that were built on the Old World in late 2014 and early 2015 included Fairfax-Atlanta Metropolitan Airport, Western Ocean International Airport, and Akane - Ishuzu International Airport.
The first airport constructed on the New World was Epsilon International Airport by CortesiRaccoon, built on December 27, 2014. In February 2015, Ilirea-Vermilion International Airport began construction in between Ilirea and Vermilion and was planned to have 84 gates spread across six concourses. The large size of the early airports of Gamma like Ilirea-Vermilion International Airport led to some players voicing concerns, resulting in a discussion at the March 2015 General Staff Meeting which led to new air facility rules being put in place. Airports, heliports, and spaceports continued to be restricted to Governors and above. Senators were now allowed to construct airfields, defined as "very small landing strips and holding areas". Airports were now required to be approved by MRT staff through email and were restricted to 50% of the size of the city they serve, resulting in the demolition of Ilirea-Vermilion International Airport and the downsizing of Whitechapel Sky Harbor. With these new rules, MRT staff became more concerned about airports' size. This position was reflected when Achowalogen Takachsin-Covina International Airport, the New World's largest airport, was only allowed to paste the airport on the server in two phases, one half at a time.
At the June 2015 General Staff Meeting, CortesiRaccoon brought up his concerns regarding airfields, specifically small, unrealistic airstrips. This led to the banning of the construction of airfields and heliports due to "players abusing the privilege and building unrealistic airfields". This led to airfields that the MRT staff had deemed as "unrealistic" to be moved or demolished, resulting in the demolition of airfields such as Utopia Airfield and Saint Roux-Orsay Airfield. Senators were once again allowed to build heliports; however, they were restricted to two "realistic", functional helipads per city.
As a result of the unbanning of the construction of air facilities on the Old World at the beginning of Gamma, more than 30 new airports and airfields were constructed on the Old World. At the October 2016 General Staff Meeting, Just_robinho proposed instituting a ban on new airports on the Old World as they were "landscarring" and were built to "boost flight numbers for airlines". New airport construction on the Old World was banned on October 1, 2016. The discussion of air facility rules was continued at the following November 2016 General Staff Meeting. New Senator airfield rules were put into place, now allowing Senators to construct airfields of no more than a total flat area of 7,500 blocks squared without prior approval from MRT staff. The two-helipad rule was removed and existing helipads were grandfathered and did not need to be removed. It was noted that Senator airfields were restricted to Senators and would not apply to any Mayor towns in Shared Municipalities.
Airline companies and alliances
Due to the increase of airports as destinations to fly to, numerous airlines were rapidly founded including Air Peach, IntraAir, and AirLinQ. The increased number of airline companies led to the formation of airline alliances. Airline alliances were groups that airlines joined to get benefits, including allowing airline owners to have access to alliance-restricted gates and permission to be branded under the alliance's brand. These alliances had role-play rivalries, racing to create airline lounges and popularize their branding. The first major airline alliances included the Stanley Air Alliance, OneMRT, and SkyTransit Alliance.
Some companies merged to garner larger control and growth in the airline industry, including the merger of Air Peach and Caelus Airlines to form Notalis. IntraAir attempted a merger with Notalis; however, due to public pushback, including a "Keep IntraAir My IntraAir" campaign, the merger fell through.
Minecart rail and restrictions
Minecart rail transport between towns was not as popular during Gamma in comparison to previous MRT eras due to restrictions on constructing rail lines and greater distance between towns. Major minecart rail companies during Gamma included RegionalConnect and CitiRail.
Intercity transit was restricted per rank. Members were only allowed to establish a single rail connection to their town starting when ranked Mayor, with members allowed to establish an unlimited number of rail connections at Senator. Transit hubs were also prohibited as the construction of transit hubs or centers, specifically "large ones", were restricted to Senator and above. After players created empty buildings for planned transit hubs, members were prohibited from constructing the "exterior shells" of planned transit hubs following the December 2015 General Staff Meeting. These restrictions were removed following the Rank Revamp 2017.
Establishment of warp trains
Inspired by a model train created in Daneburg built by tarheelscouse for RegionalConnect as a decoration, autobus22 created the transit company RaiLinQ in May 2015. The company constructed trains out of blocks and used warps to simulate travel between stations, similar to how buses operated. This form of transit was branded as 'warp trains' and 'warp rail'. The first functional warp rail stations were established by RaiLinQ, connecting Oakley and Sealane. Initial impressions of warp trains were mixed. Supporters of warp trains were curious about the new form of transit, with some creating their own in their town. Critics were concerned with its unrealistic nature, the trains being a waste of space, and its effect on the MRT system and culture.
_frozen was a major critic of warp trains, submitting a proposal to the June 2015 General Staff Meeting voicing his concerns. _frozen noted that he was concerned about players who built new warp trains with the intent of not having any physical connections between stations. _frozen argued that warp trains were "getting to the point where warps can be abused and being used in workarounds". _frozen proposed two solutions in his proposal: either banning warp trains completely or moving the privilege of creating unlimited public warps to higher ranks. It was officially announced following the General Staff Meeting that warp trains were allowed but required a physical connection built between stations. A new rule requiring buses with warps to have a physical connection between destinations was also lumped in with the new warp train rule.
Other warp train companies established during Gamma included NKTransit and IntraRail.
While warp trains and their rules were established during Gamma, warp trains did not become popular and commonplace until late 2016 and early 2017 during Epsilon. In future eras, competition and drama arose as a result of numerous rail companies being founded.
Roads
At the January 2015 General Staff Meeting, road classifications and the procedures for intercity road construction were announced. The initial classification broke down roads into A-class, B-class, and C-class roads. The latter classification was abandoned in favor of the first two. A-class roads were the server's "major" roads, while the B-class roads were "more minor". The procedure established would have MRT staff creating a 'road corridor', defined as "a simple proposal of two cities that should be connected together by an A-class road". Members would then submit a bid to the MRT staff to construct the road, with the bids being discussed and one being selected at a General Staff Meeting. When the road was complete, the MRT Server owned the road and any major changes would need to go through a General Staff Meeting.
Constructed in 2014 by _frozen before the opening of the New World, the unclassified A0, originally named the Central City Ring Road, was the first A-class road to be constructed. The first A-class road to be selected through a General Staff Meeting was at the February 2015 General Staff Meeting. With the temporary code "XA1", the road was proposed by _frozen and connected Central City to Whitechapel. The selected road constructor was compensated $450 for building the project. The road was constructed by Benie and later named the A8. The A8 was seen as a "pilot project" by MRT staff to test the road proposal system put in place at the January 2015 General Staff Meeting.
At the March 2015 General Staff Meeting, the MRT staff opted to overhaul the system to make new roads easier to be proposed. Members could now directly send A-class road proposals to General Staff Meetings to be approved. A-class roads were still owned by the server. A road numbering system was also announced at the March 2015 General Staff Meeting. thomasfyfe created a map dividing the New World into nine wards, proposing it as a road numbering system for A-class and B-class roads. The first digit of a road number would be the ward it travels the greatest distance in, with the later numbers being at the discretion of the builder after consulting the mayors of the towns that the road visits. The map was approved, with the Central City Ring Road being renamed as the A0 and XA1 being renamed as the A8. The first A-class road proposals approved through this method were at the May 2015 General Staff Meeting, with the A1 (proposed as the A101), A3, A4, A50, and A94 being approved.
Culture
With the opening of the New World, the culture of the MRT community developed through players collaborating and creating entertainment for themselves, including games, events, role-play organizations, and role-play wars. Gamma is also marked by increased levels of LGBTQ+ visibility and maturity issues as a result of the server's changing age demographics.
Games and events
The number of both small and large member-run events increased in Gamma in comparison to previous eras. Small-scale events during Gamma included the popularization of searching challenges and "hunting and running" games. Large-scale events during Gamma included the MRTvision Song Contest, awards shows, and numerous game shows.
With the New World opened, the previously popular racing game Hunters & Runners was de facto replaced with alternative games, such as The Runner and Bounty Hunters, due to towns becoming more connected by transit. As towns continued to get more developed, a new racing format called Get to the New World, later known as Get to X, was developed and popularized in 2016 to ensure a balanced game. Get to X involves participants racing against each other from one point to another. These racing games were typically held spontaneously and not formally organized.
On July 5, 2014, during the Omega era, _frozen created The Van Challenge, a game involving searching for an orange and brown van hidden somewhere on the server. The popularization of The Van Challenge spurred the creation of numerous asynchronous searching games during Gamma, including The Not A Van Challenge and The Great Search. The Not A Van Challenge kicked off the trend of creating a spin-off of The Van Challenge, with some spin-offs following the 'The Not A... Challenge' naming convention.
Game shows
During Gamma, MinecraftYoshi26's game shows became more popular and well-known. He hosted 11 serial game show seasons: five seasons of The Amazing Race, three seasons of The Mole, one season of Whodunnit?, and the inaugural seasons of Big Brother and Game X. The Amazing Race was the most popular and widely-known game show franchise on the server. As the MRT Server is heavily tied with transit and city-building, The Amazing Race's format was popular with the server's player base, especially as many members enjoyed seeing their towns featured. At the November 2014 General Staff Meeting, Music3_0 proposed that MRT staff would be able to provide the funding for the prizes for MinecraftYoshi26's game shows. It was approved privately and was a predecessor for non-MRT staff events being able to request event funding.
The Eagle Awards and awards ceremonies
As more cities were promoted to Governor and players were able to build airports, the airline industry became a large part of the server's culture. The high levels of competition between airlines resulted in kiwirainbow in creating an awards ceremony to recognize the achievements of airlines on the server called The Eagle Awards. The event was the first awards ceremony on the MRT server and was announced on January 13, 2015. The first ceremony was held on January 31, 2015, and was hosted by Music3_0 and KittyCat11231. The Second Eagle Awards, held three months later on March 28, 2015, was hosted by hntredtie and Gopher, and had the highest attendance of all Eagle Awards ceremonies. A total of five ceremonies were held, with the final ceremony being held on June 9, 2018. The Eagle Awards was an example of, and perpetuated, competition in the airline industry.
The Eagle Awards inspired players to create other award ceremonies to honor various aspects of the MRT Server. Other award ceremonies that took place in Gamma included The Frumples, the MRT Catering Awards, and the MRT Franchise Awards.
MRT Screenshot Contest
On January 11, 2015, an upcoming screenshot contest was announced. The contest was launched as the MRT staff wanted pictures on the MRT's website, describing the website as "boring" and "flat". On February 7, 2015, Frumple officially announced the MRT Server's first official screenshot contest would be held to feature screenshots on an image slider on the MRT's website. Participants of the contest also received cash prizes in-game.
The contest started on February 7, following the February 2015 General Staff Meeting, and ended submission later in the month on February 28. Entries were accepted through the MRT's subreddit. The first contest had Admins voting on the screenshots in two rounds of voting, with results being announced at the March 2015 General Staff Meeting. Two "People's Choice" prizes were planned to be awarded to the two highest upvoted screenshot posts on the MRT subreddit; however, it was later decided that the subreddit's voting was unreliable, resulting in "inconsistent and rigged" voting.
The first round results were announced on March 4, 2015, with the 12 finalists being announced. The final results were announced three days later at the March 2015 General Staff Meeting. _Kastle won the MRT Screenshot Contest with his screenshot "MRT Welcome Center", a screenshot of Central Park in Central City. Ryumitch placed second, cal76 and MinecraftYoshi26 tied for third, and lalaboy placed fifth.
The screenshot contest was the first of its kind held on the MRT Server. A second edition was held in 2017, won by MikeRoma. The MRT Screenshot Contest was the inspiration for the MRTvision Screenshot Contest, its successor in selecting screenshots to be displayed on the MRT website.
The League of Cities and wars
Founded on September 1, 2015, the League of Cities was a Metropolitan Planning Organization founded by camelfantasy. The organization's main goal was to "keep peace across the server" and create intercity projects. As many players liked the idea, it became a large organization as a large influx of members joined the organization quickly.
With the growth of the League of Cities, the organization became focused on its role-play aspects more than creating intercity projects, as it had elections for leaders and voting amongst its members. The role-playing aspect was taken further with the creation of militaries and armed forces, resulting in the popularity of 'war scenes' in late 2015.
Since late 2015, players started making war scenes with armor stands and war scenes in their cities. War scenes and bases were built throughout the server, and attacks occurred at those locations as well. Some role-play wars during this time included The Sealane War, Isle of Friel War, and The Foxtrot War. Conflicts arose when some members had built war scenes in others' towns without permission, resulting in some MRT staff members having to step in and make decisions on a gray area in the rules. Due to some players using mass amounts of armor stands to create war scenes, an official statement was put out following the December 2015 General Staff Meeting stating that large battle scenes with numerous armor stands were "discouraged", but not banned.
The League of Cities was dissolved on April 26, 2016, following the passage of Resolution 31, proposed by _Kastle. _Kastle's proposal stated that the League of Cities had "failed to accomplish its main goal" as it had failed to "deescalate situations" and "create transit between its cities", "allow[ed] its members to participate in war with each other", and "escalat[ed] conflicts through military actions".
Two major role-play alliances were formed in May 2016: the Anti Warsaw Pact Pact and the Yaxier Alliance. These alliances created role-play conflicts and war scenes. At the May and June 2016 General Staff Meetings, MRT staff discussed the rise in war scenes, specifically the "reports of players building these scenes in other towns without permission, the negativity and interpersonal conflicts that arose from these scenes, and the excessive use of armor stands". The result of discussions resulted in MRT staff reminding Members to be courteous and civil, to have excessive armor stand scenes, and to keep war role-play out of main channels.
The League of Cities was the first major Metropolitan Planning Organization created on the server. While one of the League of Cities' goals was to create intercity projects, it did not create many major contributions and focused on wars and disputes instead. Following the League of Cities' dissolution, some Members tried to make similar versions of large-scale Metropolitan Planning Organizations to take the place the League of Cities left, resulting in the creation of the The Federation, Let's Talk Peace, and the United Cities.
Maturity and suggestiveness
As the majority of the server's demographics were teenagers, some members, and members of the MRT staff, were concerned about the level of maturity displayed in conversations occurring on the Minecraft and Mumble servers.
During the public portion of the December 2014 General Staff Meeting, the MRT staff held a community discussion on how to improve the maturity of the server and Mumble, specifically concerning comments described as 'suggestive', referring to messages that were sex-related. Some solutions put forth included banning all immature and suggestive comments from the server and Mumble, strongly discouraging immature and suggestive comments, and creating a dedicated channel on Mumble where players can "go wild". The discussion resulted in policy changes, including suggestive comments becoming "completely banned" from the Minecraft server and suggestive comments becoming banned from most Mumble channels. A channel labeled "Late Night Mumble – Warning: contains suggestive conversations – Mature Players Only" was created to allow space for players to engage in mature discussions. The channel was not used or was active during the short time it existed. Some similar channels were created in the coming months following the ruling; however, none existed for a long period due to a lack of use and complaints about exclusionary behavior.
Attempts at creating more "mature" spaces continued into Epsilon, with proposals begin created to create a channel a not safe for work channel in the MRT Discord.
MBS
In January 2015, MBS, short for the MRT Broadcasting System, was founded by KittyCat11231 and Skelezomperman. MBS was the MRT Server's first broadcasting company. The company created a YouTube channel to post videos about the MRT Server. MBS's first video series was MRT Nightly News which covered news on the MRT Server, similar to The Snapshot.
In its early months, MBS had numerous programs, including MBS This Morning, L3tz Do A Talk, and HeadlinesNOW. MBS also recorded and covered events, including The Eagle Awards, The Mole 5: Out of the Woods, and The Amazing Race 4.
As MBS has gone on to cover various aspects of the server, including events and historical events, videos have been used as documentation of MRT history. MBS also inspired others in the future to create broadcast media covering the MRT Server's news in the same style, including Box Television Network and MBN.
LGBTQ+ presence
With a considerable amount of the server's Members began to age through puberty, sexuality became a topic of discussion among members. Many players publicly identified as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. This was reflected in the establishment of the Pride Wall in Nippia in 2015, which featured numerous members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies. The sexual diversity of the community was further celebrated on the server as a rainbow pride flag was placed in Central Park.
Created on the day following the Orlando nightclub shooting, mine_man_ and tarheelscouse, under MRT Gender & Attraction Minority Association, organized the MRT Server's first pride parade. The pride parade was created to "show the resilience of the LGBT+ community". The parade was held in June 2016 in Vegeta, featuring floats that players could decorate.
List of new Members
At least 279 players became Members during Gamma. New countries that have members that were accepted from included Bulgaria, Iran, Latvia, South Korea, and Taiwan.[b]
The following is a non-comprehensive list of players that became members during Gamma, taken from the Member List listed in alphabetical order:[c]
- 0l7ver
- 5662
- 7D
- _Benicio_
- _Frogs4Life_
- _HailHydra_
- _HeavenAngel_
- _InDev_
- _SkyBlaze
- AC_Murph
- adriantheawsome
- AEhub
- AidanSCO
- Aldranster50
- AlikSong
- AlolanNineTales2
- angelzer0
- applearon
- Aradam
- Architect_21
- ArFace
- Ayudar
- AyyLion
- beanXboy
- Beeskee
- Ben6331[d]
- BigRocker_Ending
- billociraptor
- Bleedingfastrope
- Blusky_BG
- Bobberpants
- BronyOfTheYear
- BuildPilot
- C0olkid26
- Callumjk
- camelfantasy[d]
- CapoEscobar
- CapsMinecraft111
- Captain_Cavy
- CaptLincoln[d]
- cardinalland
- Castran
- catbros19
- cb386080
- cgc747
- CharredSteak
- chickenhead24
- Chromaturgy
- Chrysopsis
- Cielis
- CinnamonFlakes
- Climax9
- Cliotis
- clx_
- cmrs345
- Cookie46910
- corpse5
- Coumor
- crashnburn35476
- CrazyRocketGuy
- creeperface7990
- cutekids100
- D7689
- DaMarMan111
- DarrowG
- Derpy_Melon
- derpzaxolotl
- Detroit_Kitteh
- Diascamara38
- DigimonProtector
- DJMC2000
- doodoopoo
- dope_cheese
- dragonbloon419
- Earack
- Earthnaut
- EliteNeon
- Elkazia
- EmTheKittyKat
- Ender_Fire17
- Epic_Girl83
- ericsong1911
- erty10089
- evil_q
- ewanewa
- ezzocraft
- Ferndog55
- flamingpickle1
- FlareGFX
- Floms_
- fluppblubb
- FoundationXYZ
- Fozbat_novaRT
- frankbros429
- FrankyTheDragon
- FredTheTimeLord
- FuzzahLeopard
- GalacticToast_
- gamer22394
- GamingPlant
- Giant_Panda
- goldenret2002
- GoofyFoFoofy
- GorillaGordon
- harald705
- henry0w
- Hightech_TR
- Hinwapoon
- Hurricane_Nathan
- hvt2011
- Ian_Plays_MC
- iCentury
- ICTman1O76
- ikonicbaek
- Implementing
- isnotavailable
- Itariu
- Its_over_9000__
- ItsRileyPvP
- J_Disla
- JAB04X
- jackokay
- Jamian11
- JCPlayz
- JetPilot04
- JoeDuhBro
- Johnny6990
- JTrain77
- justinwzig
- KaizoWarning
- Kenoi
- kenrosefire
- Kenta1561
- Kiwish_thing
- koitu_
- Lastwords44
- Laxxer
- Leivo
- Leo_2807
- LessDougDeMuro
- lfpp003
- LimeYT
- lithium645
- llamatopia1
- Louis_Hypo
- Macftrax
- malbert911
- marcman17
- Master_Guardian
- McCrafters98872
- mdbro55
- MeetMeInSpace
- Member_Me
- Meowarino
- Mercury203[d]
- Michael41502
- minebuilder1223
- mineman4604
- Mintech
- MishkaMan
- Missa_Solemnis
- Mitsurururu
- mjpwwf
- ModernArt
- Mr_Benedict
- mr_me111
- MrAnt
- mrnateytatey
- musickevin
- myfictitiouslife
- Naejii
- Nano69
- Narcotic__
- NinjaBob1797
- Ninjaranger
- Oj738heu
- ondist
- p11
- paganihuayra350
- pandg3
- peevion
- pencil4827
- PieTwins
- PikaPilot
- Pikmin6
- PizzaTwins
- Planner_12
- pooch12
- PtldKnight
- punk213
- Purrcat2010
- PutridRat
- Quackscoped
- Ranger1800
- RedBear47
- redstonedesigner
- Regnaur
- RickyLi
- ROM5419
- rrizzlaa
- salmonrow
- SalmonSushi2020
- Sarahtheskier
- Scarycrumb45
- SeaWheel
- SergeantTimelord
- sesese9
- Seshpenguin
- SevenBridges
- Sevscam
- shadowboarder
- SilverBubble
- Sin_Slasher
- Sinus46
- Sirots
- skaylee
- smoketrain
- SNGTech
- spencerpedia
- SportsFreak123
- stam71
- Steve_Bobs
- Strikerdude33
- SubwayGamerMC[d]
- SungMatt
- SuperMelonMan36
- Supersamuel25
- Sweetboy13735
- swirm32
- TalonPlays
- tealts
- techladdie
- Technological99
- terkeypie
- The_big_fat_cat
- The_Vortexian
- thedragon_37
- TheGuy2030
- TheMiner_
- ThePieIsALie0
- ThePJSlayer
- ThePlasticMan
- Thesteakpie
- TheXavier456
- tigermonkeyshark[d]
- Tishchenko
- Tomvertom
- TotallyOscar
- ToxxicMC
- TrainPro
- Trenderman_
- TropicalPhoenix
- TurkeyL3g
- Twh9432
- Tydorius
- Tylamimo
- tysins12
- Ultimate_Creeper
- UnknownSilent
- ValachSarkhor
- VernCow
- Vexpix
- Voxle1
- Vulpicula
- William_SkyWalk
- Wispir
- woorich999
- XenoSprinkle
- xpCube
- Xpos
- XtremeCoder[d]
- XtremeD
- yardsale13
- Yellowchamallow
- Zaco229
- zefunman
- ZoldenDragon
- zomghi5
Notes
- ↑ Accessible to MRT staff only
- ↑ Location data was self-reported through member applications.
- ↑ Some players' usernames may not reflect their username when they were accepted for Member, as this list was taken from the Member List in September 2023. Alternate accounts are not listed.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Currently banned