Well, me and redpoemage were discussing in the official discussion thread here, and we got an idea for PvP. You see, the way Minecraft PvP is set up, while it may take hours for a player to mine for diamonds, it would only take seconds for another player to steal them. So, we decided of a new way to make PvP safe and fun and exciting and awesome! :D

Faction Gems!

PLoungecraft's new server-wide game, should you choose to participate!

Basic Overview

• Each faction chooses a unique gem and ingot to place in a chest secretly hidden within their base. (Each faction should have a unique combination of gem and ingot. Regallion will be sporting Sapphire and Silver)

• The goal is to collect every participating faction's unique gem combination. This means when you raid another faction's base, your goal should be to get to their gem chest and only their gem chest. You can also raid any unprotected chests (possible changes to the rule here?) but any unnecessary destruction or raiding will be considered griefing and punished accordingly.

• Why should you do this? Because the first faction to get all the gems together should win a server-generated reward (hopefully) which will be determined at a later date! Probably like 40 IC or something fair.

Why this is a good alternative to normal Minecraft PvP

• As I said before, we work too hard for our diamonds to have someone steal them easily from under our noses, or when we're not online to defend ourselves. So, this way the only thing they're taking is something you allow them to take. Something you are consenting to forfeit in the case that a faction bests you in the ring of honor.

• Server-generated rewards lower the normal stakes, which is, that your faction would be paying for a raid on your base through your own resources, which isn't very fun :(

How to Play

• To ensure players aren't just mining gems and ingots, then turning them into the server for a reward claiming they'd taken them, and also to ensure that a robbed faction doesn't simply replace their gems and claim that the winner is lying about stealing them, it is crucial that we keep our gem and ingot combinations a secret.

• The real goal here doesn't even have to be stealing the gems and ingots from the chests, but merely learning what their gem and ingot combination was. Once you know every faction's gem and ingot combination, you can claim your prize by gathering those and presenting them.

• So, what we need is for everyone here to pick out a secret gem and ingot combination. You are not allowed to play Faction Gems unless you yourself have a gem and ingot chest hidden in your base. Then, PM your secret gem and ingot combo to me (for now, maybe Con will get on-board or maybe we can work out a better system later). Obviously, I will not be participating in this other than having a gem chest that you can steal from (but you already know my gem and ingot combination so why bother? :p)

• We will keep the secret list of gem and ingot combinations until a player claims to have found all the faction gems, and then check it to see if they are indeed correct.

WHY IT'S FUN

• By allowing other factions to take your gems, you're not really losing anything of important value that you would miss otherwise.

• Raiding bases has a purpose again; a purpose that safes seemed to have removed!

• A faction is not out once they're gems are stolen! They can go raid the base that took their gems and get them back, plus the other base's gems!

• Also, this means that when a faction has about 4 other faction gems in their chest, there's going to be a lot more heat on them! Winning becomes challenging the closer you get to completing your goal!

Long post I know, but I'm going to be at camp again for another week or so :( and unable to join in other than in spirit. So, look for my hidden gem chest and remember to ONLY TAKE THE GEM CHEST AND ONLY DESTROY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE in every faction's base. This game will only be fun if we can follow the rules and behave ourselves :)

Let me know what you think, these rules are somewhat flexible at this point and open to change. We'll make it official once we get some server discussion in here.

Thanks! :D