Hi there. I'm having a little problem on my server - it's the lack of player interaction. Most new players have a difficult time establishing themselves because the existing players don't really want to interact with anyone but their friends, so what happens is that there are these big groups of players that stick to themselves. There isn't enough player interaction, and so the server isn't as enjoyable as imagined.

Are there any other gameplay mechanics I can introduce to encourage player interactions?

My server has Factions, which is SUPPOSED to encourage players to team up, but I only see people sticking to their existing factions with no one inviting new players.

Griefing is not allowed, so that should also take care of any trust issues.

There also is this plugin called FactoryMod which forces players to acquire insane amounts of resources before they can craft things like iron armor and diamond armor (but after the initial investment, the returns are great, too.) Such a plugin was intended to force players to work together for it, but what I see happening is people trying to just Superman through it and try to get it themselves, then complaining about how hard it is.