Server History

Simplicity PvP is a survival Minecraft server which has existed since April 2011. The server was created by Yukarion for the purpose of uninhibited player versus player combat. Griefing, killing, stealing, and scamming are not only allowed, but encouraged. The only thing forbidden is hacking. Despite these unforgiving conditions, the server has developed a strong community, and players have cooperated to form large teams and create immense structures.

The First Era, The Dawn Age

The first era of Simplicity PvP history begins in early 2011, and ends in late 2012. It includes the very early days of the server, as well as the rise and fall of its first major team.

Prehistory

The server began on April 23, 2011. In the early days, PvP [1] was very common, and there was little focus on construction. Players rarely ventured more than a few thousand meters from spawn. The map was reset on September 15th, 2011, eliminating all traces of this era from the server. Yet even without leaving any physical remnants, this was a formative period in the culture of the server, and the time when many major players made their first appearances.

Both the world files and a cartographic map of the 1.7 map can be downloaded as torrents.

Eden and the Dawn of Civilization

In late September 2011, construction began on the first significant project of the server, a large ocean base called Eden. Ten players joined together to create and defend the base, at the time an unprecedented feat of both diplomacy and engineering.

The leaders and principal architects were BoxyLiz and LittleBoxOfEmo. Though neither play on the server today, their legacy lives on. Eden remains one of the most well known and respected bases of Simplicity PvP.

Other players who helped with the project include EricCMiller, Lavadude42, mitte90, frejeban, LaughingMan, worldruler086, LoneSoldier55, and Gygantorz.

Many of these players went on to play important roles in later bases and teams across the server.

In November 2012, Eden was tragically betrayed and griefed by one of its residents, Worldruler086, and the base was abandoned. However, it was not known at the time who griefed Eden, so Worldruler086 was allowed to stay on the team.

After the destruction of Eden, most members of the team, including BoxyLiz, LittleBoxOfEmo, Lonsoldier55, and Worldruler086, went on to construct a new base, Avalon.

After only a few months, Avalon was also abandoned, when its location was compromised.

The team left Avalon and began work on a new base, The Hive, intending to surpass their previous constructions. After completing the Hive, many members of the team became inactive on the server, having grown tired of griefers.

The last bases that BoxyLiz and LittleBoxOfEmo took part in were Kashyyyk and Damocles, which were mainly built by RevStoningpot. The construction of Damocles marks the end of the first era.

The Flying Castle

In late 2011, trouble_354 built the Flying Castle, another major server landmark. Though he no longer plays on the server, others have continued to repair the castle over the years.

Castle Snowfrog

Roughly concurrent with the rise and fall of Eden was the birth of a new base, Castle Snowfrog. An immense cobblestone castle only a few thousand meters from spawn, it has been a fixture of the server for years.

Unlike nearly all other bases from the era, Castle Snowfrog is still inhabited, and is periodically repaired by its owner, snowfrog43.

World Border and PvP World

During this era, many players began moving farther from spawn to attain greater safety. This had a negative impact on the server community as a whole, however, because it reduced player interaction and cohesion. A vote was held on the forum, and on December 26th, 2011, a 5k world border was implemented. Players already outside of the border were allowed to remain outside, but those inside who attempted to break out were given a temporary ban as a deterrent. The border helped, but most players found it overly restrictive. As a compromise, the border was eventually removed, and a new feature was added called the PvP World in October 2012. Now, by typing /world, players can teleport to a small area intended for trade and PvP, allowing them to interact with distant players. Though /world, as it's called, is far from vanilla, it has proven to be a popular feature and remains implemented to this day.

The Second Era, The Golden Age

The second era begins in late 2012. It is defined by an increase in the size and complexity of bases.

Valhalla

The second era began with the founding of Valhalla in late 2012 by MisterStrawman.

Strawman was accompanied by DakkaDok, Deflowvesper, Infam0us, Skaterhan1, and IMMERONE. Together, they constructed one of the most advanced bases the server had yet seen. It boasted iron farms, a gold farm, an enderman farm, and other impressive achievements.

Like most bases on the server, Valhalla was eventually raided when griefers discovered the coords. It is commonly believed that it was Skaterhan1 who betrayed the base, but the details are still unknown, and he denies involvement with the raid. After the fall of his base, Strawman was absent from the server for several years.

Castle Black

Another significant base formed in 2013 was Castle Black. This castle was built by EggThief, while various others, including Morl0ck, helped him. It was not nearly as large as many other bases on the server, but it was notable for its proximity to spawn and its role in helping introduce new players to the server.

UncleChain City

In early 2013, the player UncleChain created a large city. He helped by Xestia, Pippenger, and other players, but did most of the work himself.

Morl0ck's Castle

In mid 2013, the server saw the construction of the largest base so far, Morl0ck's Castle.

Aided by Renf0x, EricCMiller, LetsGetTr0pical, el_andres96, LegendaryArtz, Wolfbitten, and Ellitra, Morl0ck created a truly immense base. Not only larger than those before it, but also constructed with greater attention to detail, this castle set a new standard for architecture on Simplicity PvP.

The castle was not discovered until 2017, and it enjoyed approximately four years of safety and growth.

The Empire

The second era concluded with the rise and fall of Pippenger's first team, The Empire, which was possibly the largest team the server has ever seen in terms of population. Pippenger was a highly ambitious player, who intended to remake the server in his image. The Empire was highly controversial. Many players disliked its authoritarian structure, and believed that Pippenger lacked the skills or the roots on the server (having only joined in early 2013) to lead a major team.

Caladan

The first large base constructed by The Empire was Caladan, a castle on an island.

From their capital, Pippenger and his allies attempted to colonize other areas of the server, and attempted to create public farms in /world and near spawn. The Empire was unusual for its strongly pro-noob stance, treating noobs with more kindness and acceptance than nearly any other time. Partly as a result of this, The Empire itself gained a reputation as a noob team, and attracting the ire of more serious long term players.

Shortly afterwards, Caladan was griefed, and many players left the team.

Tamarisk and the Spawn Wars

After being forced to abandon Caladan in late summer 2013, Pippenger and his allies formed a new castle, Tamarisk, this time built of cobble instead of stone brick. The new castle was uglier, but also larger, and more durable. During this time, The Empire focused its attention on helping and recruiting noobs. The Empire had many more castles during this time, including Verdolaga, Kudzu, and others. However, none of these castles, not even Caladan, rose to the level of more major bases like Morl0ck's Castle, mostly due to their proximity to spawn and the frequency of raids, but also due to the general poverty of the team.

New Caladan and the Fall of The Empire

In late 2013, Pippenger and his allies relocated to New Caladan, a new imperial capital located tens of thousands of meters from spawn. It was intended to become the largest city on the server, but fell short of that goal. Residents included DakkaDok, Quint, KikiGreyDragon, Deflowvesper, and Morl0ck.

During this period, the imperials attempted to construct the largest city on the server, while maintaining spawn outposts such as Tamarisk, and also continuing to aid and recruit noobs. Ultimately, the strain proved too much, and progress slowed considerably.

In February 2014, New Caladan was griefed by an unknown player under the pseudonym Horus, who was later revealed to be DakkaDok.

At this point, The Empire was officially disbanded.

The Third Era, The Dark Age

The third era began in early 2014. It is thought of as something of a dark age in Simplicity PvP history, because during this period the server suffered from a major drop in population and player activity. It was generally believed during the time that the server would never recover, which turned out to be only partially true, as the server did eventually regain some of its playerbase. As recently as April 2015[2], some players considered the server to be dead, though most no longer do.

Uinia

Uinia was a large castle built in the general vicinity of spawn in 2014. It was constructed mainly by Pippenger, Ostrich1414, and Cdnam5.

During this time, Pippenger and others worked to replace missing dirt, grass, and trees at spawn, in the hopes of making the server more hospitable for noobs. They had some success, but it's debatable how much this helped in raising the server's population.

Ascaris

In early 2014, Cinnabars and Pippenger began work on perhaps the server's largest city, Ascaris. Most of the work was carried on in secret, with no screenshots or information leaking. Thus, most of the server was ignorant of the details of Ascaris, though the city slowly grew to be quite large, eventually gaining well more than one hundred buildings. Pippenger continues to work on Ascaris to this day.

Nos Astra

Nos Astra was a futuristic city founded by DakkaDok in June 2014. It would later be destroyed in the Alt Wars.

Reminiscence

In June 2014, FoSchnizzle established a new team called Reminiscence [3], in an attempt to keep the spirit of the server alive. The team included veterans from Eden and other historical bases, but Fo's new team fell apart before making any significant constructions.

Brntrogdor City

In 2014, Brntrogdor built a domed flying city with the help of Pippenger and a few others.

Aggersel

In November 2014, Pippenger embarked on a new plan to restore Simplicity PvP by creating a large city with a very high population. The city was called Aggersel, and it was modeled on the old imperial capital, New Caladan, but it had much less restrictive building codes. Residents of the city were each given their own district and allowed to build what they pleased, with Pippenger mostly taking on a support role. The city grew until its population was roughly equal to what Eden's had been.

Many of the residents built significant structures and neighborhoods.

Moira

A large castle built by DariePearJuicy.

Mr. Digger's Wild Ride

A very large automatic wheat farm built by MrHoleDigger.

Capnruch Castle

A very tall tower built by Capnruch, encircled by a wall and several smaller medieval buildings.

Sandstone District

A neighborhood of sandstone towers built by Pippenger.

Redstone District

An island filled with redstone machines, built by MrHoleDigger.

New Eden

An incomplete replica of Eden, built mainly by C4K3.

Public Buildings

Game rooms, rail stations, and defensive fortifications built for the good of the town.

In May of 2015, Pippenger retired from the server, leaving Capnruch in charge of Aggersel. But, with Pippenger gone and most of the work already completed, the team lost interest in the city and fell apart.

By summer 2015, the server had seen some regrowth of its population, and it had become clear that the dark age was ending.