The Divine Crusade - Minecraft Server

Playing The Divine Crusade is fun. That's why I founded this Minecraft server a long time ago at all. I've always hoped that it could stay out of all these "power games" and remain a somehow peaceful place. Actually, it even did quite well over these almost two years. However, yesterday everyone was sorely shocked - if not appalled - by how some more or less regular guy, despite being moderator, could suddenly actively show his dark side and truly disappoint the whole community.

Yesterday evening, 20-year-old Yazu13, member since March 2011 and currently in the Navy, went on a rampage - a serious temper tantrum. In doing so, he stated he didn't like the fact that he wasn't allowed into the (according to him) so-called "inner circle". He wanted to be a head moderator like Blue_sokz, yet never got promoted. He wanted to be involved more into the planning of the new server The Third Dawn. So he decided that playing here over all these years has been an enormous waste of time, copied "marvellous" Valefore and griefed it in the end. He mainly destroyed Clearwater. With a small support group and over 50 blocks of TNT he finished his work at around eleven in the evening. Then logged off.

Meanwhile, Clearwater was recovered. As he didn't build most of it but other community members (like Blue_sokz, sinnz, Mtgcostello and _Juiceboxes_), I utterly condemn his deed. Yazu13 can't justify what he did down there. I remember a time when I used to respect Yazu13. I remember having missed him during months when he was in boot camp. However, yesterday he showed everyone that he's severely unstable. I basically don't like people with totally unpredictable mood changes, anyway. Just some hours ago, he was peacefully working on his project. Then he destroyed his beloved Clearwater.

Promotions are a sign of respect. You don't just get promoted out of nowhere. Unfortunately, this also applies to Yazu13. To anyone. In the end, the administrator decides about who gets certain ranks. In this case, I clearly wasn't comfortable with Yazu13 getting any higher rank than moderator. Yazu13 might be a fairly good builder. However, his character is vigorously flawed. He shows no respect to others. Noncompliance to rules made by other moderators (like the prohibition of sand geneartors) being just one example. He never seemed suited for anything above moderator on The Divine Crusade (my opinion). In the end, I have to be comfortable with someone in such a high rank. The fact that he avoided personal contact with me just doesn't help me with trusting somebody.

I've been in the Army as well. I know that you learn to respect others there. So did Yazu13. You also learn that rash decisions are never good. In fact, that's exactly the one and only danger in an Army. Soldiers who just suddenly - out of the blue - decide to become the enemy. Yazu13 did become the enemy on that day. He betrayed the whole community after having played here for over a year. Hence, I'd like to end this essay with a personal plea to him: Just don't do the same to your fatherland!

Finished! It finally came to an end! My time as a soldier serving for the Swiss Army is over now. The last five months have been a long and (especially in the beginning) very rough time. Therefore, I'm happy I'm a "free" man again.

On New Year's Eve we could all celebrate the one-year anniversary of The Divine Crusade. If you remember, it was exactly one year ago when a couple of Reign of Apaches players discussed and discussed and eventually decided to found The Divine Crusade, the server we're currently playing on (besides The Testing Grounds). I'd like to use this opportunity to thank the whole community for their participation and support. Special thanks goes to the team as well, as they moderated the server during my absence. Unfortunately, I'll still have to serve my country for another three months, so don't expect too much from me. I try to be online every weekend but can't guarantee anything else.

2012 stands for a lot of change. A couple of weeks ago, we established The Testing Grounds which is well populated now. Our members seem to enjoy this second server that allows for more creativity and freedom. I hope that this server doesn't separate our base community too much, though.

As you certainly noticed, I'm still working on improving the website. New features are constantly added so check out the website from time to time!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I'd like to apologise for not having so much time for being online lately. I've got two weeks holidays now, which I really appreciate. I hope I can spend at least some seconds on the server as well. Please don't forget that we'll have to celebrate the anniversary of our server on New Year's Eve. One year ago, we laid the foundation stone. Even though the server seems to be pretty "deserted" right now, I'd like to somehow celebrate that. Unfortunately I have to inform you about the fact that I can't be here on that important day, though.

That's it. Minecraft is finished. The development has finally come to an end. Right? Of course not.

This weekend is actually quite an important date for the whole Minecraft community. The game we all so dearly love exits the beta stage. It is now a full-grown game that competes with others. Is it? To be honest, I'm a little bit disappointed. Minecraft is out now but there's nothing else. I hoped for a bit more fuss about the release. My favourite PC gaming computer magazine's headline for instance was Lots of content, no game. They didn't even give a final rating for the game since the adventure mode isn't finished (according to them). How could that just happen?

Minecraft seems to have made one big mistake. Mojang should have headed for some sort of own genre. Instead, notch apparently insisted on more role-play elements (making Minecraft a RPG per se). All the latest additions to Minecraft (e.g. enchanting and potions) are characteristics of role-playing games. They add more complexity to the game (characteristic of a RPG) instead of giving more freedom to a player (characteristic of a sandbox game). So what are gaming magazines going to do now? They can either give a bad rating (since the adventure mode isn't mature enough for a RPG) or give an average rating (since Mojang didn't stay true to their Sandbox principles). The latter, however, would require gaming magazines to add a new genre (Sandbox games), which they'd clearly only do if it was really worth it.

Nevertheless, I'm still happy to see Minecraft "finished" and more happy to hear about the fact that updates are being released during the next couple of years. Minecraft isn't like any other normal computer game. It is a DRM-free (just remember how easy it is to connect to Multiplayer servers - you just type in the server address), community-oriented Sandbox game. One that has never existed before. One that has revolutionised parts of the gaming industry (or soon will). A game, whose impacts are still unknown.

Time has come. The Divine Crusade server owner Fabianius is departing on the 31^st of October 2011 to Army camp. As every Swiss citizen, he has to fulfil this mandatory duty and serve his country. This doesn't mean, however, that I won't be online anymore during my service, I'm just not here all week. I can return home every weekend. So you'll see me again each Saturday. Therefore, see you!

The Minecraft update 1.8 was a pain. We can all agree on that. It once again took me hours to update all the plugins (yet still I couldn't update VirtualShop for example). Anyway, it definitely felt great to be back on our main server after having played on both a Survival and Creative temp server during so many days. At first I wasn't sure about the perception of our members of going "back" to the main server. My concerns were dispelled, though, after a couple of days. The main server is still frequented by lots of Minecraft players and seems to have stayed well-liked.

Yes, I'm still planning the new server that is rumoured to be so glorious. However, we're still at a preparation stage so you shouldn't expect a launch too soon. We've got big plans (much more than we had for The Divine Crusade nine months ago) that need to be deliberated and digested. To sum up, progress really is dependent on the dedication of the small planning staff I composed. Currently, though, it's still me who needs to set the ball rolling.

Meanwhile, I'm awaiting the arrival of Yazu13 in this server. He has now finished Boot Camp, possibly went through hell and experienced so much during that time. I hope he enjoyed this time but looks forward to seeing us again as well. As mentioned before, we are impatiently waiting...

Let us all jump in the air! Minecraft update 1.8 isn't officially out yet. However, presumably notch released a so-called "pre-release" that you can play already. At least it isn't downloaded automatically using the automatical update mechanism so you've got at least time to choose. Therefore I'd strongly advise anyone to create a backup of the old files for Minecraft 1.7.3 so that you're always able to access this server. We can assume that this time it'll take considerably longer for the Bukkit team to create a working version of their server wrapper. Nevertheless, enjoy version 1.8 now and try out all the new features. Should you have any problems coming back to 1.7 for this Minecraft server (which will stay on 1.7 for quite a while), just contact us using the IRC channel noted on the support page on this website. And in the meantime let's look forward to Yazu13 hopefully soon returning to this server...

Today I've added some new stuff on the homepage. We've got a more extensive team list now and I've added the new map (Dynmap) to the navigation as well. Enjoy! Besides, I'd really like to extend the website a little bit more. Should you be good at creating content such as text and images, contact me. Maybe you've even got some new good ideas.

Unfortunately, the Minecraft server crashed yesterday due to a memory overflow bug. Therefore, it hasn't been online for almost a whole day. So sorry for that! In the meantime, however, I'd also like to inform you shortly about what I am doing right now exactly. As I've already mentioned to some other members, I currently am improving my English language skills in a nice British town called Scarborough. I'm surprisingly busy with all the stuff that you just normally do when abroad. Great Britain is all in all a nice country. My host family is really kind. So is the school, whose teachers - in all honesty - seem a bit too keen. One week is almost over now with three more succeeding. I hope I can now find the time to check the availability of the server everyday so that there aren't so long downtimes anymore.

Minecraft servers are all about communities. Ours isn't that young to be honest. As this server originated on the 1st of January 2011, we've got quite some old members who cope with the newcomers. Not only new users but also older ones want to have some fun on the server, though. Therefore, it definitely is essential to provide at least some entertainment. Currently, this really seems to be the job of the server admin. I try to organize some stuff from time to time. However, I'd be really grateful if other users, especially our current moderators, would also come up with some fresh ideas for short games for instance. These are great activities for everyone that are both entertaining and even profitable, which always is a motivator. To sum up, should you have a great idea, build it and show it to me. Looking forward to quite some new stuff!

6 months. Our server isn't the freshest anymore. It has existed for half a year now. Maybe you can what was going on way back on New Year's Eve, the foundation of this server. We were all playing in the old Reign of Apaches-server when having the idea to create a new server where we'd play legitimate. While clinking the champagne glasses, I advised Minecraft to render a brand-new map for our server. And here we are half a year later. Thousands of people have since visited our server. Most have left it. Some, however, have stayed and are even still here. I'd really like to thank everyone in the community for having such a great time all these months. Even though I didn't always have a lot of time to visit everyone playing on the server, I have to admit that this server really turned out great. I guess we're all looking forward to another six enriching months. Without all your passionate support this all would never have been possible. Thank you and see you soon back when the server is updated to 1.7!

I haven't improved the website for ages. I figured it was about time to spend it a new section. And here we are: We've got a brand-new team page. It shows all team members (administrator, moderators, VIPs) and even some veterans. By the way, there are only four days to go until we have to celebrate the six-months-existence of The Divine Crusade. To be honest, I have no clue how to celebrate that. Looking forward to your suggestions!

In only half a week our dear moderator Yazu13 will have to leave the server for approximately two months as he's joining Navy Boot Camp then. I wish him all the best there and am looking forward to see him again afterwards. In case you don't return in September we know at least that you were apparently promoted (Yazu13 as the new admiral of the Navy?) and are maybe travelling around the world somewhere in Europe or Asia. Good luck!

Notch decided to update his game once again after a one-week delay. This time, however, Bukkit has some more problems working on a new version compatible with the latest client. Therefore, I'd strongly recommend you again not to update your game as it may take longer this time. Just stay with Beta 1.4 until the server can be updated or at least back up your old Minecraft game directory.

After a longer server downtime (over 24 hours) we're back online! I'd like to apologize for any unconveniences you experienced lately. I hope to see you again as soon as possible! Unfortunately, I wasn't here for two days as I was ordered for recruitment, which is mandatory in Switzerland.

It took a lot of time to update all plugins to the newest versions but eventually I was able to update the whole server on Minecraft version 1.4. Therefore, enjoy playing on our server using the most recent Minecraft client!

Once again Notch released a new version of Minecraft. Basically, this means a lot of work for me. As most visitors of this server tend to upgrade whenever there's an update because they can't wait, I'll have to give you instructions on how to get back to the old version. Therefore, wait a bit.

Today I wanted to try out a new game concept. I call it dwarf mode and it means that you have to be underground all the time. You only have got a wooden pickaxe and a sapling and it's your mission then to find a way to survive there. The first step is, of course, building a tree so that you can get some wood.

Everybody missed it. The shop that allows you to buy and sell stuff is finally available and awaits your transactions. Type /shop to see a list of commands that you can use for shopping.

We have waited quite some time but it's finally done now. You can access nether with the use of a portal, gather items there and even build your own buildings. However, beware of the ghasts down there. They're willing to put an end to every human's life.