So when I joined this server in November of 2012, it was my first multiplayer server at this level and I was on the server for maybe 2 days and I joined a town, DiamondCreek and maybe a day later or so I was asked to become a TA of the town. At the time, I thought "hey cool, what does that mean? what do I do?" and I was told what to do, the commands, that kinda thing and it was going really well and I had a really good time with it and helping people and giving them a place to stay and a blank canvas for them to build their piece of art on the server. After a few months, our co-mayor was taking some time away from the server (for personal issues) and through that time I was finding myself doing more and being more responsible for what I had signed on for. Our mayor at the time was not on a lot as well and he dealt more with the money involved in the town and not so much the town itself....so that's where I came in. Before I knew it I was dealing with the residents, I was expanding the town, I was building new town structures and dealing with the landscape and as I said... a lot more than I signed on for. That's when I decided to leave DiamondCreek and join Bushido (which is now Shinto) and right away I was asked by dadjaeger to become a TA and while I was trying to leave that position, dadjaeger also made it possible to be a TA and nothing but a TA. I happily accepted the position and I plan to continue being a resident and TA of the next Bushido/Shinto/whatever it may be in v6.

So with that said I do have a few tips for those who are looking to start a town in v6. At first you think getting 500K (which in v6 will be lowered) is going to be a crazy adventure in and of itself but it's hard to run a town. It helps to have other people involved in the town and have town officials but you also need people that you can trust are going to do what they say they're going to do. You can't have someone say "oh yeah! that'll be cool! I'll help you!" and then a week later they're wanting out or wanting to join a different town. If that does happen, you talk to them before it gets out of hand and hire someone else who really wants the job.

Another thing that I did for DiamondCreek was we had a hard time keeping residents. We would get a few people to join the town every day but then in a few days they would be gone due to taxes, joining a different town, not being able to be on the server...whatever the case may be. So what I did when someone would leave and you've made sure that they've left, I would take down their house. Clean that plot empty. Make it look like it did before anyone ever lived there. It's just a great way to stay organized with the plots and who has a plot and who doesn't and it also makes the town look cleaner and more organized. Say you have somebody who wants to join a town and they want to join your town but you have no plots available (that you know of) and you haven't expanded the town yet either...this person is not going to wait around THAT long for you to figure things out. They're going to find a new town that already has a plot waiting for them and they can be on their way. So if you already have some clean plots open then you can just give them one of those. They're happy and when you get the chance you're able to expand the town providing even more plots.

Have a theme for the town. When I first joined my previous town it was SwagCity and it really had no theme to it at all. It was just houses and there were some town resources involved as well but we really wanted to capitalize on a theme for the town and thus came DiamondCreek. We had a creek by town hall and we used diamonds around the creek and throughout the town as well. Make your buildings look as nice as possible and give the residents enough resources as well. Like a barn (with pig/cow/chicken/ocelot/wolf spawners) and a town "garden" or town "farm," where they can work on their herbalism. My goal with DiamondCreek was to make this virtual town feel like a real town. By providing a town hall, a church with an enchantment table, a town farm, a town barn, a place to fish, and we were also working on a railroad system (that never got finished) to make it look like a subway.

These are just my thoughts and my opinions on my experience with kinda being a mayor...kinda not. There's a lot that goes into being a mayor and owning a town. I had a lot to deal with but I wasn't also dealing with money...having a town bank and my personal money issues. When you start a town, you're starting from the ground up. You have a empty.....large empty space and slowly you're working towards a town, maybe even a city. When you step back and look at it from the outside in, it becomes real. Thankfully I didn't have to do that but I did have a lot going on minus the monetary side of things.

The biggest thing that I got out of being a TA/mayor/co-mayor/recruiter was to have fun. I've see so many times people get really involved with this server and that's great, but there is a time where you need to step back and realize that it's just a game. It's just a virtual world. If you want to go out with your friends, you should be able to do that without thinking about the server or thinking about a virtual town. You should be able to spend time with your family without thinking about the money you're losing by not digging that dirt or mining that cobble or cutting that wood. If things are stressing you out or making you frustrated on the server...take a break, come back to it....I promise you it'll still be there. This server is a place to make friends and make memories and feel involved and apart of a community...it's not suppose to be stressful, frustrating or raise your blood pressure. If you enjoy being responsible, being apart of something and organized, then go for it.

Underneath all that goes on with running a town, fun can be applied....you just have to let it.

-gg