Hi everyone! I'm Tom, the owner of Minecraft Frontiers. Whenever you see a post by Minecraft Frontiers, it is likely to be by me! Who am I? I'm a 23 year old student, currently living in the UK. I work in Psychological Research, designing research that focuses on language processing (learning about people from the books they published, etc.). I love to travel, which is what I'm usually doing when I have a couple of free days. When I'm at home, I love to play games and learn about online trends - trying to see what the next big thing is. I also worked in conference planning and marketing, so designing artwork to capture people is another fun thing to do. Why did I come up with MF? I made a lot of insane decisions in life, but now I am working at one of the world's top universities, way outperforming most people my age. I have a lot of exciting stories to tell - I met with key politicians in the States, interpreted for people designing billion dollar golf courses in New York, had dinners with start-up owners from California, or presidential candidates from Africa. I am not saying this to boast, but to tell you that the reason why I was able to do all those things is largely because of video games. When I was about 12, online games were starting to be a thing. I spent countless hours exploring worlds, meeting people, learning. All of these experiences taught me how to appreciate and learn from the world around me, how to work with people, or how to learn from mistakes and make the best out of them. I grew up on games like Ultima Online or Star Wars Galaxies, games that let you make decisions. A year ago, I closed down my Starbound RP server (due to the lack of updates) and decided to move on to Minecraft. It was instantly obvious that kids these days don't have the same opportunities I had when I was growing up. Games don't promote thinking, learning or exploration. They are largely designed as mind-less experiences that make you just excited enough that you stay and spend money. Playing these can be fun, but you don't get that much out of it in the long run. MF is an attempt to deliver a brand new type of game - one that tries to recreate some of the gameplay elements of older MMOs that promoted freedom and choice. It is also a project that encourages people to be creative, think out of the box, and design stories that are valuable. You won't find any mindless gameplay on our server, quite the opposite. The game world will constantly push you into spots where you have to make meaningful decisions - ones that really matter. You will have choices that let you succeed, or that harm you in the long run. In the end, a player will truly have accomplished something. If you spend a year on our server, you will not just have a shiny armor and the best possible sword (like you might have on other games). You will be able to look back and see the impact you had on the world. You will grow as a character, but you will also grow as a person - learning to appreciate cooperation, innovation and exploration. What is my role here? My task is to make sure the overall vision of the project is delivered. One way I do this is I am personally developing all of the plugins for the server. That way I am completely certain all the underlying systems in place deliver all that we have promised. I also chat with everyone else on the team, collect ideas and transform them into gameplay design element. If I have any spare time, I'm looking at new opportunities how to expand our brand and deliver content in a stylish, exciting way. Message to the players If I had to give you one advice, it would be to explore. You truly have an amazing project in front of you - one that is designed around the player, not around making profits. Everything we do here is to let you get the most out of what Minecraft offers. So crawl through our website, peak into every box of content and let us know. If you love something, tell us we did a good job. If you think something isn't right, shout at us! Your feedback and activity is the only way to make sure everything is as it should be.
