Singaming Minecraft Server

You guys may have noticed the influx of Minecraft posts lately; that is because I have been playing a lot of Minecraft in my spare time recently. The reason for this is that I found a great multiplayer server with a cool community on it. Following is a pretty in depth look at Sincraft!

Dream City, one of the several cities on Sincraft.

The server packs many features and cool mods; it may be a little overwhelming at first but by typing /tutorial you are teleported to a tutorial area that will introduce you to most of the concepts. Here are some of the cool features of the server.

Mostly Functiontal Economy:
The ingame currency is gold ingots which can be aquired in a variety of ways. Finding, mining, and smelting gold is the most straightforward but not the easiest. Materials can be gathered and sold to shops or other players, the mod shop will buy almost anything but mabye not at the best prices. The other way to make gold is to complete achviements, many of which are quite easy; I'll discuss achievements more later. One last way of making money is by what me and my friends call pillaging. That is going around the wilderness looking for unprocted homes and searching and seizing any and all valuables; we gathered quite a nice stache of materials this way including 16g I found in some guy's hidden chest. 

There is a fast and easy way to store and trade currency; a simple system of money commands deposits and withdraws gold ingots into a bank account from anywhere in the world meaning that there is no reason to carry, and possibly lose, money. To pay players simply type "/money pay playername amount" and the money will be transfered to their account. There is no "safe" way to trade items they just get thrown at you but if you get scammed or sombody nabs your items notify a mod and they will solve the problem.

There are many player made shops which usually specalize in a certain type of good; any player can apply to recieve a shop permit. The downside to this is that if the player is not online or does not feel like currently being at their shop at that time it is closed, so if you need obsidan for your nether portal right now and the guy that runs the nethershop isn't online, you are out of luck. Shops don't just sell items, some provide services. There is a repair shop that will repair your items for a price, a mini-game shop where you can gamble playing some really well designed games, a redstone technician that will build redstone contraptions for you, and a construction contractor that will build for you! Also there is a mod shop that is only open at certain times but will buy and sell nearly anything.

The player run wool and dye shop.

Protected Lot / City System:
The first thing you will want to buy with your gold, besides building materials, is a protected lot of land to saftley build on. You can build anywhere outside of the cities but it's fair game to anyone that comes along. You can pay a mod to protect a lot of land so that only people you allow can build or take from there, anyone else will simply see a message of "you do not have permission for this area."


City lots are smaller and more expensive than wilderness lots but are located within the cities. This means that more people will see your creation and that you are located closer to activity hubs; it also gives you the sense of living in a city. There are several player cities of varying sizes and differing prices on lots. City lots cost 30 gold plus extra based on the size of the lot; don't expect to get a city lot for less than 100g. If you are incredibly rich you can purchase a city permet and warp point, I'm not sure how much city permits cost but I know a warp costs 500g! The warp just lets players type /warp Cityname to teleport there.


In contrast, wilderness lots cost a flat 30g and can be much bigger; it isn't clear how big. When I asked a mod all he said was "as long as it isn't too big." City lots are usually laid out, but wilderness lots can be anywhere you want. Just run off into the wilds, lay down an outline, and get a mod to come protect it! The protection covers a square area all the way up and down so to get the most of your land a skyscraper approach is the best when building. I reccommend getting a wilderness lot asap so you have a safe place to store your items without worrying about thieves.The lots don't even have to be that far out either; our lot is a short walk from Spawn City.

Fountain in the center of Spawn City.

PvP Area:
That's right, intense Minecraft PvP action! Normally PvP is disabled, however, from the spawn area you can take a portal to the PvP area where players can duke it out in epic battles! This area is mostly just for shits and giggles because Minecraft PvP isn't the best but it's good fun nonetheless. My favorite strategy is to take a lighter in and start setting people on fire; people may cry to the mods but it is legal and hella fun. There's nothing more statisfying than making the guy in diamond armor that was owning everyone flee in fear! Be wary here though because if you die you lose all your items!

Also, in a future update a capture the flag and team deathmatch arena system is being implimented which I'm sure will be lots of fun! Who new so much could be done in Minecraft?

Players preparing for battle.

Achievements:
Recently achievements were added and can be viewed ingame by typeing /achlist or on Sincraft's website. These achievements include placing a certain number of specific blocks, killing players, killing npcs, dying in different ways, or just swinging your arm. They award gold and random items when completed so it is a good idea to start doing the really easy ones to get some quick gold and items on the server.


Speedy and Helpful Mod Service:
Overall I have found the server mods to be avalible and helpful in most cases. Typine /pe in game allows you to create a petition that will get a mod's attention. If you need an area protected, your items restored after an accidental death in the normal world, to report a hacker, or ask for any other help you should be assited speedily.

They do seem a bit anal about the rules though. Me and my friends had some TNT and lava buckets in our bank that we were not using to grief at all just build; a mod searched and seized them and gave us a warning about contraband items. Also I was running around in my Hitler skin messing with my friend and was threatend with a ban even though I hadn't said a word in general chat, just the skin. Though I suppose if you want a safe, "big brother" environment then this server will please you. It doesn't bother me too much.


Final Thoughts:
This post is getting really long so I'll end it here with a few last thoughts. Server lag was a major problem up until a few days ago when a new server was purchased. Now it's minimal. Overall I like this server a lot and hope it gets more players even though it currently has plenty. There is a donater program that helps keep the server running but it is in no way necessary; donating just rewards you with kits and money as well as a colored name.You can check out Singaming's website at http://singaming.com/minecraft/forum/content.php

The server IP is: sincraft.servegame.com