Last night's event took a bit of time to get started, but once things went underway, lots of fun and deaths happened... as we were hoping! Details below from Link, plus a Miranda-related PSA!


Several players attended and died for their love of... I dunno, I told them to kill each other! Seven players paid their admissions and fought bravely in PvP and Spleef until victors were chosen. Our brave fighters were; DrCossack, Toad_, MurderMerls, axe_y, Beetledoze, Primagen102, and Coneva... Our victors, however...

PvP:

3rd: DrCossack
2nd: Beetledoze
1st: axe_y

Spleef:

3rd: Toad_
2nd: Coneva
1st: axe_y

axe_y chose the wither fight after spleef and came out victorious, the other winners gained prizes in the previous post.

I thank everyone who played and hope you all had fun, hope to see you at future events and just around the server.

As a side note, for those of you playing on Miranda, a segment has been opened on the message board for all Miranda related materials. You can post ideas, events, etc there.

- Masterlink

Greetings and Salutations to the Netizens of Miranda,

I know all of you are fond players of our affiliate, Creeper's Lab, infact you're required to be trusted there to even gain access. As such, you're all familiar with the weekly awesome that is Event Night on Saturdays. In light of the offerings of Event Night on Creeper's Lab, I thought to offer a similar, but completely different approach in Miranda to add a bit of change to the gameplay.

As most players know, and those who don't, that since Miranda is moreso focused on building and providing blocks, that KeepInventory is always on. Nobody likes trying to build something and getting blown off the scaffolding, or accidentally letting go of shift to plummet to your doom and thus losing everything. Players are accustomed to this being a specialty of Event Night on Creeper's Lab, so what could possibly be an offering to players of Miranda to give them something to look forward to?

This special evening is held on Wednesdays, 6PM EST (5PM CST). Giving players the weekend events on Creeper's Lab (Event Night 9PM EST Saturday), and the chance to join in on anything happening on Miranda mid-week. It also opens up things for players unable to make it on the weekends.

But KeepInventory is always on, what could possibly happen? Well, since Miranda IS focused on building (but not limited to!) during Contractor's Evening, a special shrine has been built that contains a single button. A button! Glorious! What could this button possibly do? To aide in the building of larger/taller structures with many hard to reach areas, this button will give the players the magic abilities of FLIGHT. The shrine can be found near spawn between the nether portal and Wayward Oak Condominiums. Flight is NOT automatically given to players, as they may not choose to use it, so you must visit the shrine to gain the ability and it will last until the end of the evening. Do note, if you disconnect, the ability will be turned off, so you must revisit the shrine.

I do hope this newfound ability will give players the ability to reach higher skies for building and new ideas for events, PvP, and other such goodies.

In light of Contractor's Evening, to get some imaginations going on what can be done... I'd like to run an event this Saturday, December 19, on Creeper's Lab.

We'll all gather at The Wither Pleasure Lounge in Lurking Skree Nether Fortress. To get there, take the End of Time from the nearest TARDIS or TIMEGATE > PVP & Arenas > Wither Lounge. You may bring equipment as you see fit for PvP, players who do not have the equipment such as armor, will be provided a suit of armor and a sword as to help even the events out.

During this PvP tournament, before the round, participants will be given the ability to fly, giving more maneuverability than just standard ground PvP. Do be warned, as this IS in the wither lounge, mobs might just appear to give you trouble so be on guard! There is an entrance fee of 1 diamond, but you may participate in the PvP even if you do not pay the diamond.

Winners of the PvP will gain as follows:

3rd: 5 Iron Blocks and 5 Gold Blocks
2nd: 10 Iron Blocks, 10 Gold blocks, and 5 Emerald blocks
1st: 15 Iron Blocks, 15 Gold Blocks, 5 Emerald blocks, and a special Wither hunting sword

Players who payed the admission fee of 1 diamond will all receive an iron block for participation, then those who paid will move to ColdStone Crematorium adjacent of the Lounge. There they will play Nether Spleef until one victor comes out on top. The winner will get the choice of: Take all the diamonds from the admission, OR take a chance at facing and defeating a wither for the precious Nether Star to make the elusive Beacon.

The player ranked second in Spleef will obtain what the first did not choose, either the diamonds or a wither fight. Third place will get two diamonds.

I hope players of Miranda will enjoy the new addition and possibly entice new players to give Miranda a try. I would like to make a note of thanks to Dr. Cossack for allowing me to become an affiliate of Creeper's Lab and the community that made the Lab what it is. As I am also a member of Creeper's Lab, I enjoy playing with all of you on either server, so feel free to drop ideas for events, builds, and other server related guff for Miranda or if you have event ideas for Creeper's Lab, forward those to Dr. Cossack and I'll see you there!

- Masterlink (Skreelink)

The middle of December has come and gone, which means that it's getting late for your Christmas shopping! Ha ha ha ha!!

... Wait, wrong line.

The middle of December has come and gone, which also means that half the building time alloted for the Christmas village contest is now behind us. Worry not, though, for there is plenty of time to jump in even if you haven't started yet! Spruce Hills has been expanded a few times already due to the popularity of this event, and more plots have been added to be built on. Don't hesitate if you've been thinking about jumping in! All participants will win some Merit Points, giving them a chance at winning some prizes!


Prizes to be won!

Speaking of Merit Points, here's an update on how that's progressing along with a preview of potential prizes.

As I've indicated previously, Merit Points are being assigned to each participant in the various seasonal events through the year. So far, this includes the Sand Castles contest, the Halloween event, and the Christmas village building contest. As always, you can track your progress in your profile by entering your player name at the top of any page of the Creeper's Lab. You can also view the leaderboard on the forums. The more points you have, the better chance you have at winning prizes!

The current plan calls for a full year of events before winners are drawn, so that will happen in July 2016. Until then, there are plenty of upcoming events to gather points!

Once that year is over, a set number of winners (at least 3) will be determined. Each person will then get to choose a prize from the pile, making sure that they get something that they want! But what's in the pile, you say? What am I earning these points for? Surely it can't be worth the effort (and fun) I'm putting into this! Here's a preview of some of the prizes that will be available...

- $20 Amazon.com gift card - Buy what you want!

- Plush squid - I have one at home, and now so can you!

- A selection of Steam games - For some single or multiplayer fun!

- Lego Minecraft #21119 - The Dungeon - For real-life block handling!

More will be added over time, so stay tuned for the full list... and keep on participating!

Now that we've reached December, it's time to roll a few updates!


New Christmas cards!

The Christmas cards are back for a third year!

For those who don't know, I'm sending for the holidays a real, custom Christmas card in the mail to whoever wants one, anywhere in the world. All you need to do is submit your name and full postal address, including country!

You can two ways to claim yours. Go to Laurasia and visit the seasonal park in the Residential District (north from the Community Center). You'll find a giant mailbox in said park. Get a book from it, write your address, then submit it! Alternatively, if you're unable to come on the server, you can enter your mailing address on this special page.

I empty the list of addresses after each year, so be sure to submit your name and address again even if you did so in the past! I also have a limited quantity of cards left over from 2014; please include a note if you'd like to receive one of these as well. All cards will be shipped later this month.


Resource pack update

The Christmas resource pack has been updated by Sphenicus! This latest update includes the recent changes of the standard resource pack (new paintings and sounds), plus some new music tracks to help you enjoy the holidays. You can download it, along with all available addons, on the
resource pack page.


It's getting cold...

It's getting cold out there, and reports have surfaced about frozen sidewalks and rivers. Watch your step!

December is upon us, and so is the next seasonal event! This time, we're building a Christmas / winter village to celebrate the upcoming holidays!

Many people, kids and adults alike, love seeing these tiny, temporary villages that are placed underneath Christmas trees, in living rooms and in store displays. How about we build a larger version that we can walk through or even inhabit? :-)


Rules

Your goal is to create a new building or appropriate location for a new town modeled after one you might find under a Christmas tree or in a diorama. Think of what a stereotypical Christmas village includes: a bakery, a toy store, a church, a school, other stores, and of course, several houses. Your creation doesn't have to strictly be about the holidays, either: plenty of buildings in Victorian architecture or 19th century designs would be appropriate for this location. Use your imagination!

You have to select one lot, sized 25x25, and place your name on it somewhere. Please note that the lots aren't perfectly flat: some are, while others follow the terrain in a more natural manner. Try and make the best use of each location! Fence markers have been set in the corner of each lot with signs identifying each location. You can use the 25x25 space of each lot plus its borders, when applicable. Lots will be added as needed.

The contest begins now and will end on December 31st at 23:59, Eastern time. This gives you an entire month to design and build your entry!


Location

Unlike the previous seasonal events so far, this one is located within Laurasia. A new development called Spruce Hills was created as a sister town to Oak Hills. To get there, from Central, ride the Northern Peripheral (east) to its second stop. Alternatively, from Oak Hills, simply walk east or jump in a minecart for a short trip.

This taking place in Laurasia, bring and mine your own materials, as usual!


Prizes

The first place winner will get a kit to help them go through the long winter nights: 10 torches, 10 glowstone blocks, 10 redstone lamps, 10 sea lanterns, 10 jack-o-lanterns and 1 beacon!

Additionally, the first, second and third place winners will win 50, 30 and 15 Merit Points each, giving them a chance to win big prizes down the line! As a bonus, a single Merit Point will be going to each person who has claimed a lot and did some work (finished or not). You can get more information about the points by reading my previous news post on them.

Good luck to everyone who decides to enter!!

Last night's event, which involved digging down to find as much gold as possible within two hours, was a resounding success! 11 players formed teams to duke it out, while several others joined as observers. Once the time was up, Anonymous_SoFar and Sphenicus emerged as the winners with 411 gold ingots and ore, nearly twice the score of the team in second place! They each earned a set of items that included a mule and a beacon, while everyone kept the spoils of their digs.

Thanks to Coneva for coming up with an original event and running it; we know that many players enjoyed it!

The standard resource pack has been updated tonight by Sphenicus with a few new additions!

- Some new paintings!
- One replaced music disc!
- New sound effects!
- Improved cake taste!

If you have the pack set to be automatically downloaded, you'll get the updated version the next time you connect to the servers. Otherwise, you can download it and its addons, or get more information on all this, on the Resource Pack info page!

Coneva has prepared a new activity for next Events Night, themed after this mining game of ours, which will put pickaxes to good use! As the title says, "thar be gold in dem hills!"... Quoting our showrunner:

Upon arrival players should stop at the bank to withdraw some "silver" which they can use to purchase their mining supplies at the store. At the designated time all teams [pairs of players or single adventurers] will go to the mining grounds and choose a mineshaft. A timed challenge will begin; the goal? GOLD! The idea is to dig up as much gold as you can. At the end of the timed challenge teams will produce their haul, and the team that mined the most gold wins a prize. The bonus is that everyone gets to keep all the fruits of their labor!

Things to note: you will only be supplied with basic and limited quantity supplies; better equipment may be secured as you mine. There will be enchantment books available in the forge, which can also be purchased. Players can do anything they want (except grief) as long as they do not port or nether out of Gravelton, and only start mining in the designated area to be part of the challenge.


To recap: bring nothing but your good spirits! You'll be provided with a starter kit, with the option to purchase more items to make your digging more efficient. The team or player that finds the most gold WINS! Plus, you keep your findings! Prizes will be announced and awarded at the event itself.

Please make your way to Central this Saturday, the 28th, at around 9pm Eastern time. The event will start as soon as people are ready and will last for two hours. Try to find a mining partner beforehand, and make your time count!

Coming straight from Game Master Himochi:

The results of the 2015 Halloween Event are in!

Our winners for the escape ladder collection event are:

Kagato, axe_y, primagen102

Each of them will receive a Zombie Horse!


Next up, the winners of the scavenger hunt are:

Kagato, Coneva, DrCossack, axe_y, primagen102

The prize here is a custom-tailored zombie skull! As previously mentioned, when the 1.9 update occurs, these will offer additional protection against zombie hordes by lowering their effective line of sight when worn!


Bonus prize!

For being brave - or perhaps foolish - enough to outsmart the mad construct of the Horseman of Death, Kagato will be awarded a replica of the Scythe of Death - although it has been scaled down somewhat, compared to the original version...


Bonus bonus prize!

For being brave enough to venture in to the...uh, cake dispensery, following the...uh, cutting of the cake... Sphenicus will be awarded a Radiation Suit and...uh, Cake Tester.


Congratulations to our winners, and we look forward to seeing you next time. Thanks for participating, and enjoy your cake~


On an additional note, everyone who looked hard enough to score at least one item has been given 10 Merit Points for their efforts! These will give you a chance to earn prizes (including some physical goods!) in early July of next year, when more points gathered over the various seasonal events giving you the better odds to scoring something. You can see the current point holders right here.

Coming up next: a Christmas event, starting in December! Stay tuned!

I'm introducing today a reorganization of the servers of the Creeper's Lab with the addition of a new lobby!

This will be the starting point of all new players from now on and the transit point between the various servers and activities. These will be separated as follows:

The portals for the current survival servers (Laurasia, Rodinia and Gondwana) have been moved here from Central's TransHub and are accessible at all times. Reaching each world's exit point will return you to the lobby, from where you can select your new destination (survival or otherwise).



This is where the connections to affiliates servers, in the vein of Team9000, will be made. This saves new players the trouble of navigating Central when they are only interested in reaching one of the affiliates. There is also one new addition on this front, detailed below...!



Special games! In Minecraft! Fun! The goal is to provide alternate things to do for those who are bored of survival gameplay, and also frees us from the constraints of a survival gameplay environment. The games will be available 24/7, without having to make you wait for Events Night to reach them. Note that the chat of each game will be limited to that game only: the messages won't be carried over to Survival or IRC.

The creeper flask remains as the logo for the Creeper's Lab as a whole, of course.


Why a lobby?

Having a lobby will allow players to move from one server to another, as they can now, with the added upside that all accesses will remain available even while Laurasia is down for maintenance. Likewise, updating the lobby will keep currently connected players in-game instead of kicking them out for a reload.

Part of Central's paths have been reorganized to account for this and to help all players, old and new alike, find their way around more easily. Central's spawn point is now the plaza located immediately south of Grand Central Station. That location has been chosen as it allows people to immediately be within reach of the train station and Nether portal should they want to head out to new destinations.

Chatting between the lobby and the survival servers is enabled so we can reach out to those in-transit and help new players find their way around. If the possible influx of new players creates too much noise for those peacefully building in-game, this might get cut off.


How do I visit the lobby?

Simply type /lobby to immediately jump to the lobby! From there, you can access other servers and destinations at your leisure. If you return to the server you just left, you'll find yourself standing in the same position as before. For example, if you use /lobby while in your glorious dirt mansion on Laurasia, you'll return to that precise location once you rejoin that world.


When will the games be available?

Soon! I'm working on setting them up, and they will be added gradually over the coming weeks and months.

Note that the games will be accessible to everyone, including visitors. Since the games won't allow any chance at griefing, there's no reason to restrict access! This means that anyone, even non-registered Creeper's Lab players, will be able to participate, helping to bring in more people to keep things rolling. Of course, the standard rules will still apply, including maintaining a family-friendly attitude at all times.

A teaser of what is coming, you ask? Let's just say that exploding heads and fast-moving carts are in your future, among others...


Also introducing: Miranda!

Now, for something different. Joining us tonight is a new server affiliate, Miranda, run by our very own Skreelink! This brand new location is available straight from the lobby, in the "Affiliates" section.

The goal of this new place is to allow large builds to happen without needing to gather the main blocks themselves. Still, the gameplay is survival-based: you need to defend yourself against mobs and make your structures without any flight abilities! You can get an idea of this new land by looking at its dedicated map.

For this purpose, a store is available to get unlimited stacks of the basic building blocks. The only cost to pay is the entrance fee of one iron ingot, which ensures that players have to do some basic digging before being granted access. This special building, the Super C, is visible from the spawn area.

Only players with the Trusted rank and above players on the Creeper's Lab side are allowed to access Miranda. Also, your player inventory isn't shared between the two, so you're effectively starting anew. Note that most rules that exist on the Creeper's Lab apply over there, with the addition that no automated farms or massive redstone systems are allowed anywhere on the world.

If you have any questions about this setup, feel free to ask Skreelink!


Wrapping up

Read all this? Good, give yourself a pat on the back!



(Click on the image for the full version!)


I hope that everyone will enjoy these new additions and what's coming up next!

Did this one sneak up on you? The Creeper's Lab is four years old as of today! With still no map reset occurring to this day, some players have been focusing on making bigger and bigger builds while others just create more projects! Beyond simple block breaking and stacking, though, a lot has happened in the past year. This includes the following:

In the past year:
- All servers were moved to dedicated, far more powerful hardware!
- A single, simple server address to memorize was selected: play.creeperslab.net
- Player profiles were added to display all of your stats
- An affiliation program was launched, with Team9000 joining us... then going offline
- Seasonal events were introduced to offer players new goals, with two successful ones happening so far

And more is planned, including a Christmas-themed event for December and a major new addition scheduled for this weekend. As such, I invite everyone to join us during next Events Night, after 9pm Eastern Time, to discover what's coming up next!

On an extra note, if you didn't get a chance to explore the special Halloween world, you have until this weekend to do so!

Again, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you for playing with us. The Creeper's Lab wouldn't be the same without its awesome community!

Update: Before even 24 hours had passed, everyone participating managed to find all of the hidden ladders - with Kagato sealing his win with 17! In light of the quick end to this portion of the event, I decided to reset the ladders; and they've all been found a second time already! This round's winner was primagen102, with 11. I'm giving you guys one FINAL chance, and will reset the ladders this coming Saturday, November 7th. This is your last chance to win one of those zombie horses! Good luck, and Happy Halloween! ~Media


Halloween is upon us, and with it comes our latest seasonal event! A special, unique map has been created for you to play in. The goal: explore, survive and find the exit. There are prizes involved, so be sure to visit it! It's reachable from Central, near the TransHub, by using the Seasonal portal (same location as the previous Sand Castles contest).

I'd like to thank, in alphabetical order, Anonymous_SoFar, HimochiKouen, MagicMarker101, MediaKlepto, SoraThePumpking, UnknownEntity634 and anyone else that might have helped preparing this that I don't know about! They've been working hard on this for weeks to make sure you'd have something out of the ordinary to enjoy!

Without making you wait any further, here are the official explanations from Game Master Himochi...

---

It's that time of year again. Pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating...oh, and the dead rising from the grave to devour your brains.

Fear not, though. The city may be in rough shape - what with the impending zombie apocalypse and all - but we've managed to call in a chopper for evac. There's just one little problem... It seems someone broke the ladder to climb to the tower where it's coming to pick us up.

So here's what we need to do: search the city for replacement pieces for the ladder! That's the most important thing, getting that ladder fixed and getting out of here alive.

While you're out there, though, keep your eyes peeled for essential gear that may prove useful to your survival. We'll even give you a checklist of eight specific things to watch out for.

Be careful, though. With the way things have turned out, there's no telling what else might be in store for you out there...

Now for a few ground rules:
- The entire map will be set to Adventure Mode. This means you won't be able to place OR destroy any blocks. But don't worry, a friendly neighborhood staff member will be on call to put the ladder back together for you as you bring them pieces.
- You WILL, however, be able to interact with and take items from things like chests, furnaces and armor stands. If you come across anything you think may help you, finders keepers!
- You WILL be able to sleep in any beds you may come across, however not only will doing so not cause the sun to rise any quicker, but it will also reset your spawn point away from the evac site, which could harm your chances of escape in the long run.


But enough of all that. What you want to hear about is what's in it for you, am I right? Well, besides of course NOT winding up as one of the walking dead, anyone who helps find the missing pieces to the ladder will be awarded participation points from the event. In addition, whoever finds the most pieces of the rescue ladder will win a rare prize, courtesy of our good friends the Horsemen of the Apocalypse - their very own Zombie Steed!

Not only that, but find all eight pieces of survival gear, and you will win a custom enchanted zombie skull! Not only is it stylish, but when the looming-ever-closer 1.9 update finally arrives, having one equipped will actually prove useful by significantly lowering the detection rate of nearby zombies!

---

This special map will be available for TWO WEEKS only. Make sure you don't miss it!

On an extra note, if anyone is interested in a new wallpaper for Halloween, I've prepared a new, full HD render just for you! Click on it for the full version!

Skreelink is offering a bounty in order to fill out the trains hangar and outside location! This is the same location that was used for the trains contest two months ago. A few 40x12 plots have remained available, and he wants to see completed projects on each of them!

To visit this location and possibly build something, from Central, use the overworld Western Line to the desert branch (third stop). Once there, switch to the side line and disembark at the first stop! Alternatively, from Nether Central, use the West line, get out at the first substation (Alucard), then select the Canada line.

Here's what Skreelink has to say on this matter:

I'm paying a bounty to fill the train museum! There's two plots inside, two plots outside. Anyone that drops a train on a plot and leaves a note in my PO with their name, train name, and date completed earns 3 diamond blocks and 3 emerald blocks.

At the request of a few players, I'm adding tonight a new crafting option within the game: FastCraft.

This new plugin provides you with an in-game interface displaying all of the items that can be crafted based on what you currently have in your inventory. This makes it convenient if you have large quantities of items to craft, or if you've forgotten a specific recipe!

For example, in the screenshot above, I can craft many items based on my wood and iron supplies. Clicking on any of the options offered will return the targetted item while deducting the base materials from my inventory. Note that this won't provide you wih any free items: it gives exactly the same results as regular crafting, making it easier to perform some operations.

The tool is disabled by default, so you don't need to use it if you're not interested. To turn it on, type in the following command:
/fastcraft toggle

FastCraft will then be enabled whenever you access a crafting table, and the setting will be saved between your visits. You can also click on the crafting table icon that appears to do things the normal way. To disable all of this, simply enter the same command again:
/fastcraft toggle


Comments and feedback are welcomed, as always!

The main server, Laurasia, is now back online and fully operational. There appears to have been no data losses whatsoever, but please let me know if you notice anything that appears to be out of place.

Once again, thank you for your patience!

The Laurasia server has unfortunately suffered some technical issues and will need some love before it can shine again. As some of you know, I'm currently unable to fix it properly, so it will remain offline for a few days. Data loss, if any, should be minimal.

Until then, any connection attempts will instead send you to Rodinia, which you are free to explore and build on. This is temporary until everything else comes back to normal. Thank you for your understanding!

Seven people decided to ride the rails to the new hangar and build an entry in the trains contests! Both Exodio and Toad_ volunteered as judges and scored each entry from 1 to 10, commenting on the build quality and their appreciation for the various details included. Here is the list of the winners along with what they won!


First place: Kagato
Special set of armor
Diamond pick
Stack of iron blocks
Four stacks of rails
One stack of powered rails + redstone torches
18 Detector rails

Second place: Dr. Cossack
Special set of armor
Two stacks of rails
Halfstack of powered rails + redstone torches
Halfstack of iron blocks

Third place: JaimeReaper
Special vest
Stack of rails
16 Powered rails + redstone torches
16 Iron blocks

Random participant: cmzangetsu93
Chest full of minecarts


The full list of entries along with comments are available, as always, on the results page. The hangar is now opened to everyone who wants to build a second train element, or newcomers looking to make their own addition! 2 indoor and 3 outdoor spots are still available.

Thank you to everyone who participate, and to Skreelink for coming up with the idea and running the entire thing!

The train building contest has now reached its midway point! There are 3 indoor spots and 4 outdoor ones left if you want to participate. The available space is relatively small, so you still have plenty of time to design and build something!

The prizes have been determined, but will remain secret until the winners are announced. All I've been allowed to tell you is that they consist of in-game items that are, of course, related to trains! There are three prizes for the top winners, plus one package for a random participant.

Skreelink is now looking for two judges to score the various entries that are being built. If you're not participating and would like to give him a hand, please contact him directly!

I just opened a topic on the forums asking about your opinion on them. They offer many features, but I feel like they're being underused and not reaching their full potential. I've got some upgrades in the planning stages, and I'd like you to tell me what direction I should take next. Click on the next link for more information!

Thank you!

If you're looking for a new building challenge, Skreelink has one ready for you! You are formally invited to join us in a competition to build a favorite of many of us from the Creeper's Lab: TRAINS.

Rules

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, consists of building a train or a train component. The exact type of what you build is up to you: train engines, cars, cabooses and so on are all welcome, along with similar vehicles like streetcars. However, it has to be something realistic in design, like you could find somewhere in the real world. If it belongs on rails, it's most likely fine!


Location

Skree has built a large hangar to house your creations, while a few outside plots in front are available as well. To visit this new location, from Central, use the overworld Western Line to the first branch (third stop). Once there, switch to the side line and disembark at the first stop! Alternatively, from Nether Central, use the West line, get out of the first substation (Alucard), then select the Canada line.

There are only 10 inside lots and 4 outside ones available. Once they're gone, they're gone, so you'll want to hurry up to reserve your spot! Please put a sign somewhere on your lot or its direct border so we can tell which entry is yours. Each lot is 12 blocks wide, 40 blocks long and 14 blocks high. You can't dig up the ground.


Deadline

This new contest will run for about two weeks, starting from now. You have until Tuesday, August 25th at 23:59:59 Eastern time to complete your entry. It will then be judged in the following days, and the results will be posted here later on.


Prizes

Skreelink is still working on the full set of prizes, which will be revealed later!


Good luck to everyone who decides to enter!

Several people spent up to a month designing and building sand castles, and it's now time to announce the results! HimochiKouen, MediaKlepto and myself went from entry to entry, judging them on a score from 1 to 10 to determine who was best at following the give theme and designing an attractive castle. Without further wait, the winners:

First place: doorgunnerjgs
Second place: Skreelink
Third place: Exodio

Congratulations to all! As described previously, doorgunnerjgs won a diamond helmet suitable for underwater work and movement. You will find it in your mailbox in Nether Central. door also scored 50 Merit Points, while Skreelink and Exodio earned 30 and 15 respectively. This gives them a chance to earn some fancy prizes down the line, which will be detailed later! All contest entries and results can be viewed on the results page.

As a reminder, you can check your points score at any time on the forums or by typing /points in game. Additionally, you can track your position compared to the others on the brand new Merit Points leaderboard! Contestants all earn a point for trying, with will be given to them soon.

A big round of applause to everyone who participated (or tried!) and helped make this new concept of having a seasonal map a success!





The next seasonal map will be an Halloween special in October! Stay tuned!

For those looking to wash away all that sand gathered while building castles, Coneva has prepared something for you!

She's been working for a while on a new water park with several activities included, and everyone is invited to attend the grand opening this Saturday at 9pm, Eastern time! A fireworks show is expected to launch the place and the first official boat race to happen on the premises! Visitors will be free to explore and race each other.

Afterwards, those looking for something a bit more active will want to join us at the also new Sea Dome, an underwater arena. Two events are planned to take place over there!

Protect The Villager: You and others must work together in order to protect a defenseless villager against hordes of attacking zombies. Protect him with your life if you must! There will be no prizes for this activity, besides the satisfaction of a job well done.

Last Man Standing: Once the life of our long-nosed friend has been preserved, the group will move on to mass PvP! Everyone goes into the arena at once, bringing their own weapons and armor, and duke it out until only one remains standing. As such, once you've been killed, you can't reenter the battleground until the end of the round. Three such rounds will be done, the three winners each winning a prize. Those will be announced at a later time.

So, that's three events in one, all this Saturday the 1st of August at 9pm Eastern time. Coneva and I are hoping to see many of you there!

Another entry in the long running 1.8 series is set to be released tomorrow to fix a few bugs. This newest version is compatible with all previous 1.8 installs, so you're free to upgrade whenever you want.

Yesterday's Connect Four tournament was a success by attracting 9 players plus several watchers. The level of competition was higher than expected, with many rounds lasting until only a few moves were possible. Some players also refused to be defeated quickly, using every trick possible to keep things running. Eventually, after a few rounds of elimination, HimochiKouen came up on top and claimed the pot of 30 diamonds!

Congrats, Himo, and thanks to everyone who helped make this even more interesting than we hoped!

It is time for a new competition, one that has severed friendships, led to major feuds and bloodshed: CONNECT FOUR!!

If you don't know how this game is played, the rules are simple: two players alternate placing board pieces in any of the seven columns, said pieces falling from the top. The goal is to be the first to line up four pieces either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. All contestants will play 1 vs 1, tournament style, until only one remains standing!

The Connect Four installation has been updated to feature two playing fields. One board will be used to play the tournament while the second one can be used for practice and fun.

The entrance fee is 3 diamonds. All of these will be placed in a chest, and the winner of the competition takes it all! As such, the more competitors show up, the better the final prize!

Be sure to show up at Port Townshend's Boardwalk before 10pm Eastern time this Saturday the 25th with your entrance fee. You can quickly reach the area by accessing the End of Time, entering the Assorted Attractions portal, then hit the Townshend Boardwalk gateway.

See you then!

As I indicated in my contest announcement, the prizes were yet to be revealed. It's time to pull the veil from this!

I'm launching today a new structure of prizes to be used in the seasonal events and other contests:
Merit Points! These are points that can be earned through various competitions and stacked up over time. These points will later allow you to be entered in draws to earn prizes!

The prizes might include, among other options:
- Gift cards
- Steam games
- Signed postcards
- Personalized Minecraft items
- And more!


Everyone who enters a competition, like the ongoing sand castles competition, will earn a few points. The top three winners will get a lot more based on their ranking. Some of the seasonal events will be participation-based (and not always building events), such as exploring an area, so this gives us the flexibility of awarding prizes for completing various tasks.

After a while (the current plan calls for a year of collecting points), the various scores will be tallied up and names will be drawn. Each point will represent one chance of winning. As such, those who won events (and have a larger score) will be in a good position to win, while everyone else who simply participated will also have a shot at earning something!

To check the number of Merit Points you're currently holding, you can type /points in-game. Alternatively, you can look at your Minecraft profile on the forums at any time! Of course, at this moment, everyone's score is at 0.


Now, for this actual contest. The #1 castle will earn its builder a special refreshment after all this sand: a mighty diamond helmet dedicated to working under water! Everyone else, as explained above, will get a specific amount of Merit Points to hopefully win something later on!


As a side note, I'd like the assistance of two judges to help me determine the winners of this building competition. Please drop me a note on the forums if you're not entering and want to help with this!
All good, thank you!

Whenever you want to leave a message to another player, but said player is offline at the moment, you have the option to leave them a book in-game. Of course, this assumes that the person will find and read said book, which is not a guarantee when everyone travels a lot!

A better option involves the forums: as every Creeper's Lab player has an account, you can look them up, send them a private message and wait for the answer. This makes it much easier to write longer messages and includes links and image, as you need. However, not everyone checks the forums, making this a gamble.

To improve on that situation, whenever you connect to any Creeper's Lab server and have a private forum message waiting for you, you'll get a notification after a few seconds!

When you get such a notification, don't forget to go check your messages - it might be something important! As a reminder, you can quickly look up a player directly from the website, using the "Player lookup:" search box under the main navigation menu.

This is the first of such notifications to be included, more will be added if there's a demand or need for it!

Based on some feedback gathered on the forums, I'm introducing something new to the Creeper's Lab: seasonal events! These events will happen a few times a year on a given theme, lasting an entire month each time and taking place in a different world suited for whatever is happening. Kicking off this series is a sand castle building contest!

Rules

The goal of this contest, as previously mentioned, is to build a sand castle. A new world has been generated with a large beach/desert area, giving everyone plenty of building space and materials to work with. No lots are being explicitely marked this time around in order to give the place a more natural appearance. You can use an area up to 20x20 in size, although you can do smaller if you so wish. Be sure to mark your area properly, and to leave a few blocks between your creation and others! You own your lot from bedrock to sky height.

Judges will visit each entry and determine how closely it sticks to the theme, the amount of details included and how well it looks overall.


Location and world

You can reach the location from Central, in a new teleportation point set right next to the TransHub and Nether portal. This new world is set to Normal difficulty. A very limited spawn area has been made, so be ready to defend yourself if you happen to join at night time! A map is available to better orient yourself.

While no lots have been drawn, your entry must be centered around the spawn area. If you decide to build too far away from the others, the judges won't see or consider your entry! You are free to explore this world to find supplies and build shelters; however, do not do any permanent structures as they might be removed at the end of the month. Keep in mind the goal of the event!

Your inventory will NOT transfer to this place, and likewise, you will not be able to bring back anything from this place. As such, you're starting anew! This is done to level out the competition (no one starts with a large supply of items), and to give something fun to do for those who like starting from scratch.


Deadline

This contest is running for all July and begins now. This means that you have until July 31st, at 23:59 to finish your entry!


Prizes

Prizes will be announced later this month, as I'm still working on the full details. Stay tuned!


See you on the beach!

Last night's event featured something new on the server: boat jousting, where players faced each other in naval battles trying to be the last person standing. The water layer was thin, with a full lava lake waiting underneath. Anyone who would lose control or get knocked out of their boats would risk falling in and burning!

Several rounds were fought. The first set involved pure PvP, while the latter segment involved various boat-riding mobs that would target the unsuspecting combattants as they tried to off each other! andromedea1, blu35p4rr0w, cmzangetsu93, ChargeDaCreeper, Meota, RoxasTheAwesome and xLordItachix entered the fray hoping to win, while others watched the ongoing event from the stands. After all this carnage, three winners emerged!

First place - cmzangetsu93: 100 levels to perform enchantments
Second place - xLordItachix: Eff IV, Unb III, Silk Touch diamond pickaxe
Third place - ChargeDaCreeper: ceremonial suit of gold armor + sword

Additionally, Meota was randomly picked as the lucky winner for a stack of poppies!

The new arena, the Mausoleum of Theodoric, is now available through the End of Time (PvP and Battles category) and will be opened during future Events Night for all your marine battling needs. Please note that the arena, although functional, is still under construction!

My thanks go to everyone who participated or joined in to watch the event, with a special mention to Skreelink for contributing the 100 levels and helping with the construction work!

Gather, everyone, for there is something new for you to try!

I've been working on designing a new event, the likes of which haven't been seen around here yet. While I'm keeping the key element under wraps for now, rest assured that this should be fun for both lovers of PvP and PvM (Players vs Monsters) and should make for some interesting watching as well. As such, everyone is invited to participate or simply look at the ongoing chaos!

Each participant is free to bring his or her own equipment, including weapons, armor and potions, for this rumble. Food and beverages will be provided to all who decide to attend!

This event will exceptionally take place next WEDNESDAY, June 10th, at 9pm Eastern time. To allow this special activity to run smoothly, Events Night will be turned on for a few hours!

Of course, as with any proper event, there will be prizes!

First place: 100 levels to perform enchantments
Second place: Efficiency IV, Unbreaking III, Silk Touch diamond pickaxe
Third place: Ceremonial suit of gold armor + sword
Random participant: a stack of poppies! Lucky!


So meet up at Central at 9pm, to be led to the right location and lots of fun!

See you then!

Mojang just released Minecraft 1.8.5 to fix some bugs, no new gameplay features being introduced. This new version is compatible with all other 1.8 releases, so you can upgrade at your leisure.

UPDATE: The same goes for the new 1.8.6 version.

I've done some corrections tonight to the player profiles on the forums. Most notably, some of the statistics were lower than expected, or completely missing. The new numbers now displayed should be much more accurate!

"Boom!"

That was the most common noise by far in last night's digging event!

10 contestants and onlookers jumped in, blew themselves up and tore apart an island for over an hour trying to locate the three hidden End portal blocks. Eventually, our crew succeeded after using 5 stacks short of a double chest worth of TNT!

The following players earned prizes, too!

Sphenicus (assisted by Orist501): a Nether Star
DrCossack (assisted by xLordItachix): 5 diamond blocks and 5 emerald blocks
xLordItachix: a stack of gold/iron blocks

Thanks to all participants to joining us today, and to Skreelink for finding a new way for the player base to kill itself. We hope that everyone had fun!

Another weekend is coming up, we know that you like playing special events, so Skreelink has another one scheduled for you!

This time, the players will be regrouped in a special location with the goal of digging as fast as possible in order to unearth three End Portal blocks. Dig, find one, place a sign with your name on it, and you win! Using End Portals will ensure that no accidents happen, as they are indestructible.

Please make your way to Central before 10pm this Saturday 9th, and we'll lead you to the selected location.

Full story from Skreelink below. See you there!

---

Salutations, Vict- ...Miners....

So you find yourself, staring at your minecraft screen.. Just thinking, there HAS to be more to do...?

Well then, guess what.. I've prepared something for you! Just gather around for some...

Digging!

That's right! I'm inviting you all to come dig with me! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THE MINECRAFT MWUAHAH-... ehem.. yes, event.

I seem to have lost a few things underground, and I need you guys to help me out. This go'round there will not be mobs to hinder your way, this is a digging contest of sorts.

Digging? What's so fun about that? Anyone can dig... Well, yes, everyone can pick up shovels and go block by block at the dirt... HOWEVER.. Ye simple mortals have been blessed a simple power from the gods...

TNT!

That's right, for this digging contest, everyone gets a large handful of TNT, thrown into an arena, and ignore safety procedure and signs! (Remember to always wear your safety glasses, ear plugs, and other safety equipment, children.)


We'll all gather at a special designated area of the wilderness and you'll be given a half-stack of TNT, a Flint & Steel, and a sign. After a countdown, everyone scatters and begins digging with said TNT to find 3 special blocks. When you find one, claim it by slapping a sign on it with your name and stand by it and wait for the others to be found. You CAN continue to dig, although you only have ONE sign, so you'll simply be helping others. Do be careful not to accidentally destroy your sign else it's free game!

After all three blocks are found and claimed, prizes will be awarded. Then we can all do some special stuff, maybe a race, some chicking, or some spleef.

Always keep in mind we have a bunch of other attractions besides just the events and their locations! Such as Battleship, chess, coasters, fishing spots (and contests!), and many more.

Check them out here!

Need help finding one? just ask! I dare you to Avoid the Rainbow!

- Skreelink


To clarify a few points on top of this:

- You can keep any drops that you generate during the event.

- Since signs are auto-protected, they'll be safe from explosions... excluding your own! Be careful not to knock off your own sign!

- The prizes will be announced during the event itself.

- No portal blocks will be found below y=20.

We ran a special raffle tonight, and six of our players walked away with some items! As a reminder, raffles are periodically done during Events Nights to redistribute the items confiscated from banned players. Randomly picked players earn several valuable goodies, including tools, enchanted items and rarer blocks. No random cobble or zombie flesh to be found there!

The following six accounts have won items, and most have been delivered directly to the matching mailboxes in Nether Central's post office:

cmzangetsu93 (Grand prize)
Kagato
Anonymous_SoFar
HimochiKouen
Skreelink
ReikartGrey


We hope you'll enjoy your winnings!

Our fourth podcast session was streamed last Friday and is now available for download. This latest episode featured the smaller crew of Mikey_el16 and SoraThePumpking discussing the servers, the Team9000 link-up, events, and more!

You can listen to it at the following locations:
- Direct download
- Twitch.tv
- YouTube

You can also subscribe to the RSS feed using your favorite podcasts app to automatically get notified of new episodes!

I'm introducing today something new: full user profiles for all players of the Creeper's Lab!

What you see above is a screenshot of my own profile. The basic information displayed for each player was already available through the forums, but easily missed. Most notably, you can see on this page someone's playtime on each server, when they were last online, along with any Minecraft name change they might have gone through.

Newly added are various gameplay statistics, such as the blocks most mined and placed, and various PvP-related data. Those curious to see the server-wide statistics can now consult the global stats section, also available through the website's menu.

You can easily access a player's profile through the search box now found right underneath the navigation menu on the website. You can enter a part or the full version of a current or past name, or even a forum name. As an example, someone trying to look up our colorful Merls could enter "Merls", "Salsa", "Henry_Jaime" or any other variation and find the same profile. As an added convenience, all player names displayed on this website now link to the appropriate player profile as well.

This update also adds proper 1.8 skin format to the forum display, so anyone who edited their skin when 1.8 rolled around will be able to see their characters with the extra layer added.

Please note that the statistics available in the profiles, besides server play time and first connection, are counted as of 1.8 only. The data format changed for the new version, unfortunately forcing the numbers to be reset.

I hope you'll have fun looking at your own information, and comparing your numbers with your friends!

Mojang released today a new update to Minecraft, 1.8.4. This new version is compatible with all previous 1.8 versions, so you're free to upgrade at your leisure.

On a related note, I've already patched the servers against the exploit that was disclosed yesterday, so we don't have anything to worry about on that front!

Team9000's Minecraft server is now an affiliate of the Creeper's Lab!

Run by StTheo, this server has gone through several incarnations over time. This new affiliation means that the two communities are linked together in-game and through the chat, allowing more players to enjoy the company of others. Players of the Creeper's Lab can also go visit the Team9000 worlds (and vice-versa) through the TransHub in Central. Inventories are being kept separate.

Please note that the Team9000 side is running on its own side of rules and won't be managed by the staff of the Creeper's Lab. Only the usual "family friendly" norm will be enforced, since the chats are tied together.

If you want to learn more about this new place, I suggest that you read this forum topic.

Welcome, Team9000 players!

Considering that Avalonia (the survival island) isn't being used and that no one seems to be interested in hosting any projects there, it will be removed from the server in a month. No major structures have been built, so few players will be affected. To anyone who has chests or wants to claim materials from it, you have until April 15 to do so!

Additionally, Gondwana will be spun off on its own server, much like Rodinia is right now. This will free some of the load off the main server and make future maintenance simpler. The change will happen in the coming days and will only require a short downtime of that world; nothing will be lost during the transition, so you don't need to do anything. If you have last logged out in Gondwana, you will find yourself back in Laurasia. Just use the TransHub, as usual, to return to Keystone City and beyond!

Update: Gondwana has been successfully split up!

Please take note that the Post Office (in Laurasia's Nether Central) and the Vault (in Rodinia's Point Zero) have both reopened after being closed for some maintenance. You can now check your in-game mail and drop items for others, as usual!

The goal of the event was simple: rush in a labyrinth, trade an item with a villager, and get out. The difficulty level was raised by the presence of darkness, several mobs, and even fake villagers that'd go and attack the contestants.

A bonus goal involved finding a single piece of wool placed on the maze's floor and shout its color as soon as possible. All objectives were reached! Afterwards, several of the players moved on to a fighting session in the Spider Dome. The following players won prizes:

First place: xLordItachix, who won 100 levels
Second place: Toad_, who earned 10 lapis blocks
Third place: UnknownEntity634, who got 32 packed ice blocks
Bonus: Kagato, with a stack of cookies!

Thanks to everyone who participated, and to Skreelink for co-hosting another successful event!

It's time to try something new! Skreelink and I have prepared another event to entertain selected guests this Saturday, March 7th, at 9:30pm Eastern time. Read on for the details!

---

Greetings, mortals.

I know I've a reputation for being the Wither Master, but I don't want you to think all events ran by me involve you facing withers! So I've teamed up with the SquidGod, DrCossack to put this one together with an interesting premise... Competition mazing!

The tl;dr: Everyone will rush into a maze to get an important item and find their way back out.

For those who want a bit more reading: we'll all meet up at the dreaded... Death Labyrinth! The wonderous PvP maze built by our own Toad_ (Kingdaddytoad). Everyone will grab a single trade-item out of a chest and gather at the four entrances.

After a countdown, everyone will run in and search through the maze to find a loan villager and trade with him. Afterwards, find your way back out of the maze and bring me (Skreelink) the item you received from the trade.

Here's the interesting feature: The entire maze is overshadowed by another maze and mob spawning IS on, so you might come across some enemies along your way! Fight the darkness and the mobs to find our innocent villager and get that trade. You ALSO have to worry about your comrades, PvP is enabled, so they can be a bother. If you happen to get killed, rush back in and keep trying! Happenchance you die AFTER you get the trade, you forfeit the item. Grab another from the chest and go back in to try again.

The first three to make it back alive with the precious item will win prizes. What are they? Who knows! There is also a bonus goal: a single wool block has been planted in the maze. The first player to SHOUT the correct color of the block will get something special!

Afterwards is player's choice: we can do PvP at the maze, another arena, or Spider Dome. Remember, the new Den of the Dead IS a PvP arena, it's NOT just for TNT tag!

I hope to see you all there to make this an A-Maze-ing night! (See what I did thar? Maybe I should be TRIBUTEd...)

- Skreelink

As a further reinforcement after last weekend's promotion, Skreelink will now have the Op rank! He's already familiar with most of the tools and is frequently around either in the game or the chatroom, so you'll be able to count on him should you need any op's assistance.

Enjoy the orange tag, Link!

To improve how the staff members are available to assist our player base, I'm happy to announce that SoraThePumpking is back with us on the Helper rank! As with other helpers and ops, he'll be available to answer your questions, clarify the rules if needed, and get you unstuck should a server bug try to eat you alive.

Welcome back, Sora!

The server migration that happened less than two months ago caused the old Mumble server to go offline. By popular request, I've installed a new one! The new server's address is mumble.creeperslab.net, on port 64738. The password requirement has been removed, so you can simply add the new address to your Mumble client and immediately jump in!

For those of you who don't know, Mumble is a voice chat software that allows you to join a room and talk with other members of the Creeper's Lab while you play. It's lightweight and easy to use, so you can keep it in the background while you're busy on something else! You can find more details, including a download link and installation instructions, on the voice chat page. Don't be afraid to ask others in-game if they'd like to join you for a chat!

After a bit of technical difficulties, we finally managed to hold the event the way it was supposed to happen. Many players will agree that it turned out to be a big success, as well! 12 players were participating at the height of the event, along with more onlookers, and lots of explosions were had.

All the players were gathering points through the various matches, leading to these final results:

First place: Skreelink with 410 points
Second place: DrCossack with 306 points
Third place: AxelOfTheXIII and Toad_, tied at 148 points

Thank you to everyone who participated, and especially for your patience while I was ironing out the final bugs. Your patience was and is appreciated!

The tag event from last weekend attracted many interested players! Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as expected: a defective server plugin prevented the game from running properly.

Fear not! I discovered the source of the problem and fixed it this week. As such, I'm inviting everyone back for another evening of fun, this Saturday at 10pm, Eastern time.

The rest of the details can be found in my previous news post on the subject. See you there!

Minecraft 1.8.2 has been released today by Mojang, fixing several game bugs. This new version is compatible with both 1.8 and 1.8.1, so you're free to update at your convenience!

UPDATE: 1.8.3 was released as a bug fix, and is also compatible. It's recommended that you skip 1.8.2 and use this one instead.

This Saturday, February the 14th, is Valentine's Day. Since it's a Saturday, it's also time for another Events Night! To show that we love our players, we invite them to be on the server for a large game of tag. Tag... with EXPLOSIVES!!

Skreelink and I, Dr. Cossack, have prepared a game of tag in a brand new arena, Den of the Dead. You're invited to join us this Saturday, at 10pm Eastern time, for a fun game that's easy to understand and play for everyone. You don't need any equipment or practice: you just need to run and punch people! As such, you can just show up at the last minute and join in!

The way the game works is simple: all players enter the game, and when everyone is ready, everyone registered is thrown in the arena. One player is tagged with a TNT block on his head. He must then punch another person quickly to pass it along. When the countdown is over, whoever is "it" explodes, another player is tagged, and the game is over when only one person remains! One twist: whoever is "it" runs faster than the other players, giving them a chance to be free!

The event will run for 45-60 minutes, depending of how many show up, and prizes will be awarded to those with the highest score! You can earn points by passing the tag away and surviving as many rounds as possible.

The more players we have, the more fun this will be! Tell everyone to jump in, and we'll see you for an hopefully explosive event!

With the migration + merge + move to 1.8 behind us, I'm now considering what the next big step for the Creeper's Lab should be. I have ideas, but I want your thoughts as well. After all, this is your community! To do this, I've prepared a short survey for everyone to answer.

I ran a similar poll at about the same time last year, but a lot of things changed since then, and we have many new faces around. We also have much better hardware, opening up more options. Even if you answered me previously, I'd like to get your input again!

Take the survey!

Thank you!

Tonight's maintenance is over, and the Creeper's Lab's worlds are now running on their own dedicated server! This means that I now fully control the hardware, without any resources shared with other people, and we have a lot more capacity to play with!

What this means for you is less lag, especially when the server has many players online at once. We can also handle more people playing simultaneously, so tell all your friends about us!

This new server has more than 4 times the processing power we had before, and 8 times the available RAM. It also has more disk space, making things easier to manage overall. The new setup also reduces the ping time of all players, so those who engage in PvP and heavy mob fighting can look forward to improved results!

We now have a lot of room for future growth as well: we're not using anything close to the full power of the hardware. I have some ideas on how to keep on adding ways for people to enjoy themselves on the Creeper's Lab; more will be shared in the coming weeks and months!

I'm planning a maintenance period this coming Wednesday, the 4th, in order to move the Minecraft servers to a more powerful hardware platform. During that time, which will take a few hours, the servers will be inaccessible. The address to connect afterwards will not change, so all you'll need to do is wait while the magic happens!

The servers will be down all day due to some maintenance from our server host. Everything will be back online sometime during this evening!

In the meantime, you're free to join us in the chatroom or the forums!

UPDATE: We're back online!

Some brave souls ventured forth, faced the withers, and some of them even came out victorious!

On the first round, 1 vs 1 battles against withers, both DrCossack and UnknownEntity634 managed to score a victory! Coneva, Mikey_el16 and _Josh_555 weren't so lucky.

Then, in a revenge round, the five teamed up and managed to defeat the sudden group of 4 withers at once!

Afterwards, a popular vote led the players to move on to the spleef arena in a set of 1 vs 1 and 1 vs 1 vs 1 battles. Here are the top four winners of that last match, along with their prizes:

4th: SerenityBlack (1 diamond, 1 emerald)
3rd: Coneva (3 diamonds, 3 emeralds)
2nd: DrCossack (1 diamond block, 1 emerald block)
1st: UnknownEntity634 (2 diamond block, 2 emerald block)

Thanks to everyone who showed up, either to participate or fight, and here's hoping that even more of you tag along in the future for more fun events!

Skreelink, Zoo Keeper and Master of the Withers, is looking to entertain our community once more! A new event is being prepared, with prizes awarded to the best contestants. This will happen during next Events Night, Saturday January 31st, at around 10pm Eastern time, at the Wither Pleasure Lounge. Please make your way a few minutes early so that we're all ready to begin on time!

Be sure to come in large numbers for our first post-1.8 event! Full details below, provided by Skreelink himself.

---

A quick and dirty wither event to keep the masses toned down and satiated. Since we know how players love to die for their wither overlord. It's also a kind of celebration on the merging of Laurasia and Rodinia, inviting Rodinia-only players to take a trip over to see what they've been missing!

Nothing too fancy going on here, and quicker than the last couple of events. It'll be similar to the opening of the Wither Lounge. Rounds will be 1:1 player to wither with a hidden twist. Equipment is bring your own. Prizes are, of course, keeping the star if you manage. This will be in the Wither Pleasure Lounge.

Afterwards, player vote: PvP or Nether Spleef tourney.
In spleef: There will be a wither to deal with as well as your opponent (no requirement to kill, no prize if you do, except in finalist rounds.).
In PvP: Doc or myself might be dropping mobs on you as you PvP.
Pick your poison. If there's only a few contestants (under 6 maybe), then rounds are 2 out of 3.
PvP will be in the lounge, Spleef will be at Coldstone Crematorium.

Tourney prizes:
1st: 2 diamond blocks + 2 emerald blocks
2nd: 1 diamond block + 1 emerald block
3rd: 3 units of each.
4th: 1 unit of each.

The merge of the Survival and Raw servers has been successful!

The world of the Raw server has been fully integrated, including its own Nether, under the name of Rodinia. As announced previously, the inventory that all players now access is the one from Survival, which is shared between the worlds as you travel. The two are still running in parallel of each other, so there are two different maps and two different IRC bots. Everything in-game should be seamless, though.

To reach BOTH servers, you must now use play.creeperslab.net . Those looking to go back to Rodinia can walk through Grand Central Station, reach the TransHub to the right, and hit the portal marked RODINIA. That will drop you at the last location you were playing on. To return to the Survival server proper, travel back to Point Zero and use the teleporter located in front of the Nether portal, on the overworld. Both portals have a temporary appearance that will be improved in the coming days.

Please note that there has been an IP address change, so it might take up to 24 hours before you are able to connect. Again, play.creeperslab.net is what you want to connect to!

If something isn't clear, don't be afraid to ask and we'll help you! :-)

Four months. It's been four months since the release of Minecraft 1.8. After some lengthy delays due to the implosion of Bukkit, I'm happy to announce that the Survival server has been finally upgraded to 1.8! Switch the game version in your launcher to 1.8.1, and join us for new adventures!

There are some important things to note about this upgrade:


- Trading offers retired

Pretty much all blocks in the game can now be obtained through standard gameplay, including the once elusive chiseled stone brick. As such, most trading offers in the Creeper Bazaar have been retired. Podzol has been kept due to its relative rarity. New trades might be added in the future as needed.


- Don't abuse pistons

This new version of Minecraft allows a lot of fun things to be made with pistons and slime blocks. However, complex machines are likely to slow down the server. As per our rules, please be careful of anything automated that you decide to build. The staff might ask you to turn it off, or will break the device entirely if it becomes a problem.


- Achievements

The achievements system has been disabled for the time being. Part of its internal workings is broken and the system is overdue for an overhaul. Several changes will be done on this front, but not for some time. You can look forward to new gameplay targets!


- Getting the new stones

The new stone types are not being retrogenerated in the current world, so you won't find andesite, diorite and granite unless you travel to new areas. Instead of doing so, I highly recommend that you wait for the server merge and get them from the Raw world, where they are plentiful. As stated in the previous news post, this will happen in a week, so you won't need to wait for long!


- Ocean monuments

Ocean monuments sometimes appear in Deep Oceans all over the world, including in already-explored areas. This means that you can revisit older areas to see if one has appeared. Otherwise, much like with the new stone types, you can wait for the merge to happen and get your blocks from the other world.


This is it! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reply to this news post!

With the Survival server on a quick path to being upgraded to 1.8, Raw will finally be merged in to be accessible from within. This will end up with Raw becoming an additional world for the Survival server, reachable at any time. You will be able to freely move between the two, along with carrying items back and forth.

The merge will happen next Sunday, January 18th. It is important that you clear your entire personal inventory before then, including held items, worn armor and Enderchest content. Those will NOT be carried over, so they'd go missing next weekend. Everything else, including personal chests and the content of the bank, will be available as usual. As such, you can just remove everything on you, including your Enderchest content, and place it in a regular chest or two.

We're almost there!

As of tonight, The Raw Survival server now has the entire set of features that you might be used to have in Survival. Most notably, scuba pumpkins, quick tree felling and easier private messages are all in!

Now that this is done, Survival is closer than ever to moving to 1.8. A few tests remain to be done, but this shouldn't take a lot of time. Soon!

First of all, Happy New Year everyone!

Here are a few news tidbits to kick off 2015.


Podcast #02

Our second podcast session was streamed back in November, although I didn't get the chance to post it until today due to a few issues. This episode featured host Mikey_el16, SoratheEliteOne and myself taking about the servers, gaming news, chess, and more!

You can listen to it at the following locations:
- Direct download
- Twitch.tv
- YouTube

You can also subscribe to the RSS feed using your favorite podcasts app to automatically get notified of new episodes!


Steam raffle

MagicMarker101, the manager of our Steam Community, is planning a raffle of video games amongst our members! The following five games will be distributed:

- DLC Quest
- Don't Starve
- Half-Life 1 Anthology
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
- VVVVVV

All you have to do to possibly win one of these is to be part of our Steam group! Winners will be drawn on January 10th, and you'll be contacted with information on how to claim your game.

As a reminder, we're also on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube!



Cha0sQc maze

Cha0sQc has prepared another maze to test your patience and sense of direction! It's recommended that you get ready to spend some time being lost: the current speed record stands at 45 minutes!

The maze is easily reachable during Events Night using the teleporters network. To reach it and try to make the best score, drop by the End of Time, enter the Mazes category, and go through the door labelled "Cha0sQc's Second Maze". Bring food, and try to best everyone else!