Origin

Players, from the start, were pitted against the plugin. Spawn was a desert biome, named Australia by players: devoid of trees or food and bordered by an ocean. Players struggled together to escape northward or westward across the sea, where settlements were seeded.

The most prominent of these was the Promised Land, which formed on a savannah coastline. Its founding members went back and forth from spawn to ferry settlers; and began farms on the shore.

For settlements, the players themselves were a key resource to: maintain supplies of building materials and food; make progression in classes such as Healer and Blacksmith; and have plenty of Guardsmen in the case of attacks from mobs or players.

Bridges were built connecting nations with the spawn desert and each other to facilitate player movement; and the single spawn settlement, Lumber Coast, attracted attention for having the easiest access to players coming out of spawn.

As the first trial, players didn’t know what to expect or what strategies were optimal. Many replicated the patterns of other servers: creating aesthetic builds in any available material; proposing leadership structures and electing leaders; exploring to other nations. 

Some players, who preferred PvP or Griefing, would badger the open settlements. Wooden buildings were vulnerable to arson, and settlements lacking border protection facilitated easy access for friend and foe.

To increase anonymity for the experiment, players were provided with names. In Trial 0, a player’s name was the combination of their class (which could change), and a number ID (which was constant). Players used nicknames to differentiate each other based on actions, class, and player skins.

The plugin and server had to adapt as players pushed it: combat logging was countered and leashing removed, when both were used to aid raiders.

The plugin offered an obstacle, but it did not broadly change players’ goals or prevent them being attained. Once settlements were established with food and tools acquired, further progression was largely unnecessary to fulfill player aspirations. The direction afterwards was derived increasingly from roleplay or tendency for PvP, culminating in raids and a player wedding.

The first Trial resulted in a lot of feedback and suggestions for how the plugin could be rebuilt for future Trials, but also was the first step along the road of optimisation for players.