User:Tigran Ovanyan/Drafts/Soft item economy reset

Ender chest without elytras, golden apples, totems of undying

The Soft item economy reset was an attempt by the administrator(s) of 2b2t, to artificially rectify years of accumulated "damage" to server's item economy. It was implemented from August 14, 2023 to August 26, 2023. The reset was intended to deflate the economy and restore value to heavily duplicated items. It largely involved the deletion of valuable items, as well as creating artificial item scarcity among players. According to Hausemaster, this scarcity should have been a positive change for the longevity of 2b2t, since players would have to play reacquire lost items.

Following the reset, the 2b2t administration faced a wave of backlash from both players and youtubers. Twelve days after the soft reset, on August 26th, the server was rolled back and an apology was posted onto 2b2t.org by the administrator(s).

Reasons and background

The screen of the player waiting for his turn

The server welcomed 2023 and had a rather difficult first half. The wave of new players brought by YouTubers had greatly diminished, that is, new sources of resources had almost disappeared. On the other hand, the already established players were mostly not in any large-scale confrontation. As a result, taking into account the fact that the capabilities of new versions were constantly unavailable to players, since the server was running on a rather outdated version, players had lost interest in the server. The technical capabilities of the 2b2t was also a obstacle. The huge server queue, which players have long associated not as a means of maintaining the project, but as a source of earning money for its owner, did not lead to the game itself running quickly for a long time. Numerous lags also made an unpleasant impression on players.

Putting all this together, apparently, Hausemaster began to realize that urgent reforms were necessary for the healthy life and development of the project. In this regard, 2023 became revolutionary. First of all, experiments were carried out using the Folia program to increase the efficiency of the server. These experiments yielded positive results.

Already in the summer, it was announced that soon, very soon, the server would finally enter the 1.19 era, which, naturally, increased interest in the server, as well as inspired hopes among many players regarding new future opportunities. The announcement of this reform really came as a surprise to everyone. It came into effect along with a server update on August 14, 2023. Hausemaster announced this on his recently revived official website, as well as on Reddit.

The soft item economy reset

The essence of this reform was clearly stated by the administrator. He, knowing some possible challenges for the future of 2b2t, related to the presence of too many items among players, decided to completely or partially get rid of some important items.

Over the server's decade existence, various duplication exploits have caused significant damage to the server particularly with the addition of shulkers. These duplicated items were responsible for majority of the server's past problems, and to soften their future impact upon 1.19 and later, they have been reduced or removed. - Hausemaster

Thus, it was decided that a number of items should be almost zeroed out. Single-stack items were converted to one item. Specifically targeted were: End Crystals, Bottle o' Enchanting, Enchanted Golden Apple, Totem of Undying. The number of stacks of some items was reduced to 16 or 8. Also, Hausemaster wanted to get rid of all illegally placed blocks.

Another expression of the reform was related to the size of the map. All chunks that had been active for a very short time, i.e. had no significance for the server's history, were deleted. The goal was to have more places where new structures and materials would be expressed. There was also a technical reason for this, since the reduction would greatly reduce the size of the map, making it easier to maintain.

Feedback

Poster of dissatisfied players

Such drastic actions could not remain without a negative reaction from the public. The server had formed its own internal ecosystem over the years. Many were initially against the update the server at all, demanding to stay at 1.12. The number of people against multiplied several times after the sudden announcement of the partial confiscation of their property. In addition to the material incentive, this reform also had problems with the essence of the project. 2b2t is a server without rules, without changes. That is, it is the same as the players inherited from the distant 2010. Over the years, no attempt was made to make any changes to the server with any intervention, except for backdoors, which were implemented by the players themselves and were not always welcomed by the public.

Cancellation movement

To make their dissatisfaction more visible, a movement was formed against this initiative. The participants resorted to a number of measures to ensure the success of the movement. Many players returned their priority queue opportunities. Some even boycotted the game underground, aiming to influence the demographics of the server. The players formed a united body, the 2b2t union. Some groups, such as the Astral Brotherhood and The Last Templar, temporarily left and relocated to other servers.

Salc1 published a video demanding that this reform be repealed, as tolerating it could set the stage for even more unacceptable interventions by Hausemaster in the future. Later, as a post-fact, FitMC also commented soft item economy reset.

Cancellation

Realizing the uncontrollable and negative consequences of the situation, the risks that could arise from this not very significant change, Hausemaster began to retreat and gradually restore the reputation of the server. Just ten days later, on August 24, he apologized and realized his mistake, as well as justified why he had taken this step.

My thought behind this was to slow down the initial rush of player progression into 1.19, to allow for a different meta, and to make items somewhat valuable again even if for a short period. The decision was made with the thought that the remaining massive amounts of items would be back into players' hands quickly, as well as inevitable duplication exploits occurring things would be back to normal within a month or two. I understand that this was very upsetting to many players. It was only ever done for the first time since the server's launch, and I will never perform such a global item reset again. After two weeks into the update and some reflection, I admit that this decision was not in alignment with 2b2t's anarchy spirit nor my own vision of how I thought I would operate the server in the past. - Hausemaster

By the suggestion of leijurv on Reddit, Hausemaster conducted a poll. The question was asked how to solve the resource issue: do nothing, rollback by returning the resources and without restoring the chunks, or rollback by returning the players' previous reserves and restoring the chunks. 5588 participants voted, the majority chose rollback without restoring the chunks. He warned that the potential cancellation cost would be 11 days of game progress, as the last saved copy was that old.

Discussions for potential rollback for the 1.19 update

Variant	Votes	%
Rollback without item economy reset	998	17.86
Rollback without item economy reset, without chunk trimming	3647	65.26
No rollback	943	16.88
Total	5588	100
Source: Reddit

Thus, 2b2t entered a new era of its development amidst great fanfare. Subsequent updates did not bring any changes, and therefore no negative feedback from players. This is also the last intervention in the life of the server by the server management. Although the server only lasted 11 days with this policy, the Fifth Column group founded dupe methods, replenished their supplies, and even managed to conduct trade. However, as a result of the return, this progress disappeared. Also, the buildings that had been discovered and destroyed during the process were restored. They had to be griefered a second time.