New Beginnings

The idea of Democracycraft was a thought that came to End while playing and staffing on other city RP servers. End saw a lot of potential with the servers he played on and tried to advance them, but there was always something holding them back - the owners. Servers tend to be quite set in their ways and resistant to change. Progressive ideas were being turned down, absent and disengaged owners were holding ideas and change back, and a want to create a more politically focused Minecraft City RP server grew.

An idea. A new server.

On the 8th March 2020, during a 14 day COVID lockdown, Democracycraft came to life. Jaynormous and Endeavour founded the server with Jaynormous handling the technical side of things and End managing the building and marketing. Jay had owned servers previously, however End had no experience whatsoever. There was a lot of optimism, but always a shadow of doubt. Had we been told that in 8 months we would outgrow our competitors you would have been laughed out. End and Jay had no real plan as to when the server would be released, instead approaching the server with a we’ll just [I]wing it[/I] attitude.

The server logo was commissioned early in the server’s life. Introduced on 21 March 2020, it was the first post made to #server-announcements. It provided a vision and a name to our project. Today we will be updating that logo one year on. Below is an evolution of server icons used by Democracycraft. To the left is the temporary server icon used for the first 2-3 weeks before it was replaced by the new branding. Today we will also be updating the server icon to match the new server logo.

Next it was the forums. Someone should have been arrested for the terrible theme we used - anyway, it laid the foundations for what we have today! Forums went live hours before server launch and had more bugs than Cyberpunk2077. Email servers were as temperamental as they still are today, however Jaynormous was able to resolve the issue prior to launch.

Many players assisted with the development. Many were friends and some were just interested in joining early and getting involved. Some are even still with us today. Development was around 1,000 hours of work and very tedious with configuration, regioning, errors, and building. Velvetkitty regioned a majority of the ~300 initial plots, as well as adding the dashes to the centre of the roads. End lost interest in the project several times, however the COVID restrictions meant that server work continued in peak boredom. Without the support of our pre-release development team, Democracycraft would not have come to fruition.

<details> <summary> Pre-release Players </summary>

Jaynormous

xEndeavour

Velvetkitty
Netpex
Maxterpiece
Dusty_3
ByeSprite
MoneysignZulf
Block86
DCGovernment
supersuperking

</details>

Launch

Democracycraft was launched on April 12 2020.

<details> <summary> First 10 Players </summary>

1950minecrafter
Temujim
JoanM999
Jocie123
Verexi
ttv_huneytap
Travvyy
Tree60NoScope
Johnnyboi12345
_37__

</details> The opening was understandably chaotic. A wave of players joined as the whitelist was lifted. The server was unstable to begin with due to a significant amount of bugs, most notably a bug with the chat plugin which delayed the opening of the server for a number of hours. During the opening, JoanM999 became the first player to be punished on the server after he was wrongfully mistaken for another player in the heat of the moment which has always been a jovial memory for all involved.

Early Days

Democracycraft opened on April 12 2020, however remained in Beta up until May 14 2020. Those who were present during this period will remember it to have been a period of significant instability with multiple server crashes daily, poor performance, and multiple host changes. Arguably the server didn’t stabilise until many months later, however many of the issues stemming from plugin configuration and permissions were fixed. Optimisation and up-to-date plugins was what was lacking.

In one instance, a corrupt fox entity caused the server to crash daily for weeks. The server player base made light of this frustrating regular occurrence, essentially blaming the crashes on player Sacredspice.

The Foundations

The server was generated as a random seed. A spot for the City of Hamilton was chosen at random and the capitol was built. The city is loosely based off of planned capital cities such as Canberra, Australia and Washington DC, USA. The server spawn was placed at the intersection of what xEndeavour considered to be the three most crucial focuses of the server - the Executive, Legislative, and the Judiciary. The remainder of the city was built around these three buildings.

Spawn

There have been 3 iterations of spawn. Originally, spawn was within a building. You will notice this building was preserved and moved adjacent to spawn. In October 2020 Spawn was redesigned into a small park. Later, in February 2021 the plots around spawn were bought so that spawn could be expanded to form a central park style area to include a train station, tram station, and the university. This was a controversial move with tens of signatures to a petition staged on forums by ByeSprite. This change saw spawn replace the Washington monument on the center of the roundabout.

DC Premiers on YouTube

A major turning point in Democracycraft’s history was when YouTuber Craftyfoxe (180,000 Subscribers) conducted a server review. Initially, the server was set to be published on his smaller YouTube channel, however he thoroughly enjoyed the server and offered to put it on his main channel. The video by Craftyfoxe saw a large increase in new players and still brings new players in to this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DQNgYQanbReE%26t%3D734s

Staff

Staff are the beating heart to Democracycraft and have made an invaluable contribution to the evolution of the server. Staff suffered from a long period of instability during the initial months of the server. There was a high rate of regular turnover, sometimes with several staff resigning at once. An honourable mention should go to Velvetkitty, a staff member since day zero and the only serving staff member from the inaugural staff team. Since the server’s early days, the staff team has become a more competent and integral group that is better equipped to assist players around the clock. The staff team of a mere 8 has grown to an admirable 20 members, a marvel for only 12 months of growth.

2000 Discord tickets, 1000’s of regions, 1000’s of In-game tickets, and 100’s of DMs - all attended to by our fantastic staff team.

The server is respected for being a non-toxic haven which is thanks to the work of the Staff team. Staff are leaders within the server and lead by example. They have assisted in shaping the brilliant and accepting culture Democracycraft has.

<details> <summary> Inaugural Staff </summary>

Owner: Jaynormous
Owner: xEndeavour
Developer: Tap
Moderator: VelvetKitty
Moderator: Mehlife
T/Moderator: SacredSpice
T/Moderator: Dusty_3
T/Moderator: Chocolatelactaid

</details> <details> <summary> Staff during Year 1 </summary>

Jaynormous
xEndeavour
Tap
VelvetKitty
Mehlife
SacredSpice
Dusty_3
Chocolatelactaid
Technofied
Simcube
Temujim
Arieslemon
ElementPenguin
Jevil_FromVSauce
SimplyMadi
MistyRoses
JoanM999
JB3335
Sthomas04
SacredSpice
Westray
Zab
Jman0511
Rainalyn_rose
Nacholebraa
The_Marxsisters
Jas_boss_bro
Hugebob23456
Toxikkun
Vanquish_ap
TheTrainFan
Jwoodywoo
Ansgard_Ist
phatblunt
Austin27
Lousydaddy
Mhadsher101
Muffins29
Laurenpoo
DrThunder7
L0NE_PH4NT0M
Icypenguin79
Krix
Luckyperms
hm_shi
ElainaThomas29
Tylxrfied
Aladeen22

</details>

Ownership

xEndeavour started Democracycraft with Jaynormous. When Jaynormous left the server to join another City RP, xEndeavour lead the server for a period with assistance from the administration team. Technofied took up co-ownership of the server in September 2020 and has been an instrumental driver in optimisation and server progression. Technofied is often regarded as the server’s technical god while Endeavour primarily manages the playerbase and staff team. This symbiotic relationship has served the server well for 7 months.

Government

Democracycraft is unique. Boasting one of the most robust, detailed, and realistic political roleplays on a Minecraft server, the server is among a niche of very few servers that allow it’s own players to create, remove, and amend the rules that govern them.

Initially, there was only a cabinet government with no judiciary or legislature. The first unelected Government was formed on April 12 2020.

Inaugural Cabinet

President: xEndeavour
Vice President: Jaynormous
Secretary of Education and Commerce (Treasurer): Mehlife
Secretary of Construction and Transport: xEndeavour
Secretary of Justice: TheMightyZulf
Secretary of Public Affairs: Anonymous_063 (Turned out to be a spy for a competitor - replaced by SacredSpice 2 days later).
Secretary of Health: Squatters (ByeSprite - resigned 4 days later. Replaced by Temujim).
Secretary of Parks and Wildlife: Velvetkitty

Endeavour Administration

Secretary of State - Nacholebraa Sep 20 - Sep 20

Secretary of Justice - Moneysignzulf Apr 20 - May 20 - SacredSpice May 20 - Aug 20 - SimplySammy Aug 20 - Aug 20 - The_Marxsisters Sep 20 - Oct 20

Secretary of Health - Squatters Apr 20 - Apr 20 - Temujim Apr 20 - Aug 20 - SimCube Aug 20 - Sep 20 - Doxxx_ Sep 20 - Oct 20

Secretary of Construction & Transport - xEndeavour Apr 20 - May 20 - Block86 May 20 - Oct 20

Secretary of Education & Commerce - Mehlife Apr 20 - May 20 - Technofied May 20 - Aug 20 - ElementPenguin Aug 20 - Sep 20 - Technofied Sep 20 - Oct 20

Secretary of Environment & Recreation - Velvetkitty Apr 20 - Jun 20 - Simcube Jun 20 - Aug 20 - Rainalyn_Rose Aug 20 - Oct 20

Secretary of Public Affairs - Gettnate Apr 20 - Apr 20 - SacredSpice Apr 20 - May 20 - MistyRoses May 20 - Jul 20 - TBIWOG Jul 20 - Jul 20 - Simplymadi Jul 20 - Sep 20 - Thire_ Sep 20 - Oct 20

Principle Officers - Advisory Secretary - Nacholebraa Aug 20 - Sep 20 - Attorney General - Westray Jul 20 - Jul 20 - Attorney General - Thire_ Aug 20 - Aug 20 - Attorney General - UtahCowboy20 Sep 20 - Sep 20

Political Parties

Introduced on April 21 2020. Key parties included: - The Socialist Party of the People - Founded by 1950 Minecrafter 21 April 2020. - National Alliance Party - Founded by Dusty_3 24 April 2020 - Democratic Reformist Party - Founded by Krix 12 June 2020 - Libertarian Coalition Party - Founded by ByeSprite 05 July 2020 - United Libertarian Front - Founded by ByeSprite 05 July 2020 - Liberal Reform Party - Founded by Dusty_3 06 October 2020 - New Coalition Party - Founded by Dusty_3 19 January 2021 - The Birthday Party - Founded by Lildigivert 12 February 2021

First Congressional Election

In May 2020, during the first congressional election, 7 representatives were elected to a unicameral Congress. - 1950minecrafter (SPP) - Dopper (SPP)* - Dusty_3 (NAP) - JoanM999 (SPP) - Wuutie (SPP) - 008kevin (NAP) - Superpacman04 (IND)

Dopper was removed and replaced by Thundercat.

Second Congressional Election

In July 2020, during the first congressional election, 9 representatives were elected to a unicameral Congress.

Mhadsher101 (NAP)
Simplymadi (DRP)
Krix (DRP)
sthomas04 (DRP)
HugeBob (NAP)
JB3335 (NAP)
_37__ (NAP)
Asthen (DRP)
Zab (NAP)

Vice President Election

In addition to the second Congressional elections, as a compromise for the lack of Presidential elections, Vice President was made an elected position as a trial.

Temujim (IND) was re-elected as Vice President over Dusty_3 (NAP) - 25 votes to 17.

September Constitution Changes

A landmark change to the constitution pioneered by Krix and 1950minecrafter. Krix worked with xEndeavour to rewrite the constitution from the ground-up to create an elected Presidential office. In addition to this, the unicameral Congress was split to include both a Senate and House of Representatives.

September Congressional Elections

Senators (4): - Dusty_3 - President Pro Tempore - JB3335 - zLost - Zab - HugeBob23456*

Representatives (7): - Krix - Speaker - Lasai - Deputy Speaker until they tried to auction their seat off and left the server. - WilliamAddington - The_Marxsisters* - SuperGayLemon - UtahCowboy - Nutzucer - ByeSprite - CorbinJC - Hugebob

Replaced by ronsampaul after DOJ Secretary Appointment. Replaced by Vanquish_ap after DEC Secretary Appointment. Replaced by 218218Consumer on Election to the House of Representatives

First Presidential Election - Westray Administration

Westray was initially opposed by Krix, however Krix later withdrew his candidacy. Westray was later confirmed as the President of Democracycraft in an electoral result of 53 Ayes:7 Nays.

Secretary of State - Nacholebraa Oct 20 - Nov 20 - Austin27 Nov 20 - Feb 21

Secretary of Justice - Toxikkun Oct 20 - Feb 21

Secretary of Health - Doxxx_ Oct 20 - Jan 21

Secretary of Construction & Transport - Block86 Oct 20 - Feb 21

Secretary of Education & Commerce - Technofied Oct 20 - Dec 20 - Zab Dec 20 - Feb 21

Secretary of Environment & Recreation - Rainalyn_Rose Oct 20 - Nov 20 - Vanquish_ap Dec 20 - Feb 21

Secretary of Public Affairs - Muffins29 Oct 20 - Feb 21

Principle Officers - Attorney General - Matt_S0 Nov 20 - Jan 20 - Attorney General - Byesprite Feb 21 - Feb 21 - Attorney General - Milkcrack Feb 21 - Feb 21 - Press Advisor - Lildigivert Feb 21 - Feb 21

November Congressional Elections

House of Representatives Election Results: - Krix (DRP) - Speaker - Ansgard_Ist (DRP) - Neemfy (IND) - JoanM999 (SPP) - 1950minecrafter (SPP) - Partypig678 (LRP) - Austin27 (DRP)*

Replaced by Milkcrack after DoS Secretary appointment.

January Congressional Elections

Senate (6): - Mhadsher101 (DRP) A - President Pro Tempore - Krix (DRP) A - Laurennpoo (DRP) A - JoanM999 (IND) B - cjcroft (LRP) B - Jwoodywoo (DRP) B

Pugbandit (BDP) B

House of Representatives (9): - Intercepticon (DRP) - Speaker - 218218consumer (DRP) - Deputy Speaker - HugeBob (DRP) - LilDigiVert (DRP) - iceypenguin (DRP) - Pugbandit (LRP) - Partypig678 (LRP) - Olefante (SPP) - 1950minecrafter (SPP)

Westray (BDP) - 2nd Deputy Speaker
Outpacing (DRP)
xEndeavour (BDP)
UnityMaster (BDP)

Second Presidential Election - Krix Administration

Election result: - Krix - 48.2% - 1950minecrafter - 32.8% - xEndeavour - 19%[B]

Runoff Election result: - Krix (DRP) - 55.7% - 1950minecrafter (SPP) - 44.3%

Secretary of State - 218218Consumer Feb 21 -

Secretary of Justice - Dusty_3 Feb 21 - Mar 21 - JoanM999 Mar 21 -

Secretary of Health - Scispoti Feb 21 -

Secretary of Construction & Transport - Milkcrack Feb 21 -[B]

Secretary of Education & Commerce - Zab Feb 21 -

Secretary of Environment & Recreation - Vanquish Feb 21 -

Secretary of Public Affairs - Muffins29 Feb 21 -

March Congressional Elections

Senate (6): - Mhadsher101 (DRP) A - President Pro Tempore - Laurennpoo (DRP) A - Pugbandit A - LilDigiVert B - Ansgard_Ist B - JoanM999 B

House of Representatives (11): - didna (DRP) - SimplyMadi (DRP) - Intercepticon (DRP) (1st Speaker - resigned) - ElainaThomas29 (DRP) (2nd Speaker) - MrPenderweed (DRP) - Westray (BDP) (Deputy Speaker) - Lord_Donuticus (BDP) - xEndeavour (BDP) - 1950minecrafter (SPP) - Th0re (NCP) - BubbaRC (SPP)

Hugebob23456 Administration

On April 1st 2021, Vice President Hugebob23456 assumed the Presidency after six of the seven members of cabinet and the Vice President conveyed to Congress that they believed the President was incapacitated. Congress voted on the proposal to determine the President’s incapacity whereby it passed by supermajority in the House and unanimously in the Senate.

Trailers & Media

The first trailer was released on May 18 2020.

The second trailer was released on October 18 2020.

The third trailer was released on April 12 2021 - DC’s first anniversary.

All trailors are available on the Democracycraft YouTube

The FuseoN YouTube Video

FuseoN, a small-time YouTuber published a video on YouTube that resulted in an explosion of popularity. The server went from 250 unique joins per day to 550-600 in the space of 2 weeks. The player record continually reached records. By the third week the video had accumulated close to 200,000 views, 10,000 likes, and doubled FuseoN’s subscriber base to 5,000.

DC exceeded 100 players for the first time on 28 March 2021 - 350 Days after the server first opened!

April Outage

On the 5th of April 2021, just 8 days before the anniversary, the data center that the server machine is hosted from suffered a catastrophic outage. A power outage resulted in the data center’s backup generators booting up. The backup generators caught fire and triggered the fire suppression system. After a power outage, fire, and a flood, the server was down for 36 hours. Thankfully no data was lost.

And that was Democracycraft’s first year!