Empirism

Empirism
General Policies:	Less pvpers
Namesake:	Empire-based crews
Relative Size:	Sizable Minority
Followers	>60 active members
Associated Crews:	SPQR, EM, VER

'Empirism', named after the 'Empire crews' that typically follow its beliefs, is the server political movement that believes PMC favours pvpers too much, and wish to promote a more 'passive', building, and economy orientated agenda. They normally suggest the removal of certain event items and enforcing stricter pvp rules on harassment and sieging, making them the polar opposite of Shrekism. Their main drive behind this is that many of the more aggressive and 'toxic' pvpers have taken over the server, making it more and more difficult for passive and 'friendly' crews to survive and driving away players. They often argue that the server has become a breeding place for hostile and unfriendly people that pick on newer players, damaging the community.

The main crews associated with this movement are SPQR (Rome), EM (Elven Empire), and VER (Verussian Empire), but there are also many followers in other crews such as BE (British Empire) and even TAS (The Asylum). This group of crews has had a long history of crew-on-crew drama and roleplay with other 'empire' crews, in which any battles fought were between inexperienced pvpers; and mostly just for fun.

Along with Passivism (the more extreme version of Empirism), Empirism lies in the anti-pvp section of the spectrum, arguing for more restrictions on 'hardcore pvpers' and 'pvp crews' as to enable more roleplay and more 'fun drama' with other 'empire' crews - without being massacred every 10 minutes.

Example Policies

These reflect commonly suggested changes players from these crews suggest and aim to show the general aims of this group.

• Increased enforcement and/or re-writing of the harassment rule as to limit attacks to a few a week.
• Increase the siege cooldown timer, and add a siege immunity and siege duration timer.
• Additional rules to prevent harassment, bullying, and toxicity of 'pvp crews' (an extreme version of Cysteenism)
• Removal of any remaining overpowered weapons and items, including elytras as to create a fairer pvp environment.
• Re-introduction of pre-1.9 pvp (spam clicking) in which the difference in skill between pvpers and non-pvpers was significantly lower (making self-defense against a pvp attack easier)
• Harsher punishments for pvp-related rules.
• "Pre-pvp update it was nicer"

Followers

As outlined above, the main followers of Empirism are existing 'empire' crews (with the exception of the British Empire which has a more Conservative stance). Back in 2015 to early 2016, these crews dominated international affairs and drama, and teamed up to defeat any pirate threat. Once they were bored of this, drama between them usually started resulting in frequent crew on crew wars involving upwards of 60 players, pretty much all of which were inexperienced in pvp. This meant that any fights between these crews usually relied upon numbers of soldiers, ships, equipment, and outposts, as opposed to how good a player was at pvp, or how powerful their event weapon is (which was largely the case after 1.9).

This is a bit more the history as to why this movement came into existence, as opposed to who follows it. A common argument was that the learning curve for pre-1.9 pvp was significantly lower - all you had to do was look at someone and click the button as many times as possible. While advanced pvp stratagies did exist back then (and whoever mastered them was considered godly in pvp), they had an extremely high learning curve - so many people did not bother. Fights were a little chaotic and relied upon planning and the assistance of other crews in order to win fights - as such big coalitions of crews were formed to fight each other (see Second Verussian War), and many people hold memories from that era in high regard - no matter if you were winning or losing.

Problem is, times changed, and so did pvp. The introduction of 1.9 pvp set everyone back to square 1, but now the learning curve was easier as all you had to do at the start was time your clicks and remember not to spam. After a while, some players came to master this technique - a much greater proportion of the player base was now 'pretty good' at pvp, and those who did not pvp at all had little to no chance of defending themselves. As time grew on, those at the top of their pvp game were getting better and better - so even players who could time their shots pretty well and aim pretty well were considered 'bad' in comparison.

By 2018, the effects of this were visible on the server. There were huge differences in how good players were at pvp. Pre-1.9 you could pick up a sword, click fast while aiming at the attacker and you stood a decent chance. By 2018; even if you timed your shots well, were able to 'crit', aim well, and use the correct 'eating technique' to stay healthy, you would still be considered bad in comparison to what some players were now capable of - especially when utilizing event weapons. The addition of elytras and more custom event items simply increased this divide to a point where many crews just gave up trying to fight back and accept their fate.

In the spring of 2018, Godsdead added an 'improved' anti-cheat after suspecting the old one had let many cheaters slip through the system. It was very rough at the start; you would often be kicked for 'speed hacks' when equiping event items that granted you extra speed, and poor ping only worsened it. This caused many pvpers to temporarily leave the server while the new anti-cheat was being tweaked, and by summer 2018 it was more or less ready. Event items could now mostly be used, without the risk of being flagged and kicked for something. Since then it has caused many of the pvpers to return, 'making life hell' for non-pvp crews, as many put it.

This is one of the main reasons why these crews are pushing for less pvp - as they enjoyed times in which the requirement to pvp in order to survive was not a requirement. Some call it lazy, others blame Mojang for the changes.

Criticisms

If you had the patience to read through the above 'history', you may start to see where the criticism arise. Many current pvpers, especially people who follow the ideas of Shrekism or Anarchism believe that these 'passive, non-pvp' crews deserve all the deaths as they refused to adjust to the game. They are considered weak by today's standards, even though in 2015/16 they were the dominant force. Overnight, when 1.9 dropped, they were forced to learn how to pvp properly in order to defend themselves, or choose a life of death - and they chose the latter (in the eyes of some).

A more general argument and opposition to changing back to pre-1.9 is the diversity the new pvp mechanism brings. Many weapons are now viable in combat, and with ever-increasing numbers of event weapons, it is becoming easier and easier to get your hands on some spicy new weapons. The addition of /auc to sell off confiscated goods has further improved odds for anybody to get their hands on gear and start learning - and it seems many previous non-pvpers are doing just that and are starting to get pretty good.

The economy has also changed as a result of more dynamic pvp; sales of pvp-related items now make up half of the total items sold each month in the eco, and up to 90% of the value. If players wish to get rich, its easier than ever if you focus on pvp items. However it can be argued that this came at a cost to relative numbers of building materials being sold - as builders had less incentive to build.

Obviously, the most vocal critics of this political movement are existing pvpers who wish to be rewarded for the work they put in to master the art of pvp. But criticism also comes from more centrist movements such as Cysteenism and Conservatism - in that the introduction of more dynamic pvp means that it has become a more competitive environment. Pvpers, while often going for easy pickings, will also target each other to prove to one another their skill. This has creats drama that periodically sees many pvpers leave for spans of up to several months as a result, giving builders and non-pvpers a bit of breathing room.