This PDF is made freely available for anyone to use for their Minecraft servers. It is modified from the Creative Commons licensed "Community Canvas" at https://community-canvas.org/
If you'd like to support our development of resources like this one, please consider purchasing our GSBans plugin!
If you'd like to support our development of resources like this one, please consider purchasing our GSBans plugin!
The downloadable PDF is a foundational template to help you develop community goals, guidelines, rules, content, and conduct. It is Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licensed so you can modify and share it however you'd like.
We modified the existing work done by community-canvas.org to choose and adjust the most relevant questions for Minecraft server communities, but you can expand on this as much as you'd like.
Try to write a version of your answers that can fit in the boxes on the PDF!
If you can't explain the answers to the questions easily (3-5 sentences), then your staff team members and your community of players may have a hard time understanding what your server is all about. The more confident they are that they understand your values, the more loyal they are likely to be in the long run.
Need some help answering the questions?
Here's a quick breakdown with a few tips, but try to answer the questions first so you can go in without any influence from our advice.
IDENTITY:
A server community that has a strong and well defined sense of who they are, why they exist, and what they stand for can execute their plans with excellence. These questions lay the groundwork that all other aspects of a community should adhere to, which is why we focus on “Identity” first.
1. Purpose
Communities either have an internal purpose, an external purpose, or both. An internal purpose is only concerned with the community itself and its members - it may be about collaborating on builds together or finding team members for minigames. An external purpose wants to have a collective effect on the world outside of the community - for example by raising money during live stream events for a charity or providing a safe space for bullied kids to play Minecraft.
2. Identity
"Communities are always “for” someone - a group of previously disconnected people who share one or several commonalities: a shared identity."
3. Values
Ultimately, knowing that they believe in similar values will help members create deeper and longer-lasting bonds. Successful communities find a balance between modeling the values from the leadership and co-developing it with the larger membership base.
4. Success Definition
These success metrics might be tangible or intangible, but it is critical that a community has clear and unified goals to aim for and give the group a sense of direction to move in. Consider membership counts, quality activities, financial sustainability, social impact, and other metrics as options for this list.
EXPERIENCE:
How do the players perceive your community? How do you use the Identity of the server to create activities and roles that players will get value from? What actually happens on the server to reinforce the Identity? This is the focus of the second set of “Experience” questions.
5. Experience
Consistency is everything: More than specific formats, we have found that rhythm and a reliable sense of repeatability play a huge part in making shared experiences more effective. In the long term, simplicity leads to consistency and repeatability.
6. Roles
We have found successful communities write actual detailed role descriptions with clearly spelled out responsibilities, benefits, as well as time commitments.
7. Rules
Ideally, the expected member behavior isn’t just a written rule, but built into rituals and experiences. For example, if your server mission is for people to be collaborative with building, you may require players to go to a specific arena to enable PvP for themselves.
GOVERNANCE:
While many Minecraft servers start with great ambition and excitement, only a few survive for the long run. This section asks: what gives your community stability and helps it run smoothly? What do operations and procedures look like? What risks could prevent your community from thriving?
8. Leadership
Centralized, top-down decision-making tends to be more efficient, consistent, faster, and clearer, but may miss critical feedback from players. Decentralized, bottom-up decision-making tends to scale better, get more buy-in from members, and increase overall excitement and trust of the players - but it also tends to be messy and slow. Find a balance between the two.
9. Security and Safety
Take a look at GamerSafer's Hierarchy of Measures to see different types of safety tech and resources and find what strategies fit for you.
10. Communication
It is more important for the community to provide channels and platforms that are heavily used, even if their functionalities are poor. Many communities abandon their costly developed own platforms to join simpler existing ones.
A server community that has a strong and well defined sense of who they are, why they exist, and what they stand for can execute their plans with excellence. These questions lay the groundwork that all other aspects of a community should adhere to, which is why we focus on “Identity” first.
1. Purpose
Communities either have an internal purpose, an external purpose, or both. An internal purpose is only concerned with the community itself and its members - it may be about collaborating on builds together or finding team members for minigames. An external purpose wants to have a collective effect on the world outside of the community - for example by raising money during live stream events for a charity or providing a safe space for bullied kids to play Minecraft.
2. Identity
"Communities are always “for” someone - a group of previously disconnected people who share one or several commonalities: a shared identity."
3. Values
Ultimately, knowing that they believe in similar values will help members create deeper and longer-lasting bonds. Successful communities find a balance between modeling the values from the leadership and co-developing it with the larger membership base.
4. Success Definition
These success metrics might be tangible or intangible, but it is critical that a community has clear and unified goals to aim for and give the group a sense of direction to move in. Consider membership counts, quality activities, financial sustainability, social impact, and other metrics as options for this list.
EXPERIENCE:
How do the players perceive your community? How do you use the Identity of the server to create activities and roles that players will get value from? What actually happens on the server to reinforce the Identity? This is the focus of the second set of “Experience” questions.
5. Experience
Consistency is everything: More than specific formats, we have found that rhythm and a reliable sense of repeatability play a huge part in making shared experiences more effective. In the long term, simplicity leads to consistency and repeatability.
6. Roles
We have found successful communities write actual detailed role descriptions with clearly spelled out responsibilities, benefits, as well as time commitments.
7. Rules
Ideally, the expected member behavior isn’t just a written rule, but built into rituals and experiences. For example, if your server mission is for people to be collaborative with building, you may require players to go to a specific arena to enable PvP for themselves.
GOVERNANCE:
While many Minecraft servers start with great ambition and excitement, only a few survive for the long run. This section asks: what gives your community stability and helps it run smoothly? What do operations and procedures look like? What risks could prevent your community from thriving?
8. Leadership
Centralized, top-down decision-making tends to be more efficient, consistent, faster, and clearer, but may miss critical feedback from players. Decentralized, bottom-up decision-making tends to scale better, get more buy-in from members, and increase overall excitement and trust of the players - but it also tends to be messy and slow. Find a balance between the two.
9. Security and Safety
Take a look at GamerSafer's Hierarchy of Measures to see different types of safety tech and resources and find what strategies fit for you.
10. Communication
It is more important for the community to provide channels and platforms that are heavily used, even if their functionalities are poor. Many communities abandon their costly developed own platforms to join simpler existing ones.
If you'd like to talk more about Minecraft Community Management and player safety, why not join our Discord server? https://discord.gg/rwybDrg
And while you're here, check out our brand new punishment plugin, GSBans, which includes features for ambitious server owners looking to create amazing, fun, and safe communities with a consistent staff team.
