Category: Patrons

Win a copy of Fallout 76!

We’re doing a huge giveaway in the next few weeks.

Image result for fallout 76

Serenity Valley has been growing massively in the last few months, and several of you have heard me talking about some changes and new features coming to the community. Now, I am finally in a place where I can talk about that.

Fallout 76 is coming to Serenity Valley.

There won’t be private servers for a while though, so that leaves all of us in a weird place: How do we all play together during the few months that 76 is out, while we don’t have a server? The answer is simple: We’re going to give away a few copies of the game. Right now, Fallout76 is slated to release on 14 November, with the beta starting in the next few days. From there, the game will have a ~2 week test/repair period, then a couple of months of data gathering and processing while they finalize the the private server software. It’s estimated that servers will be available in February or March, but given the amount of work between here and there, there’s a very real chance that will push later.

So… we’re phasing our giveaways into 3 different giveaways. 1) We’re giving away 1 copy on October 19th via a raffle, starting TODAY. 2) We’ll be giving away another copy on November 15th, in a sweepstakes available only to subscribers! 3) We’ll be giving away the third and final copy when private servers are available, and it cannot be gained through money, through subscriptions, or through begging. The final copy can only be gained by winning the contest of champions on Red.

The Raffle:

Starting today, right now, everyone can purchase raffle tickets for the Fallout76 giveaway.

– Tickets are purchased for $5 each at: http://paypal.me/probablynothingbad.

MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR DISCORD OR STEAM NAME SO I CAN RECORD YOUR TICKET NUMBER!

When you purchase a ticket, I’ll respond back with your ticket number(s) and on the 19th, we’ll be randomly drawing our winner.

In celebrating the upcoming release of Fallout76, whoever ends up with ticket #76 for this raffle wins 200 tape, every wipe, on main, for life.

If we reach 100 tickets sold, the winner will receive the upgraded Tricentennial Edition of Fallout 76, which comes with a ton of bonus in-game items.

If we reach 200 tickets sold, we will be drawing TWO winners instead of one.

The Sweepstakes:

This goes to all of our subscribers, even at the $1 subscription level. You get a number of automatic ticket entries, based upon your subscription:

  • Scout: 1 Entries
  • Explorer: 2 Entries
  • Settler: 3 Entries
  • Wastelander: 4 Entries
  • Clan Leader: 5 Entries

Additional tickets can be purchase for $3 each, as above for the raffle. On November 15th, a winner will be chosen and you’ll receive the base copy of Fallout76.

The Contest:

This is the most straightforward contest. As soon as private servers are available–which we’re unsure of exactly what date that will be–we will announce that the contest has begun.

In the month that servers become available, the winner of the contest on SVRed will be awarded with a copy of Fallout76. To get all of the details on how to win on Red, visit http://rust.ars-insolitus.com/?page_id=449 or jump on the Red server and type /info.Image result for rust game contest

Serenity Valley Christmas in July!

We hope that everyone had a great time for the 4th of July yesterday, and that you’ve still got all your eyes and fingers. With record-breaking high temperatures hitting all across the Northern Hemisphere over the last month, it’s time for us to do our part to cool things off! Several of you have already heard a little bit about the promo, but here’s the really real official word:    Christmas in July!

For the next two wipes (starting today, 5 July, going until 2 August) we’ll be running the in-game Christmas event, and running a series of joyous events during the weekends to show off some Christmas spirit, keep things really cool, and show off the spirit of giving! In addition to the wintry festivities, July is our Donor Appreciation Month, and all donor tape is doubled for the wipe, and any donations made during the month will receive 25% bonus tape for the duration of the donation!

A summary of July’s events include:

  • Tower Racing Event
  • Pookie Stacking Challenge
  • Tree Decoration Contest
  • Christmas House Decoration Contest
  • Regularly spawning Christmas Presents
  • Special holiday collectibles available for purchase in the store

Rather than writing up another post for each of our in-game sports, we’ll actually be creating some new permanent blog pages to detail these sports, in order to give teams time to form up and practice their team strategies in advance of the events.  Be looking for those pages later today or tomorrow evening.

As always, find us on Discord or Facebook should you have any questions, and a member of staff will be with you ASAP!

Noob Friendly

It’s been posted on the name of our server for over a year, now. Many a new player has found their way into the wide world of Rust through our humble shores.  To date, we have enjoyed visits from 4,198 players. Most, obviously, have moved on to other games or other player experiences. Some few have chosen to make this their home server, and we’re especially glad for their company.

Lately a disturbing trend has been on the rise, and it has become damaging to our population. I have spoken in the past on this as it’s cropped up, and things will get a little better for a few weeks, and then it’s back to where it was before and often worse. We have had, and of late have been having a worse and worse problem with experienced players hitting new players like a fucking hammer for the tiniest slight. It’s gotten to the point that there’s even a predictable cycle that is beginning to repeat itself:

  1. New player joins server, either after having bad experiences on other servers, or after hearing how toxic of a game Rust can be.
  2. New player receives a warm reception and can reliably ask questions and get help.
  3. New player is impressed with the level of kindness and helpfulness present on Serenity Valley.
  4. New player settles in to stay or even pledges/donates in order to get a leg up and build a larger base.
  5. New player defends themselves or speaks up, saying something that experienced player(s) dislike in the world chat.
  6. Experienced player(s) threaten (or don’t) the new player, threatens to foundation wipe them.
  7. New player either leaves, or speaks up to defend themselves.
  8. Experienced player(s) wipe the floor with New Player’s base, usually offline.
  9. New player becomes disenfranchised and leaves, feeling that the game and/or community is hopeless.
  10. New player joins server, either after having bad experiences on other server,s or hearing how toxic of a game Rust can be.

How is that fun for a new player? Shouldn’t there be some kind of a warning period in there? Are their words really so traumatic that the only option is “leave our server?” As I write this, there are nine players on Serenity Valley, during prime time, on a weekend.  Nine.  Now, I’m sure that everyone here would rather play on a server with an active, vibrant population…  But how exactly is that going to happen when the first response to new people is to grind them into paste?

You’ve all heard me say that I’ll run an empty server before I run a server populated with racists.  The EXACT same thing applies to bullies. Since Christmas, just a few of the things I’ve seen have been excessively inappropriate and toxic.  I will urge you all to NOT be that guy. In that same time period, we have lost no fewer than five patrons because they don’t care for the bullying. The lost player count of people who actually took the time to send a message and let me know why they were leaving is in the 20’s. I’m going to shoot straight with you–I don’t get time to play any more. This isn’t hurting me, this is hurting all of you. The more people you chase off, the fewer people you have to play with. This is doubly true for our patrons:  You’re paying for a server that is emptying out. It’s okay to hold each other accountable.  It’s okay to hold yourselves accountable. In the last six weeks, we’ve lost almost $100 of our funding.

We can do better.  We can be better.  For those who just MUST have your PVP fix, have you considered just using a PVP server, or even just waiting until Serenity Valley has its own not-newbie-server?  It’s literally up and running right now, and will shortly have a permanent rule set. I will be sorely disappointed if online bloodlust and impatience cause everything to crash before the new option that is right in front of us can go live….

For the time being I am not naming names. I’m not calling anyone out, and I’m not coming down on anyone. I’m placing this post publicly as an open letter in order to give players the chance to self-correct and regulate/moderate themselves. If they fail to do so in short order, I will moderate things myself.

Over the next few days, I will be putting up another couple of articles about some initiatives to try and improve new player experience and build our community, rather than seeing it built up and torn down every other wipe. Keep an eye on this space for more information.

Get your motor runnin’..!

…Head out on the highway!

Introducing Serenity Valley Patronage! Beginning today is a whole new phase of growth for our game community. We’ve just launched a new page through Patreon to allow players to contribute to Serenity Valley through a monthly subscription, which will fund our newest initiatives.  For our free players, that means more admins, more servers, and more ways to enjoy our unique community standards.  For our patrons, it’s a new way to get fun new rewards to make your gameplay experience even more fulfilling on our servers!

For as little as $1 per month, players can customize their gear with a $1,200 skin collection, get hundreds of duct tape to use each wipe, gain access to unique base customization, custom landmarks near their homes, and oh yes:  Cars.

You can see all of the donation tiers on our Patronage Page, and from now until December 7th, 2017, each new subscription gets 1 bonus car at any subscription tier, for 1 month!

Planned Improvements:

The donations we have received so far and all one-time donations that people make go to maintaining our current server, website, and console customization. The new patronage system is entirely building toward growing the offerings available through our community. Some new features that you’ll be seeing as our budget increases:

  • New Admin Support:
    By adding additional admin support and actually compensating them for their time, we can get people who are well-trained, dedicated to the server’s welfare, and compensated for their time, so that the need or desire to play on the server is negated. By eliminating the temptation or possibilities for admin abuse, you get improved, outrageous customer service, without any of the worries of fair play being compromised.
  • New Servers:
    Right now, we have two new servers planned, with more on the way!  These new servers will still have a server store created and maintained, and both donors and patrons can choose where to have their rewards delivered in part or in total, allowing them to play on multiple servers concurrently!  Serenity Valley Long will only wipe the map and blueprints when forced by Facepunch! Serenity Valley Advanced will be essentially identical to Serenity Valley Main, but without the newbie-friendly play policies, allowing for bases and raids to be conducted completely without limitation by the rules.  The only things that won’t fly there will be cheating and griefing.
  • New Games:
    There’s a great deal of value added to a moderated community that’s led with a light touch and an expectation of fair play and basic human respect. We’ve made ourselves a home in Rust where play can go on without the hateful toxicity found in other communities–why not have a few other games where we can play with the same expectation of fairness and decency?  While it’s too early to settle on exactly which game will be our next, the community will get to vote to decide which survival game is the next to be added to our roster!
  • More to Come!
    That’s right.  We’re watching how development proceeds in this and other games, as well as how patronage affects gameplay on our main servers, and adjustments and new products and services will be added as the need or desire becomes apparent! Physical awards are also in the works so you can rock your support of Serenity Valley both in and out of Rust!