Hey everyone,

I'm going to hopefully address some questions and concerns everyone has in this news post to clear up any confusion on what is going on with AEM (a server previously owned by Sway) and why we have taken over it, as well as what our plans are with it's future.

Many of you have missed the podcast JamieSinn and I hosted yesterday via ECC Discord so hopefully this thread will get you up to speed.

Long story short, ECC now ownes AEM (www.aemservers.net).

To give everyone a little background information, Sway and myself have been IRL friends for many, many years. The server he owned used to peak around 1,500~ and now has only been peaking around 15-20 players (It's unreal how such massive networks / games can die out over time without new stuff through Minecrafts decline). Our community has had something similar happen, just not with nearly as many players, peaking at about 300~ in its prime and now peaking at 40-50 players.

Unfortunately due to IRL circumstances and other factors, Sway has decided to step down and shut AEM Network down. He reached out to me to discuss his situation and after much discussion I decided to take over the network as it would absolutely suck to see his years of dedication simply vanish. It's the least I can do for a good friend. Before I go any further I'd like everyone on AEM to please understand that running a community isn't easy & simple. It can really become a major drag on your life, far more than you can ever imagine. To give a little information on my own Minecraft run, I myself have been in the community for 7 years+, have gone through sponsoring major projects including the creation of Spigot, participating in nearly every Minecon, running booths there for Spigot as well as hosting companies, funding dozens of developers and their startups, dealing with the biggest networks in Minecraft on the side (including investments/side administration), and have been the sole owner of the community of EcoCityCraft. I can tell you first hand that in my 7 years of Minecraft madness I have made dozens if not hundreds of mistakes and thought of quitting numerous times. I wouldn't be human if I didn't, things seriously get tough, and even though quitting is not something I have ever done, and now see will never do, I absolutely 100% understand the struggles that Sway has gone through. I ask everyone from AEM look at the dedication Sway has put in for Minecraft throughout the years as opposed to the fact he needs to step away. I myself definitely want to give him a huge round of applause for his long run through Minecraft, believe me, I know how much he's given up for the game first hand. Cheers to you Sway!

Now with that said, let's jump into some questions that AEM players will have right off the bat.

Why did you take over AEM?
It was either I take over, or everything simply vanishes. I know how much Sway has put into this community, and I know how crushed my own players would be if our community simply vanished with zero possibility of contacting friends you have made, therefore I have decided to host the forums myself, out of ECC's pocket on our machine. I see this as an opportunity as well for our community. AEM has some great game modes, already set up and configured. (Including Skyblock & more). Many of our players have been waiting for additions like this for ages (my fault guys, I know), and now that we have access to full set up configurations we can use that as ground work for expansion. (Starting completely from scratch has been something that has been holding us back to be honest. It's going to be much better to have something to work from that we know has recently been in production and worked [even though I'm sure there are dozens of bugs to iron out]).

Did you receive any money for the maintenance of AEM.
No. I have not received any of the donations AEM players have made and am literally using my own resources to keep the AEM forum online. Further more if there are any financial disputes with previous transactions you have made on AEM prior to May 2nd 2017, I cannot assist you with those. Those transactions have been made with Sway and the money was used to keep the server up for as long as he could + other costs. If you wish to dispute anything you will need to contact him. It is out of my hands.

What happens with the gaming server.
Due to the costs of running the network, as well as the number of machines Sway required to keep it online, the AEM server will stay offline at this time. I will host the forums myself (www.aemservers.net & www.ecocitycraft.com/aem), however the gaming servers will not be rebooted at this time. Not only would this require me to use additional ECC financial resources (which will not happen, it is not fair to our players), but it would require dozens of development hours to fix up the bugs/problems that are flooding AEM's various game modes. My #1 priority is and always will be EcoCityCraft, however with that said, I do have various plans that I'm already discussing with my team regarding possible integration of the AEM servers into EcoCityCraft.

What sort of ideas are you thinking about?
One idea that we have been discussing is adding AEM's skyblock into EcoCityCraft. Initial discussion is pointing toward a Skyblock reset on AEM, and making it a permanent Skyblock from that point on that never gets wiped (ECC players hate resets, and in fact we have never reset EcoCityCraft's main maps believe it or not - something that may perhaps interest you when checking out our server). Further more this would all include an economy reset on AEM and an EcoDollar (ECC currency) based Skyblock. EcoDollars would only be earned on the EcoCityCraft main server, and would then have the ability to be transferred into AEMs various game modes including Skyblock.

Why would you reset the AEM economy?
EcoCityCraft is an economy focused server. This is our #1 game mode and literally everything revolves around our currency (EcoDollars) and market. Introducing some sort of exchange rate for a currency AEM had would very likely inflate and destroy our economy, and thus is something that will never happen. The AEM economy will be completely reset, and later converted to work with EcoDollars. EcoDollars will only be earned on our main server (Rising, Legacy, Mining, Nether, End, SG) via mc.ecocitycraft.com and will then be spendable on AEM's game modes should we decide to use them and add them to our network.

What about the ranks we purchased on AEM?
The ranks you purchased on Skyblock and other game modes (should the configurations be used on the ECC network) will stay in your account. They will also become available for ECC players to buy as well. Any currency purchased (if that was possible and a thing) will not stay in your account as the AEM economy will be reset and based off EcoDollars.

When will the game server be relaunched and connected to EcoCityCraft?
We have not set a time for this, but the answer is simply when JamieSinn and I are finished with all our outstanding work on EcoCityCraft. You are welcome to play on mc.ecocitycraft.com to save up EcoDollars and be ready for the relaunch of the AEM game modes (you will need EcoDollars on those game modes as they will be converted into our economy).

What will happen with the AEM staff?
At this time I have decided to take Sway's recommendation and leave the following two staff members on the team: Pokeball92870 & OreoTwinkies. If you were previously staff you will need to contact them and get their approval to be added back to the AEM staff team. No AEM staff members will be converted to ECC staff members unfortunately. To become staff on ECC (which would give you staff powers basically everywhere, forums, our game server, future AEM game modes, etc) you will need to go through the same process our players go through. This includes spending time on our server, applying for staff, and getting approved/accepted. Our highest ranked staff team is known as @Server Admin 's.

Phew... ok, I believe I covered at least a bit...

With all that said, I'd like to just briefly address the players of EcoCityCraft now.

Rest assured my priorities are and always will be EcoCityCraft. Everything continues as usual, and JamieSinn and I will continue our outstanding work as we have throughout the past week or two. I have simply decided to take the AEM forums under the ECC domain to keep them online and allow the community to contact each other / etc. It would suck for it all to vanish and people to lose friends and those who they kept in touch with. Imagine it was ECC and put yourself in their shoes. It'd definitely be rough.

And finally, to the AEM players, I understand this may not please all of you, and absolutely understand that. You are welcome to contact each other via the AEM forums private messaging system and set up new places to play Minecraft / other games. I'll get a shoutbox going on the AEM forum as well so you can all keep in touch easier.

EcoCityCraft welcomes all new AEM players into our small and really close community should you wish to give our server a try. Perhaps you'll like things here and stick around waiting for us to potentially add the AEM game modes into our EcoDollar network, or perhaps it just won't be of any interest to you. None the less, happy gaming everyone!

PS: Same thread posted here, https://www.ecocitycraft.com/forum/threads/ecocitycrafts-acquisition-of-aem.165438/