A great 7 years and new owner announcement

Way back in 2009, I was an active player in the Second Life (SL) virtual world platform and one of my virtual SL pals was Madgeek; a coder who made and sold virtual weapons and other really creative gadgets. One day he told me was really into playing this new game called Minecraft and when I first check it out, I thought it was a step back from SL and didn't think I would pursue it but than I realized I could have my own server - own a world so to speak. In SL, having the equivalent of your own server would cost big money while a Minecraft server was a fraction and so I started the server in 2010 but it was pretty much empty.

I wondered how I could get people to come on and that's when it dawned on me that I needed to offer something that other servers didn't offer. So I got this idea of doing a creative all-OP server with no cost or donations. It became an instant hit and I even had two servers going at one point; a nether only "hell" home server and a regular overworld small slot on Multiplay which I called Total Freedom. Eventually as Minecraft changed to allow portals between worlds and so I cut it to one server. The problem with the all-OP concept was of course griefing and chaos but Madgeek being a coder stepped into create what we know as the TotalFreedomMod (TFM) which allowed for our present admin / op structure plus the rest of it's capabilities.

In 2012, Finest created what was perhaps the most important sustaining feature of Total Freedom; the forum that were using right now. With the forum, we were able to track history, have organization, policies, and most importantly, get to know each other and establish friendships camaraderie, a sense of community. Without the forum, TF the server wouldn't have lasted. Even so, I couldn't have imagined that the server would continue for these many years but what kept me going was the amazing people who became part of TF from the execs to the OPs, and it was gratfiying to know that some found that the experiences of TF improved their real-life or at least helped them to deal with real-life in a better way. I was also pleased that I could encourage others to start their TF like servers with our associated server program and become owners themselves.

So for the past 7 years, I pretty much spent at least some amount of time on TF or the forum nearly every day even if it just for a few minutes. Last month, I had closed the server for day out of frustration with admin drama. In fact, my real frustration was having to be an owner and while I wish TF was a like a self-driving car, it doesn't work that way. I'm simply tired of steering the ship and I need to let it go for the sake of me and for the benefit of TF.

So I'm pleased to announce that my final decision as the owner of Total Freedom is to hand over the ownership to Windows. I've found Windows to be mature, level headed, open minded, and no doubt he'll take TF wherever it might go in the future without being anchored by my past decisions or policies. I know he's not planning to fire the senior staff or admins but beyond that, he's got the wheel from this point forward. At some point, there's likely to be a new hosting of the server (i.e. not Multiplay) and the final decision for the new forum will be between him and Finest.

As for my future, I'll continue on the founder and I'll follow the advice that I give long-timer semi-active seniors - to just be a wise old hand but I won't be involved in owner or executive matters. I will also continue to do essential administrative matters (clearing maps, perm bans, ban list purges, clan support, etc) until hosting is transferred or until Windows directs otherwise.

So while Windows has the wheel, the future of TF is collectively in your hands. I hope it succeeds and grows but any case, it's been a great 7 years and a big thank you to all of you; from the very first person to be on TF (takogrrl) to my long serving executives, and to all the past & current staff and members of Total Freedom.