Problem 1: Players cut trees in such a way that they leave leaves floating. Problem 2: If leave decay is enabled the trees included in the world will decay, making the world look ugly. Proposal 1: Regularly renew chunks around the spawn. Propossal 1: Give 16 oak logs and 5 oak saplings with the starting kit. Propossal 2: Increase the size of the spawn by 5 chunks. Discussion 1: While all terrain suffers damage, terrain around the spawn is the most damaged as is it visited by almost all new players. Regularly renewing chunks around the spawn solves the problem where it is most intense. Work needed for this task could be reduced by using a script as the chunks that will need to be renewed will always be the same. Discussion 2: Giving some starting wood would partially solve the problem as players would not cut trees until immediately after leaving spawn. Having some saplings gives players an incentive to create tree farms with vanilla trees that are easier to cut and do not affect the beautiful terrain. Discussion 3: By increasing the spawn size players spread more before cutting trees or damaging terrain. This means that terrain damage is less concentrated and does not look that ugly. As the problem is less intense it needs to be solved less frequently.
Renewing chunks can always be done by our Rank3 staff and they will always be the top of our priority list for some WorldEdit TLC. A script I would be against in the fear of the script running, resetting the chunks and some poor soul is stuck underground while the chunks are resetting, resulting in loss of items and thus refunds need to be made. We could integrate a possible script to teleport all players in the area out but this just seems a bit overly complicated when a Rank3 can do position 1, then position 2 and //restore. The starting kit is easily changed but I see no real reason benefit of adding logs. People will chop down tress, wherever and whenever. In regards to increasing the spawn, that would be possible and easily done. At this point, the world is going to get that bit uglier and it is something that we have to deal with. Sadly, there is not much we can do to stop this if leaf decay is turned on.
I might be wrong on that but it is something that can be easily tested by staff. Spoiler: Experiment 1- Follow a number of new players for two mins after they leave spawn. Then check their inventories and record how many logs+planks/4 they got. 2- Change the starting kit so that it gives 15 jungle blocks. Follow the same number of new players for two mins after they leave spawn. Then check their inventories and record how many non jungle logs+ non jungle planks/4 they got. Analysis: Run a one tailed t-test to check if players extract less logs near spawn when given some free logs. If in trouble I can run the statistics for you. To be true the big problem is near spawn... and as you say that could be fixed with a simple announcement of "be careful we are about to restore spawn in a min" and then a //pos1 //pos2 //restore. There is no need to activate leaf decay.
Cnoc really gave my opinion on the matter. Though I will say that the starter kit is sufficient to get started. I ended up dying after the launch due to pvp being enabled, and I still managed to claim my faction and settle down without any issues. A few logs in my inventory wouldn't make that much of a difference, because Minecraft starts off with getting wood.
I don't really think we should add logs to the starting kit, for the same reasons stated in previous posts. Mining trees is just a part of the starting Minecraft game. Along with that, it somewhat devalues whatever type of wood is chosen to be given, though only a little more than the worthless they already kinda are.
I've gotta agree with Lyee here... Of all the concerns to be stuck on, "Not enough logs" seems a little strange. I mean at that point, why not give them a couple stacks of cobble and coal, too? Why not? Because that just isn't necessary. Both of those are in abundance. The reason chunk resets are no longer enabled is because it guaranteed infinite resources; "Oh, don't worry about stripmining that chunk for resources - it'll grow back!". The starter kit is there to provide new players with something more than nothing so that they can join a faction and not be totally helpless in the time prior. Outfitting new players with all the resources they may need defeats the entire point of this... In other words, I remain unconvinced :I
