CivWiki:About/Draft

CivWiki is an encyclopedia documenting the history, mechanics, gameplay, and player creations on Civ-genre servers. The wiki is operated independently of all Civ servers that it documents information about. When the wiki was founded in 2017, it only intended to document information from CivClassic, but as more servers entered the forefront and servers shared different users, the wiki grew in scope. In 2022, the wiki's content is a combination of the wikis from Civcraft, CivRealms, and CivClassic, helpfully documented by the Maester Alliance, Raven, and Magmus respectively.

What is Civ?

The concept of Civ servers is different from other games such as Sid Meier's, or other Minecraft "civilization-like" servers, like factions or Towny. It's been likened to other social interaction games like r/place and EVE Online, and has the feel of a survival Minecraft server, but in reality, it's an experience unlike any other where players have control of how the server happens, with the power to change history as they see fit.

Civ servers arguably began in 2011, with the creation of Civcraft and its founder ttk2. Building on Ancapminecraft, ttk envisioned a server "where players actions really mattered, where they created and shaped the societies and worlds they played in, a game that truly had no script." In a world where Minecraft was just beginning to grow in popularity, it was a novel concept. In order to do so, he believed that admins should not intervene in player-run affairs except for extreme circumstances, an ideal which has led to this day.

Over the years, admin teams on Civcraft and its successor servers, today colloquially known as Civ servers, have built upon this concept and made new mechanics and plugins, forcing players to adapt to new circumstances. The genre itself led well to experimentation, and many players have created new servers with many of these ideas, including Devoted, CivClassic, CivRealms, and CivMC, just to name a few.

Because of its endless scope, players have approached the game differently, some taking an RPG approach and building lore to develop their nation (The Commonwealth, others taking a more faction-like approach with a direct approach with PvP and resource building (Estalia), yet others building grand works and buildings to attract others to come to their country (Pavia, Lusitania), and others focused on governmental policy to come up with the perfect ideal state in a chaotic world (Icenia, Mount Augusta). The possibilities are truly endless.

Although civilizations and players have come and gone, the genre is still alive to this day. Players continue to participate in wars, develop new nations, build spectacular feats, and most importantly, plan and participate in community-run events such as the Olympics, wars with actual meaning, and diplomatic crises unlike other servers or players that may create these ideas artificially.

Despite the changing landscape in Minecraft and its development, including multiple server-ending events over the years, the Civ genre still stands due to its community-building and immersive gameplay that very few experiences can match.

How do I help?

First, CivWiki follows the rules of Wikipedia's five pillars, meaning that editors should treat others with respect, and operate under malicious intent or start arguments or edit wars intentionally. Users and players should treat each other with respect conflicts should be settled peacefully without incident.

Additionally, players should not take out-of-game grievances onto the wiki or onto its communication platforms, including our discord.

To begin editing, please take a look at CivWiki's editing guide and begin from there.