The official Mineplex logo, in use since July 19, 2017 at the latest.[1]
Mineplex was a multiplayer gaming server of the sandbox video game Minecraft. First opened on May 24, 2013, the server shut down on May 12, 2023, just 12 days short of its 10-year anniversary.
As of May 26, 2023, the entirety of Mineplex LLC has been acquired by SamitoD, a former administrator who announced his plans to reopen the server. However, no further details have been provided, leaving the future direction of the server open to question.
It was accessible via the server IP addresses us.mineplex.com (United States), hub.mineplex.com (US and EU Based), mineplex.eu (Actually US mineplex, but with a different IP) clans.mineplex.com or clanseu.mineplex.com (Clans Europe/US Hub) or pe.mineplex.com (Pocket Edition). For some time there was au.mineplex.com (Australia), but the Leadership Team decided to close it later because the community split up more than they expected. The European network at eu.mineplex.com has been shut down in August 2019 for similar reasons (as announced here).
People who play on Mineplex or participate in the Mineplex forums were generally known as Mineplexians.
Games[]
- Main article: Games
There were four types of minigames: Classic, Arcade, Survival, and Champions. Arcade games were short ones, normally lasting no more than 5 minutes; Classic games were a little longer than their Arcade counterparts, as well as being slightly more complicated, but they were still short in general. Survival games referred to a branch of games where players have to gather resources just like they would in a normal Minecraft survival environment and fight other players. Finally, Champions had players customize their character with various stats and skills, selecting from five base classes.
Occasionally, Mineplex removed some games due to unpopularity, glitches, or other reasons; these games were categorised as removed minigames. In addition, minigames that were just released generally started in the beta minigames section, which was accessible through a separate Beta NPC in the lobby.
During specific holidays, especially during Halloween and Christmas, Mineplex held special events, where a game relating to the holiday would be released for a limited time. Upon completing said game, the player would receive an event-exclusive prize, such as a morph or a pet. One example of this would be the 2014 Halloween Horror Event.
Lobby[]
A side view of the lobby.
- Main article: Lobby
Just like most other Minecraft servers, Mineplex had a lobby to organize all the minigames, as well as special events. The lobby consisted of a main sky island, with a few smaller ones surrounding the main one. In the main plaza, a few Villager NPCs would provide tutorials and information about official Mineplex content.
While in the lobby, the player was able to leap forward an unlimited number of times by tapping spacebar twice in rapid succession; this was to help them get someplace faster. Stacker was available in the lobby in Mineplex's early years, while Parkour was present as well to give players a hefty Gem reward. "Tangible" Game Commands were available in great number. In addition to all this, if a player looked around carefully, they would be able to find a variety of secrets and gags.
There were special lobbies built for Christmas and Halloween every year.
Currency[]
- See also: Category:Currency
A Gem.
Mineplexians mainly used Gems for transactions such as kit purchases. Playing any minigame on Mineplex gave the player at least 10 Gems; other Gem sources include completing achievements or Parkour. On July 2nd, 2013, blue Gems were announced but were never implemented or only implemented for a short time.
Once, Gems were also used for Cosmetic items, but that was replaced with another currency known as Treasure Shards. Shards could be achieved through many of the same ways gems can. What differentiated shards from gems is that gems are for gameplay purposes (Kits, Upgrades, etc), whereas Shards are for cosmetic purposes (Gadgets, Chests, etc). Additionally, you could receive a “compensation” reward for receiving duplicate cosmetics from chests.
Website[]
XenForo website header.
Previous Enjin website header.
The website, along with the items listed below, also displayed Mineplex's Twitter, as well as their TeamSpeak server and officially sanctioned Youtube channel. In the center, there was a list of the most recent major updates.
The Mineplex website was hosted by the web hosting service Enjin from the server's inception in 2013 to 2018. Mineplex migrated to XenForo on September 12, 2018; the legacy Enjin website was archived shortly afterward.
Forums[]
- Main article: Forums
The forums was the place where players could interact with other players by making posts. A dedicated website account was required to use this service. Here, members could discuss subjects about Mineplex or something off-topic entirely, or submit Reports, Appeals, or Map Submissions. Players were able to give Potatoes (the equivalent of "Likes") to other users' posts on Enjin, as well as options like Agree, Creative, Flame Inducing, and others. All reactions have been replaced with a more generic "Like" button on the newer XenForo platform, which unlike Enjin offered no way to leave a negative reaction on posts.
Shop[]
- Main article: Shop
What the logo for the store once looked like.
The shop was found on the Mineplex homepage. Here, players were able to purchase ranks and other in-game gimmicks with real money, as well as real-life Mineplex apparel (such as T-shirts) before the option was removed.
Statistics[]
Unlike the previous Enjin-based website, the newer XenForo version allowed users to review their or another player's statistics directly online instead of requiring a connection to the server (mineplex.com/players). These statistics included:
- experience points earned
- total number of game sessions played across the server
- number of friends
- number of wins, losses, and Gems earned per game
Leaderboards[]
Similar to statistics, leaderboards for each game would be shown on the newer XenForo website (mineplex.com/leaderboards). They each displayed the top 100 players based on their number of wins in the game. Toggles allowed the user to compare rankings across different time frames, with daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time options.
Games that had leaderboards include:
- Draw My Thing
- Master Builders
- Micro Battle
- Block Hunt
- Cake Wars
- SkyWars
- Survival Games
- Speed Builders
- Bridges
- Mine-Strike
- Super Smash Mobs
- Champions
Management[]
- Main article: Ranks#Staff ranks
Mineplex was led by the Owners of Mineplex, overseen by the Admins, coded by Developers, and moderated by Senior Moderators, Moderators, and Trainees. Maps, as well as anything build-related, were attended to by the Builders.
The server's ownership team had faced ongoing criticism due to their minimal interaction and lack of involvement in the server's maintenance and development. This resulted in communication issues within the server's administration, as community feedback struggled to reach executive directors, which was cited as the main reason for their lack of awareness of the server's happenings. Reports indicated that concerns from team leads were frequently ignored for extended periods, resulting in the neglect of most community requests. The last community-driven update occurred in April 2020, when the Game Insights team had been involved in developing a permanent game. Since then, updates have primarily focused on marketing and subscriptions to increase revenue (see Immortal and VIP+ Rank), with occasional holiday updates in between.
In Mineplex's final years, communication from the ownership side had also become inconsistent, as the server administration would often be informed about updates and changes without prior notice. In early 2023, a majority of Mineplex's paid staff team was let go, including the entirety of their development team, with the number of paid contractors reduced to a minimum. Over the course of 2023, the server had experienced unexpected downtimes much more commonly than before, often lasting several days before being resolved. On May 12, 2023, the server went offline once more, again without a prior official statement. 4 days later, it was announced that Mineplex would not open again. While this had not been communicated with players, volunteer staff, administrators, developers or leaders in advance, most had already anticipated that the server would soon close its doors since no further maintenance or content updates were to be expected.
Official Mineplex YouTubers included Parker_Games and CaptainSparklez.
Gallery[]
.png "Mineplex logo (abbrev).png (25 KB)"){kind=logo}
History[]
Mineplex featured a comprehensive history since its establishment. Below are links to years that contain events and updates corresponding to that year.
References[]
- ↑ xVanessa (September 6, 2019). #wiki-discussion. Mineplex Wiki Discord server. Retrieved September 6, 2019.