A New Direction

It is with a heavy heart and many sleepless nights that I have decided on a new direction for the HG Server in the coming New Year:

Firstly;

**November will be the last month we provide a HG Discord Channel.**

Secondly;

**As soon as the HG Realms Expire we will no longer be providing Realms.**

Lastly;

2018 will be the last year we provide a *Homeschoolers only-exclusive* Minecraft server.

In the New Year I will open it up as a **Family Friendly Server** and advertise it among other Public Servers. The demand for a **Safe** Homeschoolers-only Server has changed. Attendance is lower than it has ever been in the 3+ years we've been doing this, and even my own children have grown older and moved on to other interests. (We started this as a team of 5 *sniff, sniff*)

With Realms being more accessible and not requiring a desktop; many Homeschool families are playing/paying for a private Realm they can access on mobile and console devices, rather than playing Java edition on a desktop. In addition; Minecraft’s popularity among the young has also shifted. Studies are now saying that the majority of gamers who are devout Minecrafters are adults. Most, if not all, of the Minecraft Youtubers kids watch, are adults. As an Adult Minecrafter myself; I play far more than my kids, but all my play-time is spent *working* on the HG Server. So just like everyone else; I'd like others to play with too. I'm not a fan of 'Adult Servers' and you can imagine why. It's a "No" for me!

I am hoping that opening up the sever to Families (Homeschooled, Public Schooled, Charter Schooled etc); Attendance on the server will grow and a strong community of players will form. ♥ I will still be strongly monitoring the chat and play, and trying my best to keep it clean and friendly. I have been on many other family friendly servers and feel that HG is unique, modern, and much easier to navigate. Some of these servers do not monitor their chat and are definitely *Not* family friendly! (ﾉ °益°) So, it is my prayer that I can still fill-a-need, meet a demand, and enjoy playing Minecraft with others who are not bored of the vast creativity and challenges of the game.

When the HG realms expire we will not be renewing the subscriptions.

The cost is too much with no ability to customize and protect the game-play.

Donations to support HG has come from server-playing familes only.

Our family, even with the donations; can no longer cover the costs of the Mega Server, Website, Realms, and Plugin Support.

This has always been Faith-based-Volunteer work for us. ✞☯

The donation to support the sever has stopped as well as the player base.

This breaks my heart more than anyone’s. HG has been a dream-project ever since my children introduced me to the game back in 2012. (⌣̩̩́_⌣̩̩̀)

Along with homeschooling; the HG server has been my soul-focus for the last 3 years. As soon as they taught me how to play; I designed a way to use Minecraft to teach them Economics. Wanting to expand that to social skills; we ventured into playing online with other Homeschoolers. I wanted to provide a place for them and others to Minecraft together in a safe environment. When we first began this journey many, many homeschooling families wanted the same. Their children had never gamed online and HG was a stepping-stone to gaming with others. But that has really changed in the last two years. While we get over 20+ requests to be whitelisted on the server a month, only 1 or 2 will actually log on to the server. Parents message me they are wanting their gamers to play; however, their child would rather play something else. I get it. No one wants to game alone and if everyone feels that way, no one logs on..thus the server stays empty.

Since I am often HG alone; trust me, I get it. So I am hoping that by opening the sever up; we will get more donations to keep it running, and more players to keep it exciting. (^o^)ノ

If this doesn’t work, I will make the very hard, final decision to close it down forever. I really, really don’t want to do that. But there are still lots of homeschooler-Realm owners and other Minecraft servers to meet on.

I will be providing a place for you to promote your private Realms.

Please be aware that anything that happens on private realms and discord chats are not the responsibility of HG.

Please understand, this decision does not come lightly. It has been heavy on my heart for over a year. So many memories, friendships, fun times, and amazing builds have come for the HG community. I wish it was sustainable and the player base was active. Although I have been advised by many of my friends and family to simply call it season and close it down permanently; I am unable to let-go at this time. It just means too much to me. So..

I will be transitioning it to an open server and trying my best to monitor the environment and pray it can continue forward with a larger demographic. This is my goal/vision.

I am so grateful for those who have stayed with us as we’ve learned, navigated, struggled, and tried to engage your gamers. What my children have gained in confidence, social skills, conflict resolution, and friendships has been priceless.

I too have made some wonderful *real* friendships from this experience.

It’s not over. It will just be more open. Stay tuned….

Much love and many blessings, The server Mama; Sara.