Minecraft is aging. First released in mid-2009 to the public, the game quickly gained popularity through 2010 and into 2011. By gaining exposure through a then-young YouTube, Minecraft’s popularity continued to skyrocket thanks to its extensibility through mods, single-player adventure maps, Let’s Plays, and multiplayer servers each featuring a unique experience offered through a unique set of plugins.
I was 14 when I first launched Livecraft back in the summer of 2011. This Minecraft server has been a large part of my life for nearly half of my life at the time of writing. Over the years, my goals for the server shifted from being a profitable job to being a community I cared for. We changed focus from being a survival server to a creative server, factions, PvP, and ultimately settled on survival/creative. Throughout its history, Livecraft depended upon various plugins as well as server software, some of which are no longer available to download.
Prompted by feelings of nostalgia as well as desiring simple game play, I recently launched a version of the Livecraft server running Minecraft Beta 1.7.3. When looking for plugins for this server, I quickly realized that there was a problem. Many plugins were either discontinued, migrated to a newer host, or were lost as part of GitHub & Bukkit changes. The primary reasons a plugin may now be missing include:
- GitHub removing the Downloads tab
- Bukkit Dev replacing the Bukkit Plugins & Bukkit Forums > Plugins sections
- CurseForge acquiring Bukkit Forums, causing many links to break during the migration
- Developers hosting their files on Dropbox & later deleting these files
- Wolverness DMCA strike against Bukkit in 2014
Given that Minecraft is so culturally important and is now a game that has transcended generations, I feel it is crucial to back up these plugins somewhere that they can be accessed indefinitely. To facilitate this, I have created The Bukkit Archive. The purpose of The Bukkit Archive is similar to that of OmniArchive – to preserve content that is at risk of being lost to time. In order to ensure that The Bukkit Archive stands the test of time, I have chosen not to host the files on any personal servers & instead serve files through archive.org. Functionally, thebukkitarchive.org is a frontend for files hosted by The Internet Archive. The goal is to provide a way to search for plugins & server files.
As time goes on, it becomes increasingly important that we preserve what matters to us. In my case, I am passionate about Minecraft as my hobby of tinkering with Minecraft lead to quite a bit of change in my life, including my career and relationship. Minecraft is a game that transcends generational gaps as well as age barriers. The Minecraft community has made the game what it is today. Without the modding & plugin development community, I am not entirely sure Minecraft would have made it as far as it did. I feel it is crucial that we preserve this history.
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