while I'm on about architecture and the builds of the smp, it's so fucking cool to me how you can tell the era a building was built based on it's materials and contents.
for example, some of the earliest structures (or their ruins, to be exact), were made of wood. once the perpetual conflict started, however, wood structures fell out of favor because they burnt down easily. most of these structures were easily accessed as well, making it easier for people to steal from them and/or burn them down.
then comes the war era. because having the high ground gives many tactical advantages in fights, a lot of the structures from this short period on the server are tower based or are otherwise very tall, like the tower by tommy's house or l'manburg's walls.
as a reaction to the conflict, next came the era of fortresses and more less accessible bases, like dream's house, punz's estate, eret's castle, and purpled's sewer base. as a result of the war, a lot of the bases from this time period also had alternative exits, mostly to the sewers. if a house has an entrance to the sewer, it's probably from the august-october era.
manburg era buildings, though there aren't much surviving from that time (for obvious reasons), had a distinctly corporate and almost inhospitable aesthetic to them. these buildings trended away from houses, and more towards office buildings. most were made of concrete, marble, obsidian, stone bricks, or blackstone. they were the brutalist structures of the dream smp, reflecting the harsh and authoritarian rule that began the era.
then, after the destruction of l'manburg, during the era of peace, many of the homes went back to being built with wood, due to the fact that many people thought the conflict was over for good this time. this also was the era of less serious builds, such as karl's amusement park, the "not kissing booth", the "nightclub", and the el rapids pyramid. but unfortunately, after the first destruction of l'manburg, a lot of people had had enough and opted to move elsewhere, hence the lack of new builds in the greater smp from this era. this era also happened around the holidays, meaning many of the homes trended on the "festive" and cabin aesthetic.
and finally, the current era. after the final destruction of new l'manburg, the greater smp is almost completely abandoned at this point. save for the creation of temples, monuments, and historical sites, not much is being built in the "main part" of the smp. however, a lot of ruins are being restored and preserved, such as tubbo's first house, the l'manhole, and of course, tommy's house. the most interesting development, however, is the uptick in memorials, the most prominent being statues of tommy. however, there is also ponk's graveyard, and the lmanburg flag at the bottom of the crater. it's interesting to me, because it indicates that the conflict has finally stopped enough for people to grieve the losses gained over the course of the past 6 months. if the trend continues, I expect more monuments to the past in the greater smp and more permanent builds away from the main part of the smp.
my point is, it just really goes to show how history can be shown not just through watching it happen and through stories being told but also through the buildings built in the times we study. this is true for real life, too. before the fire of london, almost every building in london was made of timber. now, in the modern day, you'd be hard pressed to find a single building made of wood in the london area. and the structures that have survived from medieval london are all stone structures, making it clear that, yeah, if you want your metropolis to survive, it cannot be fucking flammable.
it goes to show how people learn from the major events of their generation and use that wisdom to make buildings better and more built to last. whether it be a real life fire that decimates a city, or a fictional war waged in minecraft, these events make people think about their comfort and safety and work harder to keep it. and to see this replicated in a minecraft server of all things... well that's just another reason why the story of the smp is so impactful. just because it's pixels on a screen, doesn't mean it's any less sentimental. and I, for one, am completely fine crying every time I see an allium in minecraft if it means I can watch more of these wonderfully dramatic weirdos. <3
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