Camerontown

**"Camerontown"** is the collectively accepted name of two different central settlements in the game Minecraft used by The Friend Group. It has existed in two recorded variations, but is often referenced or attempted again but tends to fade into obscurity.

## The first Camerontown & Liberty Minecraft

The first version of Camerontown was the walled village settlement inhabited by members Leo, Ben, Brock, Cameron, and **~~[REDACTED]~~**. The village was built on the server Liberty Minecraft. The concept behind Liberty Minecraft was that it was vanilla survival minecraft, but with plugins and rules that followed Anarcho-Capitalist ideas. The reason this server was chosen, with full knowledge of the special context it held, is unclear, but probably is due to political affiliations of Friend Group members of the time. The server had a "functioning" economy, with the non-physical money being backed in diamonds. This money could be used to claim blocks for property. Over time, the settlers of the first Camerontown understood the system and purchased a claim of the land they had settled on, finally protecting it.

### Conflict Surrounding Camerontown.

As time passed, Camerontown's settlers grew tired of mob problems and also just bored. In response they decided to simultaneously solve issues of visibility surrounding Camerontown and have fun. Screenshots of the matter have since been lost, but the settlers took to the surrounding woods with TNT and flint and steel. As the woods burned around them and craters created mob-trapping trenches, the settlers decided to tell the few other players online of the antics just for fun. They assumed the others (who the settlers had remained fairly isolated from) would get a kick out of the destruction of some irrelevant and unclaimed territory. But the opposite came. The chat spited them with bitter reactions and snarky statements, all with an extremely irritating venomous tone. This was not taken to kindly by the settlers who proceeded to spit back harsh replies. It took only a few hours for hell to break loose. Richer players quickly took to using the capitalist privileges the server provided them with to fight back against the settlers. The blocks surrounding the outside wall were all purchased, and a massive dirt grid was erected to try and trap the settlers. This did not work though, as they could easily maneuver over it. What followed after this was a hellfire of conflict, with settlers making determined efforts to burn down a nearby hotel structure which was somewhat unclaimed and therefore vulnerable. The chat ran wild with useless conflict which occasionally flipped to a political standpoint. Signs with offending language were placed all around the settlement by settlers when a rich investor came to "visit" and occupied Cameron's home/ This was apparently reported and posted on a forum, but the settlers felt no backlash for it. Eventually the situation degraded to two settlers intentionally getting themselves banned. All it took was to just state you disagreed with the central rule of the so called "anarchist" server: *“Resolve nonviolent disputes nonviolently.”* After this the situation wasn't worth saving, and the last settlers logged out without the intention to return. (Although, Cameron eventually did come back briefly out of curiosity only to find no remains where the town once stood other than a furnace and empty chest. The rest was untouched woods.)

## The second Camerontown & Nateopolis

The second version and most prosperous version of Camerontown was once again a walled settlement with village homes inside. It was hosted on a Friend Group personal server, hosted by Victor. Although more would join the server and spread throughout surrounding countrysides, the initial founders and residents included Victor, Cameron, Benji, Leo, Nate, and Brock. Ben was away on a spiritual journey for the portion of the summer it existed. The city rapidly developed, and the lavish outside homes of Benji and Brock sprung up outside of the town. More members joined over time, but things remained peaceful and prosperous for a period of time.

### Tumultuous Times

As time marched on, things slowly boiled into conflict. In the later days of the estimated 2-3 week existence of the server, the fall initiated. It begins with the formation of A.N.A.L. It is also worth mentioning the concept of "Sinor Pranks", which was just griefing in the context of an inside joke in the Friend Group.

### A.N.A.L.

ANAL, or the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians was a group inspired by a london squatter group of the same name. It was founded in the server by Cameron Dull, and members included Cameron and Leo, with others like Victor being on and off considered associated. The groups intention was mostly just for fun and aesthetics, but also to somewhat serve as a leftist vanguard for the people. The first of only two major ANAL actions was the squatting of Brocks home and its conversion to a traphouse. It was squatted by Leo, Victor, and Cameron. The motive is unclear, but it can be assumed it was in response to the amount of wealth Brock had accumulated, and questioning his methods. But, this proved to be a bigger problem, and ANAL would return in the context of the other reason for the fall.

### The Hacking Crisis

The Hacking Crisis of the second Camerontown was the process of hacking being made allowed (albeit on blurred lines) on the server. It began with the simple introduction of x-ray, which Cameron first used illegally. After being found out and punished, x-ray legalization was brought into question. Within no time, it was allowed and this snowballed into the general use of hacking on the server. Brock, being the resident fatcat and overall innovator and perhaps accelrationist of the group, put it to use quickly. He took to using exploits to advance his pillager farming industry, which was stationed far, far away form the town. This ended up causing a host of problems, and similar use of hacks inflated the economy. It had become Minecraft in a post-surplus society. Eventually, it became such a point of conflict ANAL members decided to take action, although it was somewhat hypocritical.

### The Fall of the second Camerontown and the greater Nateopolis

ANAL members, in response to The Hacking Crisis's developments, took to damaging Brock's original lab while he was offline. It was located in Camerontown and primarily served as a far for fuel like Bamboo. ANAL members Cameron and Leo started a path of destruction here, smashing the place up and disabling its redstone. TNT was used lightly.

ANAL continued on the warpath to the home of Nate, who was allied very publicly with Brock and had asserted himself as some kind of ruler. Inherently, ANAL opposed it. ANAL went to his house and damaged and looted it until satisfied, and moved on.

Nate responded to the attack on his home and growing static between Brock and ANAL publicly cut ties with Brock, and became a neutral entity. Brock banned Nate from his lab permanently, labeling Nate's decisions weak and acts of betrayal not fit for the technological prowess and inovations of Hansen Diversified LLC.

Nate soon after decided to side with the ANAL forces, aiding them in the conflicts to come.

#### The finale of The Fall

After some damage was inflicted to the squatted ANAL home and the home of server member Gabriella, Brock finally logged online to see the destruction to his assets. Without hesitation, Brock flew through his mile long nether tunnel with the use speed hacks to assess the damage done to his most recent and valued asset, the pillager farm. Discovering that it was occupied and being griefed by Cameron, Victor, and Nate, he launched a defensive strike on the ANAL forces to reclaim the farm. The ANAL forces were pushed back into the nether tunnels, and the battle was eventually won by Brock due to his use of overwhelming PVP hacks and large resource stockpiles previously provided by his farms. Brock then launched a counter attack, using a nuke hack to erase a large chunk of the town with most of the damage at the homes of Victor and Cameron who had perpetrated much of the initial conflict. Cameron and Victor watched as their homes disintegrated before their very eyes. For a short time Cameron and Victor attempted to adapt and keep fighting Brock, but the power of Brock's hacks and the continuous loss of their own gear solidified Brock as the final standing force. Eventually the conflict came to an end, the final screenshots were taken, and the server was closed.