Kiwike Revamped Review - The Truth

I take back most of my previous comments about the server, since the restructuring of the staff and release of revamped the quality of the server has been in rapid decline. If you join the server you should expect to be banned, multiple times. While the server says that thieving and PVP are allowed they are allowed in name only. Any successful theft will be blockchecked by the moderators and your name publicly announced. 90% of the time you will also be accused of xraying, even if you have never installed an xray mod. Similarly PVP is technically permitted but if you consistently attack or engage in combat you will find yourself banned for "non-RP killing." A simple glance at the rules will confirm their arbitrariness - the rules are extremely vague and players have little idea if and when they have been broken.

This does not prevent players from being accused of breaking the rules regularly - players have taken to getting other players banned for a variety of technicalities in order to exact revenge against enemies and rivals on the servers.

To quote a player whose post I recently read on the Suggestions thread "RP should not stand for Rule-Play." Many veteran players are getting annoyed with the frequent bans and electing to leave the server. Some players are even getting banned for potentially being alt accounts for players that quit the server in exasparation.

Generally the server seems to wait until they can milk donations out of a player before having a witch trial and banning them for a crime they didn't commit. One person was banned for being an alt of mine a few days after he became a server donor. I can confirm here that he was never an alternative and he is never going to see his donation money again.

After serving on the staff for a brief period of time I can confirm that most of Kiwike is a facade. The votes and ranking position that you see here are a result of the players being bribed with in-game currency to vote. Players are encouraged to vote multiple times with proxies and other such tools, the staff also participate in these activities. The staff is unprofessional and often engage in obnoxious conversations with each other in game, drowning out legitimate conversations with their banter and "joke-bans" of each other. They are generally belligerent to players, rarely offering assistance other than to direct confused players to the server website.

They frequently teleport to players while in god mode and attack them or discover hidden bases and then later lie about the incidents. Any player that complains about the rules in banned for "Mod-Disrespect" and told that if they don't like the way things work they can leave.

Similar, albeit harsher, restrictions are placed on staff members themselves. They are forbidden to speak negatively about the server and proposing too many changes to the way things work or complaining about arbitrary rules and bans can lead to rapid de-modding coupled with elaborate lies about why the staff members were de-modded.

The staff is so concerned that players will jump ship if they find more promising alternative servers that the discussion of other servers is actually forbidden in the rules and numerous players have been banned for mentioning other places where they play minecraft.

If you would like to try out Kiwike Revamped despite the above comments I would offer the following advice:

1) Keep your head down - if you stand out or talk in game, or steal or lead towns or anything noticeable you are more likely to get banned or make enemies who attempt to get you banned

2) Hold on to your donations - the donor tiers are very expensive ($50 to have a single protected chest) and many of the benefits advertised will never become available (when I donated I was told I would get access to Craftbook ICs, that still has not happened a year and a half later). Other benefits are removed or nerfed over time (/home was temporarily removed from donors and then later returned but limited to one-a-day usage). Additionally, very little of the Donation money actually goes in to the server, the administrator consistenly uses it to buy steam games and they openly jokes about it on the server. To make donation matters worse there is a discussion about making the exorbiant donation fees only provide benefits to players for a number of months instead of for life so as to extract even more money from the few people who can be suckered in to paying.

3) Make Appeals for bans - most of the time the moderators seem to ban people just to see how they react. They will generally shorten a ban if you complain about it, however after 3 bans (even if they are 3 unjust bans) you will generally find yourself perma-banned from the server.

Undoubtedly this thread will incite many replies in defense of the server. I know that the last time a negative review was written the staff were ordered to respond in support of kiwike so as to make the review seem inaccurate. Additionally players that "suck-up" to the moderation team tend to get rewarded with fewer bans and other privileges.
The server community is very interesting in that many of the long-time donors continue playing despite the bad quality of the server simply because they don't want to feel like they wasted their time and money joining. When you log on you will notice that almost everyone has a donor tag or has only been on the server for a few weeks. That is because the players that are smart enough not to donate tend to leave the server after their first ban whereas donors appeal in order to try to not feel like their investment was wasted.

Kiwike used to be a great server but recent developments have left me and other players more than a little annoyed. The server is falling apart and there are plenty more enjoyable and worthwhile minecraft experiences to be had.

One final grievance I have against the server - when I announced my intention to leave the server and requested that my posts on the forums be taken down by a moderator if at all possible and indicated that if not I would remove my own posts from the forum I was banned from the forums to prevent my posts from being removed. After pointing out that this violated copyright law I was informed that the terms of service had be changed WITHOUT me being notified to include the additional line that all text on the site belonged to kiwike.se This was not a provision I agreed to and further proves the utter lack of respect for players/donors on the server. The staff is perfectly fine with breaking international copyright law (and fraudulently accepting donations) because they know that players have neither the time nor money to pursue an international lawsuit against the server.

Hopefully this lengthy review serves as sufficient warning for players considering this server and if you decide to join just be aware that you have been warned that doing so is not necessarily the best choice.

-Pavja2, former member of the Kiwike staff, long-time player and donor. Elected to leave the server after being banned multiple times for crimes I did not commit, and after recognizing that the server had changed significantly from its earlier days when it was more enjoyable and less fraudulent.