Can I suggest an nether base (if you guys are that far yet)?
Also posting to follow, and to potentially jump in the game. Haven't played MC in a while, may be fun. Sure looks fun 
We have a nether hub of sorts, but it's still in its infancy. We mostly go to the nether just to raid the nearby fortress and collect wither skulls. But we do plan to build a hub there with a rail system, etc.
Looking forward to you joining us
It autostarts the new minecart on spawning, so the player barely has any time to hop it in. I barely summoned a new cart and it was already on its way to UTAlan's house. ^^"
You have all the time in the world. You stand on the pressure plate. It doesn't leave until you get off the pressure plate. Just stand there as long as you want. Then just right-click the minecart from where you're standing.
do we really need locked chests?
On one end, we shouldn't (and wouldn't?) steal anyway,
on another, it suggests that 'it was fine to take since it wasn't locked'.
how do locked chests interact with hoppers/hopper carts/ droppers?
I had set aside specific numbers of items in my chests at spawn that were clearly marked "do not take." People were taking. Instead of getting upset or removing people from the whitelist who are being dishonest about something that is really not that big a deal (but is frustrating when I have to keep restocking something I had already stocked), I added the ability to have 2 locked chests (so a single double chest). So there won't be a huge proliferation of these chests, but when you're working on a project somewhere, you don't have to worry about the stuff you gathered for the project walking away.
I also noticed
Solaris hiding a chest under the dirt. It seemed rather silly, now he won't have to do that.
I'm happy to see how this evolves and remove the locked chests if they seem to be causing an issue.
You cannot explode a locked chest (it's blast resistant). You cannot use a hopper on a locked chest (in or out).
I do not think this says it's okay to take from unlocked chests. On the contrary. I still have the ability to see who interacted with a chest and we can discuss if someone is stealing and needs to be removed. However, generally speaking, taking items isn't always done with malice and is more a nuisance than a real problem. Obviously there are specific instances where it's more severe, but usually it's innocent. So it's easier to just have a locked chest to remove the minor incidents, and we can deal with the major incidents if they happen.
No one is required to make a locked chest. We can make the recipe more expensive. People can add others to their locked chest if they are collaborating.
