To celebrate another successful year of ThirdPlaceMC, we are going to be launching a limited-edition 2027 community calendar!

I wanted to make this fun, so I decided to open up photo submissions so that ThirdPlaceMC members can have their very own pictures put into the calendar.

You can submit photos for the calendar using the form here:
https://forms.gle/rg6Uw6zcrGVUDgCw6

At a glance

• Submissions close: November 16th.
• Themes: 12 to choose from
• One form per photo, but you can submit as many photos as you like
• Calendar price: $14.99 + shipping
• Credit: selected photos are credited on the calendar itself

=

1) The size of your photo

Due to the nature of the physical calendar prints, some resolutions work better than others. If you are able to change your device / Minecraft resolution to the higher tier ones below, your photo is much more likely to be selected.

Note: You can also upscale images as a setting in Optifine or Iris. Go to Options → Video Settings → Other (or Shaders) and look for Screenshot Size. Turn it up to 2x or 3x.

Here is a tier-list of the best photo resolutions for the maximum chance of your photo being selected:

S Tier 🏆 — 3240 × 2520, 2880 × 2160

Why: My absolute gold standard picks. These are native 4:3 resolutions that provide the maximum pixel density (257 to 300 DPI) for our layout. I love them because they fit perfectly out of the box with zero wasted space, zero blurring, and zero accidental edge-cropping.

A Tier — 3840 × 2160 (Standard 4K), 2048 × 1536

Why: My high-performance choices. Standard 4K (16:9) has so much raw pixel data that even after we crop 960 pixels off the left and right sides to fit the layout, the remaining image stays razor-sharp at 257 DPI. 2048 × 1536 has a lower pixel count, but I included it here because it matches the 4:3 shape perfectly with no editing needed.

B Tier — 2560 × 1440 (1440p Widescreen)

Why: The sweet spot for most modern gaming monitors. It is a 16:9 format, so we will lose the outer edges to a 4:3 crop, but the remaining 1920 × 1440 pixel area still gives us a very respectable 171 DPI that looks crisp on digital screens.

C Tier — 1440 × 1080

Why: This fits our 4:3 shape perfectly out of the box, meaning we don't have to crop anything. However, at 133 DPI, the lower resolution will start to look slightly soft or fuzzy to me if it's printed on physical paper.

D Tier — 1920 × 1080 (Standard 1080p Widescreen)

Why: My lowest acceptable tier. Because it is widescreen, we have to chop off the left and right edges, leaving us with a tiny 1388 × 1080 frame. When stretched across our layout, it drops to a fuzzy 128 DPI, making text and block lines look noticeably blurry.

2) Photo themes

There are 12 different themes that you can choose from when submitting your photos.

• January - Winter
• February - Valentines
• March - Bees & Flowers
• April - Forest Camping
• May - Outdoor Picnic
• June - Beach Day
• July - Summer Fun With Friends
• August - Sunset
• September - Town Square
• October - Halloween
• November - Autumn
• December - Christmas + Holidays

You can submit as many photos as you like, just make sure to select the theme you are submitting on the form.

You will have to submit a new form for every photo.

3) Shaders / resource packs

You may not submit photos using custom resource packs, but you may use the following shaders:

• BSL Shaders
• Bliss Shaders
• Complimentary Reimagined
• AstraLex Shaders
• Vanilla Plus Shaders

Other shaders may be accepted as long as the photo fits the style of vanilla Minecraft.

4) General guidance

This is a very casual, fun, collaborative effort so that we can make the best possible calendar. Try new things, get your friends to join, throw in some build photos and action shots and test your Minecraft photography skills.

I will also be adding in some photos myself if we don't have enough that fit the vibe of what I am going for with this calendar, so please don't take it personally if your photos aren't selected.

Any photos that are added to the calendar will have credit to the person who submitted the photo, printed on the calendar itself.

5) How much will the calendar cost?

Global shipping costs are through the roof right now, so the calendars are going to be far pricier than I originally anticipated.

Because of this, I have decided to sell the calendar right around my cost just so that people can get their hands on it.

These will be sold at $14.99 each, with shipping priced at:

• United States: $8.79
• Canada: $19.69
• Poland: $16.09
• Germany: $16.09
• Other countries should fall somewhere within this range.

Because of oil prices and the insane cost of shipping, I almost scrapped this project altogether but I decided it wasn't fair to players that would want something like this going into 2027. I understand that this is extremely expensive, so don't feel pressured to buy one.

=

Submission deadline

Photo submissions are available until November 16th. If you'd like a chance for your photos to be included, please submit them using this form before the deadline.

Photos will be selected internally by myself and the ThirdPlaceMC staff team.

Good luck, and thanks again <3

Millions of strangers, all with blank stares, shuffling towards glass towers with rows and rows of square boxes waiting for them like the teeth of a giant.

Plastic Pods™  in each and every ear, happenings from far away being broadcasted directly into the consciousness of beings who exist in a state of chaotic limbo, unwilling to see the faces of the people around them through the pressing haze that clouds their vision.

Nobody has a name, or a history, or passions, or interests, or love, or preferences - they are all part of the masses that wander about on an endless quest of yearning for something better.

Is there more to life than this?

- 

The Portal™ pulls you back in, for the delivery to your destiny has been delayed by 12 minutes. You hear the rumble of these sacred vessels that lead the crowd towards Nirvana, towards the good life and towards the accumulation of The Object™ . 

But the good life can wait, or it must, as the gods have summoned your attention.

The Portal™ has sent you a message from the heavens, vibrating through your very being with the reminder that your consciousness is drifting into forbidden territory.

You are not allowed to reflect in such a way, on the drab spectacle that surrounds your physical body, for this folly will result in the neglection of the gods and your sacred duty to intake the information that they provide you with.

Please return to The Portal™  for the next 11 minutes, and do not wander from the needs of the sect. You must continue to feed the machine with your attention in order for the entire system to function. Without your contribution, Nirvana will not be reached and the haze may dissapear, not only for you, but also for your comrades.

Oh, the horrors that await beyond the boundaries of the haze! 

-

Do not fret, for The Object™  will protect you. It is a sacred tool to be used to achieve the next level of enlightenment. If you get lost, The Portal™  will guide you, giving you a reminder of what this daily shuffle is for. Your time, your toil, and your turmoil are temporary, for the Proletariat is only a stepping stone on your path to righteousness. 

Nirvana is just around the corner, my dear friend. You must keep going, or else your precious position within this system will given to comrades who have the courage to commit to the idealology of the machine without faltering.

So, you must go on to the towers, to complete your quest.

Shuffle on, keep toiling, acquire The Object™ and one day, Enlightment will arrive on your doorstep in the form of a large cube with blue markings that mimic the smile that you will gain once the box is opened.

-

Get my misc. writing in your inbox, for free, by signing up for my mailing list here.

TLDR:

Updated the server to 26.2, expanded the overworld and nether, added two new fall quests, a new set of custom enchanted armor and tools, new fall themed plushies, in-game chat bubbles with full customization, a new fall spawn, 4 new tags, music goodie bags, and much more!

---------------
Happy fall everyone! We are back with another one of our big, seasonal updates to ring in the cooler weather. :)

Updated to 26.2

The server has been updated from 1.21.11 to version 26.2, which now adds some of the following into the server:

• Sulfur Caves and Cubes
• Craftable Name Tags
• Baby Mob Visual Overhaul
• & more!

You can now join in the latest version in both bedrock and java.

---------------
New Fall Spawn

Huge shoutout to the buildiers of our new halloween server spawn, LandoVelmore, ac_o, and D0OM199! This server spawn is awesome, so make sure to hop on and explore the spooky new builds. 

We were originally going to pick the higest rated build and leave it as the active server spawn for the duration of the fall season, but the votes were close, so we decided to include the 2nd and 3rd place spawn builds too!

So here is the current timeline:
1) The current spawn will remain until October 25th.
2) The third place spawn, made by WobblingSpoon will be active from October 25th - November 1st.
3) The second place spawn, made by BalsamicBulb573 will be active for the entirety of November. 

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the competition.
---------------

2 New Questlines, Fall Festival & Ghouls and Goblins

There are two 10-part questlines that have been added to the /quests menu in-game. The first is more mellow, centered around hunting, gathering, and crafting and the second is grindier, focused on mob killing. 

Completing both questlines will give you six new chat tags, three new pets (Myrtle the Mummy, Cylly the Clown and Bryborn the Bone Dragon) and the complete nine-piece Hunter's Moon set with netherite-level stats. You'll also collect 20 plushie goodie bags (10 Cozy Fall and 10 Creatures of the Night), 130 diamonds and 5,450 XP along the way.

---------------

New Plushies

We had a lot of positive feedback about the plushies that we added a few months ago, so, we decided to add some fall ones.

• The Cozy Fall Goodie Bag is earned in the fall festical questline and from the goodie bag shop.
• The Creatures of the Night goodie bag is earned in the Goblins and Ghouls questline and from the goodie bag shop.
• The House of Horrors goodie bag is purchasable with diamonds in the supporter area of the mall.

Want to display plushies in a better way and fit more into your collection without hitting the entity limit? Consider displaying them in item frames.

---------------

World Border (+ Nether) Expansion

To allow for the generation of the new Sulfur biomes, we have expanded the overworld by a radius of 5,000 blocks, and since everyone has been begging, we also expanded the nether by a 5,000 block radius as well ;)

---------------

New Chat Bubble System

Wild decided to go on a side quest and create a chat system that displays chat bubbles over your head when you talk (cool, I know) and it is now available for all players.

Use /speak to customize your settings. 

You can unlock over 21 additional text effects and 42 additional voices through speech goodie bags, available near the server spawnpoint. Supporters get access to two additional speech voices (animal crossing, male and female characters) and two additional effects (shake and glitch) but all of the others must be acquired through goodie bags.

---------------
More Custom Music

We seem to be addicted to goodie bags (maybe because the holidays are approaching, idk) so you can also get 27 new custom music discs through the music goodie bag, which is also available in spawn from the same vendor. 
---------------

Misc Additional Changes

- Added the other color variations for the furniture in the mall
- Redid the /pets menu to make it more clear which pets you could get, and which ones you can't.
- Added 4 new pets, 3 of which are available through the new quests, 1 of which is available for supporters.
- Fixed custom furniture and plushies having improper positioning. Many objects became rotated in weird directions and sunk below the nearest blocks at some point in the past few months, this has been fixed. 
---------------

That's it for today's update! We have a super cool community-made event coming up, so stay tuned for another announcement, and see you on the server!

IP: play.thirdplacemc.net
Version: 26.2
Discord: discord.thirdplacemc.net

Members recieve 9+ unique in-game backpacks while active!

These include:

• Futuristic Pack
• Hunting Pack
• Jet Pack Backpack
• Musical Backpack
• Samurai Backpack
• Scuba Backpack
• Steampunk Backpack
• Wizard Backpack
• Easter Egg Backpack (Pairs With Hat)