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World Transport Authority
 | |
| World Transport Authority | |
|---|---|
| Leader | qman7 |
| Peak Members | unknown |
| Founded During | Central Europe |
| Notable Builds |
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World Transport Authority, shortened as WTA, is a build group that was active in the New Earth map on the stream build server, as well as on the Survival server to some extent, by founding the settlement of Crater's Harbor.
The group was dedicated to the creation of tunnels spanning across the world, among other things. Its origins are in the disconnected and independent tunnels dotting the first Europe zones. Majority of these can be found in Central Europe, the first off-stream build area. Most of them were small, 5 or 6 blocks wide at most, and were usually created by one or two people.
This tunnel network was very difficult to traverse. The shared goals of the builders eventually led to the creation of a unified group dedicated to creating tunnels, called the WTA.
Important Builds
Although tunnels were WTA’s main purpose, the group began creating surface buildings across Europe. Most of them were little more than small entrances to the tunnel system.
Two major exceptions to that were the ‘HAT’ and the ‘WTA European HQ’. The HAT was an informal build mostly underground, while the European HQ was a tall building and focused more on creating an identity for the group.
WTA’s peak in popularity started during the Russia areas. The large size and the long duration of the build area gave the perfect opportunity for large builds, like the ‘WTA Siberian HQ’, the group’s largest build. As the rest of Russia opened up, the WTA Space Center was planned and created, a similarly large build as the Siberian HQ.
Tunnel System
The WTA standardized the tunnel design for the first time. As there were more people helping with the mining and building, the tunnel design was wider and more ambitious than its predecessors.
During the Russia era, the tunnels started to take on a life of their own after construction. Dioramas and other features were built into them, to the dismay of some members of the group. Many stations and WTA buildings were built adjacent or inside other people’s builds, with their permission. Most notably, a strong partnership with the NGH formed for the duration of the Russia era.
Challenges and Downfall
The tunnels caused a major controversy and conflict with the mods. They were built very quickly by the large number of players in the group. This was done to ensure the routes would be unobstructed, but it deprived other players of the chance to freely build underground. This stayed a controversial issue and was likely a factor in the group’s demise.
The Siberian HQ caused conflict with the mods due to the icon on its roof, designed to stick out on the map, which was then replaced with white concrete. The group also stockpiled a massive amount of animals under the surface, and they had to be slaughtered. The area of the Space Center was leveled, terraformed and deforested, which again was controversial.
The closure of Russia coincided with the end of summer break, resulting in a drop in activity. A massive, ultimately final project was planned: an airport located in one of the Africa zones. The build occupied several countries, and was restricted for WTA members only, not allowing others to add their flair. This resulted in an intervention by the mods. The entire build was removed and rolled back to natural terrain.
The removal of the airport was a big hit for the group, combined with new rules banning the creation of roads and tunnels until close to a build area’s closure. The new rules disallowed WTA’s core concept – quickly creating tunnels before the space was used by others. These obstacles, together with burnout, resulted in many members leaving the group or even the server behind. A few WTA members moved to the 1.16 Survival server, to create Crater’s Harbor, a somewhat small town, which soon died out as well, and many of the members disappeared from RT’s community altogether.
Legacy
The WTA wasn’t just a build group, but also an interesting community. The Discord server housed discussions of many other things than Minecraft, and friendships and dynamics were created in this specialized and relatively obscure landscape, bonding over a block game. Many of the remnants of WTA, notably the Discord server, were eventually deleted, but the tunnels and other builds remain. Functional or not, they’re still interesting to explore.