Emerald Mall
 Emerald Mall
| |
 View of the Emerald Mall from outside | |
| About | |
|---|---|
| Founder |  Ren
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| Contributors | Ren,  Nofleet
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| Category | Commercial |
| Underground? | No |
| Fortified? | No |
| Public access? | Yes |
| Public build? | No |
| Size north to south | 250m |
| Size west to east | 250m |
| Transport | |
| Road link? | Yes |
| Nexus link? | Yes - Lime 1 |
| Rail link? | Yes |
| Boat link? | Yes |
| Portal? | Yes |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | X=2687 Y=70 Z=19953 |
| Dimension | Overworld |
| Map Link | |
What is the Emerald Mall?
The Emerald Mall is a public shop that allows anyone to buy or sell almost any item in the game. The design allows the community to help keep the mall stocked, making the mall sustainable and reliable for trade. We have some of the deepest liquidity pools to trade items anywhere on the server. Construction began on the 3rd September 2021 and the nexus was added on 3rd January 2022. A full list of prices can be found on the Emerald Mall Prices page.
Why was it created?
Ren believed the economy of MCO was inefficient and difficult to navigate. He was frustrated with the Diamond Mall because he felt the design made it difficult for new players to find the item they are looking for. The shops lacked standardisation and many were always out of stock, creating a bad experience for players. It was also difficult for the average player to get a shop at the Diamond Mall because you need to ask an admin, but not just any admin, you needed to ask the correct admin (which isn't specified anywhere). Not only this, but you also needed to pay 10 diamond blocks and have been online over 100 hours. Furthermore, If a new player wants to find a specific item, then they need to visit every floor and memorize which floor stocks which items. Ren's first shop inside the Diamond Mall allowed players to buy or sell items, which prevented the shop from going out of stock, as long as the price Ren set was fair. The design to both buy and sell any item was the bedrock of the Emerald Mall design. Despite Ren's criticism of the Diamond Mall, the exterior of the Emerald Mall took inspiration from it, as a way of paying respects to it's history and success.
How was it designed?
The Emerald Mall was designed with user experience in mind from the beginning. The aim was to build a mall that would be easy and intuitive to use, to allow as many players as possible to benefit from trade.
Pros
- Almost all shops take zero fees.
- The nexus puts the player directly in front of the Emerald Mall lifts with a sign explaining how to use the [Lift] signs.
- The floors are categorised by item type.
- The lift system uses item frames to show an item that represent the floor. This means you don't need to read the signs.
- All shops have an item frame, so you can quickly browse what items are for sale, without requiring the player to read signs.
- In many cases the stalls are built from the material they are selling.
- The shops allow anyone to restock them, so any player can immediately begin selling items without needing to ask an Admin for a shop in the Diamond Mall.
- Built with sustainability in mind. There will always be either items or diamonds in stock, which should help the mall stand the test of time and remain useful for 1, 3, 5 or even 10 years.
- The mall was designed with a huge radius surrounding it. This aims to prevent large structures being added nearby, which could increase FPS lag.
- Some items have multiple shops available at different prices, so the price can change automatically.
- Each floor is small, so players can quickly see every item for sale.
Cons
- A small amount of shops take a fee such as enchanted golden apples and some of the spawner shops. This is done to build liquidity, until maximum liquidity is achieved. Then the fee is removed.
- Since Ren is the the primary custodian, the mall may become inactive if he isn't around.
- The mall doesn't sell enchanted books. This is due to limitations with the lionsshop plugin.
- Most items only have one price available.
- Prices are not dynamic, so don't change automatically with fluctuations in supply and demand. This may result in no trade happening if demand or supply alters as time progresses.
- Most items only have one double chest to hold stock, so may not have the quantities required for mega builds.
- Many players experience lag due to the high amount of entities.
Who donated to it?
The Emerald Mall was a wildly expensive venture with each [Shop] sign costing 5 diamonds. There are approximately 900 shop signs in operation at the mall that cost over 500 diamond blocks to setup. Ren decided to try and raise funds to help pay for the starting liquidity and sign costs. In November 2021 he reached out to his contacts across the server to see if anyone might be interested in making a generous donation of 64 Diamond Blocks in return for 1 copy of Ren's head. Interest was high and many players pledged a donation toward the Emerald Mall. Without these generous donations the Emerald Mall may never have been created. Each player that donated was given an exclusive honorary plaque on one of the floors in recognition of their support. The original supporters were: 
SanityBGon, 
Filip0706, 
snthy, 
Selimbits, 
swissm4n, 
GunCat2, 
Hornacious, Nofleet, 
AdoreKitten, 
Anna_28, 
Txkeykeeper, 
hjk321, 
KingServal, 
Aquitted and 
Xanpi3000.
| More supporters (previously on signs) |
|---|
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In 2023 Renbucks were created. These also helped raise funds for the Emerald Mall, so anyone who purchased one of these directly supported the project.
Who built it?
The Emerald Mall was constructed by Ren & Nofleet.
The landscape was terraformed by AdoreKitten, 
abamacus, Ren and Nofleet with some assistance from GunCat2, 
JCobbler2012 and 
RainBd.
The railway was constructed by Nofleet, 
Okibdoki, 
Cosmic_potato_04, 
Leo_Belgicus, Txkeykeeper, AdoreKitten, 
Stevits1, JCobbler2012 and Ren.
Materials used: The sea lanterns and glass were purchased from Hornacious's shop. The wool was purchased from swissm4n, 
thesprazzzler and SanityBGon's shop.
What are the Emerald Farms?
The mall is surrounded by a set of large farms and machines that are collectively called the Emerald Farms.
For more info, see: Emerald Mall/Emerald Farms
Can I access the End Portal?
Players can access the public end portal by using the [Lift] sign in the main lobby.
The end portal was found on the 25th August 2021, several hours after the world expansion happened. It was the first end portal to open in the expansion. Ren decided to transform the portal room into an end themed build! Progress was swift and the build was completed on the 31st August 2021. The black wool used was generously donated by 
Jmancino2.
How do I visit?
| Nexus | Nether | Ice Road | Rail | Boat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Emerald Mall benefits from quick access through Lime Nexus 1, which is recommended as the quickest travel method for any new player searching for the mall.
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Primary: There is a tunnel connection to the Nether South Ice Highway, if you make a turning at x:0 y:120 z:2500, you will find the Main Emerald Mall Nether Portal at x:350 y:120 z:2500. The road and nether hub was constructed by Nofleet and finished on 12th December 2021.
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You can also take one of the ice roads surrounding the mall. You can join the main Ice Road at Dragon River Peak City by travelling to the Ice Path. You can choose to travel in a boat on the ice for a fast travel experience!
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There is a Railway link to Dragon River Peak City. You can join the railway at x:900 z:16950 (map view). | The boat route starts at X:2370 Z:19970 (map).
The locations connected to the Emerald Boat Route are:
The Emerald Boat Route began construction on the the 21st November 2021.
|
Who owns it?
The Emerald Mall is owned by its founder Ren. Only Ren can add and remove custodians. He holds veto power over all decisions.
There are 2 custodians: abamacus & AdoreKitten. They both have permissions to edit any block in or around the mall, including editing shop signs, accessing shop chests, editing any of the rings around the Emerald Mall, with only one restriction:
- The circumference of the main Emerald Mall shop building should never be expanded or increased, so permission is not granted to do this. If new items need to be added to the mall, mall custodians have full permission to add new floors to the Emerald Mall or change existing floor items to make room (example: removing cobblestone fences, or stone bricks on stone floor to make room for new stone in future update).
Ren, abamacus and AdoreKitten collectively own all the diamonds and stock inside the Emerald Mall. I (Ren) fully trust both these players.
Custodian Guidance
The main aim of the Emerald Mall is to help players trade easily at fair prices.
Important
- Being an Emerald Mall Custodian is completely voluntary. Please feel free to completely ignore the Emerald Mall and let it exist without any changes or updates, and be happy that I (Ren) am completely happy with this outcome. The main reason the position exists is so you have access and permission if you did want to make any changes or updates.
- The Emerald Mall is neutral and any player can use the mall. No restrictions. Follow protocol (locking chest before access), to avoid theft.
Pricing items
- The Emerald Mall should attempt to find the fair price for items and maintain a shop with zero profit to allow players to trade at a fair price.
- HOWEVER The Emerald Mall prioritizes item availability over diamond availability, in the interest of focusing on reliability and utility. In an ideal world we would have enough liquidity for both diamonds or items to be available at all times, but the mall typically only has one chest for each item, which usually means we need to pick one. So in a low liquidity environment with the velocity of trade being low for most items, the Emerald Mall chooses item availability. So what does this mean? It means that it is okay or preferable for Emerald Mall shops to be slightly more expensive than other shops on the server (this isn't a profit-motivated decision, as it actually costs us more diamonds to operate this way. At 64 x per diamond, it costs us 53 diamonds to operate that chest, but at 128 x per diamond it only costs us 27 diamonds to operate).
- Try to stick with prices that are proven unless you believe a new price will be sustained for the longer term (i.e., if the server updates to a new version and new farming becomes available, it's likely a new price will be sustainable).
- Having a "good enough" price also reduces the amount of admin the mall needs, which is extremely desirable, as it's highly time consuming to keep up with prices week to week. It's okay to let independent player shops fill in the gaps when a few of the Emerald Mall prices fall out of balance temporarily. This is particularly important during events, which can distort prices.
- If an item is out of stock for a prolonged period of time, it could indicate the price is too low (and vice versa). So the price could be adjusted if a Mall Custodian believes it is necessary (and profit turned back on if deemed necessary to regenerate any loss, in order to get the chest back to maximum capacity). Please remember that every price is an experiment, so don't worry too much about changing the price! Nobody really knows what the price should be, and the price of items change over time for any number of reasons, so every price is only temporary at best.
- If profit does need to be turned back on at any of the mall shops, consider a profit margin between 25% and 33%, however this will depend on the item, so just use your best judgement.
- Be wary of setting price based on a price that only a very small number of players can sell at. For example:
- Legacy villagers with insane exchange rates, that are private, unobtainable and no new players can access.
- Farms that are extremely complex to setup or operate, that most players cannot use. Or private farms that most players cannot access. You may argue that anyone can build a farm, but that's not the problem I see. The problem is that if one or two players who have exclusive access to an OP farm stop playing, it could drop the price back down to a more normal level (creating more work for custodians).
- If you are not sure if a price should be updated or what a fair price might be, consider:
- Checking prices at other shops on the server. But make sure to test if they have items in stock, to ensure the price is valid.
- Consider asking players to get their opinions.
- Consider setting up multiple stalls in the Emerald Mall at different prices, so trade can continue if the price moves. For example spawners can be sold at 5 diamonds, 6 diamonds, 7 diamonds, 8 diamonds, 9 diamonds and 15 diamonds, allowing the price to move without mall custodians doing anything.
- Despite the aim being to take zero profit, a few shops may remain in profit mode for a long time. It could take years to reach maximum liquidity (3392 DB) in every god apple and spawner shop. The benefit of generating huge liquidity pools is to provide better price stability for these items. This is mainly only an issue for spawners and god apples. However once any of the spawner or god apple chests reach maximum liquidity (3392 DB), the profit can be turned off for that individual shop. The goal is to have all shops be zero profit in the end. In the interim before that occurs, profits can be taken from these shops to help re-balance any prices. Some spawner shops have already been set up with zero profit to hedge against the possibility of nobody being around to turn off profit on the main spawner shops, ensuring trade can still continue if this occurs.
- There is a reserve of DB generated from Renbuck sales under the black market floor. If a player wants to cash in a Renbuck then the reserve (or DB in god apple and spawner chests) can be used to exchange it back to 16 DB. The reserve can also be used to re-fix any prices that need to change, or provide liquidity for new shops and shop sign costs, such as when the server updates.
Accessing Chests
- If a custodian needs to access a chest which contains a lot of valuable content, consider locking the chest or using /nearestplayer before opening it. This will help prevent any invisible players stealing the content. If you lock the chest, remember to remove the lock after access.
Can I see some pictures?
This section aims to capture any pictures people have taken at the Emerald Mall! Anyone is free to add pictures here :)
- Pictures and History from the Emerald Mall
photo taken when the mall was still being built
.jpeg)
- 2021 Screenshots of Emerald Mall Floors
Can I see the history?
- 2021-September: Emerald Mall Construction Begins.
- 2022-January: Emerald Mall Nexus is added by Anna_28 marking the official opening of the Emerald Mall.
- 2022-March: Ren adds colored concrete and colored terracotta to the Emerald Mall.
- 2022-March: abamacus creates the plots around the Emerald Mall and they begin to be assigned to towns, cities or players.
- 2022-April: abamacus creates a fourth ring around the Emerald Mall for future player-ran commercial shops, and dubs it Shulker Mall.
- 2022-December: Ren asks for help in replacing the 10,000 wool blocks with snow, to fix the Emerald Mall Railway.
- 2023-January: The Emerald Mall Railway fix is complete. Players who helped with this include Okibdoki, Cosmic_potato_04, Leo_Belgicus, Txkeykeeper, AdoreKitten, Stevits1, JCobbler2012 and Ren
- 2023-Febuary: Ren begins Emerald Mall V2 , which involves lowering all floors by 1 block to accommodate a [ShopContent] sign under every shop. AdoreKitten,
Magnap and abamacus were influential in this decision. The changes should help the economy function more efficiently by giving market participants better access to information. Prior to this change, only Ren could see the liquidity available in each shop. AdoreKitten helped with this upgrade and all the upgrade finished in February. - 2023-April: Ren assigns AdoreKitten and abamacus as mall custodians, who are able to change prices in Ren absence.
- 2023-June Ren leaves the server
- 2025-March Ren logs in again and re-balances a significant number of prices. He also used much of the profit generated over the last 2 years to set many popular shops to zero profit, in line with original mission of the mall.
- 2025-March Ren does full audit of the Emerald Mall, spending over 10 hours adding all the prices to the wiki page. He also added the total liquidity in each chest (if all items sold out at the BUY price). As of 16th March 2025, there are 128641.16 Diamonds in the Emerald Mall, enabling players to trade every day. That's over 14293.46 Diamond Blocks or 223.33 Stacks of Diamond Blocks or 4.13 Double Chests of Diamond Blocks. Furthermore, data was gathered on how much all the shop signs cost to setup, which came to 4510 diamonds, with over 902 shop signs in operation.
- 2025-March Ren changes the ownership of all diamond / stock in the mall to collective ownership between AdoreKitten and abamacus. Previously Ren owned all the diamonds / stock.
- 2025-July Ren creates new art gallery.
- 2025-August Ren finishes upgrade of Emerald Mall V3 design to make it ready for 1.21. Every new item that will be stocked now has a place. New floors were added to accommodate this including Nether Floor, Aquatic Floor, Shrubs Floor & Mob Drops 2. Some items changed floors too.
- 2026-January Ren adds nametags to most map art in the Emerald Gallery to give credit to the creators.
- 2026-March Ren adds concrete powder, adds zero fee trading for spawners, renovates the emerald lobby and creates a new page for Emerald Mall Prices.
Can I leave a comment?
Absolutely! Anyone is welcome to add a comment here and I enjoy reading them!
< Txkeykeeper> A Complete Revolution for the MCO economy.
<
AviationPro> Future of MCO 31/12/21.
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DosMiniDoc> coolio, mate absolute unit of a shop 23/12/21
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Energheat> Very Very Nice Shop ;D 04/11/2021
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Flamehaze97>Emerald Mall was very helpful with my projects and I loved the abundance and availability of certain materials 8/30/2022
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Hyperluminous> my 7.5 stacks of white wool have come a long way. 5/12/2024