The Purge

The Purge was an event that took place prior to the change to the Survival 1.8 map. As part of this event, griefing rules for Survival were suspended, allowing for the complete destruction of the map.

Conception

The Purge was decided upon by a community vote, in which players had the choice between a standard reset and The Purge. The latter option was chosen by a 32-9 vote. Several people objected to The Purge, on the grounds that they did not want to see their hard work destroyed. 

Aftermath

The Purge was originally intended to last for 1-3 days, but it only lasted several hours due to the wide-scale destruction. After this, the Survival 1.8 map was introduced.

References

http://projectcitybuild.com/forums/index.php?topic=9331.0