Technology

It's pretty clear to me that the problem is that the division of labor wasn't clearly defined. This seems like a management issue.

Like, with 50 players, you can make 5 teams of ten. Assign one team to mining, one to woodcutting, one to crafting, one to building, and one to food production.

Then within each team, give each one a zone to focus on. Each crafter gets a workshop, each fooder gets a field or some coastline. Two or three different mining locations and you can assign each miner a cardinal direction for their main shaft. The woodcutters can replant the trees as they go, so each one only needs a moderate sized area.

Then the builders can be divided into categories. Maybe 4 on wall duty, 4 on buildings, 2 on paths and lights.

Or better yet make it only 5 woodcutters, 5 crafters, and 5 food producers. Then you have 15 extra players and you can set 10 of those to act as guards to protect the others from monsters, and 5 as runners to carry materials from the mines, groves, farms, etc., to the town, and carry replacement tools, supplies, food, etc. back to the stations.

Once the structures are complete, the builders can join the other teams. Eventually when you add stuff like enchanting and brewing there will be more roles, like hunting monsters for exp, or fighting blazes for their powder.

But yeah for early game, it seems like a simple solution, and the answer is proper delegation instead of a free-for-all.