'Save Minecraft!' Cry Players After Mojang Starts Moderating Private Servers
Minecraft is on fire. At least that's how it currently feels if you follow the fandom on social media or certain message boards. Following the news that Mojang will not back down from its controversial move to open private server up to moderation and ban account-wide players, a portion of the community is outraged. Fans are now rallying around the battle cry "Save Minecraft" against what they see as an existential threat to massively popular online builder.
"If Mojang believes that every skilled coder against this system won’t try to embarrass them, I would bet against Mojang," Taylor "AntVenom” Harris, a big-time Minecraft YouTuber, tweeted. "Not a menace btw. Let's just call it what it is. #SaveMinecraft" A different player was more concise. They wrote, "Fuck 1.19.1,", in a tweet that has since been deleted. Some blame the studio. Others believe that Microsoft is responsible for the policy change and blame the tech giant.
Mojang, Microsoft and others declined to comment.
The Wednesday v1.19.1 update of Minecraft: Java Edition has prompted the hate and hashtag. Players can now report their friends for inappropriate chat messages or dangerous behavior even on private servers. Mojang explained in an FAQ that hate speech, bullying and harassing, sexual solicitation or threatening others are the types of behavior that will get you banned.
Meta Quest 2 (Oculus) (128GB)
All-in-one VR Meta will increase the price of Oculus Quest 2 (aka Meta Quest 2) beginning August 1. Premium Ebooks Now is the best time to get into VR if you have been interested.
The reports are then sent to Minecraft moderators. They decide what follow up action is necessary, if any. This seems like a good system, especially considering that Minecraft is a game that everyone can play. However, it's a major intrusion into Minecraft's historical purely player-controlled part.
Read More: Minecraft's Worst Servlet Was Exploited so Hard, Griefers Could See To The Future
Mojang has said that it will not monitor online chats or use bots to moderate them, but players are still concerned about the possibility of this tool being misused to wreck havoc on private servers. The thinking goes that players could conspire to maliciously report someone on one private server, and then get them banned from the entire game. Gaslight V2 has been a tool used by players in the past to manipulate chat logs. The developers claim that it still functions in the latest version.
The company wrote last month that it recognizes that private servers operate independently from Mojang Studios. "Many use that independence in order to create remarkable Minecraft innovations which enrich the community." It also stated that players must adhere to its terms of service regardless of where they play the game. "Every player should have a safe Minecraft gaming experience wherever they choose."
Mojang saw the changes several times weeks ago but backlash is growing after the studio stated that it was not ready to reconsider them. MojangMeesh, community manager for Minecraft, said that while feedback is appreciated, it doesn't mean that feedback will ever change the design principles Mojang Studios adheres too. She also called on users to stop harassing developers over the issue in unrelated threads.
"Harassment does not help anyone: not the devs who receive it, nor the players who are passionate about an upcoming change," they wrote. "We want to have a constructive and open conversation with you, and this type of behavior hinders that."
"Bullshit, lmao sorry but this entire shitfest has been on blast by your community for about a month straight now and there's been very, very little true discussion from mojang to come from it," one commenter fired back. "Simple question, then. How long will an appeal last?" another wrote. "Since many of us are concerned about false positives," give us a time frame.
Mojang claims that bans last from three days up to permanent. However, players are still concerned about edge cases and the ability to run their own servers as they choose. Mods have been trying to circumvent the new moderation process. One program called "No Chat Reports", has already been downloaded more than 200,000. It claims it removes "cryptographic signatures" (texts) from messages, so they aren't associated with any particular Minecraft account.
Others in the community have taken an even more nuanced approach. YouTuber xisumavoid runs his own private servers. He argued that players don't weigh the abuse and predatory behavior moderation would catch. He stated that "there is going to be goodness that comes out this system."