Gaming

Yup, seems like they want to run a nazi bar. From their wiki (archive):

nothing that a player can type in public chat (aside from the exceptions given below) can result in a  ban or any form of official reprimand. You will not be banned for anything you say, aside from spamming. This includes but is not limited to:

• Swearing;
• Personal attacks;
• Racial or cultural insults;
• Asking to be banned.

It’s worded a little confusingly, but there is a list of exceptions further down the page. The server is hosted in Germany so the expected symbols are removed if built in-game, but most of the other exceptions are to keep the game playable.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about bigotry and slurs, but having soulless American mega-corporations enforcing the current lowest common denominator about what is acceptable is not the win some people might think it is. Sure, they might seem like they're on your side, and thus the right side, now, but this can change quickly and radically.

I replied to a comment like this somewhere else, so I'll just paste this here

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm a commoner on the server.

While freedom of speech means you can yell whatever racial slurs you want, it doesn't mean you are free from consequences. When you start saying bigoted stuff on the chat, you will be targeted by players and get /ignore'd.

I would advise you to make your own judgement by reading the chat logs on Discord or IRC, but not everybody has that amount of time. Some people said vile stuff here, but every time someone says some weird stuff, it always gets backlash, and it definitely isn't a nazi breeding ground.

Also I'll add this, Most of the server staff and community are queer and from different backgrounds, slurs aren't taken kindly here.

how the hell would Microsoft implement a ban on a Minecraft server that Microsoft doesn't host?

if a minecraft server wants to enforce verification of the game license, the server needs to be in contact with the authentication servers of microsoft. the server operator can turn this off, but then moderation becomes much harder, as usernane based banning becomes useless, and the paywall from ban evasion disappears.

other than that, in recent years there's something with chat message verification that I think involves sending some of the messages to microsoft? I don't remember exactly

but also the minecraft client could have a built in blacklist of servers. I don't know if it has but it's not much work.
a ban from the authentication server is probably easier though.

Basically, yeah. The vanilla client checks a blacklist when it connects to a server and prevents the connection if it’s blocked.

Self-hosted private server, just like a lemmy instance, one joins out of their own will. Imagine mega corporations being able to decide what is acceptable on your lemmy instance and take it down if they don't like it?

What Microsoft is doing with Minecraft should be illegal. After they purchased Minecraft from Mojang, they started changing the rules so instead of being a game you have purchased and you play with your friends how you want to play it, it's a game that you have a temporary license to use in a way that Microsoft thinks is appropriate for small children, even if you are hosting your own private server like these people are doing. Microsoft doesn't like the way that these people are playing the game and talking outside the game, so they are taking the game away. You may not like these people because they sound like the kind of people that use "free speech" as an excuse for hate speech, but would it be the same if Microsoft were taking away the game from servers that allowed people to specify their pronouns or use different color combinations associated with LGBTQ representation, which they may soon be pressured to do by the government of the country they are headquartered in?

eh, the exaggeration aside...the trend lately IS extremely worrying.

especially the treatment of protesters.

that said I'm pretty sure that's got little to do with this situation...tend to agree with the others ITT: "libertarian" and "free speech" is seldom a good combination of words...

Britain marked Palestinian Action as a terrorist group and Germany has also cracked down on pro-Palestinian content.

These are not the bastions of freedom that you seem to think they are.

• reveal the names of ICE agents
• denounce the Confederacy
• support Palestine

This is more like if a Reddit mod came over here to Lemmy and tried to delete this comment.

Minecraft servers are a unique case because they are hosted by the owners. Microsoft/Mojang does not host online servers; they just host the authentication server that the client pings to check the connecting account UUID (and pull the skin file). The whole way Mojang "bans" servers is by marking certain IPs to always be told the connecting account is invalid. Either way, server costs are paid by the owner. I recommend you look into Minecraft specifically because the model has its quirks.

Personally I agree with the MC servers here purely because of that fact. Also, Mojang/Microsoft should be seen as an enemy of the common people for many reasons - including their Copilot AI. If the Chat Reports feature (where purchased accounts are neutered because of automated chat reports) isn't reason enough to dislike Microsoft, consider the following: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.