this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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The oldest Minecraft server, MinecraftOnline, is being shut down by Microsoft (ttrpg.network)
submitted 2 weeks ago by gnawmon@ttrpg.network to c/gaming@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://ttrpg.network/post/27970929

Recently the server staff received an e-mail telling them to moderate the Discord server and the server chat on what they deem to be "appropriate."

Below is a message from owner of the server.

Free Speech Under Attack

Dear friends, I don't often post announcements of this sort, but I feel it's very important for you all to know what's currently going on.

From the very start, over 15 years ago, one of the key founding principles of MinecraftOnline has been free speech. What started out as an uncontroversal, common sense policy, has proved to be a cornerstone of this increasingly unique community. As time has passed and Western society has wavered back and forth in its political leanings, free speech has repeatedly come under attack for political reasons. It has now become common to see arrests for posts on social media in countries such as Britain and Germany, in the name of political control, which have overtaken the numbers even of traditionally totalitarian countries such as China and Russia - a truly dystopian nightmare for freedom of expression and personal liberty.

Throughout this decade and a half of change, MinecraftOnline has held steadfast to its libertarian principles, and remained an oasis of freedom and openness in an increasingly closed and controlled internet. That is, until now.

Microsoft, through their subsidiary Mojang, have issued an ultimatum to MinecraftOnline. We have been told to do away with our free speech policy (which long pre-dates Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang), within 7 days, or face a a permanent block. If that happens, nobody will be able to play on MinecraftOnline again, and the 15-year history of this beloved server will come to a sudden and bitter end. The full email we have received today, signed facelessly only as "Mojang Enforcement", is included below.

The email makes extremely vague claims about "harmful interactions" and "harmful comments", and we are asking Microsoft to clarify what specific interactions and comments they consider harmful. In the meantime, please spread the word, share this info on social media. Defend free speech.

-SlowRiot

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[–] wccrawford@discuss.online 45 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It sounds like Microsoft is being notified by its Minecraft players that toxic interactions are happening on MinecraftOnline's server, and they're taking action to reduce toxicity associated with their IP.

It's really hard for me to fault them for that. Especially since MinecraftOnline is using the the Minecraft trademark in a way that sounds official in the name. I'm surprised they didn't put a stop to that as it is.

[–] nfreak@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah honestly. Fuck Microsoft and all that but this sounds like there's a strong reason behind it, and the owner's post about "free speech" and "totalitarian China" is a MAJOR red flag.

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Right? I'm a bit jaded but when someone starts making the "they're attacking free speech" argument it usually comes down to "wahhh they won't let us say slurs on Minecraft anymore" it sounds like users of the server are reporting toxic behaviors and the owner knows exactly what they mean.

[–] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Fair, but the point is valid even if we do not like the behavior they might exhibit on that server. It is their server, ran on their hardware. They should absolutely be able to swear and curse and be general dicks on their own server.

In my opinion the issue is more that the name seems very official and might be misleading to players. They should make them change it and perhaps delist them from their official server finding tools, assuming those exist (have never really clicked with minecraft myself, though i do love me some space engineers)

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's also not their software, and they did agree to an EULA which prohibits these things.

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago

An Ex-post facto EULA. Because whatever dumbshit Microsoft acquisition EULA that bootlickers like you want to point to in order to justify censorship 100% didn't exist beforehand. But beside all that if I'm running it on my computer, your EULA doesn't matter anymore at all.

[–] Cantaloupe877@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Microsoft bring a middle man for player hosted servers is something that should never have happened.

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago

It's inevitable. Microsoft didn't give Notch a billion dollars because they thought they could improve the product for the users. They bought it because of the number of users. They saw a revenue stream that wouldn't require very many resources to maintain and that they could also expand to multiple microsoft platforms and then lock behind a walled-garden to sell access as a service. Of course they wanted to confine the player population to servers that microsfot controlled. That is the only way they could ensure that any add-ons/mods/players etc were gated behind their own storefront.

[–] mushroomman_toad@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

IP block sounds like an infringement of the license given to early minecraft buyers

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hahahaha, they violated that well over a decade ago. It was supposed to give acceas to all future releases at one point, which died the moment it released on consoles. iirc people were pretty upset about it way back when.

Unfortunately the actual text of the alpha license terms appear to be lost to time, but you can find a number of posts online claiming the same thing, that it was worded in a way to indicate the license covered all future versions (across all systems), not just all future updates of java (and bedrock if you converted your account early enough).

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

While that may be true, that fact is immaterial. Microsoft can control which servers can exist, and thus they can and will do anything they want. The only way around them is to mod the game so that it's more like a Terraria model, where anyone can run a server and anyone can connect to it.

[–] randomname@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

this is already how it works for the most part, they just have Microsoft acting as a middle-man for player accounts as a form of DRM. you can remove microsoft from the equation entirely by using "offline mode" which also allowed cracked players to join.

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wait seriously? I've never played Minecraft, but the only control Microsoft has is an optional(?) account? Without that you can use any version of minecraft you want to connect to any server you want? That can't be right, otherwise I can't understand why this thread exists.

[–] randomname@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

neither can I honestly, without mojang's servers as a middleman there would be no account security and no skins, but both of those problems are easily fixed through server side mods/plugins made for that purpose.

this actually pisses me off a whole lot because i've hosted minecraft servers for over 10 years, and until recently Mojang had a completely hand's off approach. the way I see it: if I'm hosting it on my own hardware then Mojang can get their filthy hands off it, only i decide what goes on my own god damn server.

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Right, so it sounds like there needs to be a Mod that allows Minecraft clients to bypass central auth, I suspect a mod like that would look very similar to piracy as far as Microsoft is concerned.

[–] randomname@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

no, the official server client has a setting called "offline mode" which bypasses the central auth without any mods what so ever, mods are only required to get back custom skins and security features

players could continue playing on their accounts like normal, they just need to do an extra "login" once they enter the server, to verify they aren't spoofing as someone else

[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

But in that "offline" mode, can you join a server or is it local only?

[–] randomname@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

"offline" (usually pirated) clients can only join offline servers. regular clients that are logged to an account can connect to both online and offline servers.

[–] anotherspinelessdem@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

https://www.luanti.org/