Ever since Minecraft's release, fans have set up servers to allow for multiplayer in the game. However, a recent update is causing concern among server moderators and players alike, as Microsoft is moving to implement its own moderation on top of the already-existing tools provided to server owners.
For several years now, Minecraft has been split into two versions. The Java Edition allows for more freedom with modding and server hosting, while the Bedrock edition allows cross-platform multiplayer, implements microtransactions, and gives its server owners less freedom.
An update note posted on the Minecraft official subreddit outlines changes to in-game chat moderation for version 1.19.1 of the Java Edition. The full release is planned for Tuesday, June 28, and the Release Candidate acts as a kind of beta version. The details outline plans to update chat reporting guidelines to better describe issues reported, but fans quickly began to point out the vagueness of the categories and how the system could be abused in order to have some innocent players banned.
The problem with chat reporting to Microsoft is the ease at which players could abuse it; spamming Microsoft's moderation team with false accusations would be trivial, and the vagueness of the reporting feature's options could lead to unjustified bans. Some players are also concerned that the amount of context taken from the chat to send in a report could be a breach of privacy. In either case, the steps taken to clean up player chat activity are especially strange given that Minecraft servers generally have their own community-appointed moderators.
Microsoft trying to implement such strict control is jarring considering how much of a community-driven game Minecraft is. Each individual aspect of the game from building to combat have, over the years, been reworked into fun minigames on servers Microsoft and Mojang have no connection to. On top of the base game, the wealth of mods available for Java Edition is a major reason why so many players prefer it over the Bedrock Edition. Taking back control from the community's text chat is small in comparison to the other reasons Minecraft is so popular, but nonetheless goes against a major foundation of its self-moderated community.
Microsoft pushing forward with the changes despite overwhelming community backlash is concerning for Minecraft. Some players are so concerned over Microsoft's changes that there is already a mod to remove chat reporting on the client side by removing the cryptographic signatures attached to chat messages.
