Minecraft bans will soon also apply to private servers

In an upcoming version of Minecraft, players who have been banned by developer Mojang will also no longer be able to play on private servers. They can then only enter the single player mode, as long as the ban continues.

The change will affect both the Bedrock and Java editions of the game. The update in which this will apply is now available in pre-release form for the Java edition and counts version number 1.19.1† It should actually be released on June 28. It is not clear when it will apply to Bedrock.

In addition to introducing bans on private servers, Mojang is also introducing support for reporting inappropriate behavior in chat. A help page for the Java edition explain what that process looks like† Abuse of the system can also lead to a ban. It is not entirely clear whether a ban immediately applies to Bedrock and Java at the same time, but it probably does.

Microsoft subsidiary Mojang explains that reports about players are reviewed by their ‘highly trained moderation staff’ and that permanent bans are only for ‘the most unheard of offences’. Only reports of trespassing on public servers will be reviewed, ‘personal worlds will not be graded’; the bans only apply to it. Players who have been banned will see a notification at game login.

Mojang’s bans are independent of any private server ban. Administrators are free to ban players whenever they want; that ban only affects the server or servers they control. In a topic on the Minecraft subreddit There is a lot of talk about Mojang and Microsoft’s new decision. Users mostly disagree with the overall moderation strategy.

Minecraft currently has Java and Bedrock versions. On mobile devices and consoles, only Bedrock is available and it supports crossplay. On macOS and Linux, only the Java edition is available, and on Windows there is a choice of both. Microsoft has a further explanation of the differences of the two versions.

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