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
Any examples of what Mojang are talking about? There's free speech and then there's hate speech. If the latter is the problem, then I can understand their position and desire to take the server offline.
I imagine, from the constant mention of free speech, that the server is just rampant with hate and slurs more than anything. Which in that case, fuck them, take the server down.
well, idk if there’s examples, but their server has an "anything goes" policy with regards to chat. they explicitly mention racial slurs as a thing you are allowed to say.
so yea, fuck that. archive the map for it’s historical value and close the server. it’s been unplayably laggy for years anyway, we’re not losing much.
Yeah, well in that case, don't even give them the 7 days, just immediately close that shit down.
If you don't like it, don't play on it.
That's what Mojang is doing. They decided to not play on it anymore…
No, Mojang never played on it in the first place. They weren't affiliated with Mojang.
That's a bold statement considering we are talking about a Minecraft server…
Minecraft Servers are run independently of Mojang. All that mojang does is verify the Minecraft account is legitimate. I don't even know if they can block servers in 1.12.2
None of these chat messages would have ever run through Mojang's servers or infrastructure.
And Minecraft Server is developed by whom? Ah right Mojang. And they are doing as you suggested…
If mojang wants to moderate our Minecraft servers, they can pay for them as well.
If you don't like being shut down just code your own minecraft with slurs!!
/js
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.
I don't think anywhere that allows racial slurs is a good place to exist and Mojang have every right to close that shit down. I don't know why anyone would be okay with hate just being allowed, it's just pointless and does nothing for humanity. Whether or not you think it's a "nazi breeding ground", hate just being an open thing IS going to breed more hate. If everyone is just going to ignore someone who is hateful (they are not going to), then just ban them anyway?
I don't need to read logs, I've already heard all I need to know. I hope the server changes its rules, or gets promptly closed.