With the Minecraft 1.19 update, the game changed for good and welcomed the scary mob Warden, the cute Allay mob, and a new Mangrove Swamps biome. But unfortunately, with the newest Minecraft 1.19.1 update, for the first time ever, it doesn’t look like the changes are being welcomed by the usually friendly community. If you haven’t guessed already, we are talking about the new player reporting system added in the Minecraft 1.19.1 update. The reporting system came into being, hoping to make the game safer, but it has left players protesting against Minecraft. Now, is the new reporting system really that bad or unnecessary? Or are the players missing out on something? Let’s go over the Minecraft player reporting system in detail to find out.
We have covered the pros, cons, and mechanics of Minecraft’s new player reporting system in separate sections to give you a better idea of its usage and implications. Use the table below to first understand what is the reporting system and then learn about the “#SaveMinecraft” movement that has erupted since this release.
What is Player Reporting in Minecraft 1.19
How Was the Situation Before This Update?What Can You Report a Minecraft Player ForWhat Doesn’t Count as Offensive in MinecraftWhat the Minecraft Reporting System Can’t DetectPunishments in MinecraftDoes Minecraft Need a Player Report SystemCommunity’s Attempt to “Save Minecraft”
Why Is There a Backlash for Minecraft’s Report System?Can Minecraft Player Submit False Reports?Can Players Use Mods to Send False Reports?Is There a Way to Challenge the Reporting?How to Turn Off Chat Reporting in Minecraft? Is It Possible?What Will Mojang Do About Reporting System Backlash
How Was the Situation Before This Update?
Why Is There a Backlash for Minecraft’s Report System?Can Minecraft Player Submit False Reports?Can Players Use Mods to Send False Reports?Is There a Way to Challenge the Reporting?
What is Player Reporting in Minecraft 1.19
Similar to other multiplayer-based video games, Minecraft has also decided to apply a monitoring system in which players can report other toxic players to the developers. Then, the team behind Minecraft could take appropriate action, depending upon the seriousness of toxicity and harassment complaint. Since there is no in-built voice chat option, the players can only use the in-game chat to communicate with one other. And with the new reporting system, you can now report players for textual abuse.
Before the Minecraft 1.19.1 update, if players faced any kind of toxic behavior or harassment in chat, the only solution they had was to stop talking to the offending player. And if things got out of hand, they could report the issue to the moderator of that particular server. Then, it was up to the server moderator to decide whether to ban, punish, or mute the reported player in the server.
What Can You Report a Minecraft Player For
Starting with the 1.19.1 update, Minecraft’s official community guidelines allow you to report players under the following categories:
You can go to the official Minecraft community standards page (visit) to dive deeper into the complete details of reportable offenses. But the gist is that a player can now report you if you offend them or spread haterade in the game. Then, Minecraft’s concerned department would analyze your offense and take action.
Even though some players’ actions can feel irritating, they might not be enough to report them in Minecraft. Some of these actions include:
All the actions mentioned above don’t put players in serious threat, and in a way, are also part of the open-world gameplay in Minecraft. So, it makes sense that you can’t report them for the aforementioned problems. But, the thing is, what if someone takes a truly offensive action and Minecraft can’t notice it?
Because the player report system in Minecraft 1.19.1 or later is limited to the in-game chat, many players might bypass the system to spread toxicity. Some of the common examples are:
- Using signs, books, and nametags to send offensive textsPlacing blocks to create offensive words or imageryAdding mods to Minecraft to send offensive texts or imagesPromoting external links that might redirect to offensive contentUsing slang, foreign language, and symbols to send undetectable offensive texts
Many of the above-mentioned examples are ones that a reporting system can never solve. But with a chat reporting system in place, most players can be saved from common textual attacks, which is Minecraft’s most common form of toxicity.
Depending upon the offense, the reporting system in Minecraft can punish you in the following ways:
Several other games like Valorant also hand out permanent bans as punishments for offensive players. But the reporting and ban system in Minecraft is truly brutal because the game costs $26.99. So, if you get banned, you will need to purchase a new copy of the game from a different account to play Minecraft online again. And in some ways, this is where the controversy begins.
Minecraft’s developer and a major chunk of players favor the new reporting system. And if we look at a recent report of a popular Minecraft server(linked in the tweet above), it definitely looks like a necessity. As per the report, a good portion of the guideline violaters is made up of repeat offenders, who, once banned, will result in a significantly safer server and gameplay experience.
Moreover, almost half of Minecraft’s player base comprises teens or children. And since adults can also join the servers, the younger players become prone to grooming, inappropriate content, and bullying. So, having a player reporting system in any online game is something that no developer can skip over. But it’s how they implement it that makes the whole difference.
From a distance, Minecraft’s reporting system seems like a knight in shining armor, keeping its players safer than ever. But unfortunately, the complete image isn’t as rosy. And the hashtags #SaveMinecraft and #BoycottMojang trending on Twitter definitely highlight the concerns that the community has with the new rules in place. So let’s take a closer look at the huge community backlash against the newly added reporting system in Minecraft.
Protesting players have quoted multiple reasons to roll back the new reporting system. And some of them raise important concerns about the future of Minecraft:
Can Minecraft Player Submit False Reports?
Much like other online games, there is no mechanic to stop Minecraft players from sending false or irrelevant reports against players. But that doesn’t mean the false reports would have consequences on the reported players. For proper action, Mojang requires the report to carry enough evidence to prove the toxic behavior.
Minecraft mods are popular and thriving on the game’s Java edition. So, it’s no surprise that there also are exploits and mods to change the text messages and their context. Moreover, there are also mods to mass report players to get them banned, which is scary!
Fortunately, Mojang has addressed such exploits’ presence and assured players that such tampering is detectable. Moreover, they have also warned players against using such mods unless they want to be banned.
If you get your account banned after a false report in a worst-case scenario, Minecraft will not abandon you. Instead, you must submit an appeal on their official website, explaining the scenario and context of the reported content for which you were falsely banned. Then, the final call will be with the developers to revert or maintain the decision.
At the moment, you can only turn off the chat reporting system of Minecraft as a server owner, and that too, only with the help of third-party mods. There is no official toggle or setting to turn off the new player reporting system in-game. So, you can’t have an online Minecraft server that is free of scrutiny from “Mojang/ Microsoft.”
What Will Mojang Do About Reporting System Backlash
Minecraft developer, Mojang Studios, is known to be community oriented and takes their feedback seriously. All the game’s biomes and a few mobs, mechanics, and features have been changed or implemented per the community’s demands. Their extensive beta and snapshot programs, along with the new Minecraft Preview app, are a testament to the same. But surprisingly, this time, their behavior is slightly off the mark.
