Minecraft Reporting System: Everything You Need to Know

With theMinecraft 1.19 update, the game changed for good and welcomed the scary mobWarden, the cuteAllaymob, and a newMangrove Swampsbiome. But unfortunately, with the newestMinecraft 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.

Minecraft Player Reporting System: Explained (2022)

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

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 nowreport players for textual abuse.

If someone offends you using the in-game chat feature, you can report that player to the concerned department. But remember, not every action that you might deem offensive is punishable. Minecraft has laid out some strict and detailed community guidelines establishing the grounds on which you can file a report.

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.

What Doesn’t Count as Offensive in Minecraft

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?

What the Minecraft Reporting System Can’t Detect

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:

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.

Punishments in Minecraft

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 gamefrom a different account to play Minecraft online again. And in some ways, this is where the controversy begins.

Does Minecraft Need a Player Report System

A small case study involving 3 Minecraft servers found that 35% of violations involved harassment/hate/sexual misconduct, and that almost a fifth of violators were repeat offenders.https://t.co/nw30c3iE0F— Stuart Duncan (@autismfather)July 27, 2022

Minecraft’s developer and a major chunk of players favor the new reporting system. And if we look at a recent report of apopular Minecraft server(linked in the tweet above), it definitely looks like a necessity. As per the report, a good portion of the guideline violaters ismade 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.

Community’s Attempt to “Save Minecraft”

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#SaveMinecraftand#BoycottMojangtrending 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:

Much like other online games, there isno mechanic to stop Minecraft players from sending false or irrelevant reportsagainst players. But that doesn’t mean the false reports would have consequences on the reported players. For proper action, Mojang requires the report tocarry enough evidenceto prove the toxic behavior.

Minecraft modsare 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!

We’ve analyzed claims about exploits that work in the final release of 1.19.1.You may have seen videos of exploit mods that claim to prove they work. A mod being used to send in a report does not mean that report is valid and actionable nor that the tampering is undetectable.— Minecraft (@Minecraft)July 29, 2022

Fortunately, Mojang has addressed such exploits’ presence and assured players that suchtampering 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 theirofficial 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.

How to Turn Off Chat Reporting in Minecraft? Is It Possible?

At the moment, you can onlyturn 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.”

Many players believe that instead of forcing its new safety feature on players, Minecraftshould allow server owners to turn off the chat reporting system, if they want to. And while the report system is off, new players can be welcomed with a warning about how that particular server is not being monitored. Minecraft already has a similar warning when players are running a modded version of the game.

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 newMinecraft Previewapp, are a testament to the same. But surprisingly, this time, their behavior is slightly off the mark.

In a Reddit post, Mojang defended the new reporting system of Minecraft and further claimed that they are “not planning on changing it.” Currently, the post has over 1900 downvotes and dozens of negative comments. Their defensive stance has only fueled the already heated community, and now, many content creators are also posting videos and tweets about the issues at hand. Though, there are more who are still completely silent on the issue and the least number of influencers who are siding with Mojang directly.

Minecraft Reporting System is Here to Stay!

From the looks of it, Mojang and Microsoft are not planning to back down in implementing their new Minecraft player report system. But at the same time, the portion of the community protesting the change is only increasing. This is the biggest backlash Minecraft has faced in its decade-long history, and things are still in an early stage. It will be interesting and literally game-changing to see how things unfold. So, please bookmark this page to witness the story around #SaveMinecraft as it develops. But leaving the future aside, what is your opinion on the new reporting system of Minecraft? Tell us in the comments below!

Udayveer Singh

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