Microsoft Could Soon Ban Minecraft Players From All Online Servers

pcmag.com:

Minecraft players looking to mitigate the consequences of breaking the game's rules by playing on private servers probably aren't going to be happy about the 1.19.1 update.

Ars Technica reports(Opens in a new window) that version 1.19.1 of the Java Edition of Minecraft will introduce the ability for Microsoft to ban Minecraft players from all online play—including private servers run by other users.

"Banned players are not allowed to play on servers, join Realms, host or join multiplayer games, or use the marketplace," Microsoft says(Opens in a new window) in a support article. "They are also not allowed to access Minecraft Earth. Xbox players will no longer have access to their worlds."

The company also says that banned players will receive the following in-game message:

There are some inconsistencies in Microsoft's guidance for banned players, however, because the company notes in the support article that bans are supposed to apply to the non-Java Edition of Minecraft. It seems that policy is set to expand to both versions of the game with the 1.19.1 update.

"Along with the support for reporting chat," the company says(Opens in a new window) in the release notes for this update, "reported players can now be banned from online play and Realms after moderator review." (Realms(Opens in a new window) are cloud-based Minecraft servers run by Microsoft rather than individual players.)

Microsoft says it expects to release version 1.19.1 of the Java Edition of Minecraft on June 28.

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