For the longest time, Minecraft has had multitudes of popular servers that the player base crowds to play the game in their favorite ways. Minigames, survival, anarchy, factions, and so much more were established due to the community that was created from player-hosted servers. Unfortunately, unlike most indie games, Minecraft does not have a built-in server browser that could be used to find the right server for you…until now! That’s right! Today, we’ll be going over Minecraft’s latest project, an official server list!
The Official Minecraft Server List
As one of the most popular ways to play Minecraft is together with others through the use of servers, Mojang has established the Official Minecraft Server List. This list will be used to inform your choice of server without the presence of pesky ads or unfair use of payments from server owners to have their servers listed. Honestly, the existence of an official, regulated server list is revolutionary. Not only will this create a much easier user experience when it comes to finding servers, but it will also make it much easier for parents to find servers that are safe for their children who play the game.
When it comes to which servers are listed, they must meet certain requirements to make the cut. Firstly, they have to prove that they comply with the Miencraft Usage Guidelines. Secondly, they need to provide official contact information, the purpose of the server, who it is for, and foundational community management practices that set the tone, values, and principles of the server. It’s safe to say that standards are higher than ever! As they should be, because the players need all of this information to make educated decisions on which server would be best for them.
GamerSafer
GamerSafer is a company that has partnered with Mojang Studios to make the Official Minecraft Server List a reality. They’ve apparently spent several months working with many existing servers to help them meet the requirements and will continue to include more as time passes. Not only that, but the servers listed will continue to grow and evolve over time, meaning features and moderators may change in the future. To ensure the list stays up to date, there will also be periodic check-ins with each server owner.
I’ve never actually heard of GamerSafer before this partnership, but if Mojang has trusted them to manage the public advertisement of player ran servers to parents and players alike, they must certainly be a qualified and competent company capable of managing this project.
Server Badges
Server badges are a feature that will exist on the Official Minecraft Server List which will be used to signify to users which servers are exemplary by adding more features promoting a safe environment and positive social behavior amongst players. There are four badges in total, with each badge serving a distinct purpose.
Community Basics – The Community Basics badge is a badge that the Official Minecraft Servers List requires server owners to obtain before making them public. This badge ensures that they have fundamental safety and community management features active.
Builder’s Benchmark – The Builder’s Benchmark badge signals that Mojang has reviewed the server for compliance with their official rules and guidelines. This badge is also a requirement for being listed in public search results on the site.
Beacon of Safety – The Beacon of Safety badge is given to servers that are built with a high prioritization on player safety, utilizing all of the built-in safety and parental control features of the latest versions of Minecraft.
GamerSafer Badges – The GamerSafer badge shows that the server uses proprietary tools developed by GamerSafer to improve security among staff and players to ensure player privacy. It is essentially a way for GamerSafer to ensure the server is secure. It also lowkey feels like a way for them to mooch off of the servers listed on their website, as the software required to earn this badge charges a monthly subscription to the server owner, and this badge is directly linked to how long the subscription is kept. Kinda scummy, GamerSafer!
Alpha Supporters Badge – This badge is an exclusive right to the servers that have joined the website during the pre-production and testing periods. These servers were an immense help in testing new features as they were developed and essentially made the website possible.
Conclusion
All in all, this official server list is looking to be quite the project. I believe that there is a heavy emphasis placed on features that allow parents to find a Minecraft server suitable for their children, and while I do believe that is a good thing, it seems that GamerSafer is going to be extremely strict on that, making it as difficult as possible to get a server on the website publicly. Furthermore, it seems like there is also something fishy going on with the ‘GamerSafer’ Badge requiring you to use their proprietary security software instead of, I don’t know, literally any other security software? That seems scummy. In any case, we’ll see how this project goes, and with that, have a great day!
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