As of June 30th, Mojang Studios changed the wording of a few things but the context has remained the same. For a quick summary of what has changed Chat Reporting has been renamed to Player Reporting, and Minecraft Moderators has been changed to Minecraft Investigator
Hello all! I know a lot of you haven't been exactly happy with Mojang Studio's latest implementation of the Player Reporting feature and with the release of the latest Release Candidate they have also released a help article that I'll link separately here. If you want a breakdown of what's in the article read below.
The first thing to note, a lot of people's concerns about what you can or can't say on a private server haven't been new for what appears to be as long as Microsoft has owned the game. There are clear guidelines that they provide to what isn't acceptable using any of their services. Yes, that means their games and their realms. Link to review Microsoft's Service Agreement here, Microsoft's Community Standards here, and finally Xbox Community Standards here. The addition of the chat reporting feature has just made it easier to submit chat evidence, and with last night's addition, sending even more chat for additional context.
Minecraft has always been a game for everyone, and sadly some people find it funny to join people's servers to spam heinous things. While simply a server can ban these individuals, that doesn't stop them from moving on to another server to repeat their actions essentially with no consequences, because let's be real here, they weren't going to play on the servers they were "trolling" to begin with.
I understand that people are worried about getting banned unjustly or servers that allow certain behaviors from getting reported. Let's review below the categories and the "how to" for when you submit a Player Report.
How To Submit a Player Report
On JAVA Edition, the first thing you will do is either press the "P" key or access this by opening the Pause Menu. From here, you will select the chat the Reason and select the chat messages(s). Additional messages to provide context for these messages will be submitted as well for review without the need to select them. There is also a place where you can submit your own comments when submitting the report. In this space, you can provide additional evidence that you have to support your claim.
Categories
Imminent Harm - Self-harm or Suicide
Someone is threatening to harm themselves in real life or talking about harming themselves in real life.
Child Sexual Exploitation or Abuse
Someone is talking about or otherwise promoting indecent behavior involving children.
Terrorism or Violent Extremism
Someone is talking about, promoting, or threatening acts of terrorism or violent extremism for political, religious, ideological, or other reasons.
Hate Speech
Someone is attacking you or another player based on characteristics of their identity, like religion, race, or sexuality.
Imminent Harm - Threat to Harm Others
Someone is threatening to harm you or someone else in real life.
Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery
Someone is talking about, sharing, or otherwise promoting private and intimate images.
Harassment or Bullying
Someone is shaming, attacking, or bullying you or someone else. This includes when someone is repeatedly trying to contact you or someone else without consent or posting private personal information about you or someone else without consent (“doxing”).
Defamation, Impersonation, False Information
Someone is damaging someone else's reputation, pretending to be someone they're not, or sharing false information with the aim to exploit or mislead others.
Drugs or Alcohol
Someone is encouraging others to partake in illegal drug-related activities or encouraging underage drinking.
What Happens After a Report Is Submitted?
A player report that has been submitted by the following method above is reviewed by a member of a team of Investigators. They will review the report, and if they find that the message contents do break any of the service violations above, will apply a suspension for online play for a period of time, or depending on how egregious the report is a permanent ban.
When making these decisions they are not only looking at the submitted message. They are reviewing the additional messages to find the context for the message as well. They will also review if the report was made in bad faith. Keep in mind that when submitting a report, you are responsible for creating that report. If you are found to be abusing this system can lead to actions taken against your account.
What If I Was Suspended/Banned Unjustly?
No one is going to sit here and claim that this system is flawless. You can expect that sometimes a mistake will be made. No system will ever be perfect but that doesn't mean throwing it out entirely. Mojang Studios does have an appeal system. You can find it at the bottom of the Help Center pages as well as I will provide a link to provide a ticket for a Case Review.
The Bottom of the Help Center page.
