Minecraft will take a tougher stance. Some of your “beloved” skins may soon be unavailable – as they will be manually blocked by the developer.
Minecraft is a long-lasting phenomenon. The game captivates young and old alike and has fans in almost all generations. This is not surprising, as the creative freedom in Minecraft is nearly unmatched, appealing to all age groups equally. However, this also makes Minecraft a game where children are present, who therefore need protection from certain content.
And because this could often be circumvented through the various skins, Minecraft will now take a tougher approach.
What was the problem? With the skins, meaning the visual design of the played character, there was previously virtually absolute freedom. You could design and upload your own skins, leading to much creativity. Well-known characters like Link (Zelda), Master Chief (Halo), or even a Creeper in a suit could thus become part of your appearance.
However, this freedom also created problems. Because some would choose a skin as an oversized penis, Adolf Hitler, or other tasteless designs.
This is a problem, as the skins are visible when joining public servers where children play – but also, no one else really needs to see such things.
What will change now? In the latest “snapshot”, essentially a test version for the next patch, the option has now been introduced to report player names or their skins. So if you encounter someone with a highly questionable name or offensive skin, you can report them to the developers with just a few clicks.
What are the consequences of reporting? If a skin is reported, it will be manually reviewed by human moderators. If they conclude that the skin actually violates community guidelines, several things can happen:
- The skin will be blocked – and that permanently for all Minecraft players.
- The reported player will be assigned a default skin.
- Can be temporarily or permanently banned, depending on the number and severity of violations.
Basically, it is true that someone with a blocked skin can still play Minecraft – both online and offline. When a skin is blocked due to a report, there will be a message upon logging into Minecraft explaining this.
Of course, after the skin is blocked, a new skin can then be chosen – but one should consider very carefully whether one wants to make such nonsense again, risking their Minecraft account.
Happier things can be found here: All animals in Minecraft – and how to tame and breed them.
