Minecraft has categorically labeled its solo players as “lonely” – only to promote its own servers in the same breath. The outrage over this is significant.
How did Minecraft insult its solo players? The controversy was sparked by an in-game notification that begins with the phrase “One is the loneliest number” – a reference to the opening line of Harry Nilsson’s song One.
“Stop playing Realms alone like a sad, wandering merchant,” it continues. “Invite your friends!”
Minecraft wants to sell Realms Plus
-servers, insults players
What’s the point? The real reason for this notification: Minecraft wants to encourage players to subscribe. Minecraft Realms are special multiplayer servers that allow cross-platform play with players of the same version. There are separate servers for Bedrock and Java.
The subscription for Minecraft Realms costs $3.99 (€3.39) per month and allows you to play with up to two additional friends. Minecraft Realms Plus, which is being promoted here, allows you to play with up to 10 additional players for $7.99 (€6.78) per month.
What do players say about it? Many players feel that Minecraft developer Mojang has clearly crossed the line here. A Reddit post by user Cautious-Surround340 on r/Minecraft has already garnered 23,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments (as of December 25, 10:45 AM).
Not what Minecraft should stand for
In his post, the user criticizes the insulting tone of the message and receives a lot of support from the community in the comments:
- “This should definitely be phrased better or removed altogether,” says The-Chromosome on Reddit. “Mocking paying customers for how they play your game – especially for playing alone – is definitely not the kind of demeanor Minecraft should convey.”
- “That a video game literally shames children by pointing at them and laughing that they don’t have friends is honestly one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve seen in a long time,” writes Shatterfish on Reddit.
- “I have played so many hours alone. We are definitely their biggest target audience. Are we not good enough?” asks lobster_claus on Reddit
The Reddit user Halfiplier notes in a comment that this bashing would be entirely unnecessary – Realms is also interesting for solo players. “Realms is literally the easiest way to play your world cross-platform,” he writes on Reddit. “For a game that’s all about ‘playing your way,’ this feels strangely malicious for completely unnecessary reasons”
The message seems even more ridiculous when you look at the kinds of creations some solo players build in Minecraft. There is a player who is recreating the entire known world of The Lord of the Rings in the game. And it looks really realistic: “For a second, I thought these were just photos from real life”: Player shows his version of Middle-earth – in Minecraft
