Freedom of Expression
"I banned him cause he pointed out I was a virgin" - 
agrath
"It is kinda annoying" - 
ChampM21
"if we banned people for being kinda annoying there would be no one left" - 
Jmancino2
MinecraftOnline is a social server with multiple connected means of communication including IRC, Discord, Telegram, this wiki, staff chat channels, private messaging, and in-game chat. To facilitate open conversation across these linked methods of communication, the server philosophy historically placed a great deal of emphasis on Freedom of Speech. From its founding in 2010 until October 2025, players had unrestricted expression on the server.
In October 2025, Mojang Studios issued an enforcement notice requiring the server to implement content moderation and align with the Minecraft Usage Guidelines, the Minecraft Community Standards, and the Xbox Community Standards, or face blacklisting. The server updated its policies to comply with these requirements and changed the terminology from "Free Speech" to "Freedom of Expression" as requested by Mojang. Freedom of Expression remains a server value but now operates within the constraints of Mojang and Microsoft content policies and represents a significant reduction in scope from what players previously experienced.
Limited restrictions on in-game discussion
There is no obligation or pressure to remain "on topic" in chat. Under the previous Free Speech policy (2010-2025), nothing that a player typed in public chat (aside from spam) could result in a ban or official reprimand. As of October 2025, the server must comply with external standards imposed by Mojang Studios. Players may now receive moderation action for:
- Violations of the Minecraft Usage Guidelines, Minecraft Community Standards, and Xbox Community Standards;
- Spamming.
Debates on religion and politics remain permitted within the bounds of these standards. Trolling may be acceptable depending on its nature and compliance with the standards listed above. Players should familiarise themselves with the applicable standards to understand current boundaries.
MCO's PvP "Bullying" Rule
According to MCO's definitions, chat behaviour is not "bullying." For lack of a better term, MCO uses "Bullying" to refer to what is often called "camping" in PvP environments. MCO's "bullying" term does not refer to in-game expression in any way. Note that the external standards that now apply to the server have separate definitions of harassment and bullying that do govern chat.
Consequences
Players who violate the external standards may face official moderation action. Beyond official moderation, it is worth bearing in mind that all members of the server also have free right of action and PVP - moderators and admins included. Being intentionally offensive may make you personal enemies.
Intentionally being insulting or offensive will be treated as an open invitation to PvP, and as such will not be protected by the PvP "bullying" rule, since you will be considered to have invited it. So long as you continue being offensive, other players are free to respond with PvP.
Exceptions
"i am leaving no one is taking about nice things and your not bening nice to me" - 
Thor_Eleanor
Of course, there have to be some controls in place. Some are to maintain the equal possibility of orderly communication for everyone, and some are imposed by external standards. As a result, while you do have freedom of expression in game, not everything you can do with your keyboard counts as expression... and not every channel by which you can communicate with server members counts as in-game.
External Standards
While playing Minecraft, players must follow the Minecraft Usage Guidelines, the Minecraft Community Standards, and the Xbox Community Standards.
Spam
Spam refers to making repeated chat entries of a malicious nature, either by repeating the same line or entering nonsense into the terminal. It is considered intentional disruption of free communication amongst players, and as such is not tolerated. A more comprehensive definition of spam is included in the spam page. However, the bottom line is that there is no predefined limit on what counts as spam - it is a matter of moderator discretion. If a player is disrupting communication by spamming, they will be asked to desist, once. If they do not immediately comply, they will be removed from the server.
Advertising which is not repetitive does not need to fall under spam. Even advertising competing servers in public chat is tolerated, as long as it does not cause disruption of communication.
For more info, see the page on spam.
In-game Builds
While there is in-game freedom of expression, this does not apply to builds that appear on the live map. The server is hosted in Germany, in which displaying swastikas or NSFW content without restrictions is illegal. Thus builds which display such content on the livemap will be either removed from the livemap or deleted completely. Additionally, swastikas in any location will be removed for the same reason.
Portal traps, although they do not violate the law in any way, will also be removed due to the fact that, unlike all other traps, the victim who falls into this trap will not even be able to open a chat to teleport /home, /spawn or call someone for help which is contrary to the policy of unhindered game on the server.
Server representatives
Individuals nominated as representing the server, most notably admins and moderators, are expected to express themselves in line with server policy. When these individuals speak publicly, wearing a coloured name in chat, they speak for the server - so it is important that their modes of self-expression as well as the opinions they express do not contradict official server attitudes and policies. As a result, moderators and admins have their freedom of expression limited beyond the restrictions that apply to all players. A moderator or admin will not be banned for violating these additional representation requirements - they will only be reverted back to a normal player. However, they remain subject to the same Mojang-imposed standards as all players.
This says nothing about what opinions a moderator or admin may hold and express in private, or in non-game channels; in fact diversity and dissent are encouraged, as that is what encourages a vibrant community. Freedom of expression is also encouraged - but this exception exists to ensure there can be no miscommunication of the server's intents or policies due to players taking a moderator's personal opinion as an official statement.
Out-of-game channels
In addition to in-game chat, players may also converse in the following ways:
- By typing in the public IRC channel (#minecraftonline), which is linked to in-game chat via a bot;
- By typing in the public Discord server or Telegram group, which are linked to the IRC channel;
- By using voice or text chat on the MinecraftOnline TeamSpeak server;
Each of these communication channels are moderated separately of the game itself, and each have their own etiquette and expectations, depending on the possible modes of action available on those channels. They all have one feature in common: they are public channels that offer a degree of anonymity, and cannot be linked to a specific Minecraft account. As a result, freedom of expression outside the game is more limited than in-game. Different moderators in each communication channel may make different judgements on what to permit and what to reject. Falling foul of these may lead to temporary removal, or even permanent exclusion from that communications medium. These more fluid rules are necessary to limit the potential for abuse of such anonymous communications channels.
However, any such exclusion will not impact your in-game account in any way. Even if you are banned from IRC and TeamSpeak, your in-game account will not be affected.
Obligation to respond
From time to time, especially if you are a new player, you may be asked a question by a moderator checking for grief, along the lines of "is this your house?" In such cases, it is generally considered wise to respond in a timely manner, as there is a chance you are being investigated under suspicion of grief. Don't take this personally - it happens to everyone when they're new in the course of building; it is a moderator's duty to investigate every alert they are presented with from an unfamiliar name. The upshot is that if you do not respond reasonably when questioned about your actions, the investigating moderator may assume malicious intent, which could hasten the possibility of a ban.
As a result, server policy is that you have an official "obligation to respond" when asked a relevant formal question by a member of staff. Ultimately, it's simply common sense.