Parents embark on two year Minecraft mission to create server encouraging good behaviour

WHEN one father was coaxed by his daughter into playing popular computer game Minecraft with her, he could scarcely imagine the journey he was about to go on. 

The pair – and his youngest daughter – began playing together on the addictive and immensely popular world-building game.

But frustrated by the amount of cheating and bad language they were encountering online, he set out to create his own server – one which would actually reward players for being kind to each other.

That started out a two year quest to code and complete the mini-game server, which has been named “BashyBashy”.

Not only does it encourage players to be good to one another – players are actually given advantages in the game if they do.

Players who use the server are urged not to reveal their identity for online safety reasons, and the father said he wanted to lead by example on that – which is why he is remaining anonymous in this article.

Speaking to Shetland News about the odyssey to create a family-friendly server for his own children and their friends, he admitted it had “certainly been a labour of love”.

“If I’d known it was going to be anything like as much work, I probably wouldn’t have embarked on it,” he laughed.

“But after so long, it would have been criminal not to have seen it through.”

Even if you know nothing about Minecraft you will probably have heard the name, or seen the blocky figures and landscapes which have made it a global phenomenon.

The dad said he had been urged to play the game with his eldest daughter some years ago.

“She had a huge amount of enjoyment watching me play it,” he said.

However, she soon ditched her dad after telling him he was holding them back when they were competing against other players.

“I went away and practised and tried to get better at it,” he said.

“We now play it between me, her and my youngest daughter, and it’s a really fun way to connect.”

The trio play it on the computer version of the game – known as Java – with the majority of players moving across to the console iteration, which is called Bedrock.

After their preferred server closed down, the three players moved across to a new one – and quickly discovered the behaviour was “far worse” from others.

“It was like Lord of the Flies – it was exactly what happens when you put thousands of bairns together with no adults,” he said.

With no chat filters, players were able to write and say whatever they wanted – with cheating also rife.

“We were a bit frustrated,” he said.

“I started thinking, ‘it can’t be that hard to do this. It should be relatively easy to make a non-toxic server’.

“What we wanted to do was to encourage bairns to be kind to each other, and to reward that, while making it as fun and safe as possible.”

Two Shetland parents have been involved in the creation of BashyBashy – one from the West Side, the other from Yell – with the one Shetland News spoke to describing himself as “the ideas man”.

Their children have also helped to craft their virtual home, as well as coming up with its name.

“We had a phenomenal amount of fun creating it,” the dad said.

But it has taken an incredible amount of time – two whole years – to painstakingly bring together.

That has involved making the structures inside the server, which are Shetland-themed – including Viking longships and a broch – and creating the games for players, such as a full-length assault course.

“We were seriously considering shutting the project down a few times,” he said.

“Just because it was taking so long, and we were having to sink so much time in to it.”

The most important aspect for all involved has been to ensure every player feels welcome and safe in the game, with people rewarded for being good to each other.

Not only are they rewarded for it – they actually gain an in-game advantage.

“We want to be non-tolerant of any toxic behaviour,” the dad said.

“On other servers, you could see players getting banned for a few weeks for something then literally see the same players coming back.

“Personally I think that’s a terrible policy, you’re not learning from your bad behaviour.

“That’s not our ethos at all. We don’t have any tolerance for bad behaviour, you just get a permanent ban.”

BashyBashy will be free for all players to play, with no plans to ever change that.

It is only available to players playing on the Java version of the game, however, as the console version would render their important anti-cheat software ineffective.

Game sessions will usually be arranged for Friday and Saturday nights from 5pm, with players encouraged to join the BashyBashy channel on Discord to see when games are being played.

“We’re really hopeful it will be a success,” the dad said.

“We want folk to come in and give it a go and enjoy it.

“Shetland is the perfect place to launch it because folk are generally a bit more conscientious here about others, there’s that community spirit.

“We’re really keen to get as many nice folk in the server as possible.”