Minecraft Patch Removes 4chan Reference Added by Notch
Mirosoft used the update 1.17 for Minecraft to quietly removed a message from the welcome screen that had been appearing for over a decade.
On June 8, Minecraft will receive the first part of a major update Caves & Cliffs. In addition to the numerous new features we've already written about, the patch, which is still in the testing phase, quietly introduces a small change. Namely removes the "Woo, /v/!" message from the welcome screen, which is a reference to the video game section of 4chan, added over a decade ago by the original creator of Minecraft, Markus "Notch" Persson.
The fix only applies to the Java version - the Bedrock edition never contained the reference in question. What is interesting, information about its removal by Microsoft and Mojang is not featured on the official list of changes introduced by the latest patch. Lack of the aforementioned message was noticed only by people involved in creating the game's encyclopedia while browsing its files. Additionally, Kotaku confirmed that "Woo, /v/!" was still present in version 1.16.5 of Minecraft but it's not there in 1.17, which has been available on the test server since May 27.
The message was one of many that could greet us when we started the game. It was added to the game's code by Markus "Notch" Persson as part of a marketing campaign of sorts. 4chan has contributed to the growing popularity of Minecraft, so the creator decided to give it a small tribute, he did the same for such websites as Something Awful, TIGSource or Facepunch. It may come as a surprise that Microsoft has only now started to be bothered by the "Woo, /v/!" message... but it's also not the first time that the Redmond giant gets rid of traces of Minecraft's original creator. Notch still appears in the game's "credits", but many of the references he's added to greet players when they launch the title - such as "Made by Notch!", "The Work of Notch! or "110813!" (the date of the creator's wedding) - are no longer there.
Neither Microsoft nor Mojang have commented on the situation. It seems, however, that Microsoft must be behind the decision. I do not know about you, but their move does not surprise me - if you happen to use 4chan, you know that the community gathered there can be very toxic, and the website itself offers much more content than those related to video games, a large part of which should be classified as "only for adults". Not exactly something Microsoft wants to be associated with Minecraft's image as a kid-friendly sandbox game that the company is trying to create, right?
