Days after launching a Vatican Minecraft server, Father Robert Ballecer says trolls have arrived to disrupt the server.
Ballecer, a Catholic priest and former tech blogger, created the server as a non-toxic place for creativity and relationship building after polling his substantial Twitter following about which game they preferred. Minecraft won with 64% of the vote.
Since launching, the server has gained significant media attention, thanks in part to an interview Ballecer did with Rome Reports, where he elaborated on the motivation behind the server.
“I wanted to offer [a server] that could be less toxic,” Ballecer explained. “You can invite people who want to be creative, who don’t want to be toxic, and you can create an environment in which people can express themselves and build up a relationship. And the relationship thing is the most important part.”
Despite these noble goals, according to a recent tweet by Ballecer, trolls have descended on the server to “blow stuff up.”
The trolls have already showed up to blow stuff up, but I never thought it would be easy. ??
(https://t.co/y2ernEVRDQ) https://t.co/sNNL4Kq7Yv
— Fr. Robert R. Ballecer, SJ (@padresj) December 1, 2019
While the arrival of players bent on creating the exact toxic environment the server was created to avoid may have been inevitable, it likely won’t deter the veteran techie’s Vatican game server experiment. As Ballecer says in the tweet, “I never thought it would be easy.”
Gamers interested in trying out the server can point their clients at minecraft.digitaljesuit.com.
