1998 and 2004 have strong cases, as other comments have mentioned, but I think 2007 has got to be up there as well. The Orange Box alone was massively influential, even for just the new-to-'07 releases (TF2, Portal, HL2EP2), and was almost entirely unique - I don’t think we’ve really seen anything like it before or since. Beyond that, you have stuff like Halo 3, CoD 4, Assassin’s Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, and Guitar Hero 3.
Even Warcraft 3 was basically a giant retcon of the first 2 games (even as plot light as they were). The series has constantly pulled new stuff out of it’s butt.
Oh, absolutely - but a lot of perpetual/evolving media has similar issues where previous canon ends up being recontextualised, reframed or outright retconned in order to better fit the overarching story currently being told.
Sometimes it’s for the better, others for the worse (cough, Shadowlands, cough).
Still, it doesn’t stop it from being an otherwise great example of world building - evident in part by just how many people actually care about the lore!
If you want to say what you want, go ahead. Nobody is required to host that speech or allow that speech to be hosted on their platform or software.
MS is attacking free speech here in the same way that a moderator attacks free speech blocking a Lemmy server. Nobody’s saying you can’t use a modded client to connect to their server if they self-host it, but they’re defederating on the main client because they want no association with it.
Minecraft servers are a unique case because they are hosted by the owners. Microsoft/Mojang does not host online servers; they just host the authentication server that the client pings to check the connecting account UUID (and pull the skin file). The whole way Mojang “bans” servers is by marking certain IPs to always be told the connecting account is invalid. Either way, server costs are paid by the owner. I recommend you look into Minecraft specifically because the model has its quirks.
Personally I agree with the MC servers here purely because of that fact. Also, Mojang/Microsoft should be seen as an enemy of the common people for many reasons - including their Copilot AI. If the Chat Reports feature (where purchased accounts are neutered because of automated chat reports) isn’t reason enough to dislike Microsoft, consider the following: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I recommend you look into Minecraft specifically because the model has its quirks.
I’m familiar. The first server I hosted was an alpha hmod server for some friends, and I’ve played a lot since then.
What MS is doing doesn’t prevent anyone from connecting to a server. It only puts a wall in the way, saying essentially to both the host and the players that this server violates MS’s terms for hosting, but not preventing them from doing so. Server owners can bypass this restriction in a few minutes with a single restart (assuming they aren’t using a modded server that can apply the change at runtime).
This isn’t unique to Minecraft. Games have supported custom servers for as long as I’ve been alive, and more recently as software became more and more internet-connected, restrictions on those servers have also been enforced. Being self-hosted or a custom lobby on a game doesn’t change this - the server software is still owned by MS and licensed to the users.
If anything, that it is so easy to bypass this shows that it’s nothing more than signaling. I would be much more concerned if the solution weren’t simply to change online mode to false. Sure moderation is another story, but there are alternative solutions, like IP banning.
Also, Mojang/Microsoft should be seen as an enemy of the common people for many reasons - including their Copilot AI. If the Chat Reports feature (where purchased accounts are neutered because of automated chat reports) isn’t reason enough to dislike Microsoft, consider the following: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
There are many, many reasons to dislike Microsoft. They have made many terrible decisions in the past, ethically speaking. This does not implicitly mean that every decision they make is bad or harmful. It only raises the question of intent behind decisions, and here the intent seems clear to me: they do not want their brand associated with the kind of speech allowed on that server.
Microsoft can revoke service for any reason, so it’s legal. Yes, this is exactly how it is done internally. The only way to bypass Mojang’s blocking is to run a “Cracked” server, where accounts are never checked, but in that system anyone can log on as any name.
What I’m saying is that it sounds like lying. If you say “Hey, is KelvarCherry legit?” And they say “no” they’re lying, but if they say “you’re not allowed to verify users” that seems fine.
Tomorrow, to conform to the new regime, Microsoft starts to shut down private servers with mentions to LGBT and Antifa.
If you don’t stand up for free speech when its idiots using slurs, there will be no one left to stand up for you tomorrow when its your speech under attack.
No, but, we’re not in control of the standards here. This is how every censorship process goes. It’s “For the Children” or it’s about stopping Nazis, and then when the system’s established and normalized, they creep it towards oppression and suppression. How people are supporting this with everything else we see in 2025 is beyond me. Palestine Action. Kimmel. Kirk.
I’m glad someone else sees it. I’m very unsettled by the widespread support for corporation-determined censorship on servers Microsoft doesn’t even pay for. Did we forget Jimmy Kimmel? Do you not know of the “Chat Reports” feature??
I miss the graphics of BDO. I don’t miss the RNG slams
Surely luck is on my side and I can’t miss 10 12% slams in a row. This next one is it! I can’t feel it, use the gear piece your wearing your going to hit anyway!.. Rage quit for 4 days…
Rimworld has been on my list for a bit. Same with Factorio, but i have Satisfactory which afaik is a similar vibe. I’ve been meaning to pick them both up though, i just keep putting it off
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