It appears that as Minecraft gains popularity, it also becomes more enticing for “pranksters” to mess with it. That includes real asshole pranksters.
The other day, players were subjected to the main menu calling them the N word.
The Escapist reports (with a screen cap):
Afrikaans-speaking players who fired up the latest snapshot build of Minecraft got an unpleasant surprise: the phrase “You are a N*****,” had replaced the single player option on the menu screen.
Recently-promoted head developer, Jens Bergensten, apologized for the incident and pinned the blame on a “prankster” hiding amongst the multitude of volunteer translators working on the game. “Sorry about that =( I thought I had banned that user,” read one of his tweets.
@tylergillan @Peteypwner Sorry about that =( I thought I had banned that user. Please check the translation here http://t.co/KcDyoWYB
It’s been removed of course.
Here’s what some have said about the incident on Twitter:
#Minecraft translation results in N-word slipup…hint it’s not NAGGER http://t.co/0ADOyCNU
@godfree: The “N” Word Shows Up In “Minecraft” Menu Language Update | Complex http://t.co/IekjHDc4 whoa.”
This is messed up!@AZRockslide still messed up and ironic… south africa (which speaks afrikaans) is 46% white. It’s a hybrid of dutch.
Uh…not sure that makes much of a difference.
Earlier this month, Minecraft’s creator announced that the game surpassed the 20 million user mark.