Minecraft Server MOTD
The MOTD is the text shown under the server name on the multiplayer server list, before anyone even joins. It lives in a single server.properties key, but the game reads that key as up to two separate lines.
The two separately typed lines come out joined by a literal `\n` inside one string, ready for the next escape step.
Every § becomes `\u00A7` and the result already comes prefixed with `motd=`, in the exact shape a file line expects.
Proxies like Velocity read the `motd` in velocity.toml as MiniMessage (the Adventure library's tag syntax), not legacy §-codes, so the same text needs a second conversion for that context.
The Minecraft server list shows up to two MOTD lines. Each line fits about 45 visible characters before clipping, the tool warns you when you go over that limit. Color codes do not count toward the limit, since they are not displayed as text.
Because the line went past roughly 45 visible characters (color codes do not count); the vanilla client simply clips the overflow without warning, so important text should sit at the start of the line.
Not on the vanilla client: the server list only renders two lines below the server name, so a third `\n` in the value just does not show up anywhere.
Because the file is plain text and some editors corrupt the § glyph on save. The Unicode escape `\u00A7` represents the same character safely across any editor, and the server reads it identically to the raw symbol.
No. Vanilla server.properties uses legacy single-character §-codes. MiniMessage is the Adventure library's tag syntax, used by proxies and modern Paper plugins, and converts each code into a tag like `<bold>` or `<dark_green>`.
motd=\u00A7b\u00A7lHARD\u00A7f\u00A7lCRAFT \u00A78» \u00A77Survivo \u00A7f26.2\n\u00A7aEvento de Páscoa \u00A77• \u00A7e/vote \u00A77para ganhar!§ is escaped as \u00A7 so it works in server.properties. The two lines are joined with \n.
<aqua><bold>HARD</bold></aqua><white><bold>CRAFT </bold></white><dark_gray>» </dark_gray><gray>Survivo </gray><white>26.2</white>
<green>Evento de Páscoa </green><gray>• </gray><yellow>/vote </yellow><gray>para ganhar!</gray>For proxies like Velocity, whose motd in velocity.toml uses the MiniMessage format instead of §, paste this version instead of the server.properties line.
The MOTD is built entirely in the browser; nothing is sent to servers.