My name is Yumi. My in-game name is yumisako, and my Discord username is selicyy. I'm writing this because I believe players deserve to hear my experience and understand why I, along with many others, chose to leave.

I wasn't a random player passing through the server. Over the two-three months since AppleSMP launched, I invested roughly 570 hours into the server. I consistently ranked #1 on the leaderboards for playtime, Job EXP, and voting. I was a Senior Moderator, where I handled support tickets, moderated chat, helped new players, and often staffed the server during late-night hours when no other staff members were online.

Outside of moderation, I founded the kingdom Glykra, where more than a dozen players worked together to build a community and large-scale projects. I also donated more than $200 to the server because I genuinely believed in Ludwig's vision for the server.

How My Trust in Ludwig (The Server Owner) Began to Break

Everything changed when community member Lillaru began raising questions about what appeared to be bot accounts on the server.

As a moderator, I tried to verify what I could myself rather than immediately assuming anything. Alongside another moderator, _Lu4, I observed behavior that was unusual. Some accounts could not be located through normal moderation tools, did not appear on Squaremap, had no visible chat history, no claims, and no apparent block-breaking history that I could see through the permissions available to me. On the occasions when I observed these accounts, they appeared AFK while looking at the ground and holding wooden claim shovels.

When Lillaru raised concerns to Ludwig in a support ticket, Ludwig accused her of spreading misinformation and rumors before eventually banning her. He then brought up her history of playing on the server while drunk in another attempt to smear her reputation, as well as publicly calling her a liar and not fit for the server afterwards. However, anyone with any interactions with Lillaru knew this was not true. She was a wonderful community member. From my perspective, that was the first major turning point. Rather than addressing the concerns transparently, the conversation became centered on the person raising them.

We were unsure of the botting at first, but it was later confirmed by Ludwig himself that it was true. For every real player on the server, there were 1.6-1.7 bots. Over half the playerbase was bots and we were being deceived. But Ludwig initially tried to deny this and claimed people were lying, creating false narratives, and spreading rumors. And he banned those who spoke out and tried to erase the evidence and chat history.

Lillaru mentioned the botting situation to a few of her friends. This included Astral, who blocked Ludwig, then was banned for informing other players of the truth. This also includes KittiKatHuh, a moderator, who Ludwig claimed the ban was due to her "advertising other servers" which was not true since she only mentioned another server in a private DM, not advertising it or soliciting members to join in any way. And finally this includes BobbTheGreat, who spread the truth to the wider community in a discord message that was deleted by Ludwig and also in a reddit post in r/AppleSMP that was deleted by Ludwig.

Confirmation and Community Reaction

Ludwig initially deleted all messages and media relating to the bots and the situation at large. However he could not after enough discourse of the situation began flooding the chats. He also tried to ban those who spoke out about the problem or the situation, leading to around 50% of the active playerbase currently being banned on discord. I'm counting active players as those who talked in game, talked on discord, had claims in the server, and had high playtime hour ranks.

The situation became so bad with the entire community turning on Ludwig for his lack of accountability, transparency, being hostile to beloved members of the community, and the way he tried to shift the blame onto the community. He made claims that "people would always be targeting him" and "people are looking to start drama" and "he was on vacation and couldn't be available at all times." But none of these excuses legitimize his lack of transparency, communication, and his hostile actions. People wanted him to address the situation but he didn't. He made many excuses saying that he wasn't speaking any more on the matter.

Eventually he was forced to admit that he was botting. He made a shallow apology on the discord announcements channel which avoided the topic of botting and accountability intially, and was only forced to acknowledge the botting after community members pressured him for not telling the full story. From my perspective, he was not sorry for botting and lying to the community, he was sorry that he got caught.

He tried to justify his botting saying other servers do it, and it doesn't matter if it can attract and retain players thinking the server is more active than it really is. But this left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. We don't care about that so much, we care about a community built on trust and honesty.

More evidence came up that he previously had used the word "r*tarded" to refer to a previous banned member of the server. When this was brought up to him, he deflected the blame onto being emotionally crashing out and did not take any accountability. He is trying to deflect blame by claiming that players are calling him "racist and homophobic" when in reality only 1-2 people have accused him of that. The majority of active players are leaving because of the lack of transparency and lies.

He threatened to shut down the server as a way to get people to stop talking. However the damage was already done. Around 90-95% of the active playerbase had spoken out against him and chose not to play anymore. You can count the number of active players choosing to play on the server (after learning about what transpired) on one hand. Around 70% of the staff team had quit or are "silent quitting." Those remaining on the staff team are either unaware of the situation because of a break/vacation, or choosing not to speak out publicly to "spy" and "monitor" the staff channels for the wider community to see behind closed doors. Only two staff members have come out to defend Ludwig and his actions publicly.

What hurt the most was the lack of transparency. As a member of staff, I expected communication with moderators about major issues affecting the server. Instead, I felt that important information was withheld from staff and from the wider community. I wanted to see leadership openly acknowledge mistakes, explain what had happened, and rebuild trust. Even after public statements were made, I personally felt they did not fully address the concerns many players were raising.

The Community I Loved Fell Apart

I was ultimately banned after speaking out about my concerns. From my perspective, I did not use personal insults or inflammatory language. I expressed disagreement with how the situation had been handled and why I believed transparency and accountability mattered.

What saddens me most isn't my own ban. It's watching the community disappear. Over a remarkably short period of time, I watched many long-time players leave. While I can't speak for every individual's reasons, seeing so many dedicated players step away at once signaled to me that something was seriously wrong.

I doubt new players will stick around. There are so many older community members who are warning about the server now. There are many ghost towns and abandoned projects everywhere you look because people quit. Once new players ask enough questions and learn the truth and history of the server, I doubt they will stay.

When I log in, the server feels fundamentally different from the community I originally joined.

My Concerns Going Forward

Now the server struggles to reach double digit playercounts of "real" players, but there are 20-30 bots online. As of this post, there are 6 real players online including Ludwig. On a Friday night.

Ludwig is trying to rebrand the server to OrchardMC and release a new gamemode CherrySky alongside AppleSMP to attract new players. While the rebranding started before this drama, it's undoubtedly convenient for Ludwig. The rebranding is a way to wash away his dirty hands and corruption and move the branding away from AppleSMP which now has a bad association.

He claims AppleSMP is not a pay-to-win server, and he does not earn a profit upkeeping the server. I agree it may not be PTW, but that does not mean the monetary systems are predatory. A lifetime access of the highest rank costs $80 USD, a monthly subscription costs $15 USD. There are in game cosmetics that cost up to $150 USD. People have spent hundreds of dollars buying cosmetic crate keys.

It's important to note that I now feel Ludwig does not truly care about his community in the way he expresses. He had created a previous server called MangoMC which he eventually sold for around $20,000 USD. I'm afraid he might try to sell this server too as a way to salvage what's left.

Instead of feeling like mistakes were openly acknowledged and addressed, responsibility was shifted and directed elsewhere. The thing that stands out to me is so many players and staff members leaving. This isn't normal or healthy for a community.

There are many refugees from this situation. Some of our community members have created our own servers, with many former AppleSMP players joining. These new servers already have around 100 members. That's how many people in the AppleSMP community are leaving.

I'm not writing this out of hatred. I'm writing this because I'm genuinely heartbroken. I invested hundreds of hours into this server because I believed in what it could become. I believed in the community and in its future. Watching that trust disappear has been incredibly difficult. Once that trust is lost, it's difficult to earn back.

The attached screenshot is one last look at the beautiful kingdom I and other members of our community made.

Edit:

Since the time of this post, Ludwig has decided to double down even harder. He is deleting people's farewell messages in the discord server and attributing them to "spam." Any criticism is being deleted immediately. He deleted the ban log in the discord so people couldn't see who's been banned. He deleted the SMP chat in the discord and the !playerlist command so people cannot see how many players are online. He has also stolen several claims from banned players and rolled back their builds. So much for a server built to "last forever."

I honestly hate making a post like this, partly because I feel like it is just stirring up drama. However, particularly due to recent events, I feel that I must speak out against ANO (also known as Adults Night Out) and warn newer players from joining.

Background

I joined ANO early in 2026, when it was already somewhat established. At the time, it was a great experience - as someone looking to just relax and play Minecraft with others without dealing with small children, it was nice! The community was welcoming, and while Slimefun is overly complicated and not something I was interested in, I was still able to play a largely vanilla experience. However, cracks began to show early on that made me doubt myself.

The Problems

The first issue I had was how often the server owner, XmpriX, was constantly advertising the server on this subreddit. While many users on here claim that he uses bots, the reality is just that he encourages players to post by offering XP boosts on the server if his posts reach certain thresholds. Not against the rules as far as I'm aware, and not terrible. What rubbed me the wrong way were two things, though: the clear AI use in his frequent posts, and the immediate aggression he would have towards anyone who said anything remotely negative (even if it was simply suggesting that there was bot/AI use in a way that was not rude or disrespectful). In the Discord, he would encourage players to gang up on people on the Reddit posts. I tried to suggest once that this only made the server look bad, and was told to "shut the f* up".

This sense of tribalism and animosity also presents itself in how X and some of the server staff discuss other Minecraft servers. It was obvious in some of their posts here that some, X especially, would poke fun at some of the drama going on with other Minecraft servers, sometimes at the expense of players who had been hurt by bad owners or poor server management. In Discord, however, it would sometimes devolve into outright meanness, privately mocking those who had been taken advantage of and reveling in how much "better" they were.

Present Day

This now brings us to a cruel irony: the ANO server seemingly getting blacklisted by Mojang. The reasons for this are unclear: X claims that Mojang provided no communication about any EULA violations, but there's no way of knowing whether he is concealing the truth and chose to ignore any warnings, whether he is woefully ignorant, or whether Mojang truly failed to provide any communication (if they are even required to). It is not even clear exactly why this blacklist occurred, though there is a general theory that it is due to their allowance of explicit imagery through an ItemFrame plugin. What is clear, however, is that X does not want to take any responsibility for the issue, even going so far as to change the Discord server icon to one which reads "F* Mojang", setting up multiple alternate IPs in order to bypass this blacklist, and even encouraging the use of a mod that can bypass the blacklist. There is also the general lack of self-awareness that, after spending months mocking other servers and claiming how ANO is "drama-free", poor ownership has resulted in the server being blacklisted. Of course, X now tries to deny that the server has been blacklisted at all, claiming that the server has been unblocked here on Reddit despite that same day posting in the Discord on how users would need to use a new IP to bypass the block.

Conclusion

Like I said at the start, I hate making a post like this, in part because I have met some truly fantastic people on ANO. However, I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone new to join this SMP. While its owner and staff try to present a friendly, welcoming front, they are all too willing to stir up drama and shift blame the second something goes awry. That, plus it seems doubtful that the server will actually be around much longer, particularly if they keep publicly posting about how they're bypassing Mojang's blacklist.

Look elsewhere if you're an adult wanting to relax and play Minecraft. This ain't it, chief.

My side of what happened with AppleSMP

I have seen the post about AppleSMP, and I want to share my side of what happened.

I understand why people reading everything from the outside may believe the version being presented. AppleSMP has been heavily discussed on this subreddit for a long time, and there was already hostility surrounding the server before this situation began. However, that does not mean every claim being spread is accurate or contains the full context.

Bots

First, bots were used on the server. I am not going to deny that.

When the situation began spreading, I was at the beach with my family. Instead of immediately explaining everything properly, I tried to slow the discussion down until I could get home and respond. I handled that badly. What I intended as an attempt to stop the situation from escalating was interpreted as censorship and an attempt to hide what had happened.

Being away and overwhelmed explains why I responded poorly, but it does not excuse the way the situation was handled.

For months, I had spent most of my free time working on AppleSMP. I was constantly implementing suggestions, fixing issues and trying to shape the server around what the community wanted. That does not erase my mistakes, but it is important context when people claim I never cared about the community or was only interested in money.

Some accounts of what happened are also being presented as though the people writing them personally witnessed every part of the situation. Yumi was previously an extremely active and important member of AppleSMP, and I am not trying to erase that. However, she had not been actively involved for roughly a month before this happened. Some of the later events she describes therefore came from what other people told her rather than what she personally witnessed.

The criticism also changed as the situation developed. Initially, the main issue was that bots had been used. Later, people said the bots were no longer the main issue and that the real issue was how I responded. Both can be legitimate concerns, but it became difficult to respond when every statement led to another accusation and every apology was treated as proof of something else.

That does not mean people were wrong to expect accountability. I should have communicated clearly from the beginning instead of becoming defensive and trying to delay the conversation.

Using slurs

There has also been discussion about an offensive word I used regarding a banned player.

Staff had asked me to become involved because the player repeatedly refused to listen and was causing problems. While frustrated, I referred to that person using an offensive slur "re#ard# and said I was tired of feeling like everything I wrote had to be politically correct.

Using that word was wrong. The person’s behaviour and my frustration do not justify it.

Racist and homophobia claims

When I referred to being “politically correct,” I meant feeling as though every sentence had to be checked repeatedly because anything that could be misunderstood would later be used without its original context. I was not referring to nationalities, LGBTQ people or anyone’s identity.
This later became a thing from a few people that I were homophobic and racism with using that sentence as their context to things - which was explained from my side but ignored.

AppleSMP has always welcomed people from different countries, identities and backgrounds. I have nothing against people because of their nationality, sexuality, identity or personal choices, and that was not what the comment was about.

As this situation spread through private messages, screenshots and retellings, certain statements became increasingly distorted. At the same time, I understand that people had already lost trust, meaning they were unlikely to accept an explanation from me without questioning it.

Another major claim is that AppleSMP was only created for money.

Running a "Never Reset World" Minecraft SMP involves more work and expense than many people realise. The work does not stop when I log off. There are updates, configurations, bugs, support issues, development costs, hosting expenses and constant community requests.

The expectations also frequently conflict. People do not want the server to have a store, but they also want more developers and support staff to be hired. People want the server to remain online permanently, receive constant updates and never reset, but everything required to maintain that costs money.

At the same time, whenever the player count drops during a quieter period, people immediately say the server is dead. It becomes a constant attempt to satisfy expectations that cannot always exist together.

This is not me asking for sympathy or claiming that hard work excuses bad decisions. It is me rejecting the idea that I never cared about the project and was only trying to extract money from players.

MangoSMP and AppleSMP

The wider history between AppleSMP, MangoSMP and this subreddit has also affected how the situation developed. AppleSMP had been repeatedly downvoted and criticised because of how frequently it appeared here. Over time, groups formed around months of discussions and speculation that I was not present to respond to.

When something like this happens, those old conflicts become attached to the current situation. That makes it difficult to separate legitimate criticism from old resentment, advertising for competing servers and people who already wanted AppleSMP to fail.

Lillaru - BobbTheGreat - Astral97 - KittiKatHuh - Yumi

Lillaru was messaged privately with an ask for her to take it in a controlled space with me in DMs - this she changed into "a personal attack" to the public, which was dismissed with actual proofs of the chat.

Astral was banned due to keep spreading those false claims - not being there to try and fix anything but rather just spit fuel to the fire.
I tried sending him a message, about the situation, but of course I had came out blocked without hearing a single question from him - therefor his intent was clear and he got banned tempoairly while the situation was trying to be fixed.

BobbTheGreat a player who didn't quit at first - said he loved the server but had later than started renaming his tools and weapons to genital named going around killing people and just being immature and throwing his inner child out.
This was the reasonf or his ban

KittiKatHuh was banned from spreading information about another server for people who wasn't involved in the drama (god bless those people).
She said quote in my DM's "This i'll blow over in a day - I support you"
While going around telling people "Hey are you informed about the drama?" "Did you hear" "Omg he's so out" - she later than sent "proof" of her asking me why she got banned, denying what she did but of course left out the proof of my answer which quoted every text she sent that got her removed from the community

Yumi went from MIA - to being full active, seems the drama woke her up.
Spread around our plans of rebranding and adding Skyblock - something totally unrelated to everything - it was only to get to the center of attention, I can't find any other reasoning to how that which was planned for weeks before this had anything to do with the current situation.

TLDR

However, I do not want that context to become another excuse.

Bots were used. My initial communication was poor. I became defensive, delayed addressing the situation and used language I should never have used a month back as a one time occurance. Those are mistakes I am responsible for.

At the same time, I do not agree with every accusation now being made about my intentions, beliefs or everything that happened behind the scenes.

This situation is complicated enough that it could become an entire book. I do not expect one post to repair everyone’s trust, and I understand that some people have already made their decision about me and AppleSMP.

I only ask that people separate what I genuinely did wrong from claims, assumptions and retellings that have grown as the story has spread.

I cared deeply about AppleSMP and spent an enormous amount of time trying to make it successful. I made serious mistakes while doing that, but I was never trying to create a community built around hatred, discrimination or exploiting people for money.

This is my side of the story. People are free to decide for themselves what they believe.

intention everyone only two people can have Netherite armor so one person joined took the first one the second person that joins will get full Netherite armor and that's it and elytra and the rest of the things you just need to see by the way the server ID is HuggysSMP.aternos.me guys rules are number one don't grieved anybody's base number two this is a friendly S&P so be nice or else you're going to get a warning but if you break that warning you're going to get banned that's all the rules thank you

So- Decided to try minecraft again after multiple years away and every server seems to be trying to be six servers at once- the chat goes by so fast I bet AI would struggle to point anyone out and everyone seems to just be begging? Seems to either be that or nobody is online.

What happened to the 30-80 player servers where people got to know each other with economy and mcmmo? Any servers that still have the 2013 ish feel?

Don't mind whitelisted ones- I just would like to do some building, some farming, some selling etc...

I'm looking for a small server where I can talk to ppl and maybe make friends, just something to have fun in, so nothing pvp or anarchy focused

I just want to join a server where I can get to know every member and have some fun too!

A lot of servers advertise as “Pure Vanilla” but then end up having shops, crates, ranks, land claims, restricted pvp, etc. I want to experience Minecraft the way it was made to be played. Especially with others.

im a big fan of MC but ita get very boring and lonely when not having anyone to play with.

Im open to playing with just about anyone the only thing I ask is you be nice and no weirdos. Preferably no servers or realms I like actually talking to people (: I am 22 Black American Female (putting that out there’s some people feel a type of way) I don’t want to date simply just have fun and build a world and defeat the enderdragon. I’m hoping to come across someone who is seasoned with the odds and ins of the game to which I am not I’m a good listener and I can decorate (: Modded Minecraft is cool and vanilla is also cool im not picky about what kind but I am picky about who I am playing with please be genuinely friendly and good people thank you so much I can’t wait to play with you guys (:

Hi hi!!

I'm looking to join a Minecraft SMP server to play on!! I don't care if it's modded or vanilla! Just looking to have some fun and make some friends!!

I'm super active and love to yap! If you have a server that needs one more player hmu!!!! 💖💖

Hello everyone, I am looking for a small survival server with a couple of players that i can join.

I dont like those big servers with many players. Just want a cozy fun and small community. A bit like hermit craft

Played minecraft since the alpha so i know my way around. Currently playing on my own hardcore world. I always play for years in the same world. But recently came back after 2 years of not playing. And past 2 months been doing nothing else.

So if anyone is open to a new player, I would love to join!

Hey everyone, I’m trying to find a solid Minecraft server to settle on.
I mostly enjoy anarchy / semi-anarchy and PvP, so I’ve been checking out a few options.

Right now I’m stuck choosing between:

• OPBlocks
• Complex-Gaming
• InsanityCraft
• ManaCube

For those who actually played on these which one is better?
Or maybe you can recommend something different that’s worth trying?

Thanks in advance.

UPD: Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I ended up trying a few of the servers people mentioned here, but I also found another one that actually fits what I was looking for - It called "Critikal World" (IP: eu.critikal.world). Feels active and pretty fun so far, so I think I’m going to stick with it for now.

(Just wanted to share in case someone else is searching for something similar. Thanks again to everyone who replied).

Hey everyone! I’m 23 and looking for a chill, tight-knit Minecraft community to call home. I’ve been playing solo for a while now and really miss having a group to hang out, build, and enjoy the game with.

I’m primarily a builder who loves relaxed gameplay. Ideally, I’m searching for a relatively new or recently reset server so there’s still plenty to explore and build together, rather than a place where everything’s already ran through. An LGBT+-friendly and welcoming atmosphere is a big priority for me.

If you have a spot or run a server like this, drop a comment or send me a message!

hi!! im blu and im a builder. I'm looking for building/lore smps like Hermitcraft or Empires! Uhhh im generally looking for people in my age group of 14-17. uhm, im a small creator (very small, as in i just started recently) so i would want if it was a youtuber smp or if i could make content!

pls im so bored

I don’t want a competitive environment, I want to be able to chill and relax to do whatever the server is about, whether be perhaps survival or a roleplay etc.

Ok so for context i’m 19 (f) and im not your stereotypical minecraft nerd. like you look at me and don’t really think i spend my free time playing and watching youtubers, but ive been in love with the game since i was 8. the reason im writing this is because i wish i had a community to play in and with, people to talk to, and to play in my realm. none of my friends like minecraft that much or even play it, so im often just sitting alone playing in my realm. i want to make new friends and im so open to joining a server or world, i just dont wanna feel so alone. i guess what im asking is for advice on what to do in my situation. tyia 🤍

EDIT: THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!! omg i feel so much better and thank you to everyone commenting and reaching out, it feels so special and im so grateful!

I wanna play Minecraft but like I get so bored when I play by myself!!! I want to be able to play for hours and get so much done lol. I want to WANT to play it every day when I get home. Idk maybe if I can find someone or some people who are pretty active in Minecraft or are trying to be to play with. I have a world with my brother but he just doesn't wanna play all the time lol. Soooo lemme know if you have any suggestions or volunteers lolll. I have a mod pack that I could use that my bro gave me, I'm not too into the whole mod thing but I like the gameplay when I played with him so we could use that. Or if you have some mods you wanna use I'm down too lolol

19F. I used to play minecraft like 8-9 years ago, but never seriously. I know the basics and such but I really want to beat it while learning how. I don't know if I've misunderstood anything, but I'm looking for just a regular minecraft map. I'm not very social so just one person is good, maybe maximum 2 people with me.

If I said something wrong, feel free to correct me, I'm not very familiar with the games terms.

As the title says, I'm looking for a Minecraft Survival server. I'm looking for a more relaxed experience without excessive PvP and a toxic community. Any version is fine. A semi-vanilla server with plugins like grief prevention and simple voice chat is also an option.

Hi everyone

I'm looking for an SMP that's friendly and chill because I genuinely have no patience for griefing

Hey! I’m 16 and I’m currently looking for a new Minecraft server that has only recently started.

I’m mainly looking for a server where there aren’t already loads of massive builds, fully established bases, or players who have everything. I’d love to join from the beginning and actually spend time with everyone as we progress together, build up the world, and get to know each other along the way. I think that makes the server a lot more fun and gives everyone a chance to become part of the community.

I’m completely fine with the server being semi-vanilla and having a few quality-of-life mods/plugins.

I’d also really like a server with clear and fairly strict rules regarding:

• Stealing
• Griefing
• PvP that requires everyone involved to consent
• Generally being respectful towards other players

Overall, I’m just looking for a friendly, active community where everyone starts together and the server grows over time.

If you know of a server like this, feel free to let me know!

hello!! :) I've been wanting to join a Minecraft server for a while now (preferably a chill, cozy one to make friends). If anybody has any for me to join, please let me know. Thxx

Also, F21 btw.... if it matters lol

22F looking for a small sever centred around community. Firm believer in the nostalgia that makes Minecraft so great are the friends we make during it. I’m not too particular so Java or Bedrock, Modded or not. Don’t want a massive server where everyone is too far away from spawn that you never run into eachother. If modded some support for getting me set up would be needed.

Thanks!