How to Customize Your Minecraft Server MOTD (Message of the Day)

Your server's MOTD (Message of the Day) is the first thing players see when they look at their multiplayer server list. Having a clean, colorful, and inviting MOTD is one of the best ways to grab players' attention and make your server stand out.

This guide will show you how to customize your MOTD using basic vanilla formatting, and how to use advanced plugins for modern features like RGB gradients and custom server icons.

Method 1: The Vanilla Method (Basic Formatting)

The standard way to change your MOTD is through the main configuration file.

1. Go to your Cubes Hosting Game Panel and open the File Manager.
2. Locate the server.properties file in your root directory and open it for editing.
3. Find the line that starts with motd=. By default, it looks like this:

   motd=A Minecraft Server
   

4. Change the text to your desired message.
5. Save the file and Restart your server to apply.

Using Colors and Formatting Codes

Vanilla Minecraft supports colors and formatting (bold, italic, etc.) in the MOTD, but you must use Unicode escape characters (\u00A7) followed by the color code rather than standard section signs (§) or ampersands (&).

Here are some common codes:

• \u00A7a - Light Green
• \u00A7b - Aqua / Light Blue
• \u00A7c - Red
• \u00A7d - Light Purple
• \u00A7e - Yellow
• \u00A7f - White
• \u00A7l - Bold
• \u00A7n - Underline
• \u00A7r - Reset Formatting

Example MOTD with color and bolding:

motd=\u00A7a\u00A7lCubes Hosting \u00A7f| \u00A7eAwesome Survival Server!

This will display as: Cubes Hosting | Awesome Survival Server!

Tip: Typing out unicode codes by hand can be a bit tedious. We are currently developing our own custom MOTD generator tool here at Cubes to make this process seamless. In the meantime, you can easily construct your MOTD using the codes listed above!

Method 2: Advanced MOTDs using MiniMOTD (Recommended)

If you want a modern-looking server list with RGB gradient text, multiple randomized MOTDs, and custom hover messages, the vanilla configuration is too limited. Instead, we highly recommend using a free plugin called MiniMOTD (available for Paper, Purpur, Velocity, and BungeeCord).

MiniMOTD uses MiniMessage formatting, which is extremely easy to write.

How to set up MiniMOTD:

1. Download the MiniMOTD jar and place it into your server's plugins folder.
2. Restart your server to generate the configuration files.
3. Open plugins/MiniMOTD/main.conf in your File Manager.
4. Customize your MOTDs using simple tags like <rainbow> or <gradient:color1:color2>.

Example MiniMessage code:

motds = [
{
line1 = "<gradient:green:blue><bold>Cubes Hosting Network</bold></gradient>"
line2 = "<yellow>Join today for custom survival & skyblock!"
}
]

This will automatically create a beautiful color transition from green to blue on the first line!