On March 20th the world's oldest Minecraft server went offline. It's common for a Minecraft server to disappear overnight, but 2b2t hasn't failed. It hasn't been hacked and deleted. The reason, quite simply is that 2b2t has grown too large. At nearly 4000 GB it has outgrown its existing server. 2b2t is just moving.

At the time of this writing a temporary server is available with one unfamiliar feature: 2b2t's new world is small. Players are exploring a world that's just 30% larger than Liberty Minecraft. The temporary world is 8000x8000 blocks.



2b2t is far more popular than Liberty Minecraft, with 40-80 players online at any time. 2b2t will log more than one thousand hours a day, generating as much activity in one week as Liberty Minecraft achieves in six months.

Shimmering blue lines indicate a world border as pictured below.



2b2t's temporary server represents an interesting (albeit limited) opportunity. I decided to play anthropologist; to discover how the world's oldest and most disturbing Minecraft community gets on in a world of scarce resources.
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