2b2t

2builders2tools (2b2t) is a "Minecraft" server founded in December 2010. 2b2t is the oldest anarchy server in "Minecraft", as well as one of the oldest running "Minecraft" servers of any variety. Additionally, 2b2t's world is one of the longest-running unaltered server maps in the game, which has never been reset since its creation. As the server has virtually no rules or authority, griefing and hacking are common amongst players, with no risk of getting banned. The server is permanently set to the "hard" difficulty, and player versus player combat is always possible. The server has seen over 639,000 players explore its procedurally generated map, increasing its file size to over 10.3 terabytes. 2b2t has been described in news media as the worst "Minecraft" server due to its playerbase and culture.
History.
In a "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" article by Brendan Caldwell, 2b2t player James Rustles stated about the server's origin:
The 2b2t "Minecraft" server was founded in December 2010. The founders are anonymous, choosing to remain unknown or known only via usernames; the most prominent founder is commonly referred to as "Hausemaster" or "Hausmaster", who was described as "a quasi-mythical figure both praised and trolled" by Roisin Kiberd from "Newsweek". After being asked by "Vice" journalist Andrew Paul via email in 2015, the server operator stated:
The server was advertised shortly after its creation on online forums such as 4chan, Facepunch Studios, and Reddit, whose users populated the server by the hundreds due to the total freedom it offered. Members from different forums raided each other and their bases on the server. The founders eventually stopped playing "Minecraft", though the server remained online due to the large player base that had been formed. Except in fixing game-breaking exploits, the server operator is relatively hands-off in administrating the server. A subreddit was created by a player on March 25, 2012. In June 2013, the file size of 2b2t's world map, which is procedurally generated, was reported to be over 500 gigabytes. In October 2015, storage usage had increased to almost 800 gigabytes, with the server costing a month to maintain.
On June 1, 2016, YouTuber 'TheCampingRusher' uploaded a YouTube video of himself playing on 2b2t. This caused a massive influx of new players from the channel's audience, who were at first mostly tourists, as the video gained over two million views in less than four months from its upload. The sudden influx overwhelmed the server and strained the hardware used to host and run it. A loose group of older players came together against these new players. Although the new players, who called themselves "Rushers", largely outnumbered the older players at the time, these older players had years of experience and resources. Some older players deterred new players by destroying the spawn-in area to make it uninhabitable and extremely challenging to proceed from. Some players built in-game contraptions designed solely to overload the server, with the intent of making it difficult for TheCampingRusher and his fans to play on it. Some placed obscene content around the spawn area and along player-built roads in an attempt to get TheCampingRusher's YouTube videos taken down due to violations of YouTube's terms of service. The new players, despite having been discouraged to do so by TheCampingRusher, had destroyed bases and monuments on the server that had stood for years, which is partially what had caused such a response from the player base. When Kiberd from "Newsweek" asked Hausemaster if he disapproved of the massive influx of new players, he responded by saying that "2b2t is definitely not ruined—in my opinion it's how it should be: absolutely chaotic."
In response to the inundated server and hardware, a queue to enter the server was added. The queue gave earlier 2b2t players a priority over the newer players, although this feature was removed after a year. The regular queue moves slowly and can contain over a thousand players. Waiting in the queue has been described as an onerous task. Players can pay to access a separate, "priority" queue for one month. 
As of February 2021, according to 2b2t's official subreddit (containing over 160,000 members), the file size of the server's map is more than 10.3 terabytes from over 639,000 unique players who have joined the server.
Culture.
The culture of 2b2t, as well as Minecraft anarchy servers in general, is inhospitable and nihilistic. Players usually need to hide supplies and be armed in order to survive, and can expect to be killed several times. This is exacerbated by the server being set to "hard" difficulty and player versus player combat being enabled, making survival considerably harder. Longtime players are often hostile to new players on the server, whom they often call "". The server-wide chat often contains spam, trolling, and trash talking, as well as racial slurs, death threats, and Nazi propaganda. Links to obscene content and screamer videos are also common. Players lie to others with the intent of sending them to in-game locations with traps. A common rule among players is to not trust others.
Traps are deliberately placed surrounding the area where players first join the server: pits of lava, areas lit on fire, and portals that lead to lava or enclosed areas of obsidian that force players to disconnect and reconnect, waiting through the queue again. Some players create large obstacles called "lava casts", in which water and lava are repeatedly poured down staircases of stone, creating mountains of jagged stone. These structures surround the spawn area and many are as tall as the map's height limit. There have occasionally been events in which dozens of players come together to take control of spawn for a time, in order to build a large base, kill many new players, or destroy other bases, which are most often referred to as "spawn incursions". Inexperienced players may need many attempts and multiple hours to escape the spawn area, where resources have been consumed for thousands of blocks in any direction. The most common cause of death is starvation from being unable to escape the spawn area. A player may last around 1,500 blocks of travel without food before dying of starvation. Roisin Kiberd of "Newsweek" speculated that enduring the challenge may be part of the appeal of 2b2t: since "nobody survives for long, there is a pride in having died there."
Experienced players reside far away from the spawn area in relative safety to play the game and build. The map is less destroyed further away from spawn, allowing for trees and animals. Player-built roads are used to travel out from spawn. The server has no etiquette regarding ownership; anything that is built can be destroyed at any time if found by other players. This destruction, known as griefing, is so commonplace on the server that Brendan Caldwell of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" described it as being "just a form of weather". Despite this culture of hostility and destruction, there is an event every April Fools' Day in which the server changes to a different map for a few days and players can come together and cooperate. 
Players often use a "hacked client", which is an altered version of "Minecraft" featuring abilities that are not in the default game client, such as X-ray vision, improved bow aim, and radar. These clients help immensely in allowing the player to navigate the environment and survive. Players without these clients are at a disadvantage.
Reception.
2b2t is known as the worst "Minecraft" server. Both Robert Guthrie of "Kotaku" and Andrew Paul of "Vice" have named the server the worst in "Minecraft". Paul described the server as a "fantastical world of possibility and horror." Brendan Caldwell of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" described 2b2t as the game's "most obscene server." In June 2012, Craig Pearson of "PCGamesN" called it "Minecraft"s most offensive server, noting 2b2t's callousness and obscenity in the form of language, swastikas, and its hostile player base. In 2013, a "PCGamesN" article by Jeremy Peel announced "Minecraft"s built-in server hosting service, "Minecraft Realms", and mentioned that it would keep children away from 2b2t, an implication of the server's unsafe environment. In 2014, Tim Edwards wrote in a "PCGamesN" article addressing Microsoft about their purchase of "Minecraft" that they shouldn't get "prissy" about player-made creations, stating that "2b2t is still an amazing achievement, with or without the swastikas."
In 2016, on both "Newsweek" and "The Independent", Roisin Kiberd described 2b2t as a malevolent form of "Minecraft", a place of beauty and terror. Kiberd called the server "hell", stating that it is "not safe for life", as the server gives "free rein to [players'] darkest impulses." Kiberd concluded that the main appeal of playing on the server comes from learning the possibilities of a server with few limits, as well as enduring its hostile environment. Kiberd also noted that there is a so-called "meta-narrative" above 2b2t, involving players using YouTube and Reddit to share analysis and commentary about in-server events. A 2013 "IGN" article and video listed 2b2t's spawn area as one of the six best things in "Minecraft", describing the server as the "end boss" of "Minecraft" servers, a celebration of destruction and indifference. The article noted 2b2t's propensity towards griefing, the use of hacked clients, and player-built obscenities; and stated that players with a thick skin should visit 2b2t at least once.
From September 8, 2018, to February 24, 2019, 2b2t was featured in the "Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt" exhibition of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition aimed to explore video games and their designing process, as well as how they captivate players and the social and ethical issues around them. "Minecraft" was heavily featured in the third section of the exhibition, which focused on games in which players "become creators and designers themselves, often as part of large online communities". 2b2t represented this aspect of "Minecraft", which exhibited alongside 15 other video games. The server was described as being "littered with archaeological remnants of its history... a palimpsest of a landscape, written over and re-written over by feuds between players, hacks injecting vast structures into the world, and by different waves of Internet communities arriving and rampaging or attempting to settle within it."
2b2t also featured in an episode of the Swedish podcast "P3 Spel" ("P3 Games") of "Sveriges Radio", which described 2b2t as "Minecraft"'s "most talked-about" server, and how, throughout its history, it has become the "witch's cauldron of chaos" it is today.
Books.
In "Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development", published by Pearson Education in August 2017, 2b2t was described as being a "barren hellscape", with its nature being the "ultimate expression of the core mechanic of the game," referring to "Minecraft's" open-ended sandbox nature. "The Ultimate Minecraft Creator", published by "Triumph Books" in July 2014, stated that despite 2b2t's offensive language and behavior, griefing, and cheating, the server can be fun for some players:
"Master Builder 3.0 Advanced" and "Ultimate Guide to Mastering Minigames and Servers", published by "Triumph Books" in April 2015 and April 2016 respectively, both stated that 2b2t "sits among online royalty when it comes to public ["Minecraft"] servers."