We will no longer be allowing people to connect to Loka via VPN's. There are various reasons for this, but the overarching concept behind it is to future proof the server and ensure we can handle growth without also tripping our staff up hunting down alts and alt-reports.
There are two non-malicious reasons people currently join with VPN's. The first is for their own security, which is understandable considering how sketch many of the PvP servers out there are. They appear to leak personal info all the time, including IP addresses and other personal information. We believe Loka has shown how professionally and seriously we take things over the 9+ years it has been running. Beyond the two server owners, nobody else has access to sensitive information such as IP addresses and they are only accessed by the owners when required as evidence for rule breaks. We take security and personal info very seriously.
The second is to get a better connection to the server. The vast majority of the time a VPN will make your connection worse as it will take a longer route to reach the server. The only time the connection is improved is if there is an issue with the normal route you take. This is due to internet infrastructure issues and not the server. We have, however, made some changes to Loka lately to improve routing to the server so that players rarely see routing issues in regional areas. While this problem will never go away, it should be solved in most cases.
VPN's are most commonly used for more malicious reasons and this is why we feel the need to prevent them. They are used to both alt and ban evade. With how easy it is to obtain Minecraft accounts this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue and it's harming the in-game experience for others. As of now, we feel that except for special cases, VPNs no longer have a place on Loka. In addition, this is pretty common practice for notable servers.
We do recognize that some will have a valid use-case for using VPNs or there will be false positives. As such, we are preparing a means by which players can formally request to be whitelisted from our VPN detection. In the meantime, if for some reason you are not on a VPN but are being blocked from connecting, feel free to DM Magpie or Cryptite and we'll take a look.
There are two non-malicious reasons people currently join with VPN's. The first is for their own security, which is understandable considering how sketch many of the PvP servers out there are. They appear to leak personal info all the time, including IP addresses and other personal information. We believe Loka has shown how professionally and seriously we take things over the 9+ years it has been running. Beyond the two server owners, nobody else has access to sensitive information such as IP addresses and they are only accessed by the owners when required as evidence for rule breaks. We take security and personal info very seriously.
The second is to get a better connection to the server. The vast majority of the time a VPN will make your connection worse as it will take a longer route to reach the server. The only time the connection is improved is if there is an issue with the normal route you take. This is due to internet infrastructure issues and not the server. We have, however, made some changes to Loka lately to improve routing to the server so that players rarely see routing issues in regional areas. While this problem will never go away, it should be solved in most cases.
VPN's are most commonly used for more malicious reasons and this is why we feel the need to prevent them. They are used to both alt and ban evade. With how easy it is to obtain Minecraft accounts this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue and it's harming the in-game experience for others. As of now, we feel that except for special cases, VPNs no longer have a place on Loka. In addition, this is pretty common practice for notable servers.
We do recognize that some will have a valid use-case for using VPNs or there will be false positives. As such, we are preparing a means by which players can formally request to be whitelisted from our VPN detection. In the meantime, if for some reason you are not on a VPN but are being blocked from connecting, feel free to DM Magpie or Cryptite and we'll take a look.
