MOTDGate

MOTDGate is a small Paper plugin that hides a server's normal MOTD from addresses that have never successfully joined. It is intended to let another MOTD plugin continue managing the normal server list response while returning a safe, configurable response to ping-only scanners.

Behavior

• A new address sees the configured safe MOTD, and by default no favicon, player sample, or player count, in the server list.
• After a player at that address successfully joins, future pings from it are left untouched.
• The ping listener runs at HIGHEST priority and changes only configured response fields. Protocol and version information are not changed.
• GameSpy 4 basic and full queries are gated when enable-query=true. Because that protocol does not support Adventure components, its safe MOTD is the plain-text form of motd. When enabled, the player-count and player-sample settings report 0/0 and no players, respectively.
• There are no commands or permissions.

Configure the response in plugins/MOTDGate/config.yml using MiniMessage:

motd: "A Minecraft Server"

# If true, use plugins/MOTDGate/icon.png.
# If the file is missing, send no favicon.
replace-icon: true

# Hide the player-list hover/sample (and GameSpy full-query player list) from unknown addresses.
hide-player-sample: true

# Hide online/max player counts, showing ??? (or 0/0 in GameSpy queries).
hide-player-count: true

Restart the server after changing the configuration. To forget all known addresses, stop the server and delete plugins/MOTDGate/known-addresses.txt.

Stored data

MOTDGate stores only keyed HMAC-SHA-256 values derived from IP address bytes. It does not store raw addresses, ports, player names, UUIDs, or timestamps. A random key is generated at plugins/MOTDGate/secret.key; keep that file private and do not delete it unless you also want to invalidate all known-address records. Records do not expire automatically.

The HMACs are a data-minimization measure, not a guarantee that they are legally anonymous data.

Limitations

MOTDGate is not access control and does not prevent clients from connecting. Addresses can change, and multiple people behind NAT share one public address. Consequently, one successful join recognizes that whole public address, while a player whose address changes will see the safe MOTD until joining again.