There was a time when r/Minecraft was, in its own wiki's words, "entirely dedicated to this server." The server was Reddit Public, later renamed nerd.nu, and it is the reason a lot of early Minecraft players learned multiplayer at all. The subreddit moved on. The server didn't. It calls itself "the oldest Minecraft community still running," and it has the receipts.
2010: a server for a subreddit
The first Creative revision opened on March 14, 2010, when the game was still in its classic phase. Survival followed on November 3, 2010, PvE on January 17, 2011, and a short-lived War server that April. On October 10, 2010, the staff made r/mcpublic as the community's own home, right as r/Minecraft was exploding: the wiki notes the subreddit's impressions went from 15,000 in July 2010 to 3.8 million by that September. A day later, a head-ops team of four and ten moderators was formed, and the shape of the community was set.
That structure is still the point. Nerd.nu has never sold ranks. It runs on donations, is administered by volunteers, and publishes its policies on a wiki that anyone can read. When jeb_, Minecraft's lead developer, dropped in on the PvE server on October 1, 2015, he posted afterwards that it "made his evening."
Creative Revision 1 opens as Reddit Public.
r/mcpublic is created; the leadership team forms the next day.
Survival, Chaos, PvE and War servers open. Chaos and War eventually close.
jeb_ visits PvE.
Creative is on Revision 38 and PvE on Revision 31, running Minecraft 1.21.10.
What's there now
A survival world with player towns, rail lines and no PvP. Griefing is a ban. Each revision runs for months, then a new map begins and the old one is archived.
WorldEdit, protections and plots for any build. Revision 38 is live.
A tradition since 2010: on a Creative map's final day, griefing is allowed, and the community tears its own world down before the reset.
The wiki is honest about what's been lost: early forums are gone, Reddit threads deleted, some years thinly documented. But the maps themselves are catalogued revision by revision, with the towns, rail networks and events of each, which is more history than most servers keep.
Where it stands right now:
Live from our pinger · checked 5 min ago
How to join
Add p.nerd.nu for survival or c.nerd.nu for creative, on the current Minecraft version. Read the rules on the wiki first: no griefing, no PvP outside arenas. There's nothing to buy and nobody to impress, which is the whole appeal.
For the other server that opened in 2010 and never reset its map, read MinecraftOnline. Browse more on our PvE servers list.
Quick answers
What are the nerd.nu server addresses?
p.nerd.nu for PvE survival and c.nerd.nu for Creative, on the current Java version.
Does nerd.nu sell ranks?
No. It has never sold ranks or perks. It runs on donations and volunteer staff.
What happens when a revision ends?
The map is archived and a new one starts. The wiki documents each revision, so nothing is truly lost.
Is PvP allowed?
Not on PvE, except in arenas. Griefing is a ban on both servers.
Sources
Player counts, votes and uptime on this page are live from our own checks. Everything else comes from the sources above. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
