First Join Message: Custom Greetings for New Minecraft Players

First Join Message: Welcome New Players the Smart Way

If you run a Minecraft server or a curated single-player world, the first few seconds after someone logs in matter more than most mechanics in the game. New players are scanning chat, checking their inventory, and trying to figure out where they are. A calm, clear line of text can set the tone, explain the rules, or drop a little lore without forcing anyone through a wall of signs. That is exactly what the First Join Message mod is built for: a minimal, configurable way to greet people who are joining a world for the very first time.

What First Join Message Does (and Why Servers Love It)

First Join Message is a small customization mod from Serilum’s ecosystem that fires a one-time message when a player joins a world for the first time. Think of it as a soft tutorial beat or a polite briefing, not a spammy broadcast every time someone respawns. You can keep things immersive with a short story beat, or go practical with links-free reminders about griefing policies, chat etiquette, or how your minigame hub works.

There is also an optional server-wide broadcast when a brand-new player appears. That can help your community notice newcomers, greet them in chat, or route them toward a guide without mods that overhaul the entire join flow.

Dependencies, Modpacks, and Where It Fits

This mod expects the library mod Collective to be present. If you are assembling a lightweight server-side stack, add Collective first, then layer First Join Message on top. It also shows up in curated collections like The Vanilla Experience modpack and Serilum’s Customization Bundle mod, which is handy if you want a coherent set of tweaks that still feels close to vanilla Minecraft.

When you are pulling mods together for a fresh instance, juggling versions and loaders can eat time you would rather spend on biomes, builds, and gameplay loops. If you want a smoother workflow, this mod can be easily installed via the foxygame.net launcher, a convenient, flexible, and modern Minecraft launcher where you can download mods right from the menu, so your first-join setup stays quick to iterate as your server evolves.

Configuration: Messages, Colors, and Placeholders

Most of the power is in a straightforward config. You do not need a degree in redstone logic to tune it; you are mostly editing strings and picking a color index that maps to Minecraft’s classic text formatting palette.

• firstJoinMessage (default: You wake up in an unfamiliar place.): The private message a new player sees on their first join. Leave it empty to disable. Use %s where you want the player’s name to appear.
• firstJoinMessageTextFormattingColourIndex (default: 2, range 0–15): Sets the color for that first-join message using the numeric indices below.
• serverBroadcastMessage (default: empty): Optional broadcast everyone sees when a new player arrives. Leave empty to turn it off. Again, %s can stand in for the new player’s name.
• serverBroadcastMessageTextFormattingColourIndex (default: 3, range 0–15): Color for the broadcast line.

Color Index Cheat Sheet (Config-Friendly)

These values line up with TextFormatting-style colors, which makes it easy to match your server’s branding or your modpack’s UI tone:

• 0 black, 1 dark_blue, 2 dark_green, 3 dark_aqua, 4 dark_red, 5 dark_purple
• 6 gold, 7 gray, 8 dark_gray, 9 blue, 10 green, 11 aqua
• 12 red, 13 light_purple, 14 yellow, 15 white

In practice, many admins pick a calm aqua or green for rules, gold for a “welcome aboard” vibe, or yellow for something that needs to be readable without feeling like a warning siren.

Tips for Writing a Great First Join Line

Keep your first message short enough to read in one glance, especially on busy servers where chat moves fast. If you need depth, split it: one immersive line for the first join message, and a separate broadcast that nudges veterans to say hello. Mention concrete next steps (“type /spawn”, “read the rules hall at coordinates X/Y/Z”, “ask a mod before claiming land”) so players know what to do with their first minute in your world.

Because this mod is intentionally minimal, it plays nicely with other quality-of-life tweaks without rewriting core join mechanics. That makes it a strong choice for survival communities, RPG-lite worlds, and minigame lobbies where you want onboarding without heavy UI mods.

Permissions, Packs, and Practical Notes

According to the author’s distribution notes, you may freely use this mod in modpacks as long as the download stays hosted within the CurseForge ecosystem. For deeper documentation across Serilum’s mods, the author points readers to Serilum.com, and for bug reports or ideas, to the project’s GitHub repository.

Conclusion

First Join Message is a tidy Minecraft customization that turns an empty first login into a deliberate moment. With Collective in place, a few config strings, and sensible color choices, you can welcome newcomers, share server rules, or set story expectations without touching complex command blocks or bloated join plugins. Whether you are polishing a private realm or tuning a public server, that first chat line is a small block in your build that supports a much bigger community experience.

--- **Update Aug 25, 2026:** Added 1 file for version 26.2 (Fabric).