Minecraft players who build their creations in the Java edition of the game now have a new feature to use when interacting with other players online. The new feature is called the "Social Interactions Screen" and will allow players to make it so that they don't have to see any communications from a particular player in their server anymore. Mojang also updated the way blocked players are handled so that players can play Minecraft in piece even more so than before.

Now available to Minecraft players in the Java edition of the game, the Social Interactions Screen is one that was previewed before in an early build for the 1.16.4 update. It was immediately met with a positive reception from Minecraft players who praised the addition of a mute function so they could block out players in multiplayer servers. Such options have been available via workarounds in the past, but never before has it been naturally integrated into this version of the game like this.

To use the feature, you press "P" by default on your keyboard to open the Social Interactions Screen. From there, you can choose to block chats from different players. Leaving the server will reset those mutes though, so you'll have to do it again if you rejoin.

Minecraft players will also recall Mojang's plans to integrate Microsoft accounts into the login process until that's the only way for players to sign into all versions of the game. Some of the benefits of this transition were made evident in the patch notes with block lists associated with those Microsoft accounts now working in the Java edition as well.

The patch notes for the latest update detailing those changes and more can be found below:

Minecraft Java Edition 1.16.4 Patch Notes

Social Interactions Screen

• A new screen available in Multiplayer which shows a list of all players on a server so you can hide chat from any player.
• Opens with a configurable key binding, by default P
• Which players are hidden resets when you disconnect from a server

Blocked Players

• When logging in with a Microsoft account, players blocked in your account are now also blocked in the game, and account restrictions are now respected
• Chat from blocked players is always hidden
• Realms invites from blocked players are hidden

Fixed Bugs in 1.16.4

• MC-192434 - Netherite leggings are textured weirdly
• MC-199487 - WorldGen Deadlock
• MC-201885 - Divide by zero error in the Ender Dragon entity class can cause a server crash and infinite velocity
• MC-202147 - Cursor in Social Interactions & Recipe Book & Anvil menu doesn't blink