Eaglercraft is a fully web-based Minecraft clone that can’t be easily blocked by web filtering solutions like GoGuardian and Securly.
Aside from the distraction of having students play Minecraft with one another during the school day, the Eaglercraft game has an internal web browser that can be used to gain unfiltered internet access on district-managed Chromebooks.
Multiple IT admins have contacted me asking for help in responding to this new, and very creative un-filtered game.
The Eaglercraft problem
Security risks aside, Eaglercraft features brilliant coding work that took years to develop. This full-featured Minecraft game can run as a 10 MB HTML file and doesn’t require an internet connection.
Eaglercraft was published as an open-source GitHub project which means anyone can copy and duplicate it, making it virtually impossible to block via traditional web filters.
Because Eaglercraft is such a small, portable file, students can easily email it to one another or share it via a USB drive; and because it can run locally and doesn’t require an internet connection, your web filter can’t see or block it.
Wow!
The Eaglercraft solution
Fortunately, there is a pretty simple solution to the Eaglercreaft problem that involves blocking Javascript on locally run files through the Google Admin Console.
Simply add “file:///*” to block Javascript from running on local files.
Path: Devices > Chrome > Settings > User & Browsers > Content > JavaScript
Note: that is NOT a typo…you need “///” for this policy to work correctly.
With this setting in place, Eaglercraft will open, but can’t proceed past the initial countdown screen.
Google Admin tips and resources
Eaglercraft is just the latest challenge for IT administrators. If you need to level up your use of the Google Admin console, add your name to the waitlist for the Google Admin Bootcamp and Chromebook Academy.
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