Your server's MOTD has about two seconds to earn a click in the server list. Most of us edit it blind: change motd= in server.properties , restart, open the multiplayer screen, squint, repeat. I did this loop for two years before I finally sat down and learned how the formatting system actually works — and then I built a designer tool around it so nobody has to do the blind loop again. The 30-second version of Minecraft color codes Formatting in MOTDs (and chat, and item names...