Players running newer versions of the game (from 1.8 onward) should be able to join, as well as Bedrock players ("crossplay").
The reason we run it in an older version, is that at the time of writing, approx 1/3 of players still run older versions of MC. A significant proportion of players still run version 1.8 and will only play on servers which are 1.8 compatible. There are various reasons for that, but the main one is that combat mechanics were changed from version 1.9 onward. Many players prefer “classic” combat style.
Making our server 1.8-compatible still allows newer versions to join.
