When I try to connect, i get the following message: "Failed to log in: The authentication servers are currently down for maintenance". It even says this while i try to direct connect to different smps on emc. any ideas what the problem is?
That would require offline servers, and then EMC would have to keep passwords per-player, it wouldn't be a great system IMO. Anyways, just don't log off.
Fun fact: you can set a server to "offline mode" in the configuration and it won't check users with Mojang's servers. This has the benefit of not relying on their server's being up but means that anyone using an unofficial client could join and impersonate someone else. Often times, it is used to allow players who illegally obtained the game to join.