Can anyone please explain minecraft multiplayer to me??

Daveswife

Just bought my son the full version of minecraft, was expecting him to be able to go straight onto multiplayer game like other online games, but I am being confused by LANs and servers? What do I have to do to get him started on multiplayer??

Many thanks,

DW

Johnmcl7

Is it pc or Xbox? Are anybody his friends playing it?

bealimar

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Is it pc or Xbox? Are anybody his friends playing it?

My son plays on PC. He meets school friends and they play and chat away via Skype. He loves it.

Daveswife

He is playing it on PC. I don't think any of his friends play the full game.

DW

Johnmcl7

Minecraft multiplayer is different to many other multiplayer games as the world is persistent and generally the players are all co-operative as they progressively build the world together. That's why it's good to play with friends or at least people that will get on well together, there are measures on servers to avoid people destroying other people's constructions and items but they don't always work nor does it make for a good atmosphere.

If your son doesn't have any friends playing the game, is he on any forums which have their own private server? Failing that you can find lists of minecraft servers and what they offer on Minecraft forums and try a few out to see how it goes and when he finds one he likes he can stay there.

John

Agrajag

I think the crucial thing is the difference in servers between Minecraft and most 'normal' multiplayer games.

In most multiplayer games (e.g. World of Warcraft), the publisher sets up public servers and the game automatically logs into them

In Minecraft there are no centralised servers like that. Instead individuals set up and run informal servers themselves. So instead of a central (game controlled) list of servers, there are thousands, some totally public, many restricted or private, which is where the confusion lies. It puzzled me too.

Search for Public Minecraft Server or similar and you should find a few. We started on the PCGamer server, though I have no idea if it still exists. (google it)

Or as suggested above, look for some Minecraft forums, and they are bound to have lists of servers to try.
They will be in the form of an IP address with a port number (e.g. 86.109.33.22:25565). This is the number you are asked for when clicking Muiltiplayer in Minecraft

In fact it is remarkably easy to set up your own server. It is just another program on the Minecraft download page. You run this and it sits running on your computer. You can them log into it from the same computer (use 127.0.0.1:25565 as the server address), or from another computer on your home network if you have one (use the server computer's address - something like 192.168.2.3:25565 - the 25565 is the default port number for Minecraft: it will be this unless you explicitly change it.)

External players will also be able to access the server, if you allow them through your router's firewall - this gets more complex, (google Port Forwarding). There is a file called serverproperties(.txt I think) in the Minecraft server directory which has options you can edit and set. They have fairly obvious names, and again googlic Mienecraft ServerProperties will explain.

I set this up initially for my son (11yrs) about six months ago. We set it up as whitelisted, which means that only people he specifically approves can log on (their usernames must be added to a text file). Now he understands it all and manages it himself (and has learned all about IP addresses and password whitelists/blacklists along the way). He has also built a really rather impressive city...

It is also possible to copy single player worlds into the server directory so that they become multiplayer worlds.

Good Luck

Haffiana

Yes, my son has run his own server for this game for a while now - he is a little older than Agrajag's son, and set it up himself (although I eventually had to install Windows on his Mac for it as it seemed to consistently misbehave on the Mac OS). Your son will have friends who want to play together online, and one of them will be the one who runs the server (if it isn't him!)

Daveswife

Thanks so much for the fantastic advice! I have found a forum with a list of servers for him to try. He is now happily working his way through them looking for a nice friendly one!

DW

bealimar

I posted further up, but now I see your son is using a PC, my 11 yr old son has told me he uses http://www.planetminecraft.com/resources/servers/ to find a selection of different servers.
Feel free to ask any questions