Idiot's guide to Minecraft for the technically challenged

[chicaguapa]

We've finally relented and said DD(10) can get Minecraft. But I'm completely confused with it all. I've tried googling and it's all teenage geeky speak that I don't understand. So I thought maybe we could start an Idiot's guide to Minecraft to help us more technically challenged parents set it up properly and safely for our DC.

My questions are:

I get that you need to register and then download the game. But can you only download it on one PC or several?

Also what's with the 'servers'? Can you make them safe? I searched previous threads and saw that someone was being bullied by two older children.

I'm sure people have other questions too and it's not just DH and I who are completely lost with it all! [shame] Thanks.

[Aralitra]

Hi guys,

I've just found this site while searching for help with a minecraft server.
First of all there are many different companies which will host the server online for you. This takes up no room on your pc's and comes with their vast knowledge of servers and technical help. I pay Nitrous Networks (uk based but hosts all over the world) £4.50 a month for our server which will allowed up to 12 people at anytime to be playing on it. It has a white-list, so only chosen people can access it. You can have a profanity filter to prevent any words you choose being typed. You can administrate it all yourself and any "package" (mods to anyone under 20) can be installed on it. You can also be the admin of it so you can log on to the server to check anything that has been changed and make sure all your security measures are still in place. Minecraft.wiki is a great place to find out about a lot of things but I still find it's written for people with a PHD in minecraft and not the laymen. I'm still trying to find out exactly what things mean so I can comfortably make any alterations i need to. It's a minecraft minefield of jargon btu i'm getting there. Setting up the server was a simple case of googling online minecraft servers, picking one that looked good and setting up a monthly payment, within 30 mins it's up and running and you have full access. The "mod" for minecraft I used was tekkit> There are many different kinds called all sorts of things. imagine your minecraft game you have purchased and downloaded is a car, you buy a kit to add on that does lots of extra things. The "mods" are just like that. They come with advantages such as extra items that have been created for it that do a million different things. Worldguard and worldedit are 2 very good mods to add (i'm still shakey on how to add these things i'm sorry but learning slowly). They help protect the world your children are making and all their buildings and the ones their friends have done to stop anyone (during one of many spats kids have between themselves) from tearing down all the hard work out of spite.
If you already have minecraft and want to use these things, it's very simple. The server hosts will email you the information you need (IP address) and when you click on your minecraft game to play online, multiplayer, it'll say to add server and a box comes up so you can give it a name yourself and then another box to add the ip address. If you get something like tekkit, then when you download that (as any normal program) and open it, you get to log in, with your minecraft details, and you're up and running with a good minecraft modded game, on your own server and fully in control.
With the worldguard and world edit, these get added to your server and come with a long list of commands that are used in game (typed out) and these lists can be found simply by googling worldguard/worldedit commands list.
It's a good place to start at least and keeps them safe while getting all the fun of the game they want to play :)

[nextsale]

My ds has just got me to pay for the full version playing with mates what is the typed messages on the left of the screen every time I walk past hiding it

[sunflower]

Woo-hoo, I set up a server on our PC! Wasn't too tricky, I just followed a YouTube tutorial. I was however slightly unnerved by the fact all the tutorials seem to be narrated by small children. So far DS has played on it with two other friends and he said it didn't seem any slower than the other multiplayer servers he's been on.

letseatgrandma, I spent a long time searching for a safe, child-friendly server but gave up in the end, instead letting DS find one and watching over his shoulder like a hawk. Most of them seem reasonably well moderated and just full of geeky text chat.

[googlenut]

What kind of Xbox would I need for this- just the basic one? And if I got the Xbox version could all 3 children play on it together?

[Mollified]

I just quizzed DS about this and he says the TNT crashed the server not the PC so I suppose thats okay then

[Mollified]

DS1 (12 years) also uses skype while on a server with his friends, they seem to police it between them as well.

Just one word of caution; DS told me that his friends set mines (TNT I think) all over one world and managed to completely crash the servers PC. I'm not a techy and most of this goes over my head so it could be a made up story but it was enough to refuse him a server.

[Pinot]

marking place

[letseatgrandma]

Those of you that are on servers-can anyone recommend one!?

[lambethlil]

Oo thank you, I'll post tomorrow as I'm putered out now!

[madeupstuff]

What sort of 'access denied' message? Where? (can you post a screenshot somewhere)

[lambethlil]

Grrr, I've bought this yesterday for 12 yo DS and we can't actually play- keep getting access denied. Googling suggests it's a problem with our computer- any advice?

[chicaguapa]

Ooo! Hasn't the thread grown since I last looked at it!

I will ask my brother, he will understand far better than me. I think he has his own server at home and he also works for rackspace so maybe can get a deal if DD wants to go down that route. The PC is always in a communal area, no matter how much DC beg to have one in their bedrooms.

Like the idea of having skype on too, it does seem to make it more sociable.

DD has downloaded it and then went online at a friends and was upset that her worlds weren't there. So had to come home straightaway and check they were on the PC and hadn't been lost.

She seems to be getting a handle on it all by herself. You know you've reach that age when your children's games flumox you, don't you!

[timetosmile]

DS has bought/rented his own server and bans anyone who 'is mean' or 'swears' being a righteous kind of 11 year old

He and his friends have a 3 or 4 way skype conversation going on at the same time as playing, which makes it really sociable.

"Wooo, look out for that zombie behind you"
"Can you make me a diamond sword?"

And he now has a new e-friend in Sweden who has found his way onto the server..they compare the weather and what they are going to have for tea!

I have to say, it would bore me rigid, but a DS always plays in the lounge or kitchen I always have an ear on what they're doing, and they make it sound like a heap of fun for them

OP, I think the best answer is to get a tecchie friend of your DCs over to start/tweak everything for DC (that's what worked for us)

[OctopusSocktopuss]

I'm getting to grips with this, and I'm a techie! I've set it up so dd can have his own server (took me several days) but it runs slowly as the laptop isn't up to it.

I can help with mods and texture packs if anyone needs it. I've got the hang of what to do for the windows 7 laptop but only have texture packs on the Mac. The ones they want seem to be too many items and dolucraft

You need an app that will read .jar files

[jicky]

I am a minecraft idiot, but the dss are very keen.

We have gone for paying a hosting company so that they can have their own world and only invite friends to play. This was to stop ds1 installing it on a home pc as we didn't think he understood the security properly.

Also means I know ds3 and his friends can play in a safer world.

[sunflower]

Gah, I wish I understood it better.

madeupstuff, thanks for all the info! It's v helpful. I think I'll try and give it a go. I only wanted to do the server thing so DS can play with one or two friends, so hopefully OK. The only thing I am a bit worried about is security - will I be making our PC vulnerable by using it this way? I've looked at the tutorials a bit and understand I have to do something called port forwarding, but not sure whether this is a bit dodgy. Thankfully I'll be doing it on the computer that DP uses rather than my laptop, so at least I won't suffer if I bugger it up it goes wrong.

sorry for hijacking your thread chicaguapa!

[garlicbutter]

Wow, madeup, it's a lot different from the games I know! Thanks.

[madeupstuff]

Partially repeating other comments but some slight adjustments...

You pay for a Minecraft username/account - this lets you download the game to multiple machines (many PC's at least, not sure about the xbox edition and if you can cross-over 'tween xbox and PC). You should only really be playing from one PC at a time (don't share your username/password around).

The game lets you have single player worlds stored on the PC that you're playing on - in these worlds you are basically alone and free to do your stuff all by yourself.

The game also allows you to connect to servers run by other people - here you're in a shared world. There's no in-game talking (text only chat (again, I'm thinking PC here, xbox is probably different as niceguy2 notes)).

Unlike other online games you can download the game server software and run it yourself - while 'proper' hosting (rackspace, as already mentioned, is good - but never cheap) is good for lots of players connecting, it's perfectly possible to run it on a PC at home over a decent cable/DSL connection.

Game servers (whoever is running them) only really connect back to the main minecraft servers to authenticate users as they connect - no constant connection is needed.

We run the server on my PC (where DS1(7) is also playing), DS2(5) on DP's laptop elsewhere in the house (hence on the local network, not over the cable connection) while their grandpa (who is also quite obsessed) connects to the same server from the other side of the country.

Servers can be configured with a whitelist of accounts that are allowed to use it - this could (as in our case) be a very short list of names.

You're never going to get 10's of people running to a minecraft server over a residential connection, but for a few it's fine.

I'm quite willing to assist with any Minecraft-ish bits if it's of any use to anyone.

[garlicbutter]

For Buses Jr. Always keen to encourage geekery, me :)

[garlicbutter]

Butting in here - I know zero about Minecraft but it's very, very unlikely you would be running a server from your house! (Sorry, Buses Jr.) The servers will be owned by whoever owns the game - they'll have a warehouse full of the things, where they will interact with the game software and each other as needed. By 'owning' a world you're actually renting time on a hard disk in a server.

Reasons why you wouldn't run it from home:
Internet connection too small & winding to interact with the other players in real time. Data centres have 'pipes' which are hefty fibre-optic connections leading directly to the internet's 'junction boxes'.
Server must be constantly connected to the game mainframe. Makes more administrative sense to house it in the same shed.

[sunflower]

I wish I understand it better. My DS and all his friends love to play it. I've helped him a bit - installed a few mods etc, but what he really wants is to host his own server so he can play online with his friends. I think that sorting this out is probably beyond my abilities, but have watched a few online tutorials and wondering about giving it a go. At the moment he plays on a few public servers (with me peering over his shoulders), but I'd rather it was just him and his friends. Dunno whether our computer it up to it though.

[ZZMum]

1. When you buy the game, you will get an option to pay for user or computer. If you pay for user you will be able to download it for as many computers as you like.
   
2. A server is a World but you play it with freinds. If you trust these freinds then you are fine, but public servers tend to have "foul-mouthers". Owners of the server have the power to ban people from a server.

[niceguy2]

As with all these things, the best way to ensure they are safe is simply to make sure they play in a communal area.

My son plays it on the xbox in the lounge. I can hear whats going on and step in if I had to. So far, I've had to tell him to tone it down a bit when he gets a bit animated and shouts at someone.

[chicaguapa]

Thanks. DD will probably understand.

[Playingwithbuses]

There are some servers which are basicly moderated, DS recons hosting own server would involve an actual dedicated server running in your house and extra soft ware.

DS recommends playing single player for now then find a 'nice' well hosted server once she is ready to meet other users, but plenty playability in single player mode.