Eleven HouseholdFriendly Minecraft Servers Where Your Child Can Play Safely Online

If your child has spent some time enjoying Minecraft on their very own - or with different family members on your property network - they will in all probability attain some extent where they’ll want to play with others online.

Taking part in Minecraft on a public server can take the sport to an entire new degree. For one factor, there’s a brand new neighborhood of like-minded gamers to make pals with and collaborate with. This may help your kid study social expertise, reminiscent of cooperating, compromising and drawback-fixing.

In addition, most servers function huge, prebuilt worlds, with superb cities and buildings, transport networks, and mini-video games to your kid to discover and enjoy.

Lastly, most servers extend Minecraft utilizing plenty of server plugins, which allow for a whole range of further gameplay features, together with cash methods, jobs, role-taking part in elements and teleports. (You don’t want to switch your Minecraft recreation so as to add these options; they’re all handled by the server.)

By now you’re in all probability pondering: This is all very effectively, but aren’t public servers a harmful place for my child? If they go on a server, how will I do know they are going to be secure from unhealthy language, bullying, or online predators?

After all, no public server is 100 percent secure, however there are some implausible Minecraft servers out there that cater particularly to children and households. (That mentioned, if you’d rather set up a completely non-public server for your kid and their close buddies, try Minecraft Realms.)

On this information, you’ll uncover eleven of the perfect family-friendly Minecraft servers on the market. You’ll also study a bit extra about how Minecraft servers work, and how to connect to those servers and begin enjoying online.

At this point, I ought to level out that this information is for the Computer/Mac model of Minecraft only. Whereas there are some household-friendly servers for the Pocket Version and Xbox versions of Minecraft, the vast majority of servers work with the Computer/Mac version.

So without additional ado, let’s dive into the world of online, household-pleasant Minecraft! We’ll begin by looking at some necessary ideas associated to public Minecraft servers.

Key server ideas you could know

Listed here are a number of key concepts and terms which are value realizing earlier than you be part of a public server:

Servers vs. worlds: Often, a single public Minecraft server has several worlds which you can leap between. For example, there’s usually a major survival world, one other artistic-mode world, and possibly a 3rd world for mini-video games. Usually there’s a central hub or lobby, with warp points that allow you to teleport between the totally different worlds.PvP and PvE: PvP stands for “player vs. player”, whereas PvE stands for “player vs. environment”. Most public servers - especially family-friendly ones - are PvE; that is, you battle monsters, not players. Nevertheless, some servers have particular PvP arenas the place you can struggle different gamers. (Sometimes, in case you die in a PvP area, you don’t lose all of your stuff, as you'll in a daily survival world. It’s just for fun.)Spawn: Normally your participant will spawn (begin) at a set point on the earth, often referred to simply as “spawn”. Typically this is in, or close to, a central city or city, or in some sort of lobby space. You may often kind the command /spawn to return to your spawn point.Rules: Nearly all servers have guidelines as to what you'll be able to and can't do, and - as you’d think about - household-friendly servers tend to have an enormous listing of strict guidelines. Ensure you learn all the principles completely. (Once you first join some servers, they actually pressure you to stroll previous numerous signs with the foundations on!) Should you don’t comply with the foundations, you will be banned quickly and even completely from the server.Griefing and grief safety: An enormous potential downside on public servers is griefing; that's, demolishing other players’ buildings or stealing their stuff. Many - but not all - servers use various plugins to cease griefing. Usually these plugins allow you to lock your chests, doorways and furnaces, and you can even declare a patch of land as your own - this means that no person else can create or break blocks inside your declare. In addition, griefing is always forbidden within the server rules; griefers are warned after which banned, and most server admins can “roll back” your constructing to the state it was in earlier than it was griefed.Text chat: Minecraft has built-in text chat (the ‘T’ key), which is the default way that your child will communicate with other players. Chat can be public or private (that is, one-to-one). Clearly your child will need some studying potential to take part in chat, although you can assist them if you’re playing online too. Most household-friendly servers make use of automated filtering to stop swearing in textual content chat. As with all online chat, ensure you remind your child never to offer out private details when chatting.Voice chat: Some servers hyperlink up with voice chat servers equivalent to Mumble, TeamSpeak or Ventrilo to allow players to speak with one another while enjoying. In the event you allow your kid to make use of voice chat then clearly you want to be careful about who they’re talking to, and what they’re speaking about!Server commands: To get essentially the most out of online taking part in, you’ll want to provide various commands to the server as you play. You give a command by urgent the / (slash) key, followed by the command name and, sometimes, some extra text. For instance, /sethome usually sets your private home level to the place you’re at present standing, while /home teleports you to your property point. The commands differ from server to server, however you’ll quickly get the cling of them.Utilizing mods: If you’ve added mods to your Minecraft shopper, be careful when connecting to servers, since most servers ban at the very least some mods - particularly people who let you cheat, in fact. Normally, mods equivalent to OptiFine - which merely makes your game run more smoothly - are Ok.

How to hitch a server

Joining a public Minecraft server may be very straightforward. Just open the Minecraft launcher and click on Play to run the primary Minecraft sport. When you reach the principle title display screen, you click on the Multiplayer button, then click the Add Server button to add the server.

Now sort a reputation for the server in the Server Title field, then kind the server address in the Server Tackle field. Usually this will likely be a website title, corresponding to mc.intercraften.org, or an IP deal with, such as 1.2.3.4. Then click Completed to add the server to your server listing:

So as to add a server, click Add Server and enter the server particulars. You possibly can then connect with the server with the Be a part of Server button.

Then it’s simply a matter of clicking a server in the list, and clicking the Be part of Server button to connect to it.

Now let’s take a look at a couple of points that may come up when joining a server.

Whitelisting

You may divide public Minecraft servers into two varieties:

Whitelisted servers are protected by a whitelist - that is, an inventory of usernames which can be allowed to join the server. To join a whitelisted server, you need to use to have your Minecraft username added to the whitelist. Usually, this includes filling out a type and ready just a few hours or days. Most servers require you to put in separate applications for your self and for your kid. Once you’re on the whitelist, you join the server as described above.Non-whitelisted servers do not have a whitelist, which suggests anyone can join the server simply by coming into the server’s address in their Minecraft client, as shown above.

Making use of for a whitelisted server generally is a little bit of a drag - particularly when you might have an impatient eight-year-outdated tugging at your sleeve - but it surely does present an additional degree of reassurance that all the players on the server are known to the server administrators.

Server and consumer versions

One factor to be careful for when becoming a member of a server is ensuring the model number of your Minecraft shopper (sport) matches the version number of the server. Generally talking, the versions must match, or you won’t be in a position to connect.

For example, the current version of Minecraft is 1.7.9, but many servers are still working 1.7.2, and even 1.6.4. Generally the server’s webpage tells you what version they’re operating, but sometimes the only way to inform is to strive it and see. If you happen to get an error message when using the 1.7.9 shopper, try the 1.7.2 shopper instead.

Luckily it’s easy to switch to different variations of the Minecraft client. In the Minecraft launcher, you may click New Profile to create completely different profiles that use any Minecraft version you like. Then, just choose the profile you want to make use of from the drop-down checklist in the launcher, and click on Play.

It’s straightforward to set up the Minecraft launcher with profiles for various versions. Right here I’ve set up two profiles: one for 1.7.2 and another for 1.7.9. (OptiFine is a helpful mod that makes your Minecraft run quicker.) The “Use version” dropdown within the topmost window allows you to choose the model.

The listing of household-pleasant servers

Now that you already know the fundamentals of taking part in online with Minecraft, listed below are 11 wonderful Minecraft servers for you and your child to play on.

I've personally performed on all of these servers. They're listed in no specific order; I believe they're all superb, and each single one comes throughout as being suitable and welcoming for teenagers, parents and grandparents alike!

You’ll discover that each server has its own unique “feel”, so it’s worth exploring a couple of of them to seek out out which one feels best for you.

Cubeville

Cubeville is a very nice server that’s committed to being family-friendly. You don’t want to apply to join - just enter cubeville.org into your Minecraft client - however the server is properly policed and has a superb, clear record of guidelines. It also has a thorough tutorial while you first be part of.

The large Cubeville world has a giant central metropolis, as well as plenty of smaller towns and settlements dotted everywhere in the map. There’s a tremendous vary of enjoyable things to discover and good people to satisfy. It’s fairly crowded, so to construct you’ll must catch a ride on the transport system and head out to the edge of the map.

Cubeville additionally features a neat money system with quests to earn cash; clever automated retailers; and an important transport network. Again It also has land and chest protection so you'll be able to claim your personal little corner of Cubeville for yourself.

Towncraft

Replace 14 April 2019: Towncraft has now shut down. The Towncraft employees members have set up another household-friendly server referred to as Ohanacraft that still adheres to Towncraft’s guiding rules.

Replace 10 August 2020: Towncraft is back up and operating! It has the identical guidelines (and server identify) as before. Yay!

Towncraft just isn't whitelisted, so anybody can be part of - just enter play.towncraft.us into your Minecraft shopper. It additionally has a TeamSpeak server for voice chat; yow will discover the IP address on the Towncraft website.

What I like about Towncraft is that, quite than just being a typical world to discover and construct in, it has a bit of a narrative going on. A meteor has wiped out the world, and it’s as much as you and your mates on the server to rebuild it. Firstly of the game, you pick a commerce, reminiscent of hunter, farmer, blacksmith or service provider, then as you improve your skills in that commerce over time, you unlock new abilities.

Towncraft doesn’t tend to get too busy, making for a relaxed crafting experience. There are dad and mom and children playing on the server, and persons are usually are friendly and useful.

The server uses the Zombie Apocalypse plugin; this randomly makes a horde of zombies appear across the player at evening, which you will need to defeat to receive a reward. Clearly, youthful gamers would possibly get a bit freaked out by this, but it’s good fun for older youngsters.

Towncraft uses the Grief Prevention plugin so you'll be able to protect your house and contents from griefing by different players.

Kolgrath, the Towncraft admin, has put collectively a participant information, in addition to a helpful parent’s information to Towncraft that is value a read.

Intercraften

Intercraften is a very fashionable household-pleasant Minecraft server. It’s properly planned out, and has extremely helpful moderators which can be good at sorting out issues and looking after everyone, mother and father and kids alike.

The server is whitelisted, so to join you first have to fill out the straightforward application type.

Intercraften is a large server with a number of worlds, together with New Survival (the current principal world), a CTF (Seize the Flag) world, a peaceful world, a artistic world, a mining world, and lots more.

The server has a money system, along with jobs - comparable to fisherman, brewer and woodcutter - that you can perform as a way to earn coins. You should use the money to buy stuff in outlets, and also to claim chunks of land so that others can’t grief your builds. Should you do get griefed, the moderators are very careful to set all the pieces proper again (and ban the offender from the server).

As well as doing stuff with the usual server commands, such as /spawn, /sethome and /home, you can even use the user-pleasant Intercraften Menu e book (given free when you be part of) to select jobs, carry out commands and play mini-video games.

The Sandlot

The Sandlot is a whitelisted, household-pleasant Minecraft server that’s been running since December 2011. It’s operated by a former schoolteacher, and has a good set of rules and filters in place to stop any abusive behaviour.

What I like about the Sandlot is the good balance of various worlds out there. There’s Semi-Vanilla Survival, which is pretty close to a typical Minecraft world, with the sensible addition of Grief Prevention and also a digital currency system (tied to gold ingots) in order that gamers can arrange outlets.

A extremely great world for youthful youngsters is straightforward Survival. If Semi-Vanilla Survival is Scrabble, that is Junior Scrabble. Fairly than having to spend ages digging round for assets and objects, youngsters can choose a job (akin to farming) to earn money, then spend their cash to buy items in a big mall within the centre. This makes for a a lot easier, more relaxed gameplay style. Nice idea.

Different worlds within the Sandlot embody a Inventive world, and lots of PvP sport worlds including hunger video games (based loosely on the books and motion pictures), spleef and so forth. There’s also a skyblock world (a world with floating islands and many challenges).

All of these worlds are accessed by way of The Foyer, a implausible building based mostly on Hogwarts from the Harry Potter collection (take a look at the key passages!). This, as well as lots of the other Sandlot worlds, are beautifully designed, making a enjoyable, welcoming environment in your kid.

CrazyPig

CrazyPig is a small family-friendly Minecraft server with a great group. It was initially arrange by a UK dad or mum for his son, however is now open to all. It's not whitelisted; to affix, simply add play.crazypig.web to your Minecraft consumer.

CrazyPig uses a “belt” system to rank gamers by how lengthy they’ve played on the server. As you spend extra time on the server, you’re mechanically given belts of higher rank, which in turn give you access to sure worlds, in addition to a higher number of “homes” that you can set and warp to.

There’s additionally a forex system, in addition to a simple digital market where gamers can purchase and promote gadgets.

As with most servers, CrazyPig features several interconnected worlds. There’s a central foyer space from which you'll be able to choose a world to warp to. There’s the principle World where you’ll construct your own home and spend most of your time; a Creative World (you need to be Inexperienced Belt or greater to access it); a Video games World with a giant chess set; and an additional Laborious world if you’re feeling brave!

Although it’s not whitelisted, CrazyPig has a pleasant, helpful group of gamers, and employs the Grief Prevention plugin to stop gamers from griefing. It also has pretty good automated language filters to eradicate swearing.

A reasonably novel facet of CrazyPig is the idea of areas. The main world is mechanically divided up into areas; once you join you’re routinely added to the latest region, but you'll be able to warp between areas. This ensures that each area of the world doesn’t get overcrowded. It’s a bit complicated at first, but once you get the grasp of it, it’s a reasonably good system!

CrazyPig is a good server if you’re looking for a good group, not too many rules, and freedom to construct and have fun.

Addstar

Addstar is a busy Australian server that is kid-pleasant. It’s not whitelisted so anybody can be a part of, however it's closely moderated and comes with LWC protection (for locking issues) and Grief Prevention (for claiming land so it can’t be griefed).

Addstar follows the familiar format of a central spawn town, with warps that take you off to different worlds. There are a number of portals into a reasonably commonplace survival world, in addition to a portal to a creative world with tons of wonderful creations (only donators to the server can construct right here).

In the spawn town you’ll additionally discover warps to tons of mini-games, including BlockHunt, a maze, parkour, spleef, CTF (seize the flag), survival video games, and even Join 4, checkers and chess!

There’s at all times too much happening on the Addstar server, and - aside from a short intro - you’re just about thrown in at the deep finish, so this server might be higher for older youngsters, or those who already know Minecraft and Minecraft servers effectively. That stated, the employees are at all times useful and pleasant.

MineSquish

MineSquish is a whitelisted server with a reasonably strict software course of. To use, you need to register on the forums, introduce yourself, and actively take part in the forums for some time. Solely then can you apply to be whitelisted. An exception is made if you’re applying on behalf of your kid and they’re too younger to publish on the forums. In this case, you solely need to make an introduction publish, and present that you have learn through the server guidelines and explained them to your chid.

This relatively prolonged whitelisting course of, mixed with strict server guidelines, ensures that gamers are fairly nicely vetted before they play, and helps to foster a good neighborhood spirit.

The MineSquish server is very household-pleasant and has all types of features to make the sport safe to play for youngsters, including a monster-free spawn (starting) town, a rail and road system to make it straightforward to get round and keep away from getting misplaced, rigorously managed towns, and lockable chests, doors and furnaces.

The server doesn’t have anti-griefing block protection, so there is no such thing as a manner to guard your construct from being demolished by others. However, players are generally effectively-behaved in the MineSquish group and the server admins are good at catching griefers, so griefing doesn’t tend to be an enormous problem.

There are a number of worlds to explore, together with Persephone (the principle survival world, where you construct your home), a artistic freebuild world, a hard-mode Exploration world for resource gathering that’s wiped each 2 months, a Skylands (floating islands) world, a giant Construct world for building spectacular big structures, and extra.

Right here is a good MineSquish starter guide for parents and younger children.

SafeCraft

SafeCraft - previously Win Household Survival - is a small but rising household-friendly server built by a devoted workforce of parents and children in the UK. It makes use of whitelisting and strict filtering to make a kid-pleasant server where individuals help out gamers of all talents. The moderators are significantly open to serving to out kids on the autistic spectrum and kids with ADHD.

The server has a fun, lively feel to it with a fantastically colourful primary foyer (see screenshot above). The secure, welcoming surroundings means this server will appeal to children each younger and previous. The server contains another nice touches akin to “Server Champion” awards and recognising birthdays, which add to the sense of community.

From the foyer you'll be able to attain an ordinary survival world (grief safety is included); the SafeCraft world (no hostile mobs - great for littler youngsters); a world for useful resource gathering, and heaps of nice mini-games including Paintball, Block Hunt, starvation/survival video games, TNT Run and Skyblock. There are also a few spleef arenas within the foyer.

Total, this is an efficient server for youths who desire to play in a secure, welcoming setting with an in depth-knit community.

Blocklandia

Blocklandia is a fun, household-friendly whitelisted server that is suitable for youths of all ages (some gamers are as younger as 4!). The moderators are very useful, and often offer you a guided tour if you first join. Xwcb They might even offer that can assist you build your first home!

The spawn (beginning space) is themed as a big shipyard. Every ship takes you to a distinct land. Mainland is the primary survival world, while Peaceful is a safer mode with no hostile mobs or fall harm. There’s also a Inventive world, reached by way of a fairly sizzling air balloon.

Blocklandia has a money system based on “shillings”. There are plenty of jobs that can earn you shillings, including weaponsmith, digger, builder, sorcerer, alchemist, and even pirate!

A pleasant touch is the big library, simply off the shipyard. You can write a e book and add it to the library, in addition to learn different people’s books.

Although the server doesn’t allow you to claim land within the survival worlds, it does use the LWC plugin which lets you lock chests, doors, furnaces and so on. As well as, there’s a really clear, detailed set of rules (that you have to read whenever you first connect), things like TNT and fire are usually banned, and the moderators are superb at sorting out any griefing points.

If your kid is pretty new to Minecraft and needs to hitch a helpful, welcoming neighborhood then Blocklandia is an effective wager.

Famcraft

Famcraft was set up by parents who wished to make it possible for kids had a safe place to play Minecraft on-line. It’s been working for a couple of years and had developed a really good group of gamers, ranging in age from 5 to 77!

Famcraft will not be whitelisted - simply add survival.famcraft.com to your Minecraft shopper, and away you go. When you first be a part of, you’ll in all probability be provided a tour by one of the pleasant staff members. There are usually at the least a few staff on-line at any given moment.

The primary survival server is big, with a lot of nice options. The primary spawn space is a lovely wood seaside village, with stargates (warps) that link off to various places on the map. There are six regularly-changing random warps into wilderness the place you can mine and build; free farms when you want resources; cities to discover; a carnival; a sports stadium (with optional PvP); mazes; and tons of other points of interest. There are additionally many plugins that allow you to make cool stuff with indicators and redstone, equivalent to lifts, drawbridges, iron gates and hidden areas.

As well as fairly commonplace server elements, equivalent to a currency system, a jobs system, and grief prevention with LWC and PreciousStones, Famcraft has some additional touches that give the server its personal unique, group really feel.

For example, there are a lot of clans that you may be a part of to work on initiatives collectively, and there are also lots of big participant statues to indicate appreciation for helpful gamers on the server.

The server staff also recurrently stream household pleasant music with Mixlr, which really adds a component of fun to the gameplay. They even host dance parties in a incredible dance area throughout the world!

Famcraft has a Mumble server, which many gamers use for voice chat whereas playing. There’s additionally a #famcraft IRC channel, which lets gamers chat with each other even when they’re not playing the game. All IRC chat additionally appears within the common Minecraft in-game chat window.

As well as the main survival world, there’s additionally a world that makes use of the FTB (FeedTheBeast) modpack for additional enjoyable and games.

The Famcraft workers are attentive, useful and chatty, and make an amazing effort to make sure everyone is enjoying safely and having enjoyable.

YAMS

YAMS - Yet one more Minecraft Server - is a small household-pleasant server run by a devoted workforce within the UK. It uses whitelisting; to apply for the whitelist, first register for the boards, then post a whitelist request within the “Introduce and Whitelist Yourself” forum.

What I really like about YAMS is the thought that’s gone into setting up a practical world. There’s a central spawn town with a big procuring mall, and four satellite tv for pc towns, reached through a comprehensive transport community. Each satellite town has its own unique really feel and constructing code: for instance, the buildings in one city are constructed from cobblestone; one other city features wooden buildings, and so on. (To build in a city, you first need to point out you possibly can construct a pleasant constructing within the sandbox inside the spawn town.)

As properly because the towns, there are tons of sightseeing alternatives dotted across the land, together with a powerful coliseum (full with PvP video games), a university (in growth), a theatre, a windmill, a maze, an remark tower and plenty extra. There are additionally a lot of hidden things to search out throughout the map.

YAMS doesn't have chest locking or grief protection; however the server has a detailed-knit neighborhood and a strict set of rules that help to keep things operating alongside nicely. The server admin also can restore any stolen or griefed gadgets.

If your kid likes taking part in closely with a staff inside a structured atmosphere then they'll seemingly enjoy this server.

Completely happy taking part in!

I hope you’ve discovered this guide to family-pleasant Minecraft servers helpful, and that you find an excellent server that you just and your child can get pleasure from. Maybe I’ll meet you on one in every of them!