How to Play Minecraft With Friends on PC
Gaming is an adventure, but when this adventure is shared with your friends it doubles in excitement, because friends challenge us to perform and experience games better! Not to mention bragging rights when you prove yourself! Play Minecraft with your friends if you want a truly multiplayer gaming experience for all ages!
Minecraft is a well reputed game among avid gamers and the younger generation; the game comprises of several stages or modes, which which we cover step-by-step. Gamers will find delight in the Creative Mode, a mode designed to allow free use of all blocks and items in the game; Survival Mode, allowing a survival simulation with achievements, resource gathering and monsters to kill; and Adventure Mode, allowing a surreal experience limiting your player to the confines and rules of a map maker!
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In the survival mode, the players have to build shelter and acquire food items for their survival, and they have to fight and beware of the monsters. Similar to surviving in real life, and other games, this tends to be the general mode used online.
Most of us have a PC nowadays. Even if you don’t, Minecraft exists on Consoles and Mobile! Most of the world also knows about Minecraft, being the most viewed game on YouTube in 2019. There is good reason for that, Minecraft is a genuinely wonderful game with an endless array of things to do. Given that most of the world has a PC, and knows about Minecraft, I’m sure that you have friends that also have both of those things. I’m here to teach you how to play Minecraft with your friends if you have a PC.
In order to play Minecraft with your friends, it might be a hectic process as you have to maintain a separate IP for your LAN connection. This also needs you to develop a dynamic IP address service in order to share it across the networks. There are few steps to consider before inviting your friends to come online and join you in.
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Selecting the Correct Version To Play Minecraft
There are two versions of Minecraft available to buy on PC, Minecraft Java and Minecraft Bedrock. There are no main gameplay differences between them, with the main difference being that Minecraft Bedrock (also known as Minecraft Windows 10 Edition) allows you to play with your friends that have other consoles like the PS4 or the Xbox One. If you and your friends both have the same edition of Minecraft, it doesn’t matter. It is worth noting that if your friend has Minecraft Java and you have Minecraft Bedrock you will not be able to play together.
The vast majority of people have an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that gives them a dynamically assigned IP address for their home connection. This is different from the internal IP addresses on your local network, think of your external IP address like a street address, and your internal IP address like an apartment number. The external IP address distinguishes your home from other homes, while the internal IP address distinguishes between the computers inside your home.
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Because your external IP address is dynamically assigned, though, it means that every time your cable modem restarts, you get a new IP address. Most of the time, that doesn’t matter much to you. But if you’re handing out your address to your friends, it suddenly matters a lot, as you’ll have to always give them your new IP address before starting a game.
You can sidestep all that by using a dynamic DNS service, which gives your home a much easier-to-remember address. Instead of 12.345.678.900, for example, your friends will just be able to type in jasonsminecraft.dynamicDNS.com. You don’t have to check your IP address every time, and they don’t have to fiddle with their settings every time to play Minecraft with you.
Playing on LAN in Minecraft Java
If you and your friends all have Minecraft Java, there are only a few steps you need to do before you are set.
- Create a new single player world
- Select Open to LAN in the options
- Finish creating the world
- Let your friends choose your world in their ‘Multiplayer’ tab
Playing on LAN in Minecraft Bedrock
If you and your friends all have Minecraft Bedrock, it will be a little bit easier. Here are the steps.
- Ensure all devices are on the same Wi-Fi or network
- Click play on one device
- Create a new world and select ‘Visible to LAN players’
- Play and let your friends join through the ‘Friends’ tab
Playing Minecraft on an Online Server
If you are not in the same room or house as your friends, the only option left is to play Minecraft online! Beyond setting up your own server, hosted from your computer, many servers exist today doing justice to their player base! If you’re interested in setting up your own Minecraft server check out this Minecraft Wiki tutorial and download the Minecraft: Java Edition Server.
Setting up your own private Minecraft server in Minecraft Java can be tough, and on Minecraft Bedrock you’ll need to pay for Minecraft Realms. This means that the only other free option is to play on a public server. You may have heard of a few such servers, like Mineplex or Hypixel.
A great place to check out servers to play Minecraft is MinecraftServers as they keep an up do date listing of public servers that would definitely interest you!
This opportunity is available on both Minecraft Java and Bedrock. It is very simple to do and only takes a few easy steps.
- Find a server you like and find its IP address (they are easily available on the internet and there are many lists of them)
- In the ‘multiplayer’ tab, select ‘add a server’ and put in the IP address
- Name the server and click ‘done’
- You will find the server you just added in the ‘multiplayer’ list and click the ‘join server’ 5. Have all your friends join the same server
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Conclusion
Using these steps, I hope you are able to connect and mine with your friends, be it through a LAN connection, your own server or in a massive server with thousands of others on it. Good luck with your adventures.
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