Eleven Family-Pleasant Minecraft Servers Where Your Kid Can Play Safely On-line

In case your child has spent some time taking part in Minecraft on their own - or with other family members on your own home community - they'll most likely attain some extent the place they’ll wish to play with others on-line.

Taking part in Minecraft on a public server can take the game to a whole new stage. For one factor, there’s a brand new neighborhood of like-minded gamers to make pals with and collaborate with. This will assist your child be taught social expertise, such as cooperating, compromising and problem-solving.

As well as, most servers characteristic enormous, prebuilt worlds, with superb cities and buildings, transport networks, and mini-games for your child to explore and enjoy.

Lastly, most servers prolong Minecraft using a lot of server plugins, which allow for a complete vary of extra gameplay features, including money techniques, jobs, role-taking part in components and teleports. (You don’t want to switch your Minecraft game so as to add these options; they’re all dealt with by the server.)

By now you’re in all probability thinking: That is all very nicely, but aren’t public servers a dangerous place for my kid? If they go on a server, how will I know they are going to be protected from dangerous language, bullying, or online predators?

Of course, no public server is 100 p.c secure, however there are some improbable Minecraft servers on the market that cater particularly to children and households. (That said, if you’d reasonably set up a totally personal server in your child and their close friends, check out Minecraft Realms.)

In this information, you’ll discover eleven of the very best family-friendly Minecraft servers out there. You’ll additionally be taught a bit extra about how Minecraft servers work, and the way to attach to these servers and start enjoying on-line.

At this level, I should point out that this guide is for the Pc/Mac version of Minecraft solely. While there are some family-pleasant servers for the Pocket Version and Xbox versions of Minecraft, the vast majority of servers work with the Laptop/Mac version.

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

Key server ideas you'll want to know

Here are a number of key concepts and phrases which can be worth understanding before you be part of a public server:

Servers vs. worlds: Often, a single public Minecraft server has a number of worlds you could soar between. For example, there’s often a fundamental survival world, one other inventive-mode world, and presumably a 3rd world for mini-games. Normally there’s a central hub or foyer, with warp points that let you 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-pleasant ones - are PvE; that's, you battle monsters, not players. Nevertheless, some servers have special PvP arenas the place you'll be able to battle other players. (Usually, for those who die in a PvP area, you don’t lose all of your stuff, as you'd in a daily survival world. It’s just for enjoyable.)
Spawn: Usually your participant will spawn (start) at a set point on the earth, normally referred to easily as “spawn”. Sometimes that is in, or near, a central town or metropolis, or in some kind of lobby area. You may normally kind the command /spawn to return to your spawn point.
Guidelines: Almost all servers have guidelines as to what you possibly can and cannot do, and - as you’d think about - household-friendly servers are inclined to have an enormous list of strict guidelines. Be sure you read all the principles thoroughly. (Once you first join some servers, they actually force you to walk past a lot of signs with the foundations on!) When you don’t observe the foundations, you will be banned quickly or even permanently from the server.
Griefing and grief safety: An enormous potential problem on public servers is griefing; that is, demolishing different players’ buildings or stealing their stuff. Many - but not all - servers use numerous plugins to cease griefing. Sometimes these plugins allow you to lock your chests, doors and furnaces, and it's also possible to declare a patch of land as your individual - this means that nobody else can create or break blocks within your claim. As well as, griefing is all the time forbidden within the server rules; griefers are warned and then banned, and most server admins can “roll back” your building to the state it was in earlier than it was griefed.
Textual content chat: Minecraft has built-in textual content chat (the ‘T’ key), which is the default method that your child will talk with other gamers. Chat could be public or non-public (that is, one-to-one). Clearly your kid will need some reading skill to participate in chat, though you may help them if you’re enjoying on-line too. Most family-friendly servers employ automated filtering to forestall swearing in textual content chat. As with all on-line chat, ensure you remind your kid by no means to present out private details when chatting.
Voice chat: Some servers link up with voice chat servers equivalent to Mumble, TeamSpeak or Ventrilo to enable gamers to talk with one another while taking part in. Is minecraft still a thing For those who enable your child to use voice chat then clearly you wish to watch out about who they’re speaking to, and what they’re speaking about!
Server commands: To get probably the most out of on-line enjoying, you’ll want to offer various commands to the server as you play. You give a command by pressing the / (slash) key, followed by the command name and, generally, some further textual content. For instance, /sethome sometimes sets your private home point to the place you’re at present standing, while /home teleports you to your home point. The commands range from server to server, however you’ll soon get the dangle of them.
Using mods: If you’ve added mods to your Minecraft shopper, watch out when connecting to servers, since most servers ban at the least some mods - significantly those that let you cheat, in fact. Often, mods akin to OptiFine - which merely makes your game run more smoothly - are Okay.

How to hitch a server

Joining a public Minecraft server may be very straightforward. Simply open the Minecraft launcher and click Play to run the primary Minecraft sport. Once you attain the primary title display, you click on the Multiplayer button, then click the Add Server button so as to add the server.

Now kind a name for the server in the Server Name box, then kind the server handle in the Server Handle field. Usually this can be a domain name, equivalent to mc.intercraften.org, or an IP deal with, similar to 1.2.3.4. Then click Performed to add the server to your server record:

So as to add a server, click on Add Server and enter the server details. You may then connect with the server with the Be part of Server button.

Then it’s merely a matter of clicking a server in the checklist, and clicking the Be part of Server button to hook up with it.

Now let’s look at a couple of issues that will come up when joining a server.

Whitelisting

You may divide public Minecraft servers into two varieties:

Whitelisted servers are protected by a whitelist - that's, an inventory of usernames which can be allowed to affix the server. To join a whitelisted server, you want to apply to have your Minecraft username added to the whitelist. Usually, this includes filling out a form and waiting a couple of hours or days. Most servers require you to put in separate purposes for your self and to your kid. Once you’re on the whitelist, you join the server as described above.
Non-whitelisted servers should not have a whitelist, which means anybody can be a part of the server simply by coming into the server’s address in their Minecraft consumer, as shown above.

Making use of for a whitelisted server can be a little bit of a drag - especially when you might have an impatient eight-year-outdated tugging at your sleeve - but it does present an additional diploma of reassurance that all the gamers on the server are known to the server administrators.

Server and consumer variations

One factor to watch out for when joining a server is ensuring the model number of your Minecraft shopper (sport) matches the version variety of the server. Generally talking, the variations need to match, otherwise you won’t be in a position to attach.

For example, the current model of Minecraft is 1.7.9, however many servers are still operating 1.7.2, or even 1.6.4. Generally the server’s webpage tells you what version they’re operating, but sometimes the only approach to inform is to attempt it and see. In case you get an error message when using the 1.7.9 shopper, attempt the 1.7.2 shopper as an alternative.

Happily it’s simple to change to completely different variations of the Minecraft shopper. In the Minecraft launcher, you possibly can click New Profile to create different profiles that use any Minecraft version you like. Then, simply select the profile you need to make use of from the drop-down checklist within the launcher, and click on Play.

It’s easy to set up the Minecraft launcher with profiles for different variations. Right here I’ve set up two profiles: one for 1.7.2 and another for 1.7.9. (OptiFine is a useful mod that makes your Minecraft run sooner.) The “Use version” dropdown in the topmost window lets you select the model.

The record of household-pleasant servers

Now that you realize the fundamentals of playing on-line with Minecraft, listed here are 11 glorious Minecraft servers for you and your child to play on.

I've personally performed on all of those servers. They're listed in no particular order; I believe they are all very good, and each single one comes across as being appropriate and welcoming for teenagers, dad and mom and grandparents alike!

You’ll discover that every server has its own distinctive “feel”, so it’s price exploring a few of them to search out out which one feels right for you.

Cubeville

Cubeville is a really nice server that’s committed to being household-friendly. You don’t want to use to join - simply enter cubeville.org into your Minecraft client - however the server is properly policed and has an excellent, clear checklist of rules. It also has an intensive tutorial whenever you first be a part of.

The big Cubeville world has an enormous central city, in addition to a number of smaller towns and settlements dotted all over the map. There’s an amazing range of fun issues to discover and good individuals to fulfill. It’s pretty crowded, so to construct you’ll need to catch a trip on the transport system and head out to the edge of the map.

Cubeville also options a neat cash system with quests to earn cash; clever automated outlets; and an amazing transport community. It also has land and chest safety so you possibly can claim your own little nook of Cubeville for your self.

Towncraft

Replace 14 April 2019: Towncraft has now shut down. The Towncraft employees members have arrange another family-friendly server known as Ohanacraft that still adheres to Towncraft’s guiding ideas.

Replace 10 August 2020: Towncraft is again up and working! It has the identical guidelines (and server name) as before. Yay!

Towncraft is not whitelisted, so anyone can join - just enter play.towncraft.us into your Minecraft consumer. It additionally has a TeamSpeak server for voice chat; you could find the IP deal with on the Towncraft website.

What I like about Towncraft is that, reasonably than simply being an ordinary world to explore and construct in, it has a little bit of a narrative happening. A meteor has wiped out the world, and it’s as much as you and your mates on the server to rebuild it. Initially of the game, you decide a trade, such as hunter, farmer, blacksmith or service provider, then as you improve your expertise in that trade over time, you unlock new abilities.

Towncraft doesn’t are likely to get too busy, making for a relaxed crafting expertise. There are parents and kids taking part in on the server, and individuals are usually are friendly and helpful.

The server uses the Zombie Apocalypse plugin; this randomly makes a horde of zombies appear around the participant at night time, which you should defeat to obtain a reward. Clearly, youthful players would possibly get a bit freaked out by this, but it’s good fun for older kids.

Towncraft uses the Grief Prevention plugin so you possibly can protect your home and contents from griefing by different players.

Kolgrath, the Towncraft admin, has put together a participant information, as well as a helpful parent’s guide to Towncraft that is worth a read.

Intercraften

Intercraften is a extremely popular family-pleasant Minecraft server. It’s well planned out, and has extraordinarily helpful moderators that are good at sorting out issues and taking care of everyone, dad and mom and children alike.

The server is whitelisted, so to join you first need to fill out the easy software type.

Intercraften is a huge server with a number of worlds, including New Survival (the present predominant world), a CTF (Capture the Flag) world, a peaceful world, a creative world, a mining world, and much extra.

The server has a money system, along with jobs - corresponding to fisherman, brewer and woodcutter - that you can perform with a view to earn coins. You can use the money to buy stuff in shops, and also to assert chunks of land in order that others can’t grief your builds. When you do get griefed, the moderators are very careful to set all the pieces right again (and ban the offender from the server).

In addition to doing stuff with the usual server commands, resembling /spawn, /sethome and /home, you too can use the user-pleasant Intercraften Menu book (given free whenever you join) to pick jobs, perform 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 great algorithm and filters in place to forestall any abusive behaviour.

What I like concerning the Sandlot is the good balance of different worlds out there. There’s Semi-Vanilla Survival, which is fairly close to a normal Minecraft world, with the sensible addition of Grief Prevention and likewise a digital currency system (tied to gold ingots) so that players can arrange shops.

A really nice world for younger children is simple Survival. If Semi-Vanilla Survival is Scrabble, that is Junior Scrabble. Quite than having to spend ages digging around for sources and objects, children can select a job (similar to farming) to earn cash, then spend their money to buy objects in an enormous mall within the centre. This makes for a much simpler, extra relaxed gameplay fashion. Great concept.

Other worlds in the Sandlot embody a Artistic world, and plenty of PvP sport worlds together with hunger video games (based mostly loosely on the books and films), spleef and so on. There’s also a skyblock world (a world with floating islands and many challenges).

All of these worlds are accessed through The Lobby, a fantastic constructing based on Hogwarts from the Harry Potter collection (take a look at the key passages!). This, in addition to a lot of the other Sandlot worlds, are beautifully designed, creating a enjoyable, welcoming surroundings to your child.

CrazyPig

CrazyPig is a small household-pleasant Minecraft server with an important neighborhood. It was initially arrange by a UK dad or mum for his son, however is now open to all. It is not whitelisted; to hitch, just add play.crazypig.net to your Minecraft shopper.

CrazyPig uses a “belt” system to rank players by how long 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 certain worlds, as well as a better number of “homes” you could set and warp to.

There’s additionally a currency system, as well as a simple virtual market where players can purchase and promote items.

As with most servers, CrazyPig features several interconnected worlds. There’s a central lobby area from which you'll be able to choose a world to warp to. There’s the principle World where you’ll build your house and spend most of your time; a Artistic World (you have to be Inexperienced Belt or greater to access it); a Video games World with an enormous chess set; and an extra Exhausting world if you’re feeling brave!

Though it’s not whitelisted, CrazyPig has a pleasant, helpful neighborhood of players, and employs the Grief Prevention plugin to stop gamers from griefing. It additionally has pretty good computerized language filters to eliminate swearing.

A reasonably novel side of CrazyPig is the idea of regions. The principle world is routinely divided up into areas; once you be a part of you’re robotically added to the latest region, however you possibly can warp between regions. This ensures that each area of the world doesn’t get overcrowded. It’s a bit confusing at first, however when you get the cling of it, it’s a pretty good system!

CrazyPig is a good server if you’re searching for a great community, not too many rules, and freedom to construct and have enjoyable.

Addstar

Addstar is a busy Australian server that's child-friendly. It’s not whitelisted so anyone can be a part of, but it is heavily moderated and comes with LWC protection (for locking things) and Grief Prevention (for claiming land so it can’t be griefed).

Addstar follows the acquainted format of a central spawn city, with warps that take you off to other worlds. There are a number of portals into a reasonably customary survival world, in addition to a portal to a inventive world with tons of amazing creations (solely donators to the server can build here).

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

There’s at all times too much happening on the Addstar server, and - other than a quick intro - you’re pretty much thrown in at the deep finish, so this server might be higher for older kids, or those that already know Minecraft and Minecraft servers effectively. That mentioned, the workers are at all times helpful and friendly.

MineSquish

MineSquish is a whitelisted server with a fairly strict application process. To use, you could register on the forums, introduce your self, and actively participate within the forums for some time. Solely then can you apply to be whitelisted. An exception is made if you’re making use of on behalf of your kid and they’re too young to publish on the boards. In this case, you solely have to make an introduction publish, and present that you've got learn by means of the server guidelines and defined them to your chid.

This comparatively lengthy whitelisting course of, combined with strict server guidelines, ensures that players are fairly properly vetted earlier than they play, and helps to foster a great neighborhood spirit.

The MineSquish server is very family-friendly and has all types of options to make the sport protected to play for youngsters, together with a monster-free spawn (beginning) town, a rail and road system to make it easy to get around and avoid getting lost, fastidiously 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 approach to guard your construct from being demolished by others. Nonetheless, players are usually well-behaved in the MineSquish community and the server admins are good at catching griefers, so griefing doesn’t are usually an enormous drawback.

There are a number of worlds to explore, including Persephone (the primary survival world, the place you build your house), a inventive freebuild world, a tough-mode Exploration world for useful resource gathering that’s wiped each 2 months, a Skylands (floating islands) world, a big Build world for constructing spectacular massive structures, and extra.

Right here is an effective MineSquish starter guide for fogeys and younger kids.

SafeCraft

SafeCraft - previously Win Household Survival - is a small however growing family-friendly server built by a dedicated group of parents and children within the UK. It makes use of whitelisting and strict filtering to make a child-pleasant server the place individuals help out gamers of all talents. The moderators are notably open to serving to out kids on the autistic spectrum and kids with ADHD.

The server has a enjoyable, lively feel to it with a fantastically colourful major lobby (see screenshot above). The protected, welcoming setting means this server will enchantment to children each younger and old. The server consists of another good touches similar to “Server Champion” awards and recognising birthdays, which add to the sense of community.

From the foyer you possibly can reach a standard survival world (grief safety is included); the SafeCraft world (no hostile mobs - nice for littler youngsters); a world for resource gathering, and heaps of nice mini-games together with Paintball, Block Hunt, starvation/survival video games, TNT Run and Skyblock. There are additionally a few spleef arenas within the lobby.

Total, this is a good server for youths who favor to play in a safe, welcoming atmosphere with a close-knit neighborhood.

Blocklandia

Blocklandia is a enjoyable, household-friendly whitelisted server that is suitable for kids of all ages (some players are as younger as 4!). The moderators are very useful, and often give you a guided tour while you first be a part of. They could even supply to help you build your first home!

The spawn (beginning area) is themed as a large shipyard. Each ship takes you to a different land. Mainland is the main survival world, while Peaceful is a safer mode with no hostile mobs or fall harm. There’s additionally a Inventive world, reached through a fairly scorching air balloon.

Blocklandia has a cash system based on “shillings”. There are many jobs that may earn you shillings, together with weaponsmith, digger, builder, sorcerer, alchemist, and even pirate!

A nice contact is the enormous library, simply off the shipyard. You may write a guide and add it to the library, as well as read different people’s books.

Although the server doesn’t let you claim land within the survival worlds, it does use the LWC plugin which helps you to lock chests, doorways, furnaces and so on. As well as, there’s a really clear, detailed algorithm (that it's a must to read while you first connect), things like TNT and fire are typically banned, and the moderators are excellent at sorting out any griefing issues.

If your child is pretty new to Minecraft and needs to join a helpful, welcoming group then Blocklandia is an effective bet.

Famcraft

Famcraft was set up by mother and father who wanted to be sure that youngsters had a safe place to play Minecraft online. It’s been operating for a couple of years and had developed a really good group of gamers, ranging in age from 5 to 77!

Famcraft just isn't whitelisted - just add survival.famcraft.com to your Minecraft client, and away you go. Whenever you first join, you’ll most likely be supplied a tour by one of many pleasant employees members. There are normally at the very least a couple of workers online at any given moment.

The principle survival server is huge, with plenty of great options. The principle spawn space is a phenomenal wooden seaside village, with stargates (warps) that hyperlink off to numerous locations on the map. There are six ceaselessly-changing random warps into wilderness the place you may mine and construct; free farms in the event you need resources; cities to explore; a carnival; a sports activities stadium (with non-obligatory PvP); mazes; and tons of different points of interest. There are also many plugins that allow you to make cool stuff with indicators and redstone, corresponding to lifts, drawbridges, iron gates and hidden areas.

In addition to pretty customary server components, comparable to a currency system, a jobs system, and grief prevention with LWC and PreciousStones, Famcraft has some further touches that give the server its own unique, community feel.

For example, there are a lot of clans which you can join to work on projects collectively, and there are additionally numerous big participant statues to indicate appreciation for helpful players on the server.

The server employees additionally regularly stream family friendly music with Mixlr, which really adds a component of enjoyable to the gameplay. They even host dance parties in a improbable dance area inside the world!

Famcraft has a Mumble server, which many gamers use for voice chat while taking part in. There’s also a #famcraft IRC channel, which lets players chat with each other even when they’re not enjoying the game. All IRC chat also seems in the regular Minecraft in-recreation chat window.

In addition to the primary survival world, there’s also a world that makes use of the FTB (FeedTheBeast) modpack for extra enjoyable and video games.

The Famcraft employees are attentive, helpful and chatty, and make an ideal effort to ensure everyone is enjoying safely and having enjoyable.

YAMS

YAMS - Yet another Minecraft Server - is a small family-pleasant server run by a devoted staff within the UK. It makes use of whitelisting; to use for the whitelist, first register for the boards, then post a whitelist request within the “Introduce and Whitelist Yourself” forum.

What I actually like about YAMS is the thought that’s gone into setting up a sensible world. There’s a central spawn city with a big purchasing mall, and four satellite tv for pc towns, reached by way of a complete transport network. Every satellite tv for pc town has its own unique really feel and building code: for instance, the buildings in one city are constructed from cobblestone; another city options wooden buildings, and so forth. (To build in a city, you first need to point out you may build a nice building within the sandbox within the spawn town.)

As effectively as the towns, there are tons of sightseeing opportunities dotted across the land, together with a formidable coliseum (full with PvP games), a university (in development), a theatre, a windmill, a maze, an remark tower and much more. There are also numerous hidden things to find all through the map.

YAMS does not have chest locking or grief protection; nonetheless the server has an in depth-knit group and a strict algorithm that help to maintain issues working along nicely. The server admin may also restore any stolen or griefed items.

If your kid likes playing carefully with a staff inside a structured atmosphere then they'll possible take pleasure in this server.

Blissful taking part in!

I hope you’ve discovered this guide to household-pleasant Minecraft servers useful, and that you find an ideal server that you and your child can enjoy. Maybe I’ll meet you on one among them!