Mojang Reveals Subscription-Based Minecraft Realms

[Andy Chalk]

Mojang Reveals Subscription-Based Minecraft Realms

Minecraft Realms will provide "a safe and easy way for kids and families to play Minecraft online."

The trouble with children playing online is that "online" can sometimes be an ugly place. And from the perspective of a parent, it can be tough to keep up. That's the driving force behind Minecraft Realms, which Mojang CEO Carl Manneh described as a "simpler kind of service, aimed at families and kids."

Minecraft Realms will provide subscribers with their own private slice of Minecraft - a realm, you might say - and complete control over who has access to it, without any of the hassles normally involved with running a game server. The price hasn't been locked down but will likely run $10 to $15 per month, and Mojang is planning to issue its own prepaid cards to accommodate people who want to take advantage of the service but don't have, or don't want to use, a credit card.

Manneh said there's been a lot of demand for a service like this and that it could ultimately end up bringing in even more money that Minecraft itself, although he acknowledged that it could go either way. "We have never tried to sell anything to our gamers except the game itself and a little merchandise, so it'll be very interesting to see if the community will be prepared to pay for a service like this," he told GamesIndustry. "But since we have about 10 million paying PC gamers and, soon, as many mobile gamers, there's definitely potential."

The PC version of Minecraft Realms is currently in alpha testing, while a version for Minecraft Pocket Edition is somewhat farther behind in development. The studio is "hopeful" that a beta test can begin in May.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-13-mojang-targets-families-with-minecraft-realms-subs-service]



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[Worgen]

I still don't get the point of this? I mean its not like people aren't already running minecraft servers. Is this just renting a server from Mojang or something?

 

[Aeshi]

So it's an MMO version of Minecraft that isn't actually any different to a regular Minecraft multiplayer server?

Seems kinda redundant (and I don't see this selling too well)

 

[Monsterfurby]

Hint: if you want your kids to play minecraft in a private, safe environment, just start a server in your LAN.

It's free!

Meanwhile, they still haven't given us arachnophobes a way to switch of spiders without going into peaceful mode...

 

[rasputin0009]

So basically renting a private server? For people who don't feel like messing around with a third party or don't know how? Actually this is a great idea. Can you say cash cow? Imagine a dorm of college students renting a server just to mess around in. Or a large family sharing their creations. Multiple maps on a server, or no? Obviously they're gonna cap the amount of players. Probably less than 10.

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

I still don't get the point of this? I mean its not like people aren't already running minecraft servers. Is this just renting a server from Mojang or something?

That's what it looks like. I can honestly say this looks like a really good idea, as it sounds like it will be easier to set up the server, which could be nice for the less tech-savvy.

 

[kajinking]

I still don't get the point of this? I mean its not like people aren't already running minecraft servers. Is this just renting a server from Mojang or something?

I think it might just be for people who don't really know how to run a server. So if they can't or simply don't want to run one but would like a private server they can just rent one from Mojang and avoid the hassle. I can see how this could be used by less technical people to create safe servers for their kids and their friends to play on so that some idiot doesn't just randomly join and start putting up giant wool Swasticas everywhere.

 

[Catface Meowmers]

As long as I don't have to set up port forwarding I'm good. Seriously, fuck port forwarding.

 

[Ickabod]

I run a server for my friends and I, if the price was $5 a month, I might pay it just to eliminate the hassle. But at $10 to $15 a month, I'll just keep running it myself.

I see where it makes sense to people that want to run a server but are intimidated by it. I like Mojang and I hope they do well with this, it's an optional service for customers, so go them. Just so long as I can keep running my free server.

 

[lancar]

Basically it is just a minecraft server with an easier control interface that you won't have to run yourself, which means you don't have to leave your PC on all day to keep it up.

Its completely redundant for those who can take care of the whole server thing by themselves, but for the average joe who play minecraft this could be a godsend. That's the whole idea. An optional server hosting service for those who can't, or can't be arsed, to do it themselves.

It's a good initiative, imho.

 

[CJ1145]

I'm baffled that nobody sees the utility of this for parents who want their kids to be able to get the full Minecraft experience, but in an environment that is less threatening.

I know that most of us being adults has caused us to, in general, forget about what we actually look like to a third party. But a bunch of foul-mouthed, dirty-minded chucklefucks probably isn't the sort of group the average parent wants to toss their child into. A setup like this that is more closely monitored could prevent their kids from meeting the more... unseemly sorts, while still letting them enjoy the game. They don't even have to be tech-savvy enough to start their own server to do so.

 

[Weaver]

I still don't get the point of this? I mean its not like people aren't already running minecraft servers. Is this just renting a server from Mojang or something?

I don't really get it either.
Just download the server client and run the server on a LAN for free. You get complete control over it and the environment.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I like this idea. Minecraft is big enough that its userbase isn't entirely tech-savvy. I imagine the number of people who don't even know private servers exist, never mind ones who don't know you can rent them if you don't want to admin them yourself, is quite high, and would be willing to pay a company they know for the feature.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

It's not like they're preventing people from doing what they're already able to do with servers. This is just an alternative controlled by Mojang (you're paying for their expertise basically), so I really don't see it as a bad thing... unless they start trying to kill the servers that already exist out there.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Private paid servers for people who don't know how to/don't feel like running their own free server.
This is... actually a pretty good idea

 

[Falterfire]

As somebody at a dorm where I can't set up port forwarding, I'd be interested in this. The biggest question here is whether it's $10/month for the server or $10/month/person for the server. One is reasonable, especially if you split it between the ten people using the server. The other is... not.

 

[Smooth Operator]

New management, new business practices, I wonder where this is headed...

 

[rodneyy]

I still don't get the point of this? I mean its not like people aren't already running minecraft servers. Is this just renting a server from Mojang or something?

I don't really get it either.
Just download the server client and run the server on a LAN for free. You get complete control over it and the environment.

i know it can be easy to forget but not everyone knows about computers, im still trying to spoon feed my mum computer things at the moment we are working on tabs in browers. my sister works at a uni and has on several occasions gone to help out the professor with some really basic things, and thats not even her job its just something she does in a spare 5 min.

now im not saying that doing all that is hard just that some people are very tentative around computers and they worry that they will mess up even the simple things, this is just a way for them to get a nice safe place for their children to play with their friends safe in the knowledge its set up correctly and no nasty people or monsters are going to ruin the fun.

as it says in the main piece there was a lot of demand for this if there was not i doubt they would be bothering with even thinking about it

 

[Kielgasten]

for the people not seeing the point, it´s quite clearly stated in the article.
It´s aimed towards people who, for some reason or other, doesn´t have the knowledge or inclination to set up a server of their own.
It seems intensely arrogant (and completely unreasonable) for people who doesn´t mind doing this on their own,
to bash the idea.