11 Household-Pleasant Minecraft Servers Where Your Child Can Play Safely On-line

If your kid has spent some time taking part in Minecraft on their very own - or with other family members on your property community - they will probably reach a degree where they’ll wish to play with others on-line.

Playing Minecraft on a public server can take the game to an entire new stage. For one factor, there’s a new neighborhood of like-minded gamers to make mates with and collaborate with. This will assist your child study social abilities, equivalent to cooperating, compromising and problem-solving.

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

Lastly, most servers prolong Minecraft using numerous server plugins, which allow for a whole range of extra gameplay options, including cash methods, jobs, role-playing components and teleports. (You don’t need to change your Minecraft sport so as to add these features; they’re all dealt with 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? In the event that they go on a server, how will I know they will be protected from dangerous language, bullying, or on-line predators?

After all, no public server is 100 % secure, however there are some incredible Minecraft servers out there that cater particularly to youngsters and households. (That mentioned, if you’d reasonably arrange a completely private server on your kid and their shut friends, try Minecraft Realms.)

In this guide, you’ll discover eleven of one of the best household-friendly Minecraft servers out there. You’ll also learn a bit more about how Minecraft servers work, and the way to connect to those servers and begin taking part in on-line.

At this level, I ought to level out that this guide is for the Laptop/Mac version of Minecraft solely. Whereas there are some family-friendly servers for the Pocket Version and Xbox versions of Minecraft, the vast majority of servers work with the Laptop/Mac model.

So with out additional ado, let’s dive into the world of on-line, family-friendly Minecraft! We’ll begin by taking a look at some important concepts related to public Minecraft servers.

Key server ideas it's essential to know

Here are a couple of key concepts and terms which are value understanding earlier than you be part of a public server:

Servers vs. worlds: Often, a single public Minecraft server has a number of worlds that you could bounce between. For instance, there’s often a principal survival world, one other creative-mode world, and presumably a 3rd world for mini-games. Usually there’s a central hub or foyer, with warp points that let you teleport between the different worlds.
PvP and PvE: PvP stands for “player vs. player”, whereas PvE stands for “player vs. environment”. Most public servers - especially household-pleasant ones - are PvE; that is, you battle monsters, not gamers. Nonetheless, some servers have special PvP arenas where you can battle different players. (Usually, if you die in a PvP arena, you don’t lose all your stuff, as you'll in an everyday survival world. It’s just for enjoyable.)
Spawn: Often your participant will spawn (begin) at a set point on the planet, usually referred to simply as “spawn”. Typically this is in, or close to, a central town or city, or in some form of lobby space. You'll be able to usually type the command /spawn to return to your spawn level.
Rules: Nearly all servers have guidelines as to what you can and cannot do, and - as you’d think about - family-friendly servers are likely to have an enormous listing of strict guidelines. Be sure to learn all the principles completely. (When you first be a part of some servers, they actually force you to walk past lots of signs with the principles on!) Should you don’t comply with the principles, you will be banned quickly and even permanently from the server.
Griefing and grief protection: A giant potential drawback on public servers is griefing; that is, demolishing different players’ buildings or stealing their stuff. Many - but not all - servers use numerous plugins to stop griefing. Usually these plugins allow you to lock your chests, doors and furnaces, and you can even claim a patch of land as your individual - which means no one else can create or break blocks inside your claim. As well as, griefing is all the time forbidden in the server guidelines; 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.
Textual content chat: Minecraft has built-in text chat (the ‘T’ key), which is the default means that your kid will talk with different gamers. Chat may be public or personal (that is, one-to-one). Obviously your kid will need some studying skill to take part in chat, though you may also help them if you’re enjoying online too. Most household-pleasant servers employ automatic filtering to forestall swearing in textual content chat. As with all on-line chat, be sure you remind your kid never to give out personal particulars when chatting.
Voice chat: Some servers link up with voice chat servers comparable to Mumble, TeamSpeak or Ventrilo to enable gamers to talk with each other while enjoying. Should you permit your kid to use voice chat then obviously you need to watch out about who they’re speaking to, and what they’re talking about!
Server commands: To get probably the most out of on-line playing, you’ll want to present varied commands to the server as you play. You give a command by pressing the / (slash) key, followed by the command title and, sometimes, some further text. For example, /sethome sometimes sets your own home level to the place you’re at the moment standing, whereas /home teleports you to your private home level. The commands vary from server to server, but you’ll quickly get the cling of them.
Using mods: If you’ve added mods to your Minecraft consumer, watch out when connecting to servers, since most servers ban at least some mods - significantly those who let you cheat, of course. Normally, mods akin to OptiFine - which merely makes your sport run extra smoothly - are Okay.

How to hitch a server

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

Now sort a name for the server in the Server Name field, then type the server address in the Server Deal with box. Typically this will likely be a website name, comparable to mc.intercraften.org, or an IP deal with, resembling 1.2.3.4. Then click Completed to add the server to your server list:

To add a server, click Add Server and enter the server details. You may then connect with the server with the Join Server button.

Then it’s simply a matter of clicking a server within the record, 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 can divide public Minecraft servers into two sorts:

Whitelisted servers are protected by a whitelist - that's, a listing of usernames that are allowed to hitch the server. To join a whitelisted server, you need to use to have your Minecraft username added to the whitelist. Typically, this entails filling out a kind and waiting a number of hours or days. Most servers require you to put in separate purposes for your self and in your child. Once you’re on the whitelist, you be part of the server as described above.
Non-whitelisted servers wouldn't have a whitelist, which suggests anyone can be a part of the server simply by entering the server’s deal with in their Minecraft shopper, as shown above.

Making use of for a whitelisted server could be a bit of a drag - especially when you have an impatient eight-yr-outdated tugging at your sleeve - nevertheless it does provide an extra diploma of reassurance that all of the gamers on the server are recognized to the server directors.

Server and client variations

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

For instance, the present version of Minecraft is 1.7.9, but many servers are still working 1.7.2, or even 1.6.4. Sometimes the server’s web site tells you what version they’re operating, but sometimes the only manner to inform is to try it and see. If you happen to get an error message when using the 1.7.9 client, try the 1.7.2 client as a substitute.

Fortuitously it’s straightforward to change to totally different versions of the Minecraft client. Within the Minecraft launcher, you may click New Profile to create completely different profiles that use any Minecraft model you like. Then, simply select the profile you want to make use of from the drop-down list in the launcher, and click Play.

It’s simple to arrange the Minecraft launcher with profiles for various versions. 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 within the topmost window helps you to select the version.

The listing of household-pleasant servers

Now that you realize the basics of enjoying online with Minecraft, listed here are eleven wonderful Minecraft servers for you and your kid to play on.

I've personally played on all of those servers. They're listed in no specific order; I feel they are all excellent, and each single one comes across as being suitable and welcoming for kids, mother and father and grandparents alike!

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

Cubeville

Cubeville is a very nice server that’s dedicated to being household-pleasant. You don’t need to apply to join - just enter cubeville.org into your Minecraft shopper - but the server is properly policed and has a good, clear record of guidelines. It additionally has a thorough tutorial if you first be part of.

The enormous Cubeville world has a big central city, in addition to a number of smaller towns and settlements dotted all over the map. There’s an amazing vary of enjoyable issues to discover and nice people to satisfy. It’s pretty crowded, so to construct you’ll have to catch a trip on the transport system and head out to the sting of the map.

Cubeville also options a neat money system with quests to earn cash; intelligent automated outlets; and an amazing transport community. It also has land and chest safety so you'll be able to claim your own little nook of Cubeville for your self.

Towncraft

Replace 14 April 2019: Towncraft has now shut down. The Towncraft workers members have arrange another family-friendly server referred to as Ohanacraft that nonetheless adheres to Towncraft’s guiding rules.

Update 10 August 2020: Towncraft is again up and working! It has the identical guidelines (and server identify) as earlier than. Yay!

Towncraft will not be whitelisted, so anybody can be part of - simply enter play.towncraft.us into your Minecraft shopper. It also has a TeamSpeak server for voice chat; you can find the IP address on the Towncraft web site.

What I like about Towncraft is that, moderately than simply being a regular world to discover and build in, it has a bit of a narrative happening. A meteor has wiped out the world, and it’s up to you and your friends on the server to rebuild it. Initially of the sport, you choose a trade, such as hunter, farmer, blacksmith or service provider, then as you improve your skills in that commerce over time, you unlock new talents.

Towncraft doesn’t are inclined to get too busy, making for a relaxed crafting expertise. There are dad and mom and children playing on the server, and people are typically are pleasant and helpful.

The server uses the Zombie Apocalypse plugin; this randomly makes a horde of zombies seem around the player at night time, which you need to defeat to receive a reward. Obviously, youthful gamers may get a bit freaked out by this, however it’s good fun for older youngsters.

Towncraft makes use of the Grief Prevention plugin so you may protect your house and contents from griefing by different gamers.

Kolgrath, the Towncraft admin, has put collectively a participant guide, as well as a helpful parent’s guide to Towncraft that's price a learn.

Intercraften

Intercraften is a very popular family-friendly Minecraft server. It’s nicely deliberate out, and has extremely useful moderators which are good at sorting out problems and taking care of everyone, dad and mom and kids alike.

The server is whitelisted, so to affix you first must fill out the simple application kind.

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

The server has a money system, along with jobs - reminiscent of fisherman, brewer and woodcutter - you can carry out so as to earn coins. You should use the money to purchase stuff in retailers, and also to claim chunks of land so that others can’t grief your builds. If you happen to do get griefed, the moderators are very cautious to set every part right again (and ban the offender from the server).

As well as doing stuff with the same old server commands, comparable to /spawn, /sethome and /residence, you can also use the person-friendly Intercraften Menu book (given free while you be part of) to pick jobs, carry out commands and play mini-games.

The Sandlot

The Sandlot is a whitelisted, family-friendly Minecraft server that’s been working since December 2011. It’s operated by a former schoolteacher, and has a very good set of rules and filters in place to prevent any abusive behaviour.

What I like about the Sandlot is the good steadiness of different worlds accessible. There’s Semi-Vanilla Survival, which is pretty near a standard Minecraft world, with the wise addition of Grief Prevention and also a digital foreign money system (tied to gold ingots) so that players can set up retailers.

A extremely great world for youthful children is simple Survival. If Semi-Vanilla Survival is Scrabble, that is Junior Scrabble. Slightly than having to spend ages digging around for resources and objects, youngsters can choose a job (corresponding to farming) to earn money, then spend their cash to buy objects in an enormous mall in the centre. This makes for a much simpler, extra relaxed gameplay style. Great concept.

Other worlds within the Sandlot embody a Inventive world, and many PvP recreation worlds including hunger games (based loosely on the books and movies), spleef and so on. There’s also a skyblock world (a world with floating islands and plenty of challenges).

All of those worlds are accessed by way of The Lobby, a improbable building primarily based on Hogwarts from the Harry Potter collection (check out the secret passages!). This, in addition to lots of the other Sandlot worlds, are beautifully designed, making a fun, welcoming environment on your child.

CrazyPig

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

CrazyPig makes use of a “belt” system to rank gamers by how long they’ve performed on the server. As you spend more time on the server, you’re routinely given belts of higher rank, which in flip provide you with entry to sure worlds, in addition to a greater number of “homes” that you could set and warp to.

There’s additionally a forex system, in addition to a easy virtual marketplace the place gamers can buy and promote objects.

As with most servers, CrazyPig options several interconnected worlds. There’s a central lobby space from which you'll be able to choose a world to warp to. There’s the main World where you’ll construct your home and spend most of your time; a Inventive World (you must be Inexperienced Belt or larger to entry it); a Games World with a large chess set; and an additional Hard world if you’re feeling brave!

Though it’s not whitelisted, CrazyPig has a friendly, useful group of gamers, and employs the Grief Prevention plugin to cease players from griefing. It additionally has pretty good automated language filters to get rid of swearing.

A reasonably novel side of CrazyPig is the concept of regions. The main world is robotically divided up into regions; when you join you’re mechanically added to the most recent region, but you possibly can warp between regions. This ensures that each space of the world doesn’t get overcrowded. It’s a bit confusing at first, but once you get the cling of it, it’s a fairly good system!

CrazyPig is a great server if you’re on the lookout for a great group, not too many rules, and freedom to construct and have fun.

Addstar

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

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

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

There’s all the time too much happening on the Addstar server, and - apart from a short intro - you’re pretty much thrown in on the deep finish, so this server might be higher for older youngsters, or those that already know Minecraft and Minecraft servers nicely. That stated, the workers are always useful and pleasant.

MineSquish

MineSquish is a whitelisted server with a reasonably strict software course of. To apply, it's essential to register on the forums, introduce yourself, and actively take part within the boards for a while. Solely then can you apply to be whitelisted. An exception is made if you’re applying on behalf of your child and they’re too younger to publish on the forums. On this case, you solely must make an introduction put up, and present that you've got learn by means of the server guidelines and defined them to your chid.

This comparatively prolonged whitelisting course of, combined with strict server rules, ensures that gamers are pretty properly vetted before they play, and helps to foster an excellent neighborhood spirit.

The MineSquish server may be very household-friendly and has all types of options to make the sport secure to play for youngsters, together with a monster-free spawn (beginning) city, a rail and road system to make it straightforward to get around and avoid getting misplaced, carefully managed towns, and lockable chests, doors and furnaces.

The server doesn’t have anti-griefing block safety, so there is no manner to guard your construct from being demolished by others. Nevertheless, Srazy are usually effectively-behaved within the MineSquish community and the server admins are good at catching griefers, so griefing doesn’t are typically a big drawback.

There are several worlds to explore, including Persephone (the principle survival world, where you build your private home), a creative 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 impressive large structures, and more.

Right here is an effective MineSquish starter information for parents and young youngsters.

SafeCraft

SafeCraft - formerly Win Household Survival - is a small however growing household-pleasant server constructed by a dedicated crew of parents and kids within the UK. It makes use of whitelisting and strict filtering to make a child-friendly server where folks help out gamers of all abilities. The moderators are notably open to serving to out youngsters on the autistic spectrum and children with ADHD.

The server has a enjoyable, lively feel to it with a fantastically colourful foremost lobby (see screenshot above). The secure, welcoming setting means this server will appeal to youngsters each younger and outdated. The server consists of some other nice touches comparable to “Server Champion” awards and recognising birthdays, which add to the sense of group.

From the lobby you'll be able to attain a standard survival world (grief protection is included); the SafeCraft world (no hostile mobs - nice for littler kids); a world for resource gathering, and heaps of great mini-video games together with Paintball, Block Hunt, starvation/survival games, TNT Run and Skyblock. There are also a couple of spleef arenas within the lobby.

Overall, this is an efficient server for youths who prefer to play in a secure, welcoming surroundings with a detailed-knit neighborhood.

Blocklandia

Blocklandia is a fun, family-pleasant whitelisted server that's appropriate for teenagers of all ages (some gamers are as younger as 4!). The moderators are very helpful, and normally provide you with a guided tour if you first be part of. They could even offer that can assist you build your first home!

The spawn (beginning space) is themed as a large 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 additionally a Inventive world, reached by way of a fairly scorching air balloon.

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

A pleasant contact is the enormous library, just off the shipyard. You may write a guide and add it to the library, in addition to learn other people’s books.

Though the server doesn’t let you declare land within the survival worlds, it does use the LWC plugin which helps you to lock chests, doorways, furnaces and so on. In addition, there’s a really clear, detailed set of rules (that you need to read whenever you first join), issues like TNT and fireplace are generally banned, and the moderators are excellent at sorting out any griefing issues.

In case your kid is pretty new to Minecraft and needs to affix a helpful, welcoming community then Blocklandia is an efficient bet.

Famcraft

Famcraft was arrange by dad and mom who needed to make it possible for children had a safe place to play Minecraft online. It’s been working for a couple of years and had developed a very good group of players, ranging in age from 5 to 77!

Famcraft isn't whitelisted - simply add survival.famcraft.com to your Minecraft consumer, and away you go. Once you first be part of, you’ll probably be offered a tour by one of the pleasant employees members. There are normally at the very least a couple of workers on-line at any given moment.

The primary survival server is enormous, with numerous great options. The main spawn space is a phenomenal wood seaside village, with stargates (warps) that hyperlink off to varied areas on the map. There are six continuously-altering random warps into wilderness where you'll be able to mine and construct; free farms if you need resources; cities to explore; a carnival; a sports stadium (with elective PvP); mazes; and tons of different sights. There are also many plugins that let you make cool stuff with signs and redstone, resembling lifts, drawbridges, iron gates and hidden areas.

In addition to fairly customary server elements, corresponding to a currency system, a jobs system, and grief prevention with LWC and PreciousStones, Famcraft has some extra touches that give the server its own unique, group really feel.

For example, there are numerous clans that you could be part of to work on initiatives together, and there are additionally a number of large participant statues to indicate appreciation for useful gamers on the server.

The server workers additionally usually 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 space throughout the world!

Famcraft has a Mumble server, which many gamers use for voice chat whereas enjoying. There’s additionally a #famcraft IRC channel, which lets gamers chat with one another even when they’re not playing the game. All IRC chat also appears in the regular Minecraft in-recreation chat window.

In addition to the main survival world, there’s additionally a world that uses the FTB (FeedTheBeast) modpack for further fun and games.

The Famcraft employees are attentive, useful and chatty, and make a great effort to ensure everyone is enjoying safely and having enjoyable.

YAMS

YAMS - Yet one more Minecraft Server - is a small family-pleasant server run by a dedicated team within the UK. It uses whitelisting; to use for the whitelist, first register for the forums, then publish a whitelist request within the “Introduce and Whitelist Yourself” discussion board.

What I actually like about YAMS is the thought that’s gone into organising a sensible world. There’s a central spawn city with a large shopping mall, and four satellite tv for pc towns, reached via a comprehensive transport community. Each satellite tv for pc town has its own unique feel and constructing code: for instance, the buildings in one town are constructed from cobblestone; another city options picket buildings, and so forth. (To construct in a town, you first want to show you may build a pleasant building within the sandbox inside the spawn city.)

As effectively as the towns, there are tons of sightseeing alternatives dotted across the land, together with an impressive coliseum (full with PvP video games), a university (in growth), a theatre, a windmill, a maze, an observation tower and plenty more. There are also lots of hidden issues to find all through the map.

YAMS does not have chest locking or grief safety; however the server has a close-knit group and a strict algorithm that assist to maintain issues operating along properly. The server admin can also restore any stolen or griefed gadgets.

In case your child likes playing intently with a group inside a structured environment then they are going to doubtless get pleasure from this server.

Pleased enjoying!

I hope you’ve discovered this information to family-pleasant Minecraft servers useful, and that you find a terrific server that you and your kid can get pleasure from. Possibly I’ll meet you on one among them!