Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Server Hosting Sites
Many, many out there!
Focus:
Sites that you can pay to host a private or public Minecraft server
If you play Minecraft on the PC, chances are you've thought about how cool it would be
to be able to play with your friends on your own server. While you can always play a LAN
game with friends, or get on a public server, if you want to play on a private world with
people online, you either have to have your own dedicated server running or know someone
who does.
Setting up a server is totally do-able, but it takes a lot of time and effort, and a lot can go
wrong. Try and add something like mods or big maps in there, and you'll quickly run into
trouble. Typically people need an entire computer dedicated to running the server, plus a lot
of expertise on server upkeep.
That's where server hosting sites come in: you just pay them a monthly fee, and they do the
work and set up a server for you. There are a ton of options out there when it comes to pri-
cing and what you get for your dollar, including hosts that will add mods for you, servers
that allow many people to join at once and much more.
It's not something all players will want to do, but there really is something special about get-
ting your own permanent game going with friends from all over the world, so if that sounds
fun, definitely check out server hosting sites online.
