Minecraft Realms: What Is It?

By Sacheverell Mar 20, 2013
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Mojang recently released some additional information on the new multiplayer project they have in the works - called Minecraft Realms - and it is very exciting stuff! Mojang business developer Daniel "Kappische" Kaplan had the following to say about realms:

Quote from Kappische »
A select group of players now have access to the Minecraft Realms limited alpha test. Minecraft Realms is a service designed to let players play on a server together with minimal setup, and will be available to the public later this year.

Will this change the way I play Minecraft?

Nothing will change regarding how you create, setup, or host servers today. Minecraft Realms is an additional service of hosting servers for those who want it. Nothing is mandatory.
How can I get into the Realms closed Alpha?

You can’t yet, sorry. It’s a private, invite-only thing. Keep an eye on this blog for more info!
How much does it cost?

We’re not sure yet. It will be a subscription service. One subscription = one server. Only the host needs to pay. The host can invite (whitelist) friends to play on his/her server.
How many players can play together?

This is not confirmed yet. During the closed alpha we have set a limit of four players to test out our systems.
What is Minecraft Pocket Realms?

It is the mobile version of our Realms service.
How much will Pocket Realms cost?

We’re not sure yet. It will be a subscription service. One subscription = one server. Only the host needs to pay. The host can invite (whitelist) friends to play on his/her server.
How do I buy a Pocket Realms subscription?

Realms subscriptions will be available via an in-app purchase within Minecraft – Pocket Edition. You’ll need to log in with your Mojang Account to use the service. If you don’t have an account you’ll be asked to create one.

Players should note that normal Minecraft servers are not being done away with, or being replaced. So far, Realms appears to be targeted towards people who simply want a quick, easy way to play privately with friends and family, and early tests have been very promising. I've personally had a chance to test out the Realms feature, and it's really easy to invite some friends into your game, and just play, without having to worry about port forwarding, setting up permissions, or anything but the game itself.

Keep an ear to the ground, as we bring even more Realms news in the coming days!

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redhawk
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#37 redhawk

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
According to the terms and services to us alpha and indev buyers "all versions of the game will be free" also in International court if wording is unclear the benefit goes to the buyers favor #willsuemojang.

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forged_in_flames
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#38 forged_in_flames

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
This sounds like a great idea! Perfect for people that can't run a server or don't know how. I bet it won't cost too much $.

For the people that say that there will be no plug-ins on these servers, mojang is working on a mod API. so I suppect that the you will be able to use that to add plug-ins to your server.

And since the server will be HOSTED by mojang it will be 24/7 I presume.

Thats my two cents.

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KGsauce
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#39 KGsauce

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
ohh how wonderful

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Chad
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Will we be able to use Google Play credit for the in-game Minecraft Pocket Edition Realms? This is the only way I have of paying for it.

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Sacheverell
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#41 Sacheverell

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Quote from Arcanamachi

As good of an idea this sounds I think that the selection process was a bit too elitist.

To be fair, the service is still very much in an Alpha stage, and the purpose of selecting specific people was to get feedback on it, and ideas to make it better for everyone. It isn't now, nor has it ever been implied, that Realms will only be for those people in the future. It is supposed to be for everyone, but they want to make sure it is as good as it can be before everyone uses it.

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Moonster
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Quote from Minecraftian12321

Finally online multiplayer wonder when it's out

Please tell me you're not serious...

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Marcus101RR
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
So this is just mojang offering service hosting for your minecraft server. I don't really call this news nor something spectacular.

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UnitedSquadron
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Subscription? What about pay-once for each realm?

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UKdeccy
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#46 UKdeccy

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Wow they are gonna make you pay , they said in upcoming features that it would be free

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RurouniTim
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#47 RurouniTim

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
None of this is really a suprise tbh. I didn't know about the pocket realms, but that doesn't really affect me at all.

I'd be willing to get this if I'm able to do the following:

1) Host a server with mods (I've been into FTB lately)
2) Ability to make backups (Clanforge automatically makes backups of the map once a day)
3) Ability to upload and download a map
4) At least the capacity to hold at least 10 people on the server at a time.

It also has to be relatively cheap. I'm able to host a decent server for 3 months for about 50$, so it shouldn't cost too much.

Last edited by RurouniTim: Mar 20, 2013

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Hockeymikey
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Quote from UKdeccy

Wow they are gonna make you pay , they said in upcoming features that it would be free

Why would it be free? That's dumb.

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The_Fool76
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Quote from redhawk

According to the terms and services to us alpha and indev buyers "all versions of the game will be free" also in International court if wording is unclear the benefit goes to the buyers favor #willsuemojang.

A hosted server is not a new version of the game though.
We are no more entitled to free hosting by Mojang than we are to free back rubs from Notch.

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nvanden
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
cool this is sweet

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Patriotsummit
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Posted Mar 20, 2013
Quote from Minecraftian12321

Finally online multiplayer wonder when it's out

Are you kidding me? Wow. Some people these days..........
I hope you were joking.

Last edited by Patriotsummit: Mar 20, 2013

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Ronar1
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#52 Ronar1

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
This is perfect for people who have terrible connection issues or those who are too lazy to learn port forwarding.

Curious how payment works though. Is it pay money as long as server is active or pay once and be free to play on server forever?

Last edited by Ronar1: Mar 20, 2013

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cgonzalop
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#54 cgonzalop

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
I think that most of the people didnt understand that this is for people who want to play with a few friends (probably a max of 4) and the subscription will be bought (aka only paid once as opposed to the current server hosts).

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Mason9667
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#55 Mason9667

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Posted Mar 20, 2013
sounds cool

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Chaospillager
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#56 Chaospillager

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Posted Mar 21, 2013
Quote from Divinius

If Mojang's server hosting turns out to be cheaper than most of the current paid server hosts, it could seriously hurt business for a lot of them.

If it's more expensive, then I don't see any real advantage to Realms over any of the billion existing 3rd party host services.

If it was cheaper, people would buy it a lot. If it was more expensive, people would expect it to be faster and better. It's a win-win on Mojang, really.

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XP_Ninjy
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#57 XP_Ninjy

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Posted Mar 21, 2013
Quote from Arcanamachi

As good of an idea this sounds I think that the selection process was a bit too elitist. From what I have seen mostly only very popular Youtube personalities were selected. The invites only went out to 100 of those that attended Minecon, or are admins of this forum. Doesn't leave much room for the "kid" down the block that plays. My other concern is how much of the Mojang personnel are being taken off Minecraft development for this.

Again my overall thought is this may be a very good idea for casual users, depending on the pricing, that want to build together and not pay tens of thousands of yen to do so.

If your invited you get the realms button but you can't make your own server just join ones you are invited to I looked it up on YouTube and not many big YouTube personalities were even invited especially not picked.

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Tiel
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#58 Tiel

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Posted Mar 21, 2013
From what I'm seeing here Realms is just a small hosting service from Mojang themselves for vanilla Minecraft. Not FTB etc, not Bukkit, just plain old grief-happy vanilla MC for 4-6 people. I dunno. I'd rather take a risk and stick to 3rd party hosts and be able to install anything I want, really...

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