Anybody here familiar with Minecraft???

So, my son is after me to set up a minecraft server where his friends can connect and play minecraft multiplayer. Naturally, I have concerns about system security. Any way to use a VPN to accomplish this feat? What do I need to know?

Let me ask my 9-year old daughter as she has somehow become sucked into this despite my plea to go outside into the woods and throw sticks into creeks..............

Yeah what the heck. I d'loaded the app messed around for about 120 seconds and said "meh, I don't get it".
My 10-year old is hooked and has created some incredible stuff.

DrBoost wrote: Yeah what the heck. I d'loaded the app messed around for about 120 seconds and said "meh, I don't get it". My 10-year old is hooked and has created some incredible stuff.

That sounds exactly like my situation!

It's like legos, but online. It's pretty mindblowing what you can do with it. I don't have the link, but one dude used the ingame switches and routing and what have you, and built a functioning computer, within the game.

Datsun310Guy wrote: Let me ask my 9-year old daughter as she has somehow become sucked into this despite my plea to go outside into the woods and throw sticks into creeks..............

Just as I always told my parents, and I'll say this to you:

Let your kids creativity run wild. They only get to be a kid once. Yes, exercise is important, but some people simply function better hiding in a basement playing D&D (or sitting in front of a computer playing MineCraft) then others. If you already do this, great

Maybe she is a game developer/software programmer in the making...

mndsm wrote: It's like legos, but online. It's pretty mindblowing what you can do with it. I don't have the link, but one dude used the ingame switches and routing and what have you, and built a functioning computer, within the game.

So you're suggesting that there may be a way to build multiple workstations within the Minecraft environment, then build a virtual internet, and then configure a virtual VPN within the game and run a virtual Minecraft server and play with other players in a virtual multiplayer Minecraft game within a Minecraft game?

Minecraftception?

Blocking my daughter from this thread! She already plays it on the X-Box with her friend.

So pretty much nobody knows nuttin'?

1988RedT2 wrote: So pretty much nobody knows nuttin'?

It's super easy, you just have to unblock the minecraft ports in your firewall/router and stand up the server instance (can be running on a standalone machine, server, or even the computer he/she's playing on)...

there's a good howto here: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Tutorials/Setting_up_a_server

I helped my buddy's son set one up and it took all of 10 minutes.

if the kids are young, password protect the room so no weirdos can get in (and have the kid pass out the password and IP to their friends)... unless you have a static IP (which i doubt you do) you'll need to give out the IP anytime it changes (usually when you reboot your modem/router)

Good luck!

pinchvalve wrote: Blocking my daughter from this thread! She already plays it on the X-Box with her friend.

Eww.

Never played on a server, but I do waste a ton of time getting lost and building new houses and E36 M3 like that. It's pretty fun once you spend some time getting past the whole "what's the point" part of it.

I'm just waiting for them to add mod support to the game so I can actually figure out how to get more entertaining things in.

Considering I've seen planes, anti air guns and all sorts of random nifty E36 M3 put into the game it's a pretty awesome setup if you look past the odd packaging.

1988RedT2 wrote:

mndsm wrote: It's like legos, but online. It's pretty mindblowing what you can do with it. I don't have the link, but one dude used the ingame switches and routing and what have you, and built a functioning computer, within the game.

So you're suggesting that there may be a way to build multiple workstations within the Minecraft environment, then build a virtual internet, and then configure a virtual VPN within the game and run a virtual Minecraft server and play with other players in a virtual multiplayer Minecraft game within a Minecraft game?

In THEORY, yes. HOWEVER- the sheer magnitude of what you'd have to build to make it possible might forgo it ever being a reality. IIRC this was a simple computer, more along the lines of a basic calculator. I doubt they discovered Higgs Boson with it.