Questions about Minecraft

[philefluxx]

Hello all,
So Ive been watching the Yogscast of Minecraft and I have to admit, they make it look like something worth checking out. But Im a bit confused on a few things and so I thought Id ask you guys.

1. So there isn't a real dedicated server? You pretty much just host your own server or connect to someone hosting a server? Or play a single player game?

2. Since there doesn't appear to be a dedicated hosted server/s how does Minecraft prevent people from sharing the client to friends for free? How are they getting people to actually buy the product? (I didnt find this appropriate to ask on the Minecraft forums which is why Im asking here)

Like I said it looks like promising "time killer" game in between other games or even at work hehehe. Thanks guys!

[Zoogii]

It works in a similar way to say CS, people buy servers which are hosted for them, and people use an ip or a certain code to join the server advertised on forums, each have different game modes/objectives/rules. You can play single player, and it is also very easy to host your own server over something like Hamatchi, which is free, but must be done by your own computer, not a server company, which is what I assume the Yogscast have set up. As for people "cheating buying the client", you can't log in to multiplayer on two accounts, I guess similar to how steam games detect multiple users on one account.

[Qwann]

There aren't any dedicated servers, but many people host multiplayer servers of which some are public and some private. You download the client and everything is stored locally.

~You have to log on every time on your computer, but you can set it to remember your password and username, and I think you're only able to be on one multiplayer server at a time. So for single player the game could be given out to friends, but the classic minecraft, which is only single player with unlimited blocks and no night is free anyways.

[philefluxx]

So there is some type of server authentication going on hosted by the developer? Or is it like a cd key for the client similar to D2?

I guess my other question is if you play on the "hosted" servers, there really isn't anything to prevent you from losing say your base or what not while you sleep if someone comes across it?

[deevicoos]

1. No.

Yes but obviously it requires a decent connection and a smidgeon of know how/google skillz as well as a half decent rig. I can host 5 or 6 players (including me) fine on my 6 core i7 with 8 gig of RAM and fixed ip "24 meg" connection (which I do very occasionally, I run the server program, and close it when we're done and the rest of the time it's just off), though blowing up 500 dynamite causes it to need a restart, however I suspect if I tried to host a busy community it'd lag like mad, or if I tried to do the same on something less meaty. Exact mileage varies though.

Yes. This is "single player" and it's reccomended you play it a bit while reading the wiki. Minecraft is one of the games where reading the manual IS essential. I'd do this before trying multi player.

2. Minecraft has a log in server, you log in via that and check for updates but everything else is hosted elsewhere. There are hacked single player clients but the real fun is in hosting a server with a few friends, or joining a thriving community. The money you pay goes to notch and about 6 or 7 other guys, so it's not just being eaten by EA shareholders or ploughed into advertising.

[Glomp]

There are two types of clients, one you login using your legitimate paid for account (€15) or a cracked client.

If you're playing on a legit client you can join pretty much any server out there (ofc whitelists/passwords exist), if not you have to hope that the server host allows cracked clients to connect.

However not many servers allow cracked players, mainly because they can use literally any name to connect to servers (even "Notch" aka creator of MC) which obviously could lead to a lot of problems, since that person could login as an admin and grief the hell out of everyone