Courtesy of Darien Library
Talk to most adults about Minecraft, and you find that even though many have never played, they know what it is. “Oh yeah, my child is constantly online with her Minecraft friends,” a parent will say. Speak to an 11-year-old, and he will likely launch into a technical manifesto about his latest redstone-powered chicken farm. The longevity of Minecraft’s popularity is unprecedented. Why? It may have something to do with the game’s open-endedness—the fact that there are no specific goals, just myriad different block types and in-game physics. Players bring the key ingredient: their imagination.
Minecraft has also turned my public library into a gathering spot for friends, new and old, and a place to decompress. I’m the assistant director for innovation and user experience at the Darien (CT) Library. Like many other libraries, we became aware of Minecraft early on and experimented with various programming initiatives. Our immediate challenge was that there were never enough PCs for all the kids interested in participating. One day, I casually asked our teen services librarian, Erica Gauquier, if she might like the library to run a Minecraft server. “Yes!” she said. “They’ve actually been asking for one.”
Down the rabbit hole we went. Three years later, we run a single server for all the libraries in our county: the Fairfield County Minecraft server . Each participating town has a dedicated world where its players can build and even “claim” land. There’s another world where players from all towns can cooperatively build. In-game games, known as “minigames,” are available: Parkour courses for the more nimble players and a collection of “Hunger Games” arenas for those who like a little action. A MOB (monster or beast) arena, tucked deep underground, lets players try their hand at mortal combat (and collect “experience points” that they can use to enchant objects).
An afterschool sanctuary
For a certain segment of our population, the Minecraft server is the most valuable service the library provides. Our “regulars” begin to log in around 3:45 p.m.—shortly after school lets out. Minecraft isn’t just a game to these players. It’s where they go to find other like-minded kids. They chat with each other about their day, idly fixing a chimney here, a wall sconce there.
What’s remarkable about this time is that it’s when they decompress. As this group of players has become more familiar with one another, they’ve grown closer. Friendships have developed across town lines. Watching them interact, you would get the impression that they have assembled into a supportive peer group—and you’d be right. Of course, there is the usual early teen awkwardness. There’s conflict, frustration, misbehavior, and occasional flirting: normal kid stuff.
What began as an experiment at our library has turned in to a sanctuary and a core service for a group of young users. Because the Fairfield County Minecraft server is a loose, county-wide cooperative, each participating library has its own way of incorporating it into their programming. Typically, however, librarians set up face-to-face events where players come in and play Minecraft on library PCs. Sometimes they bring in laptops, and a LAN party-type atmosphere quickly forms. Librarians often take these opportunities to issue or renew players’ library cards and whitelist them on the server. These are primarily social gatherings, opportunities for players to meet each other in person and collaborate on builds.
Minecraft setup: nuts and bolts
Running a Minecraft server can be really easy or incredibly complicated and time consuming. Our server is a complex example (read the technical details), but there are easier options.
The majority of Minecrafters know how to quickly set up a LAN World. This can be done in-game by going to the game menu and clicking on “Open to LAN.” This shares the player’s world on the local network only, but it’s a good way to quickly get up and running with multiplayer, and a fine option for libraries with persnickety IT departments.
Other players on the same network can automatically scan and connect to the hosting player’s computer. This has limitations, however. Since the shared world is on a player’s computer, when they pack up and go home, that world goes with them. This option also doesn’t allow for many of the server-side plug-ins that add a tremendous amount of value to the experience. Additionally, when more than two or three players join a LAN game, the hosting player’s computer may struggle to keep up, causing dreaded lag.
The other option is to run a dedicated server. This is often the next step for Minecrafters who want a more highly available solution that can be accessed from the outside world.
Providing access to a Minecraft server from the Internet will usually require a little networking know-how There are many ways to implement this option. For example, you may choose to use a cloud-based Minecraft hosting solution. A simple Google search for "Minecraft hosting" will get you started down that path. The benefits are that they handle all the networking and platform issues, which still leaves you responsible for installing, configuring, and maintaining the Minecraft server software. Pricing will vary, depending on the size of your server and the number of concurrent logins you allow. Minecraft servers can be resource-intensive, requiring a lot of RAM, but it is possible to put one on a spare PC. The various flavors of the software are all Java-based and can run under Windows, OSX, or Linux. Additionally, you need to decide which Minecraft server distribution you want to run. The officially sanctioned "vanilla" server can be downloaded directly from Mojang. This option has few configurable options but will get you up and running quickly. Most serious Minecrafters opt for a Craftbukkit fork of the vanilla server and complex multi-server Minecraft universe admins opt for the Spigot fork.Both the Craftbukkit and Spigot servers have the ability to run plugins that can add really great features to your server that range from administrative tools for staff to minigames for players. The development community around Minecraft is astonishingly large and that is reflected in the enormous repository of plugins available.
Minecraft can also be downloaded and played on iPads and tablet devices. It’s important to note that while those versions do support LAN games, only players with other tablets can join a LAN game hosted on a tablet. Conversely, tablet versions can’t connect to regular Minecraft servers.
If your library is considering a Minecraft server, maybe you’ll want to start by hosting a few programs where participants build on a LAN map. As interest grows, speak with your IT folks about a simple Minecraft server on a PC. If you want to take the plunge, the next step could be a 24x7 Craftbukkit or Spigot server, customized to the needs and desires of your users.
At this level, your server will require care and feeding. You’ll need to learn about whitelisting, griefing, PvP, block-logging, permissions, and how to manage behavioral issues. But if you’re game, it will be worth it.
The more you are online with your players, the more you will get to know them, their personalities, and their building style. They will begin to know you better—and form a radically different kind of relationship with your library, and with each other.
John Blyberg is assistant director for innovation and user experience at the Darien (CT) Library.
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