Hi folks,
I introduced my daughter to Minecraft and we have both been playing a great deal on my PC (on Bedrock). I enjoy survival and creative modes but she is more into creative mode. I’ve just ordered a Steam Deck and am planning to install Minecraft on it (as I have learned, it would be Java which is fine). Here’s what I was wondering:
I’d like to try playing multiplayer with her, each with our own character, and play together (one of us on the Steam Deck and one of us on the PC). We have not played at all online (she’s only 7) and I am inexperienced with servers so forth. I’m looking for some advice on what the best setup is. Do we each need our own Minecraft account? Do we need to play on Realms or something like that? I’d like for us to be able to play creative or survival together. Is there some easy cool way to play together over the home network, sort of old school LAN style? Ideally I’d like for us to play alone together (I’m not ready to have my 7 year old daughter socializing online, I think).
Here’s a blocky Santa she made last christmas! I hope this post is not painfully cringe or newby.
I think you both will need to be on Java version. You guys just playing vanilla? Setting up a server would make it so you both can connect to the world anytime, in case she plays when you are unavailable. Sounds like you don’t need this. If you plan on having a separate world that you both play on together only, then you don’t need a server; You can just open the world to LAN in settings (press esc) and she or you would connect to the other’s local IP address. The person that is joining would connect from the title screen. This is just going off memory, I’m at work right now just killing time.
If I were doing this with my kid, I would have them play on their world, on their own account; They would just open to LAN when I had time to play, connecting with my own account.
Open to LAN on Java edition is definitely the right way here, if you’re only going to be playing local with the person in the same room at all times. Steam deck should have no issues doing that.
OP, you will need to have a separate account for both yourself and your daughter to use open to LAN. This also necessitates both having a Microsoft account (as disgusting as that is to say, i still despise that change), although you can control the second account easily enough.