Minecraft Multiplayer

I used to play Minecraft with some friends.  Eventually, around 1.9, they quit.  Their reason was that Minecraft provides a poor multiplayer experience.  There is a fundamental difference in how and why I play games compared to how and why they play games.  I can play single player for long periods of time and still be enjoying myself.  I play because I enjoy games.  I stick mostly to single player even in games designed specifically around multiplayer, like Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone.  I actually gave up League of Legends specifically because when I first tried it, it offered a poor single player experience.  My friends, however, play games largely for the interpersonal interaction.  Minecraft seemed like a good choice, because it offered such a good single player experience.  For a while it even seemed like it was good for multiplayer, until we had been playing it together for a while, and my friends started to notice something.  We also played Terraria together, and the experience was totally different.  In Terraria, we would frequently get together for things.  We would build a single central town.  We would frequently chat.  In Minecraft, even when three or more of us were on, we would rarely work together.  We would choose separate locations to build our bases.  We would rarely chat.  For some reason, even though the games have many similarities, Minecraft did not offer the same interpersonal interaction as Terraria did, and eventually my friends decided that this was such a problem that they did not want to spend their time playing Minecraft at all.  Since that time, I have discussed the possible reasons for this with one of those friends.  This article is about what we have found and how Minecraft's multiplayer experience could be improved.

The first issue was identified by my friend.  He generally prefers to play games with their default music, because it is part of the experience designed by the creators of the game.  I generally play for a while with the default music and then turn it off and play my own music instead.  Minecraft's music is deliberately designed to be isolating.  So he was actually feeling more isolated than I was.  This may have even contributed to the decision to choose a more isolated building location.  That said though, Minecraft offers no reasons not to claim separate land and build separate bases.  When he turned the game music off and played some of his own music, the feeling of isolation diminished significantly.  Unfortunately, it still did not remove the actual isolation.

We decided to compare Minecraft to Terraria to find other ways where Minecraft discourages interpersonal interaction while Terraria encourages it, and this produced a lot of discoveries.  There are differences in world composition, transportation, character progression, game progression, and content that all contribute to the level of interpersonal interactions in these games.  Perhaps the best part is that many of these things could be improved in Minecraft in ways that improve multiplayer without destroying the deliberate feeling of isolation in the single player experience.


Shared Base

The biggest thing we found was NPCs.  Terraria has unique NPCs that need houses.  The uniqueness of these NPCs is a critical factor here.  If they were not unique, everyone could build separate bases and get their own copy of each NPC.  Because they are unique though, if everyone built separate bases, the NPCs would be split up between them, and this would make using them horribly inconvenient for everyone.  The lack of this single mechanic makes an enormous difference in the isolation of Minecraft.

Minecraft does not necessarily need unique NPCs to fix this issue, and besides, unique NPCs would interfere with the intentional feeling of isolation in the single player game.  What it could do, however, is add a server option that will generate a village at spawn and place sufficient light sources or even a wall around it, to make it safer from getting wiped out by mobs before the player is strong enough to protect the village.  This would give the players a shared base to start from.

A village at world spawn would provide several advantages that encourage players to build around the village instead of establishing separate bases.  One is that it would give players a place to stay the night.  If several of the houses had beds, it would be even better.  Yes, it would reduce the difficulty of the early game, but given that part of that difficulty is the tedium of waiting out the first few nights and the fact that the early game is generally fairly short, this is not a huge sacrifice.  This would, of course, provide players with a motivation to frequent the spawn area, since the villagers generally offer some valuable trades.  This makes the spawn a good place to establish a base, for everyone.  If the village protection is good but not perfect, that would also offer motivation to stick around to defend the village.  These advantages would encourage players to establish a shared base near the spawn village, instead of claiming separate plots of lands and building their bases away from those of other players.

These things together would probably make a bigger difference than anything else.  If the players were motivated to establish a common base, every time they returned to base there would be opportunities for interaction.  For some, however, this may be too much.  If the early game is just too valuable for you to skip, perhaps there could be another option that starts each player with a villager spawn egg already in inventory.  This does not interfere with the early game, but it does motivate players to work together to build a village to spawn their villagers in.  This even more directly encourages players to build a common base, which still ultimately has all of the benefits of starting with a village at spawn.


Transportation

The second issue was transportation.  When a player chats, "I found this awesome thing!" the best you can do is take his or her word for it.  In Terraria, if it is close to base, you can use a magic mirror or a recall potion to get there quickly.  If it is not, perhaps you have a wormhole potion.  The size of even large Terraria worlds is small enough that it is often possible to just walk there within a minute or two.  In Minecraft, if you are lucky, the player will post a screenshot some time later.  Most of the time though, we don't even bother mentioning the cool things we see or find in chat, because we already know there is no way to convey the full experience.

Minecraft's lack of solid transportation options and enormous world size means that when we are in areas far away from each other, we are isolated by the time it takes to get back together.  Even a shared base won't mitigate this, as the only way to get back to spawn fast is death, and when you die, you drop all of the cool loot and equipment you have.  Around a year ago, I attempted to make a "magic mirror" mod, that would teleport the player back to spawn when used.  Due to a number of technical difficulties, including the programming language and the poor documentation of Forge and Minecraft APIs, I was unable to get it to work correctly, and eventually I was unable to justify all of the time I was spending on it.  Someone else has actually successfully made this mod, and it appears to work well, but we should not have to mod Minecraft to get an acceptable multiplayer experience.  When a single player is playing the game, the enormous world size is not a huge issue.  When playing multiplayer though, Minecraft really needs the magic mirror and other teleportation mechanics more than Terraria does.

There are two critical transportation things Minecraft needs for a good multiplayer experience.  The first is a simple way to teleport to spawn, without losing all of your items and experience.  The second is a way to teleport to other players.  These don't need to be cheap, as long as they are reasonably accessible.  The important part is that it is not terribly difficult for players to gain the ability to group up easily.

Ideally, the teleport to spawn item should not require any resources you cannot get in the overworld.  The mod I found allows a magic mirror to be constructed from gold, diamond, and lapis, if I recall correctly.  This is expensive, but it is accessible by mid-game.  Being able to construct a magic mirror device before going into the nether would make it easier to avoid getting stuck there.  Personally, I think this is desirable, but if it is not, the magic mirror might not work outside of the overworld.  Note, however, that this would seriously hinder its usefulness in multiplayer, because the nether and end would still be very isolating and prevent quality multiplayer interaction.  Because the main boss is in The End, the ability for players to group up there is critical for a good multiplayer experience.  Keeping players trapped there while others are working to get the necessary gear to be successful is probably a very bad idea in multiplayer as well.

Teleportation to other players is not as easy as in Terraria, because you cannot just locate them on a world map.  Instead, it might be better for players to be able to make and distribute special items that will allow other players to teleport to them.  When I was attempting the magic mirror, I planned to do this with wall mirrors.  A friend might construct a wall mirror, and then he could give it to me.  The mirror would retain the identity of the creator though, so when I use the mirror, I would teleport to him.  I could then get a wall mirror from each of my friends, put them all in my house, near my spawn, and then if I wanted to go to one of my friends, I could magic mirror home and then use the appropriate wall mirror.  Alternatively, potions could be used this way, but it would be impossible to stack potions from one player with those from another, and this would become a serious inventory burden, especially with groups of 5 or 6 players or more.  To be feasible, an inventory item based solution would probably need a new UI to select who to teleport to.


There are other general transportation improvements that could also be made though.  For example, it is frustrating when you end up spending as much time transporting goods to the surface as you do mining them.  The minecart system is still not good enough for general purpose goods transport.  It can work, but it is often more work to setup the system than it ultimately saves.  Some old rogue-like games had a "Rune of Return" item, scrolls, or spell.  When used in a dungeon, this item would teleport you home.  It would keep track of where you were though, and when used at home, it would teleport you back to where you were in the dungeon.  This could be a valuable addition to the game.  Again, it does not need to be cheap, but it should probably be obtainable in the overworld, if it is the only "magic mirror" style item available.  It could be an item rarely obtained when enchanting books, or it might be only obtainable from dungeon chests.  This would fill the role of a magic mirror item, as well as making cave exploration and mining more accessible.

Now, while it would not bother me, some players might complain about items like this being free to use.  If resource management with these items is desirable, there is a simple solution: Make use cost experience.  It should not cost a lot, but maybe 10 experience would be a decent cost for a magic mirror, 15 to 20 for a rune of return, and 30 to 40 for a wall mirror.  In addition to reducing some of the tedium of travel and making the game more friendly for multiplayer, adding another use for experience would give players more motivation to go fight monsters.  As it is, it is trivial to collect 30 to 40 levels if you are good at avoiding death, and there is not really a ton of value in enchanting a lot of stuff with that.  Most importantly though, transportation mechanics like this would dramatically improve the multiplayer experience, with or without some usage cost mechanic.


Group Activities

The third issue is lack of motivation to work together and communicate.  There are not really any things in Minecraft that require or even encourage team work.  Two people mining is no better than just one, because when you have two people, you need twice as much resources.  In fact, mining separately improves odds of finding rare ores.  There are far more reasons not to work together than to work together.

Terraria's strongest motivation to work together is bosses.  Minecraft's lack of many bosses is a major weakness when it comes to multiplayer.  Terraria also has events where multiplayer is good, but again, Minecraft does not really have these.  "Zombie sieges" were added at one point, then for several releases they never triggered due to a bug, and then they were added back in at 1.8, but they are not really that impressive, as far as events go.  The stakes are pretty high, since they can wipe out a village, but there is no indication that they are happening and often villagers are wiped out entirely, sometimes before the player even knows that there is a village nearby.  In addition, there is no reward (or conditions) for "beating" the event or even for killing the zombies, so it is generally easier to just build a wall or put blocks in front of the doors and wait out the night.  This particular event could be improved by making event zombies drop more loot and be more likely to drop rare loot.  If event zombies had twice as many drop chances and the odds of rare loot drops doubled, that would be some pretty good motivation to engage them, especially in the early game, when their iron gear, iron ingot, and plantable crop drops are incredibly valuable.  And increased rotten flesh drops would be nice in villages with priests that will buy it.  This is only good for the early game.  Later on (perhaps when the local difficulty is higher), skeletons might be added to the events.  The increased bone and arrow drops would also be a pretty good motivator, while the ranged attacks would increase the challenge.  Adding small numbers of spiders and/or creepers even later could also be valuable, as their drops are of significant value in later game potion making.

The place where Terraria really excels in motivation for teamwork, however, is bosses.  Minecraft (we are talking about the Java version here) only has two bosses.  The Wither is sort of the nether boss, and the Ender Dragon is the End boss.  There is no overworld boss though.  There is plenty of room for bosses.  The overworld's strongholds could have bosses near or in the End portal chamber.  Nether fortresses could have bosses.  (Though, one might argue that this is exactly what the Wither is.  That said, a mini-boss that has a 100% chance of dropping a wither skeleton skull would be a valuable addition.)  There is already a model and some data for a giant zombie.  This could be a good overworld early-game boss.  Perhaps it would spawn after a certain number of zombies were killed, or maybe it could be summoned with a zombie head on top of some particular type of stacked blocks, similar to golems and the Wither.  If it moved a little faster than regular zombies, did fairly high attack damage, and had a lot of health, it could easily be a boss worthy of facing multiple players.  If it was a summon-only boss, it might also be able to break blocks by kicking them or ramming them (break, but not destroy, allowing players to pick them up during or after the fight).  This could make for a pretty intense boss fight that a team of players might work together to prepare for.  It should be beatable for 3 to 4 players in leather or iron armor, given the early-game nature of the fight.  If the boss was summoned using a zombie head, zombies might have a chance of dropping zombie heads when killed by players during siege events, as they are currently very difficult to obtain early game.  Adding more bosses, designed with multiplayer in mind, would really improve the multiplayer game in Minecraft, by providing motivation for teamwork.


Item Diversity

In addition to all of this, there is one other thing that really encourages Terraria players to work together: Class items.  Terraria does not have formal classes, and Minecraft does not need them either.  Terraria does have informal classes though, established through item bonuses.  This would be very easy to add to Minecraft.  Right now, there are three major weapon types in Minecraft.  It has swords, bows, and potions.  There are a few other things you can use as weapons, but they are not anything that could reasonably be turned into informal classes.  Imagine an armor enchantment that adds damage to melee attacks.  This would not be difficult to implement.  If the player hits a mob with a sword, add some damage, depending on the level of the enchantment.  (Each level adds half a heart more damage.)  If you can get a full set of armor with melee bonuses, you can do rather a lot more damage with a sword.  Likewise, enchantments could be added for increasing ranged damage (which may or may not apply to a thrown trident, as well) for players specializing in bows, and enchantments could be added increasing the effectiveness of splash potions (for a twist, this could also boost the effectiveness of splash healing potions, allowing for a "healer" potion subclass).  Adding class items to Minecraft could be as easy as adding some enchantments that boost damage from specific weapon types.  Why do class items encourage working  together in Terraria though?  Because if a player is focusing on ranged damage and gets a melee class item, that player is more likely to offer the melee class item to another player that specializes in melee.  This also applies to weapons and other things.

Item diversity in general is one of Terraria's strong points when it comes to multiplayer.  Even within classes, different items behave differently.  One player might prefer a very hard hitting sword that is slow to use, while another might prefer a lighter sword with autoswing that is much faster.  As long as they are reasonably comparable, damage per second is not a major factor.  The same applies to other classes as well.  A magic class sword that makes damaging stars fall on enemies might be perfect for one player, while another prefers a spell that fires lots of tiny crystal shards a short distance.  This encourages players to help each other by giving away items they are not interested in but that someone else might like.  Item diversity is a huge multiplayer advantage in Terraria.

One place Minecraft could really expand, aside, perhaps, from more interesting items in general, is "accessory" items that provide passive boosts.  The Baubles mod shows exactly how this can be done, by adding necklace, ring, and belt slots.  Combine this with the class items thing above (as Terraria does), and now you can have a belt of strength that increases melee damage, a ring of dexterity that increases ranged damage, and maybe a necklace of...intelligence?...that boosts splash potions.  Or course, accessories could also provide defensive boosts, some of the underwater breathing and swimming enchantments, and so on.  Accessories, unlike weapons, could be indestructible (aside from things like lava and cacti), providing enchantments that might normally be found on other gear, at a higher price.  For example, the Infinity bow enchantment allows a bow to be used without consuming arrows.  When enchanting an accessory, there might be a chance for this enchantment to be given, but only for high end accessories.  Perhaps a ring crafted from copper would have no chance of getting the Infinity enchantment, but maybe a diamond ring crafted from gold bars and a diamond would be eligible, at the 30 level enchanting tier.  When wearing the ring, the enchantment would apply to any bows the character uses, but the ring would take up a valuable accessory slot that could instead be used for something else.  The mod provides one necklace slot, two ring slots, and one belt slot.  Enchantments for accessories could include some of the existing weapon and armor enchantments, always applied to whatever appropriate item is in use, as well as increased walking speed, higher jumping, better fishing results, faster mining, shorter mob aggro distances, and more.  Accessory items could be crafted and then enchanted, using the existing enchantment mechanics.  There might be occasional enchantments that only show up on items in dungeon chests but never when enchanting with the enchanting table.  Having a large variety of accessory enchantments would again motivate players to give or trade accessories that not as useful to their play style.


These are not the only places Minecraft could improve its multiplayer experience.  Some have suggested that the cave/dungeon generation system needs an overhaul, to make underground exploration more interesting.  This would improve both the single player and multiplayer experienced.  Some have suggested more mob diversity, which would also improve the game in general.  More decorative items, like furniture, would certainly improve the artistic building aspect of the game.  The items I have discussed above, however, are where Minecraft could improve the multiplayer game the most.  Something to encourage players to work together on a shared base would make a huge difference.  Transportation mechanics designed specifically with multiplayer in mind might make the biggest difference of all.  Group activities would give players more things to do together.  Greater item diversity would encourage cooperative play progression.  Most of these are also not terribly difficult.  Adding a server option to create a village at the spawn location would be simple.  Items for teleportation would be fairly simple to add as well.  Adding more group activities would be more work, but improving the one event that already exists, to make it more motivating to engage in would be fairly easy, and it would make a good group activity.  Increasing item diversity would be a lot of work, but the low hanging fruit of adding class specific enchantments to the existing enchantments would not be terribly difficult.  Minecraft certainly has a ton of room for improvement, but right now, the biggest place it could improve is the multiplayer game.  A Minecraft with a better multiplayer game would be far more popular than the current Minecraft, and given how popular the game already is, that is really saying something.