Minecraft is a game with near-infinite possibilities. This starts with the many different ways that worlds can be generated in the game but extends far beyond it to the support of mods, plugins, and in-game creations.
For those looking to play the game online, this often leads to the decision to host their own server, something that the best Minecraft server hosting services help bridge for players more efficiently. And much like when players choose their world seeds, mods, and plugins, an equal level of care should go into choosing a server host who can help put this all together.
With that, here’s how different Minecraft servers can optimize gameplay for players and what players should look out for when picking their server host.
User experience and customer service
The first and most important layer of finding the right Minecraft server hosting service, and the biggest differentiator between different services, is the customer support backbone it offers.
It is imperative to thoroughly research and evaluate your game server hosting provider because, in the end, the quality of service and performance of your game server greatly depends on it. After all, it can be the difference between staring at error screens, rampant disconnects, laggy connections, plugin and mod errors, and a functioning server that supports the vision of its creator.
Add to this the responsibility of managing both personal and payment information and game server data as well, and it’s clear the first step is to ensure that the hosting company you choose is reputable and run by a competent team. Unfortunately, there have been several instances where hosting companies started by inexperienced individuals have shut down without warning, causing users to lose all their data, and thus the journeys they experienced and the work they put in along the way.
Inexperienced companies can also often rely on volunteer support staff for customer service which can result in subpar assistance due to a lack of training and reliability. It’s a world of difference when support staff is well-versed in the product and knows from experience how to go from an idea to a functioning server. Whether it’s in quickly offering the right solutions for personalized issues, or even just getting back to users quickly to help diagnose these problems in the first place, customer support resources are the single-most pivotal way a hosting service can influence the success of your server and the experience as a whole. So to ensure a seamless and secure gaming experience, users must do the research to choose a trusted and professional game server hosting provider.
It’s also important for companies to recognize that not everyone has prior experience in hosting game servers and that it can be a challenging task, as the process of running a gaming server requires balancing the game mechanics, plugins, and modpacks, which of course may not always work as intended.
The goal should be to provide support for these issues, even if they are not directly related to the services a Minecraft server hosting company provides. That means never leaving customers to troubleshoot issues on their own and always striving to resolve any problems and educate customers in the process.
Hosting a gaming server should be both fun and educational.
The tech
Beyond the human side of Minecraft server hosting which dictates much of the process, the tech behind it is very important for everything between the lines.
The most common problems that players run into when setting up a Minecraft server with a server hosting service are technical. Whether it’s accounting for in-game updates or the growth of plugins and mods, server availability and maintenance, or poor location optimization leading to latency issues, there’s a myriad of ways that a company’s tech can massively dictate the gameplay performance of a Minecraft server and the safety of your data all the while.
To avoid these issues that turn the fun of Minecraft into a headache fast, it’s important to scout out the technical resources of a server provider and ensure that it offers conveniently located servers that can handle the capacity of players you’re looking for, the support for plugins and mods you want to utilize, and the growth necessary to help run the game that’s always growing with new content (and thus, new RAM requirements). In this sphere, one size certainly doesn’t fit all.
A good Minecraft server host should offer the resources players need to run the server they envision. That starts with a wide range of server locations for players to choose from and the tech backbone necessary to support the capacity of players and the depth of gameplay modification players are looking for. It also means the flexibility to give players the right options to customize their server experience to end up as close as possible to their dream server, all while keeping costs and services appropriate to their needs.
To keep this process simple, servers should be able to be set up in a very straightforward panel where hundreds of mod packs can be installed or updated in just a few clicks. The panel should have been worked on extensively to ensure it remains as user-friendly and easy to use as possible, breaking down the barriers to server hosting. It should also cover all of the basic necessities extensively with an array of mods and plugins to choose from that can be preinstalled. For the more advanced user, it should also feature console access, a powerful online file editor, and the ability to use an FTP client as well as user configurable backups.
While this may sound intimidating, even new users can navigate the process with ease, and it ensures that users get exactly what they want from their server before having to navigate things on their own. So whether you’re looking to start a massive server with hundreds of users and all the latest game-altering mods or just a simple small server with a handful of slots to enjoy the game with family, the tech is incredibly important to the experience, and proper research is necessary in order to find the right fit for you.
The importance of getting things right
Over the years since its creation over a decade ago, the Minecraft experience has evolved massively. During this time we’ve seen the limits of Minecraft servers grow from connecting a few friends to play the base game to massive businesses built off the back of innovative ideas, creative mod support, and bringing together communities from around the world.
While we can all get lost in the blocks, Minecraft has meant so much more than the pixels it's made of. The game can entertain, educate, and bring people together to create almost anything.
With so much potential, it’s important to make the right pick the first time for your server experience.
By ensuring you pick the right server hosting service for you and your community, you can concentrate on these key aspects of the game and getting the most out of them at every turn while avoiding many of the frustrating pitfalls of the industry. By protecting your experience, data, and investment with proper research, you can get as close as possible to the server you envision and the gameplay it promises without having to be a master of the process.
To make that right pick, it all comes down to the research.
- Here's a list of the best web hosting services, to which some on the list offer Minecraft server hosting too
