Learning Minecraft - As an Adult - Gaming with Kids

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Immediately after taking the plunge to learn the wide world of Minecraft with the kids we also decided to start setting up a YouTube channel. Why not right? I am already failing in the game quite often so why not document that for the world to see. Right? This makes total sense! (insert much laughter here)

One thing I do wish the game had was a controller. I am ok with keyboard commands but sometimes a good 'ol fashioned joystick works for me. And at first when I was trying to sort out the differences between all the platforms the game comes on? Ouch! The learning curve! To help you out here's a little breakdown:

Minecraft PC (Java edition) comes in versions dating before 1.6 all the way to 1.12.x right now. It's (of course) on the PC or Mac and costs around $27. Most laptops available on the market today can handle playing this game. I will warn you that if you are a highly competitive person, a laptop may not be the route to go to play this game well. You may want to look in to a gaming computer system. It will make game play much more enjoyable!

Minecraft console games are on XBox, playstation, etc. I am not familiar with this version of the game because I have never played it. I'm not even sure how much this cost?? Sorry!

Minecraft PE is the mobile version of minecraft. It is available as a Win 10, android and apple itune app. You can play on your phone or tablet. On Win 10, if you have a PC account already, you can get a free Win 10 app code. And on the phones/tablets you can purchase the app many different ways. It's not too costly and can be purchased on a family account and shared across some devices. Not all my kids play Minecraft PE anymore. I find the controls difficult. Now since I have been able to get the Win 10 version I have been able to play with my kids that like their PE versions and I get to use keyboard controls. That makes my life easier!

Annnnnd this is where it can get confusing. I know a lot of this is as clear as mud... but hang in there. Win 10 app Minecraft is not the same as Minecraft PC. You cannot do multiplayer with a PC to a PE account. You can, however, play PE, Win 10 and consoles all together though. Wooowho! The world opens up with that right there. Each version has a variety of online servers you can join or ways to play with friends. You just can't play PC to one of the other versions. Also, some consoles cannot cross play with other consoles at the moment either. That may change later... I guess the biggest thing to realize is that if your kid is playing on your phone and you are in the Java (PC) Minecraft, you can't play together.

Soooo... this is why the kids and I each have a Minecraft (Java) PC account. These accounts have slowly been collected over the years for birthdays and holidays. We have tons of fun playing together and building things. Right now I have us going through some Adventure Maps that are available to learn some history while we have fun playing around. The minor frustrations of installing these maps (which isn't as hard as you'd think it is) is greatly out-weighed with the fun we have playing together. The kiddos that do not have a PC to play on also hang around with us giving advice or adding much giggling to the fails that happen. Kinda like this:

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