Hey crafters! Just wanted to get some feedback on a new style of Minecraft server hosting.
We've just launched Minefold (http://minefold.com) which we hope will really simplify the way people play Minecraft online. Instead of renting servers by the month and having to make a lot of technical decisions we've simplified the process where anyone can create worlds and play with their friends.
We give each world you create a chat page, create maps and make sure things are properly backed up.
If you'd like to take a look and see what you think, we'd appreciate any and all feedback!
I did a google search, to see what people thought of them, and found this post. I figure it's better to resurrect it, than to start a new thread. Now that they've been around for some time, what do people think of this service?
I'm thinking of hosting a server with them, and just want opinions.
I actually got around to trying Minefold last night, and was very impressed. You use the web interface to pick which world you want to connect to, and the next time you connect to their server address (always pluto.minefold.com), it automatically connects you to the instance you chose through the web interface.
Through the web interface, you can view other worlds, in an isometric google-maps like interface. You can pick one you like and click a button to request to be added to the whitelist. If you are denied, or if you are just shy, then hit the clone button, and you instantly have a clone that you can play.
All of this is very cheap too. 10 hours/month for free is extremely generous, and the monthly rate ($5/mo, with slight discounts for buying multiple months) is quite good.
There is just one downside, as I see it, but unfortunately it is HUGE. You can't install mods. You can only play on vanilla (officially released) servers. They claim to be working on adding bukkit support, so I assume that will include mods. Until that time, this is really nothing more than a toy, in my opinion. You just cannot host an open server without worldprotect or logging mods, etc.
There is just one downside, as I see it, but unfortunately it is HUGE. You can't install mods. You can only play on vanilla (officially released) servers. They claim to be working on adding bukkit support, so I assume that will include mods. Until that time, this is really nothing more than a toy, in my opinion. You just cannot host an open server without worldprotect or logging mods, etc.
Hey there! I'm Minefold's community manager, and I wanted to chime in here on a few of the issues you have.
1. Mods are almost an essential part of the Minecraft experience. They're also extremely resource intensive if you don't manage them correctly. At Minefold, our first concern is making sure the playing experience is the best you've ever had, that means ensuring that plugins don't lag your server to death. We are working on making some of the most popular plugins available as soon as we can, and there will be more to follow.
2. We've just recently pushed a new update that removes 'pluto.minefold.com', now you can find your world by connecting to <worldname>.<ownername>.minefold.com. For example, to play on my 'Wedville' world, you'd connect to wedville.wedtm.minefold.com. We also don't require you to sign up on the Minefold site before playing!
2. When hosting a server normally, you have two options. Whitelist, or free-for-all. Sure you can have some plugins that restrict building or jail new players, that's fine and all, but it still prevents them from playing on your map. With Minefold, that doesn't happen. With minefold, all worlds are white-listed by default, to gain access you have to be allowed by an op of that world. You can request to play, and if denied, you can even clone your own copy of the world and play.
This aspect is important, it gets rid of most of the need for logging and world protect. Minefold isn't for massive servers that are trying to take in hundreds of donation dollars a month. Minefold is for the every-day Joe, who just wants to build with his friends.
Hey there! I'm Minefold's community manager, and I wanted to chime in here on a few of the issues you have.
1. Mods are almost an essential part of the Minecraft experience. They're also extremely resource intensive if you don't manage them correctly. At Minefold, our first concern is making sure the playing experience is the best you've ever had, that means ensuring that plugins don't lag your server to death. We are working on making some of the most popular plugins available as soon as we can, and there will be more to follow.
2. We've just recently pushed a new update that removes 'pluto.minefold.com', now you can find your world by connecting to <worldname>.<ownername>.minefold.com. For example, to play on my 'Wedville' world, you'd connect to wedville.wedtm.minefold.com. We also don't require you to sign up on the Minefold site before playing!
2. When hosting a server normally, you have two options. Whitelist, or free-for-all. Sure you can have some plugins that restrict building or jail new players, that's fine and all, but it still prevents them from playing on your map. With Minefold, that doesn't happen. With minefold, all worlds are white-listed by default, to gain access you have to be allowed by an op of that world. You can request to play, and if denied, you can even clone your own copy of the world and play.
This aspect is important, it gets rid of most of the need for logging and world protect. Minefold isn't for massive servers that are trying to take in hundreds of donation dollars a month. Minefold is for the every-day Joe, who just wants to build with his friends.
Just one question, will you be able to save worlds? I wish to do so right now, but I cant figure out how/
1. Mods are almost an essential part of the Minecraft experience. They're also extremely resource intensive if you don't manage them correctly.
That could be the understatement of the month, hehe.
I really like the concept of Minefold, and hope it does succeed, but can't really fathom how you will support mods.
The obvious part is placing the different mods in packs, and just giving a few mod pack choices. Giving a config file for turning things on and off would be very nice, but isn't strictly necessary for a first implementation.
The hard part is how to deal with worlds that become unplayable. Memory and processor time can be quota'd for the individual worlds, and could even scale as more people join a world. That would keep one world from hurting others. But then you need a recovery plan for servers that have been corrupted by a mod behaving badly. And I have no idea what kind of solution you'll come up with.
Is there a plan to ever support rollbacks? Maybe one backup per day could be kept, and they would last one week, or something like that. I'll bet most worlds are played less than once per week, so the storage space for backups wouldn't really be that large.
We've just launched Minefold (http://minefold.com) which we hope will really simplify the way people play Minecraft online. Instead of renting servers by the month and having to make a lot of technical decisions we've simplified the process where anyone can create worlds and play with their friends.
We give each world you create a chat page, create maps and make sure things are properly backed up.
If you'd like to take a look and see what you think, we'd appreciate any and all feedback!
Thanks!
Dave
http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/03/15/0440246/minefold-launches-minecraft-game-hosting-service
I did a google search, to see what people thought of them, and found this post. I figure it's better to resurrect it, than to start a new thread. Now that they've been around for some time, what do people think of this service?
I'm thinking of hosting a server with them, and just want opinions.
I gotta hand it to you guys, its a really innovative way to host.
Through the web interface, you can view other worlds, in an isometric google-maps like interface. You can pick one you like and click a button to request to be added to the whitelist. If you are denied, or if you are just shy, then hit the clone button, and you instantly have a clone that you can play.
All of this is very cheap too. 10 hours/month for free is extremely generous, and the monthly rate ($5/mo, with slight discounts for buying multiple months) is quite good.
There is just one downside, as I see it, but unfortunately it is HUGE. You can't install mods. You can only play on vanilla (officially released) servers. They claim to be working on adding bukkit support, so I assume that will include mods. Until that time, this is really nothing more than a toy, in my opinion. You just cannot host an open server without worldprotect or logging mods, etc.
Hey there! I'm Minefold's community manager, and I wanted to chime in here on a few of the issues you have.
1. Mods are almost an essential part of the Minecraft experience. They're also extremely resource intensive if you don't manage them correctly. At Minefold, our first concern is making sure the playing experience is the best you've ever had, that means ensuring that plugins don't lag your server to death. We are working on making some of the most popular plugins available as soon as we can, and there will be more to follow.
2. We've just recently pushed a new update that removes 'pluto.minefold.com', now you can find your world by connecting to <worldname>.<ownername>.minefold.com. For example, to play on my 'Wedville' world, you'd connect to wedville.wedtm.minefold.com. We also don't require you to sign up on the Minefold site before playing!
2. When hosting a server normally, you have two options. Whitelist, or free-for-all. Sure you can have some plugins that restrict building or jail new players, that's fine and all, but it still prevents them from playing on your map. With Minefold, that doesn't happen. With minefold, all worlds are white-listed by default, to gain access you have to be allowed by an op of that world. You can request to play, and if denied, you can even clone your own copy of the world and play.
This aspect is important, it gets rid of most of the need for logging and world protect. Minefold isn't for massive servers that are trying to take in hundreds of donation dollars a month. Minefold is for the every-day Joe, who just wants to build with his friends.
Just one question, will you be able to save worlds? I wish to do so right now, but I cant figure out how/
Do you mean download the worlds? That's a good question. I was wondering about it also. The site is pretty simple, so I'm pretty sure it isn't there.
That could be the understatement of the month, hehe.
I really like the concept of Minefold, and hope it does succeed, but can't really fathom how you will support mods.
The obvious part is placing the different mods in packs, and just giving a few mod pack choices. Giving a config file for turning things on and off would be very nice, but isn't strictly necessary for a first implementation.
The hard part is how to deal with worlds that become unplayable. Memory and processor time can be quota'd for the individual worlds, and could even scale as more people join a world. That would keep one world from hurting others. But then you need a recovery plan for servers that have been corrupted by a mod behaving badly. And I have no idea what kind of solution you'll come up with.
Is there a plan to ever support rollbacks? Maybe one backup per day could be kept, and they would last one week, or something like that. I'll bet most worlds are played less than once per week, so the storage space for backups wouldn't really be that large.