If you are able to host your own server, whether you have to pay for it or you have a really good PC and you can do it from there, don't go for realms.
It's laggy, pricey (You can get same performance for less money with external server hosting) and you don't have any control on griefers and thiefes as you cannont check the server logs, and this is the worst part, 100% of the realms where i played got ruined by griefers and thieves, and they never got busted.
Obviously they wouldn't try to grief in a server where the owner can check the logs because they would get busted right away so all the worst player go to realms.
Now you could be very lucky and play for a long time without a problem, and all it would take is one of your old members to get bored and start making a mess, and all you can do is guess, eventually everyone will accuse everyone else.
Realm is good only if it is your only option as you have 0 knowledge of how to host a server, and even than I strongly recommend you you learn how to instead of getting a realm.
ok, so I have a single player world right now, what do I need to do to allow others in, or if I start a new one from someone of the nice seeds listed on here, what do I do?
Also, can you update your edition (like when 1.5 comes out) without it destroying everything you've done?
If you're talking about singleplayer, you can always try using a program like LogMeIn Hamachi. Your friends can use hamachi to connect to your computer from theirs, which means that after you do this, all you have to do in Minecraft is Open to Lan.
so if I create a world, can I open it up to another player or a few players? Like having a server except I am hosting it? Is that even possible?
Best and easiest way is minecraft realms.
If you are able to host your own server, whether you have to pay for it or you have a really good PC and you can do it from there, don't go for realms.
It's laggy, pricey (You can get same performance for less money with external server hosting) and you don't have any control on griefers and thiefes as you cannont check the server logs, and this is the worst part, 100% of the realms where i played got ruined by griefers and thieves, and they never got busted.
Obviously they wouldn't try to grief in a server where the owner can check the logs because they would get busted right away so all the worst player go to realms.
Now you could be very lucky and play for a long time without a problem, and all it would take is one of your old members to get bored and start making a mess, and all you can do is guess, eventually everyone will accuse everyone else.
Realm is good only if it is your only option as you have 0 knowledge of how to host a server, and even than I strongly recommend you you learn how to instead of getting a realm.
ok, so I have a single player world right now, what do I need to do to allow others in, or if I start a new one from someone of the nice seeds listed on here, what do I do?
Also, can you update your edition (like when 1.5 comes out) without it destroying everything you've done?
Create a realm, then upload your world to it. Invite your friends.
New features after an update can be found in unexplored territories in your world.
ok but realms are a pay feature, I want to run it on my own pc, self host. Or atleast try it. my pc might have enough juice to do it.
Lots of info on the wiki https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Setting_up_a_server
If you're talking about singleplayer, you can always try using a program like LogMeIn Hamachi. Your friends can use hamachi to connect to your computer from theirs, which means that after you do this, all you have to do in Minecraft is Open to Lan.