I’m doing a series on Minecraft! Check out my tutorial on how to make an American Flag in Minecraft for July 4th, or maybe how to make some real life light up ore blocks!
I can’t lie. I’m addicted to Minecraft almost as much as my youngest son. Almost. I don’t have an exclusive Minecraft wardrobe like he does or wander around glued to Minecraft Pocket Edition. But I did become a moderator on one of the best family friendly Minecraft servers around: Cubeville.
Becoming a moderator is quite the honor. First, no server worth it’s salt is going to put you on the staff just because you ask. You have to earn it, then be nominated. I “only” started playing on Cubeville with Mitch about a year ago. And I haven’t just played: I’ve talked with the other players, helped them out when I could, and was generally…you know…a mom. Being involved with a server like Cubeville is more than just playing a game…it’s my home in cyberspace.
Anyway, I’ve been promising my pals on Cubeville a review, so here it is!
What is Cubeville?
Cubeville is a mostly “vanilla” Minecraft survival server. Translation: they keep the game basic, just like a single player survival game with very few modifications. The game is set to a Normal level of play, so monsters CAN hurt you and you need to eat to keep your character healthy. There’s no flying (except for a few upper level staff with that perk) and very little teleporting. If you want to get somewhere, you’ll need to walk or ride the Skyway, a mine cart system that takes players to the four corners of the map.
The server is NOT whitelisted*, which mean anyone can join Cubeville and start playing right now. Just type cubeville.org into your client.
13 Reasons Why Cubeville is the BEST Family Friendly Minecraft Server
- No PVP: Cubeville has a plugin that prevents Player Vs Player combat, so you don’t need to worry about other players hurting your character. This is a friendly server!
- No Potty Mouths: There’s a swear filter that catches bad language and real live staff who swat anyone who tries to get around it. Players who are rude and disrespectful can and will be banished from playing on this server.
- All Ages are Welcome: Cubeville strives to be an awesome family friendly server, and that means all players are welcome. Kids as young as 4 have logged on (I’m guessing with a little help), and the oldest player is reportedly in his 70s.
- Supervised Play: The main job of Cubeville’s staff are to help players, and to prevent trouble makers from ruining everyone’s fun. The staff are volunteers–players who’ve shown an eagerness to help others and don’t like rule breakers.
- The City that Never Sleeps: Cubeville’s players and staff come from around the world. Most players are American and Canadian, so it’s busiest when North Americans have play time. But plenty of people log in from Europe and Australia, so the server is never completely quiet. Staff are from all over too, so it’s rare to be online without a helpful moderator around too.
- Safety in the Big City: There’s no sleeping on a server–which mean you can’t avoid all the monsters that creep around after the sun goes down. However, the main city is a safe zone with no monsters, plenty of light and lots of things to do. It’s a good place for young players to wait out the darkness.
- Free Basics Supplies: Cubeville City has free farms for players to harvest melons, wood, sand, hardened clay and ice. Basically, it’s an unlimited supply of wood and glass for your builds, and free food to keep your hunger bar full.
- Public Transportation: Cubeville has a rail system to move players around the map. I’ve seen other servers where you are assigned a build location, or worse, given no direction at all. In Cubeville you can travel the map in style, admire other builds (the rail is pretty high up) and spot potential building places.
- It’s like Cheers: the people who play on Cubeville are so dang nice, they greet you when you walk in the (virtual) door. I often feel like Norm heading to his bar stool when I log in.
- Got a question? There’s a Forum for that. Cubeville has an active forum where you can go for advice on game play, suggest new features, or just show off screen grabs of your awesome build. You can also ask questions in game through chat and someone is bound to know the answer! Parents often pop here looking for advice for their young players.
- It takes a Village: Cubeville has a central city designed by the staff, but built up by the players as they bought plots with in-game currency. And it’s not the only town–any player can grab a few friends and build their OWN village of Minecraft awesomeness.
- Staff are Just like You: The staff at Cubeville are almost as varied as the players! Most are students, from middle school kids to college students. But quite a few are parents themselves, which means the staff has the benefit of youthful exuberance and mature thoughtfulness.
- Keep your Money In Your Pocket: Cubeville is supported by donations, so there’s no pay to play here. The owner isn’t seeking a profit, he just wants you to have fun.
If your kid is interested in playing on a server, I highly recommend Cubeville because of the sheer friendliness of the regular players. If your child is new to server play, you should observe them for a while to make sure they are reading the rules and getting along with other players.
Oh, and if you visit Cubeville, look for an Smod named stlDenise…that’s me!
* A “whitelisted” server is invitation only. The ones that are open to the public require you to ask permission to play, then they check your account to see if you’ve been banned from other servers. This can take several days, if not longer.