Setting up your own multiplayer server on Minecraft is the holy grail of grief avoidance whilst still being able to play with your pals, but it's never been the easiest of things. I'm sure there's Kitguru readers that would scoff at this, but not everyone is as technically proficient as yourself, sir. Still, that doesn't matter anymore, as Minecraft is introducing Realms, a subscription service that is designed to take away the headaches associated with running your own server.

It's now entering the beta phase in Sweden and will offer a single world per subscription, that's accessible all day every day for as many as 20 different players, though a maximum of 10 can play a once. You can configure the server just like you would if you were running it locally, loading in mods or custom maps, though each one will come equipped with several custom ones like Blocks vs Zombies and Spellbound Caves.

As PCGamesN points out, you'll be able to reload earlier versions of the world if something goes wrong and if you choose not to renew your subscription service but come back a couple of months later, your world will still be there as Mojang will store deactivated realms for three months at a time.

Pricing for the service will be 10 euro for a month's access, 26 euro for three months and 46 euros for six months. No word if that will have a direct currency conversion price in the UK or elsewhere.

KitGuru Says: This sounds like a good system, especially for non-techy parents wanting to join in with their kids' play time. It's going to make Mojang a lot of money too.

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