Play Multiplayer on Minecraft Xbox 360
Minecraft is a fun game by yourself, but it gets even better when you're playing with some good friends. The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft has several multiplayer options. While not as robust as the PC version due to its lack of dedicated servers, you can easily play online with any of your friends. The Xbox 360 version also boasts a splitscreen mode for when you have friends or family in the same room that want to play too.
Contents
Steps
Playing Online
- Get Xbox Live Gold. You will need an Xbox Live Gold account in order to play online with other people. Gold accounts cost a monthly fee. If you don't have a Gold account, you can still play locally with others. See the next section for details.
- See How to Set up Xbox Live for information on signing up for a Gold account.
- See Play-on-Xbox-Live-for-Free for tips on getting a free Gold account.
- Make friends with the people you want to play with. You can only play Minecraft for Xbox 360 online with people that are on your Friends list. You cannot join random servers. Instead, you'll either create a world and invite friends to join, or join a friend's world.
- Join a friend's game. If your friend has created an online world, it will appear in the list of worlds when you start Minecraft. If the game isn't full, you'll be able to join it by selecting the world from the list. Minecraft 360 games support up to eight players in a single world.
- Create a new world to host your own online game. If you want to host a world for you and your friends, you can create one and allow them to join it.
- Click "Play Game" on the main menu and then select "Create New World."
- You can also load a world you've already created and select "Online game" as you load it.
- Check the "Online game" box. This is usually checked by default. With this box checked, anyone on your friends list will be able to join your game.
- Check the "Invite only" box (optional). If you'd rather not open the world up to everyone on your list, you can make it invite only. You will need to send invites to the friends that you want to allow into your game.
- Finish creating your world. You can choose any of the world creation options, as well as input a seed or leave it blank for a random seed. Click "Create New World" once you're finished setting your options.
- Invite your friends. Once you've got your world running, your friends will be able to join from their world lists if the game is not set to "Invite only." If it is, you'll need to send game invites to the friends you want to play with. Open your friends list, select the friend you want to play with, and then select "Invite to game."
Playing Splitscreen
- Connect your Xbox 360 to an HDTV. If you haven't already, you'll need to have your Xbox 360 connected to an HDTV that is at least 720p. You cannot play splitscreen if you are playing on an old standard definition TV.
- Your 360 must also be connected to the TV via either component cable (five-prong) or HDMI.
- Check your current display resolution. You can check your current output resolution by navigating to Settings → System → Console Settings → Display. The "Current Setting" needs to be "720p," "1080p," or "1080i." Any other setting will prevent splitscreen from working.
- Create a new world or load an existing one. You can play splitscreen on any of your worlds.
- Uncheck "Online game" to play local splitscreen. This will allow you to play with any of the accounts on your Xbox 360, even if they are not Gold accounts.
- You can play splitscreen games online by leaving "Online game" checked, but you'll need an Xbox Live Gold account to start the game. Online splitscreen only supports Gold and Guest accounts, while local splitscreen supports Gold, Silver, and Guest accounts.
- If you are playing an online splitscreen game, you'll need to sign in with any Guest accounts as soon as the world loads. Players with Gold accounts will be able to join in at any time, as long as there is room in the game.
- Turn on the second controller and select a profile. Once the game has loaded, press the Xbox button on the second controller and choose the profile you want to use. If you're playing local splitscreen, the second player will be able to join the game with any profile on the system.
- Press Start on the second controller to join the game. You'll be prompted to so this after you have signed in on the second controller.
- Join with any additional controllers. Four players can play on a single TV, as long as you have four controllers. If you're playing a local splitscreen game, these additional players can hop on at any time. If you're playing an online splitscreen game, additional players will need Gold accounts to join at any time.
