Minecraft Patch Raises Player Concerns Over LAN Problems

The newest patch for Minecraft (1.21.20.21) introduces a range of updates that are both cosmetic and gameplay-oriented in nature. It also fixes several issues that players may have been facing in the past. Some of the major updates include player skin and name reporting, networked play, and how mobs function in the game. Even though Minecraft has been popular for more than 13 years now, there’s clearly room for improvement.

Player Concerns Over LAN Problems

Players like EvilVirus4 and imnotchantelle are using Twitter as a platform to voice their concerns regarding LAN problems in the game. Previously, this feature would let players hop into a world within the world and enjoy the game with others if they shared the same internet connection.

There’s this bug where it is no longer possible to play Offline-LAN Multiplayer, which is sad since my younger siblings wants to play together, this issue has been quite sometime already and it isn’t fix though— Blank Space (@EvilVirus4) June 28, 2024

Unfortunately, this feature is now being limited for many players, even though the game officially has LAN co-op available for free. Seemingly, this may just be available to PC players as certain players on the PlayStation aren’t able to access it.

Btw I wanted to use the FREE, LAN server feature but that doesn’t show up on my PS4… like why does nothing work 😭 I just wanna play minecraft with my niece and nephew bro 😭— chantelle 🙂 (@imnotchantelle) June 27, 2024

Whether or not this is an intentional move by Mojang Studios to convince people to invest in Minecraft Realms is yet to be known. At the time of writing, there are other ways players can enjoy the game with each other but it may be locked behind a paywall.

Minecraft Realms – Worth the Investment?

The latest patch may have fixed many problems and introduced some neat things into the game, but looks like this “free” update is for single-player gamers to enjoy. If you’re looking to play the game online with others across the globe, Minecraft Realms may be the way to go.

A “realm” in Minecraft is a fancy term for a server. It lets you host a virtual world online for others to connect to, and vice-versa in case you want to play on a realm hosted by someone else. From the official page, here’s the idea simplified:

A Minecraft Realm is a subscription to your own personal Minecraft server, where you can easily and safely play online with friends in shared worlds across devices.

For the Bedrock edition, Realms costs $3.99, while Realms Plus costs $7.99 (which gives you some additional benefits). For the Java edition, it’s $7.99 as well.

What are your thoughts on the different ways of playing Minecraft online? Do you think you’d invest in a service like Realms? Let us know in the comments below.