Minecraft Realms: Mojang's family-friendly multiplayer service

Kids love Minecraft. The procedurally generated survive-and-create game hides nothing more objectionable than some creepy monsters, but its multiplayer frontiers can get a bit more grimey.

Mojang is putting together a new subscription service, called Minecraft Realms, to make online play safer and easier for kids and their parents. Mojang CEO Carl Manneh told it24 (via GamesIndustry International) about the studio's plans:

"Our customers [for Realms] are parents who are tired of trying to act as server administrators on behalf of their kids," Manneh said. "Minecraft Realms will be a simpler kind of service, aimed at families and kids."

Subscribers get their own worlds, the same as any other single or multiplayer server. But Mojang provides an easy-to-manage friends list to determine access privileges, and only one player needs to have a Realms account per world.

Mojang hasn't nailed down a price yet, but it will likely be $10 to $15 a month. Manneh said he's curious to see how the community responds to Realms, which will also support Minecraft: Pocket Edition.

"[S]ince we have about 10 million paying PC gamers and, soon, as many mobile gamers, there's definitely potential," he said. "And yes, if we look ahead, I do think [Realms will] be the biggest source of income in the future, and to bring in more money in total than the game itself."