Hosting, visitors and password worlds
More guidesInvite friends into your world, choose who may change it, and use a password when you need a quiet door.
Your friend arrives at the river gate, sees the town you made, and helps turn an empty shore into a happy camp. Hosting makes a world a place to share.
Start or join a shared world
Open PLAY WITH FRIENDS from the title. Its tabs keep joining and hosting together.
| Tab | What to do |
|---|---|
| JOIN | Pick a friend's world on your network, or open Join by address and type the address and port they shared. |
| HOST | Pick HOST on one of your saved worlds. NEW WORLD opens the mode cards with hosting already chosen. |
| INVITES | Read the notice about Steam invites. This tab does not list invites yet. |
Use Q and E to change tabs, Enter to choose and Esc to go back. The hints show the buttons for your controller or keyboard.
Find a friend's world
Worlds hosted on your network appear by themselves in JOIN. Each picture card shows the world's name, mode picture, player spaces and age group. A lock means it needs a password. A full world cannot be joined. A world using a different game version tells you so. Worlds for teens stay hidden on a child's profile.
When available, Hosted by shows the host's gator name. Older games may show no host name and a general picture instead.
An address stays off the card. Focus the card to see its address detail, or open Join by address with R. Streamer mode hides the address. Ask your host privately if you need it.
After choosing a world, JOINING shows how the connection is going. CANCEL takes you back. Your camera never leaves your computer.
Open your own world
The HOST tab shows your saved worlds as picture cards, with their mode and last visit. Focus a card to see its seed. Pick HOST to open it to friends. The world keeps running while you play; friends leave when you close it.
The password is the hosting option here. The world's rules, including who it is for and whether new players are visitors, stay in World settings. Choose the player limit when setting up the world.
Show my address opens the address and port details. It stays hidden in streamer mode. Friends elsewhere may need the game's UDP port forwarded on the host's router. In your world, Pause > INVITE FRIENDS shows the joining details too. SHOW FOR NOW reveals them in that panel when streamer mode is on.
YOUR WORLDS, opened from a mode's All worlds, uses the same cards with PLAY. Backups and Delete sit beside each world. Deleting asks you to confirm first.
Each visitor keeps their own character progress in that world. The host's world stays the home of its buildings, land and shared changes.
Visitors and members
With the visitor rule on, a player who is not a member may dig, fill ground, or place and remove building pieces only on land they own or land whose claim includes them. This protects a friend's work without stopping a good visit.
Visitors can still gather, fight, fish, farm, craft and trade. They can place a Home Totem and field barricades, so they can make a home of their own and help when a fight starts.
The host can make a player a member from their player card or menu. Friends added to a claim are members there too. The host and solo player are members already. Membership stays with the world.
Password worlds
A host can set Password to join (optional) on the HOST tab. A player who joins must type that same password before the world lets them in. Leave it empty when you do not want a password. Streamer mode hides the password text.
Joining a locked world opens PASSWORD, with the world's name and a hidden text field. Type the password, then choose JOIN. If it does not work, ask the host to check it with you.
A password is a door code for a family world or a streamed game. It keeps out strangers who know the address. Share it only with people you trust. It is not a secret lock for private information.
What you can do
- Agree with friends before changing a shared build.
- Keep the visitor rule on when a world has work you want to protect.
- Add a helper as a member when you want them to build beside you.
- Give each builder their own claim when everyone wants room for a home.
- Change or clear a password on the HOST tab when the group changes.
Meet a new visitor at a sign or notice board. Show them where they may build, then give them one small job that matters. A bridge, garden or fishing corner is a fine first shared win.
Where next
Set up a world, invite someone kind, and make a small camp together. Read Building your town for shared places, Family safety features for family choices, Menus and settings: find your way around for the menus, and Game modes: pick your kind of world for world rules.