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I just bought Minecraft. Now, my brother wants to play with me but my Mom doesn't want to buy another. We use the same Wifi network. Can we do this?

Robotnik
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user52654
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about piracy. –  Jul 26 '13 at 23:42
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    @jeffreylin_ how exactly is this about piracy? Sharing an account is allowed according to numerous post on the minecraft forum. like this one – Kevin Jul 27 '13 at 00:00
  • @jeffreylin_ 4/5 people in that thread that say anything about the legality say it's ok, only one says it's not. – Kevin Jul 27 '13 at 00:03
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    It's not about what the people say, it's about what Mojang says. –  Jul 27 '13 at 00:04
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    @jeffreylin_ Mojang says "The One Major Rule Do not distribute anything we've made. This includes, but not limited to, the client or the server software for the game." This means that it's fine to let someone use your account to download the client since you are not distributing. Mojang also says "In order to ensure integrity of the game, we need all game downloads to come from a single central source: us. " which adds to my interpretation. it's ok to let someone use your account, as long as he/she downloads the client from Mojang's servers. – Kevin Jul 27 '13 at 00:19
  • Probably a dumb question since I've only played Minecraft through a connection (and I might not be understanding the question correctly), but can't you do split screen on one console together, and have your brother make an account without getting Xbox Live Gold? – LOL. NO. Jul 27 '13 at 04:15
  • @LOL This is about Minecraft on PC. – SevenSidedDie Jul 29 '13 at 03:41
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    @Kevin According to the updated EULA, sharing an account with another person is illegal, as seen in this line of the EULA, This also means you cannot sell or rent the Game, or make it available for access to other people* and you cannot pass on or resell any licence keys.* – DatEpicCoderGuyWhoPrograms Jul 19 '14 at 01:33
  • I do propose to merge the answers. – Joachim Feb 04 '23 at 12:17

8 Answers8

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Your brother cannot play with you on the same server since you both will be using the same account, and therefore using the same name. Only one person with that name can be logged into a server at a time.

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You can play at the same time using different devices, on the same account. However, only one of those accounts can join public servers. The others must stay on singleplayer mode. Otherwise, you may get kicked, or even banned, from the server.

WarpPrime
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    Kicked/banned is per-server, but usually what happens is that the server would just kick you (reject the connection) for having "bad credentials". – aytimothy Jan 05 '21 at 04:06
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I suggest setting up a lan world. that's realy easy if your computers are connected over wifi. and a LAN(Local Access Network) is setup between the two computers. also logging in to minecraft as far as i remember isn't required so you would not need 2 accounts. (At least when the LAN system came first out, if not you should downgrade to a minecraft where you are able to log in)

  1. first open ANY singleplayer world, you can make a new one for this as well.

  2. press Esc and click "open to LAN", there are some basic settings which I don't have to explain because they are very easy to use (think of gamemode and cheats on or off).

  3. go to your brothers computer and go to the multyplayer section.

  4. all LAN worlds(in your case only your LAN world) will apear at the bottom of the list and your brother will be able to join them.

note: you must be qwithin range of the wifi and the LAN to be able to join this world, friends in other homes can't play on this server.

if you have problems with the connection you can read these questions:

Minecraft LAN server problems

Minecraft LAN trouble

Community
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codermaster
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    This almost works, except you need to edit the file at ~/.minecraft/launcher_profiles.json and change the value under authenticationDatabase.[guid].displayName to something other than what the other player(s) is using, or you'll get an error along the lines of "That name is taken." If you're on Windows, substitute ~/.minecraft for C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft. – Big McLargeHuge Dec 25 '14 at 00:05
  • did not know that – codermaster Dec 25 '14 at 00:38
  • For 1.7, you need to change the value for the --username argument in %appdata%/.minecraft/versions/<version>/<version>.json. – Uyghur Lives Matter May 05 '15 at 01:51
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    @cpburnz that changed for 1.8, you just needto change the display name now – codermaster May 06 '15 at 09:22
  • As of 1.14 this seems to no longer work. – Scott Morrison Nov 28 '19 at 21:21
  • This still works if you use the old launcher. Setting the compatibilitymode to "Windows XP(service pack 2)" forces the old launcher to be activated. See also https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/374954/how-do-i-change-my-minecraft-displayname – Joachim May 31 '21 at 17:58
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You can't play together unless you both have different accounts. If its just a case of him wanting to play the game he can play on your account and just make up his own world, but you couldn't play on multiplayer unless you had separate accounts. Don't try to illegally download minecraft anywhere, they'll most definitely be viruses.

RockAndRollAshley
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Yes, you can both log in to the same account and play singleplayer or multiplayer (on different servers). You cannot both be on the same server at the same time because there would be a username conflict.

Timtech
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Edit: This answer is incorrect. See fasterthanlight's answer.

Original post:

You can use a single account on multiple computers but not at the same time. Your brother can use it only while you are not playing.

Convert
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Kcats
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  • Thank you for your answers, I have bought the account and found out we could both play singleplayer at the same time, but we could not play lu – Trash Dev 2.0 Jun 16 '20 at 21:21
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Since The Microsoft Acquisition of Mojang/Minecraft

It can permanently cost you the right to play the game. It's not worth it to save $26.95.

The following products, apps and services are covered by the Microsoft Services Agreement, Minecraft games Minecraft Realms Plus and Minecraft Realms

BY DOWNLOADING OR USING THE APPLICATION, OR ATTEMPTING TO DO ANY OF THESE, YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THEM, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO AND MUST NOT DOWNLOAD OR USE THE APPLICATION.

If you comply with these Terms, Microsoft grants you the RIGHT TO install and USE ONE COPY of the software per device on a WORLDWIDE basis for use BY ONLY ONE PERSON AT A TIME.

The software is licensed, not sold, and Microsoft reserves all rights to the software This license does not give you any right to, and you may not:

Separate components of the software or Services for use on different devices SINGLE-PLAYER AND MULTI-PLAYER

You may not: lend the software or the Services, unless Microsoft expressly authorizes you to do so;

You may not: transfer the software, any software licenses, or any rights to access or use the Services;

You may lose access to or capabilities of Digital Goods, or have the nature of your access changed if you violate the Terms or these Rules.

Source

Since The Microsoft Acquisition of Mojang/Minecraft there is no difference between singleplayer and multiplayer on the Microsoft end because you still have to log in to your Microsoft account to load the game and all worlds are technically a server even if it is hosted internally.....

pinckerman
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BK Morgan
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To play on multiple computers with a same account, open a world to LAN , then change your username on another computer and join the lan world.

Rey Sap
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