[chrisdalke]

There's actually two completely separate games (Java edition and Bedrock) that can't cross-play with each other. You can buy a Bedrock edition Minecraft for Windows that should be able to cross-play with the switch.

Java Edition is the original game and it's fairly easy to either host your own server (The dedicated server is just a .jar you run) or pay for a server ($10-40/mo) using a game server host.

Unsure about bedrock, there's some instructions here (https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/wiki/bds/#wiki_bedrock_de...).

[jjkaczor]

There are extensions/plug-ins to the standard Java server, allowing Bedrock players, and xbox accounts to join:

https://geysermc.org/

(Plus Floodgate so they don't need a Java account)

I just setup a new family minecraft server last week and have successfully hosted java and bedrock players simultaneously (one coming in from a Nintendo switch, another from their phone and several from Java clients).

There are also plug-ins allowing older (or newer) client versions to connect to your server as well (ViaVersion, ViaBackwards).

[chrisdalke]

Oh that’s awesome! I’ll have to try that.

[SushiHippie]

FWIW with the Java version you can easily create a LAN Server in game, by joining a world and then opening it to LAN.

https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/4410317081741-H...

EDIT: I just realized this works on Bedrock too, but don't know how the support on the Switch is

https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/4410316619533-H...

[khedoros1]

Bedrock has self-hosted servers available too: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock

They're pre-compiled Windows and Linux binaries, but if I'm remembering correctly, I think they're statically linked, and I had no trouble running the Ubuntu one on my Fedora system.

I used to keep a Bedrock server running on my desktop, and my son and I could pop in from a phone, tablet, or laptop whenever we wanted to.