---
title: "Playing on a private server with friends"
description: "Why a server beats an open game, the password game by game, console access you can give without losing your seat, and splitting the bill."
url: https://tickserv.com/en/guides/play-with-friends
site: "TickServ (https://tickserv.com)"
lang: en
published: 2026-07-16
updated: 2026-08-22
games: [minecraft, valheim, palworld, factorio]
---
# Playing on a private server with friends

A private server is your world: your rules, your friends, progress kept between sessions. Here's how to launch one — and above all how to answer the three questions your group will ask within the hour.

## Why a server, rather than just inviting people in

That's the starting question, and it has a real answer.

When you open your single-player game to friends, **your machine is the host**. Three immediate consequences:

- **you have to be online** for the others to play — if they want to make progress on a Thursday evening when you're out, they can't;
- **your PC computes the world and your game at once**, on the same processor;
- **you leave, everyone drops.** In the middle of a dungeon, that gets noticed.

A dedicated server moves the hosting elsewhere. The world exists independently of who's online, and anyone in the group can play whenever. That's the only difference, but it changes everything for a group whose schedules don't line up.

## The address, and why it doesn't change

As soon as the server runs, a **stable address** appears in your console. It doesn't change between sessions, even after a full shutdown: you hand it out once and your group keeps it forever.

It's a small detail that isn't one. A server whose address changes on every start forces you to re-broadcast it each session — and someone always ends up on the old one.

**One exception worth knowing**: on Valheim in crossplay, console players join with a **join code**, and that one does change on every start. The address stays stable for Steam players. See the [Valheim crossplay guide](https://tickserv.com/en/guides/valheim-crossplay-server).

## The password, game by game

Not every game guards its front door the same way, and that's the second question that lands:

- **Valheim** requires a password (five characters minimum, and it must not be contained in the server's name). Generated automatically.
- **Palworld** has **two** distinct passwords: the players' one, and the admin one that grants in-game powers. Never merge them — otherwise your whole group is an administrator.
- **Factorio** uses a game password, and the server isn't publicly listed.
- **Minecraft** has no password: the door is held with the **whitelist** (add your group's usernames) and **operators**.
- **Project Zomboid** uses a server password.

All of it is shown in your console, next to the address.

## Giving console access without giving up your seat

Sharing the address is enough to play. But if you'd rather not be the only one who can start the server — because that makes you the group's bottleneck — you can invite by link, with two roles:

- **operator**: start, stop, manage the world. For people you trust who play when you aren't around.
- **member**: see the address and join, without changing anything.

![The "Share" panel of a TickServ server: create an invitation link as operator or member, the list of friends with access, and a Discord webhook field for notifications](https://tickserv.com/shots/partage-light.webp '512x567')

That's the difference between a "group server" and "the server belonging to whoever made it".

## Keeping the group informed without thinking about it

A **Discord webhook** wired to the server posts in your channel when it starts, stops, or when someone connects. Nobody has to ask "is it up?" any more — the answer is already in the thread.

A **Discord bot** also lets you wake it from the channel, without going through the console.

## Splitting the bill

That's the third question, and usually the most awkward to ask: who pays?

With **shared wallets**, everyone puts in what they want and the servers draw on that pot **first**, before the creator's own balance. Nobody fronts money for the others, nobody keeps score.

At a realistic rhythm — three evenings of three hours a week on an 8 GB server — the monthly bill is **€1.08**. Split four ways, that's twenty-seven cents each. The sharing question is mostly a formality.

## Play, then shut it down

You only pay for the hours played. Once nobody is connected, the server **stops on its own** — and you're never cut off mid-game while a player is still there.

The world is saved **before every shutdown** and restored on the next session, with an automatic backup **every 30 minutes** while you play, of which the **last 5** are kept. Storage is free, server off included.

In practice, for a group: you play Tuesday and Thursday, the server sleeps the rest of the week, and costs nothing meanwhile. It's the only model where a group server doesn't need to earn its keep.

> [Create your server](https://tickserv.com/app) and start your first game with friends.