Summary
- The new Minecraft Bedrock beta has introduced a Player Locator bar so that you can track your friends.
- Replacing the XP bar, it shows where other players are via coloured squares.
- However, server creators and admins can toggle the bar.
If you want to find your friends in Minecraft, you have two options: a) share your coordinates, or b) use a map. It’s not the most intuitive system, but after 16 years, Mojang is finally implementing a better way.
Enter the Locator Bar. Situated above the hotbar, it displays other players in your world via different coloured squares. It will even signify if they’re above or below you with a matching arrow, something maps don’t do.
The XP bar will still appear when you’re earning experience points, but otherwise the Locator Bar has taken its place.
The feature is live right now in the Bedrock beta and preview, and it will be implemented in a Java snapshot “soon”. But if you don’t want to use it, don’t worry.
Server Admins Can Turn The Locator Bar Off
While this is a nifty feature sure to make co-op less of a hassle, it does raise a few questions — chiefly, what about PvP servers? Thankfully, Mojang thought ahead. Server admins and creators can disable the Player Locator bar in the settings, so don’t worry about a built-in tracker ruining your Factions experience.
Adventuring with friends who are lacking in the spatial awareness department can be equally hilarious and infuriating, which is why our developers have come up with the Player Locator bar!
However, players cannot individually toggle the bar, so if you want a more traditional multiplayer experience, you’ll just have to create your own world. That being said, there are a few ways to hide from other players even with the tracker enabled:
- Crouch, ie sneak.
- Wear a mask, like a mob head or carved pumpkin.
- Drink a potion of invisibility.
- Approach a player from behind.
While the feature is mostly going down well with fans, there are a few tweaks that the community is calling for, from an individual toggle to showing the tracker over the XP bar, rather than having one or the other. Given that this is a beta, not a live update, now is the perfect time to voice constructive criticism and make your feedback heard.
Minecraft
- Created by
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Markus Persson