Most of the multiplayer sandbox/survival games (Minecraft, Valheim, The Forest, etc) use basic solutions for hosting/joining a lobby, and they all have have important drawbacks. For those not accustomed with this kind of games, usually the solutions are:
- Hosting a lobby without server. Your friends join you via P2P. They can only play while you are hosting, if you close the game they are kicked from the lobby.
- Running a dedicated server. Runs 24/24h without the need to be in game, you and your friends can join whenever they want. But you have to let the server run constantly on a computer, eating resources. Or you can rent/buy a server from a server hosting provider.
- Joining a public server (if the game have some, which is not always). Free and available any time, but can’t be configured and with no control whatsoever, your in-game experience (stability, responsiveness, etc) depends on how good they are, and you have to share it and the world’s game with other …