How Minecraft is adding a major minimap feature without adding the minimap itself

Minecraft is one of the few open-world games that does not have a minimap to guide players. This makes it extremely difficult to navigate and find other players in a multiplayer world. In a recent beta/preview version, however, Mojang Studios tested a new feature that could bring a minimap into the game without adding the entire minimap feature.

This is known as the player locator bar, which will show other players' locations in the world. Here is how Mojang has implemented the minimap feature without a minimap.

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Ways in which Minecraft's player locator bar feature works without adding a minimap

Minecraft's player locator bar will sometimes replace the experience bar

The player locator bar will show players as dots and the direction they are in (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming/Mojang Studios)

Since Minecraft never had a minimap, the community has created Minecraft mods that add various minimaps. Almost all these showed players as prominent dots, making it easy for everyone to spot one another. This is a common feature seen in many multiplayer games that have a minimap.

In Minecraft Bedrock Edition beta and preview 1.21.80.20, Mojang Studios added the new player locator bar as a feature. Though a minimap feature, the developers managed to add it as a bar, which would briefly replace the experience bar.

When players are not actively collecting XP points, the bar will simply show the direction of each player in a Minecraft world.

If players are on a higher terrain, a white arrow will appear on top of their dot, and if they are down in the caves, a white arrow will appear below their dot. If they are far away, their dots will be translucent.

All these features can be seen on minimap mods and minimaps in other games, but Mojang managed to add it in Minecraft without the minimap itself.

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When could the player locator bar feature officially be released in Minecraft?

The player locator bar could be released in the next-to-next Minecraft game drop (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming/Mojang Studios)

As of now, Mojang is gearing up to release Minecraft's first game drop of 2025. Since the player locator bar feature arrived in the Bedrock Edition beta/preview after the developer entered the pre-release stage of the first game drop, this feature could arrive in the next-to-next game drop.

The aforementioned drop will soon be officially announced at Minecraft Live and should include the player locator bar feature.

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