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For Minecraft 26.3 · Fabric · NeoForge · Paper

Busy Bodies

Everyone's up to something. See who is typing, who is digging through a chest, who is stuck in a menu and who fell asleep at the keyboard.

DownloadRead the how-to
  • Version 0.2.0
  • Server and players
  • Free and MIT licensed
A player's head with a speech bubble

In the game

Multiplayer feels alive when you can see what people are doing#

No chat spam and no extra HUD. Busy Bodies puts it on the player: body language, a few small icons and a panel that floats in front of whoever has a menu open.

The test village on a busy afternoon: Sunny is typing, Zuri has paused, Ari writes a book, Steve digs through a chest, Efe writes a sign, Alex watches a furnace, Noor trades and Kai has dozed off by the fire.
The test village on a busy afternoon: Sunny is typing, Zuri has paused, Ari writes a book, Steve digs through a chest, Efe writes a sign, Alex watches a furnace, Noor trades and Kai has dozed off by the fire.

Start here

Which file do I need?#

Busy Bodies goes on the server and on every player who wants to see it. Fabric players and NeoForge players see each other on all three kinds of server.

Players#

The Fabric or NeoForge file, in your mods folder.

Fabric also needs Fabric API.

Modded server#

The very same file, in the server's mods folder.

One file does both jobs.

Paper server#

The plugin, Busy Bodies for Paper, in the plugins folder.

No mods needed on the server.

Step by step in the how-to guide

Typing

You can tell a message is coming#

The moment someone opens chat, a speech bubble pops up over their head and their hands start tapping at a little text bar. The bubble warms from yellow to orange the faster they type.

  • Signs, books and command blocks get their own icon
  • A quiet "Alex is typing.." line above your chat box
  • The letters are random: what someone types is never sent
More about typing
Recorded in the game: Sunny typing, frame by frame.
Recorded in the game: Sunny typing, frame by frame.

Open menus

Peek at what they are doing in there#

Open a chest, a furnace, a villager trade or your inventory and a small panel floats in front of you. Players close by see a live copy of that screen, with your mouse moving and clicking.

  • Items fly between the chest and the panel as they are moved
  • Works for the pause menu, options, advancements and other mods' screens
  • From farther away, an icon for the kind of menu
More about menus
Recorded in the game: Steve moves items while Alex clicks through the furnace.
Recorded in the game: Steve moves items while Alex clicks through the furnace.

Dozing off

See who is really there before you ask for help#

Stand still for five minutes and your character starts glancing around, nods off and finally sleeps on their feet. Sleepers get a zz in the tab list, and a clock shows who has paused or tabbed out.

More about dozing off
The same square at dusk. Kai is still asleep on his feet.
The same square at dusk. Kai is still asleep on his feet.

Privacy

You decide what you share#

Everything you share has its own switch, and so does everything you see. Three presets cover most people: Open book, Just the basics and Poker face.

  • Written books, report screens and the social screen are never copied
  • Live pictures are small, softly blurred and only reach players within 10 blocks
  • Server owners can switch any part off for everyone
Every switch explained
Both pages of the settings screen: what I share, and what I see.
Both pages of the settings screen: what I share, and what I see.

Behind the scenes

Tested the hard way#

Every release has to get through the same list of two-player checks, on real servers, before it goes up. The pictures on this site come out of that same test village.

  • 44checks a release must pass
  • 3kinds of server: Fabric, NeoForge, Paper
  • 15 minsoak run with no memory growth
  • 30switches, each one checked

See the whole list

The wiki

Everything, written down#

Start here#

Features#

In control#

Works with#

Behind the scenes#

Get Busy Bodies#

  • Fabric and NeoForge mod, Paper plugin, all for Minecraft 26.3
  • Players without it can still join your server
  • Free, MIT licensed, fine for any modpack
The mod on CurseForgeThe Paper plugin