About The Homelab Gamer

Hi, I’m Jonathan — welcome to The Homelab Gamer.

This site exists because I got tired of hunting through outdated forum posts and vague YouTube tutorials every time I wanted to host a game server for my friends. I run my own self-hosted setups at home (currently a Factorio dedicated server on a mini PC via Docker), and I wanted a place to document what actually works — clearly, step by step, without the fluff.

What You’ll Find Here

• Step-by-step server setup guides for popular games like Minecraft, Valheim, and ARK
• Hardware recommendations for budget-friendly home servers and mini PCs
• Troubleshooting guides for the common issues that come up when self-hosting
• Docker-based tutorials — my preferred method for running game servers cleanly and reliably

Why Self-Host?

Renting server hosting from a third party works fine, but it comes with recurring costs, less control, and sometimes frustrating restrictions. Running your own server at home means:

• No monthly subscription fees
• Full control over mods, settings, and backups
• A great way to repurpose old hardware or justify a mini PC purchase
• A genuinely useful skill if you’re into tech, networking, or just want to understand how things work under the hood

My Background

I work in backend development, so a lot of what I write about here comes from hands-on experience — actually setting these servers up, breaking them, and fixing them, rather than just repeating what I read elsewhere.

Get In Touch

Have a question, a game you’d like a guide for, or found an error in a post? Reach out through the Contact page — I read every message.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy hosting.