---
description: Setup instructions for the plugin.
---

# Setup

ChatGames plugin is ready out of the box (there's no need to configure anything).

{% hint style="info" %}
**If you're running 1.8, you might get a few warnings on startup.**

Don't worry, they are harmless and only indicate that sounds will not be played because the sound names are invalid.

You'll need to change sounds used by actions to 1.8 names. You can learn more about actions [below](#actions), or scroll directly to the bottom and replace the sound names with the ones displayed in the [1.8 sound list](../actions/enum-lists#1.8).
{% endhint %}

## Worth looking at :eyes:

Although you can use the plugin as it is, we'd like to inform you about settings which are most likely to be changed for each server's experience.

### Game duration :hourglass:

The default game duration is 30 seconds. After this duration passes, the game will time out. If you'd like to modify this time, update `game-duration` in the config accordingly.

### Participation :raised\_hands:

By default, all online players can participate in the games. If you'd like to, you can also set this to a permission, or only allow players in certain worlds. You can alter this setting in `participation.mode`.

### Automatic start :robot:

Games are automatically started every 15 minutes. When this delay elapses, there must be at least 2 players online which can participate (see above), have games shown (you can hide/show games via a command) and are not AFK.

You may configure all of this inside `auto-start`. We particularly recommend changing the player requirement (`auto-start.players-required`) to a higher value for servers with higher traffic to create a more thrilling experience for the players.

### Actions :fast\_forward:

Actions are executable code which can run on specific occasions. There are actions for times when game starts, game was answered, game timed out or game was stopped. In ChatGames, they are available at the bottom of the configuration file.

In default configuration they are only used to play sounds and give rewards, however, they can do much more. Learn more [here](actions/usage).
