You need to be able to rely on your child to tell you what’s going on, and check in with them for this to work, of course. Second, you could identify certain servers that seem problematic, and avoid them. I’m personally not willing to say “no servers,” because my kid really has a ton of fun with her friends online. Or from playing on servers you’re not familiar and comfortable with. So here is some information on what you can do.įirst, of course you could prohibit your child from playing online. In reality, there is a lot more that one can do, but kids don’t necessarily understand the systems and procedures for reporting bad behavior. She replied that she tries to ignore it, waits for chat to end when a game round begins, and had just learned from a friend that you can block communications from individual players. I asked Bella what she does when this kind of thing happens. “It’s meant to play, and build, and construct, and, like, play cool minigames.” What can we do? “Minecraft is not a dating site!” Bella emphasizes. My concern is protecting my kid from the feelings Bella describes: feeling stunned, wondering, “What’s wrong with you?!” and well, being creeped out. As much of a worrier as I normally am, I doubt there are many actual child predators lurking for prey on Minecraft gaming servers.īut who cares? The point is that prepubescent children are trying to play a fun game with friends, when someone sidles over and sexually harasses them. Motivations probably range from clueless romantic excitement that “OMG, there’s a girl, an actual, real female person, who is into this game I love,” to older boys forgetting/ignoring that a lot of pretty young kids play, to just straight-up trolling jerkwads. My guess is this is mostly coming from immature teenage boys (the bulk of players are 15-21, and 94% are male).
To me, it sounds like there are certain players who will flirt with, proposition, stalk, or abuse players who use female character skins. I don’t know if players using male skins experience the same kind of thing, but referring to her girl friends who play, Bella says, “We’ve all had it happen to us.” She also described another player constantly following her in “sneak” mode and mimicking all her movements. “You’re cute.” (without preamble) “I want to fuck you.” (without preamble) “Will you marry me? Will you marry me? Will you marry me? Will you marry me?” “You fucking bitch. I asked a certain ten-year-old girl I know (who I’ll call Bella) what kind of chat messages she had gotten from other players that made her feel uncomfortable.
And getting rid of them is more complicated. Unfortunately, there’s another type of creeper on Minecraft servers – creepy dudes who creep on kids. Luckily there is a simple way to repel them – keep a cat around, and Creepers will run away. It gives very little warning, and can have devastating effects. It’s a nasty opponent that sneaks up and then explodes, destroying everything around it, including you and your constructions. There are all kinds of monsters in the Minecraft world, including the Creeper. (Due to the angle the phone is typically set at, my husband has taken to calling them “The Nosehair Club.”) She and her friends like to all join a server, and set their phones up in front of them so they can Facetime and talk while they play. My daughter has found some really fun and challenging servers through YouTube videos by trusted Minecraft gurus, and of course through friends. Kids can play by themselves, or they can go online to one of many servers and play games together within a Minecraft environment. And it’s a fabulous game for creativity, persistence, and problem solving, as well as just being fun. Tweens love Minecraft, if my kids’ set is any indication.
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