Minecraft - 7 year old desperate for a "friend"

[Brandysnapper]

...and he thinks I can fix it for him, including getting the famous Stampy to be his friend
He is randomly typing in the name of school friends (eg "Ben" not actual gamertags).
Is there any safe way to find children for him to play with? Does anyone have a child in the same situation who might link with him?
Normally I'd just say no, but having a bad week and really just want to make him happy!

[GratefulHead]

Oh bless him, what he needs ate his friends "gaming" nicknames. I'd suggest my DS but he's 12, autistic and bossy .

It seems that kids all over the world love the game and DS chats to lots of American children at the moment. I have the Xbox in the living room so I can hear who he is talking to....lots of overexcited kids internationally extolling the greatness of Stampy.

Stampy has a full friends account so cannot add anyone else. ..much to my DS's disappointment.

[GratefulHead]

Keep this thread bumped as there will be MNers who have similar aged children.

[Brandysnapper]

Thanks for the post
I don't even think he could talk to them, doesn't have a microphone. It must be a shock to hear someone else's voice in your living room!

[BigRedBall]

Just like to remind people this is still the Internet...please don't offer your children for friendships.......no offence Brandysnapper.

[RainbowFlutterby]

DS is yr6 and has friends online from school - a couple are a year older and a few are a bit younger.

Does your DS have a headset?

[trixymalixy]

You need to get him to ask his friends at school or their parents what their gamertags are.

I really wouldn't recommend finding randoms on the Internet to be friends with.

[RainbowFlutterby]

Do you have numbers for the mums of the school friends he's trying to find? Send them a text and ask for their kids' gamer tags, and let them know what his is.

(Yes I do have a list of names/gamer tags so I know who DS is online with )

[VivaLeBeaver]

Best thing we did for dd was to set up her own server. It costs about £5 a month for server hosting. It's white listed so only people invited can come on it.

Dd got to know some other people her age from more open servers and invited them to her server.

I think a headset is actually quite good because if you can hear what's going on its easier to keep an eye on what's been said. I can't watch her screen all the time.

[Kerberos]

Mine are friends with school chums ONLY. And yes he does definitely need a headset to talk to them.

Ask him to find out what the gamer tags are of his friends. Then make sure it's OK with their parents. You can set it up so he has to ask for permission (via password) before he can add someone.

[Brandysnapper]

Thanks guys, all good info. Hadn't thought of it as a risk Bigred though obviously you're right - though of course my ds as much at risk as anyone who replied on the thread!
I have no contacts from school, don't do the school run unfortunately so it never seems to happen. Will ask some rl friends in other places instead.
Is there any point though if he hasn't a headset, and can't read/write all that well?

[VivaLeBeaver]

If has a headset and a mumble channel there's less reading, it's all done via real time chat.

[OneBigHeadache]

Hi brandy does your son have pc or console? My son doesn't get to play multiplayer as I worry about what he might hear! He is also 7 and is begging to play online with somebody! We do have a headset but I think he's more interested in just playing 'side by side' with someone else instead of in his world on his own IYSWIM?
We have pc and xbox one and xbox 360 versions so unless you have a ps3 he would love to add your son!