To not know what minecraft is??

[Wozald1989]

Is it a game? Computer /iPad app? Is it free or do you need to pay for it? People keep going on and on about it but I have no idea!

Think lego on the computer/console you do need to pay but there are free versions. Google it!

Google?

Oh you lucky lucky poster! Keep it that way - DS seems to speak of nothing else since DP got it during the Summer Holidays as a treat

Yabu!

It's a great game. Very creative. I play with my 3 year old and my partner and we have built our own beautiful little world! My kid is currently herding his 15 cats in to a treehouse he built for them.

Would you like to come to a minecraft party tomorrow? Minecraft cake, minecraft party bags with minecraft stickers, badges, balloons... Need I go on? I'm sure DS3 and 1 and 2 would live up tell you all about it. In great detail.

I think it is a great game, suitable for all ages, creative and fun! Definitely check it out.

Yabu to not know what it is, if you have school age children.
Ywnbu to not 'get' it. I don't get it, yet have 2 DC who play the iPad version every spare minute. They just dig.. And dig.. And dig.. Occasionally I hear a joyful cry of 'redstone' or the wail of 'lava' but I've yet to understand their love of the game.

No there aren't free versions.

There are three versions - Computer, console, and "pocket edition" (for ipads/phones/tablets).

Computer one costs £20, you buy online, it's a download. This is the original version and has the most features.

Following closely behind is the console version - for Playstation 3 or 4, and Xbox 360 or 1. This costs about £17, you can buy it as a download, or as a disc - look secondhand in Game, etc.

The Pocket Edition is a hugely cut-down version of the game for iPad etc. It costs £5. You buy it in the app store.

It's rated age 7 but there are two modes - creative, and survival. You can get monsters in Survival mode, but under-7s generally turn them off (this is an option). You can claim it's educational because it teaches them a bit of basic geology and some extremely basic concepts of chemistry (e.g. if you heat sand, you can make glass) and it has some components to build simple circuits. But mostly it's just fun, creative and harmless.

A youtube person called StampyLongNose makes lots of videos about Minecraft and children adore him. Parents love the fact that he doesn't swear but hate his laugh.

That's basically all you need to know!

minecraft.net/

there is a free version, a demo version.
full game is £18 on pc, £15 in asda for the xbox 360.

If you've got children it's probably the best computer game ever made
and the the things created can be staggeringly complex or endearingly simple.

It is very very educational to the point that it is used widely in education.
services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/What_is_MinecraftEdu

Lucky you...all talk of Minecraft is now banned in this house because it's just so bloody dull. DCS are now obsessed with Terreria (sp?)... Looks to me like a crappier version of said Minecraft. I cannot escape.

"Hellooooooo, this is Stampy and welcomed to minecraft"

Sick to the back teeth of Stampy...do not let your children discover him.
Don't say I didn't warn you.

I watch the youngling play. All that's missing is the drool on my face it's that mind numbing.

He likes it alot though.

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecraft-map-britain.html

I know the lad who wrote it
he did a physics degree
but minecraft will be his life

DO NOT TELL YOUR SONS

Caboodle - my ds loves terraria too. No idea about it! Him & his friend are obsessed! No stampy though so it's not all bad!!

We have 2 different free versions of minecraft, on the ipad & iphone. The boys love it.

It's a computer based creative game with some 'survival' aspects. There are various different ways to play though most, if not all, are paid for.

There are mobile app versions.

The computer based system does actually state in the T&C that users should be age 13 or above (using the same law/rules as Facebook etc) but I know of many many much younger children who use it and enjoy it.

account.mojang.com/terms#website

Google IS your friend! And Stampy is lovely.....he never swears and is very child friendly. Unlike the PP, I have no prove with my children watching Stampy. Squid however I do not allow. He swears and if you are Christian, takes God's name in vain a LOT so I cannot recommend him for kids.

Prove should be problem.

Although, to be fair, the Minecraft versions of pop songs are quite good....
Walks off singing 'hey, sexy piggy digging Minecraft style'

This actually sounds a bit suspect now I come to think of it

Haha thanks for all your advice! I do have a 6 year old so might look into it :-)

Stampy used to swear in his very early videos. He then realised that a lot of children were watching them and stopped. Any of his videos from the last couple of years are perfectly OK for children to watch and he appears to interact well with his younger fans. He recently appeared on CBBC talking about Minecraft with Dick and Dom.

Stampy became great when he looked at his audience and stopped swearing. Icupquake used to he a good one but she doesn't do new stuff anymore - she was the first one I let DD watch.
It's a pity Tom Syndicate could make a navvy blush, he does really good idiot guide style walkthroughs (and is a genuinely lovely bloke) but his language can be appalling.
It's well worth a look - Minecraft can teach them alsorts of things but can be so time consuming. I once lost 3 hours making my perfect small house in peaceful mode..