Minecraft/among us

[Serenitesanta]

Anyone have experience in these games for seven/ eight year olds?
My DC want to play and most of their friends have them already, along with Roblox, which, again I have refused to let them play up to now.
I am thinking about getting them these games for Christmas, it would be a big deal and huge surprise but are they safe, can they be monitored so no strangers can ‘speak’ to them etc. I don’t really want them unfettered access to even friends playing. Would they be able to type conversation as well as read?? It’s Minecraft and among us I’m really thinking of, Roblox might be too advanced??
Am not particularly tech minded and never played a video game in my life but have read the importance of vigilance with these games.
Any thoughts/advice?

Among us - you can set it so that only pre-selected sentences can be 'typed' to others

Minecraft I think you can set it so its just an individual game and you don't interact with others.

Best thing to do is just download them and play them yourself for a bit, so you can see how they work. Especially these two which are free depending on which type of device you are downloading them to.

Minecraft you don’t need to interact with others at all and it’s a really good building game. You need to get a Microsoft account if you want to game with others but it’s completely unnecessary at that age. My 6yo loved it and occasionally plays it with his friend but only when they’re physically in the same room so I know it’s only them on the realm and they speak rather than type conversations. But again, that’s not a necessary part of it.

Among Us still manages to upset my 10yo. Even with preset phrases and only playing games with classmates there can be a bit of bullying as you vote players out which got a bit nasty at one point.

Definitely steer clear of Roblox for as long as possible.

Roblox and Among Us are free so not really Christmas gifts. However, lots of Roblox games have in-game purchases and you can buy Roblox gift cards to let them buy things. One safety concern, but more for you than them, is to check that they can't use saved card details to buy things in the games. My daughter thought she was spending coins she had earned in the games but it turned out it was £300 on my credit card! On Among us and Roblox games they can write chat messages but you can restrict that. Roblox has thousands of games and some would be suitable for that age. Minecraft costs £25 to download I think. You need to research whether you want to run it on a laptop, via XBox etc. You also need to check that you are on the right edition for them to join with friends in their virtual worlds. Via XBox there is a way for them to chat across the game or they can just type chat messages. You can restrict their worlds so that only invited friends can join.

Minecraft is awesome for little kids. Not dissimilar to lego. There are options to play with friends or collaboratively but you don't have to. You can just mine, build and craft.

Amount Us, I guarantee your child will be bored of within a week. It's free anyway, so hardly a Christmas gift. It's difficult for an average 8 Yr old to understand the tactics needed to win. But my 8yo is able to play, she just never wins. You can only play amoung us online with random. It's not about chatting or meeting people though. There could be swearing (written)

Why not download it yourself and play in your lunchtime? It's really just a time-filling app, like candy crush or whatever. You don't achieve anything by playing, just use up your screen time.

@Eupraxia you can set among Us so that you play only with friends. There is no way in hell I’d be letting my preteen kids play otherwise.

Absolutely heartbreaking interviews with kids who were groomed and sexually assaulted online in this podcast by radio 4: Roblox: A Dangerous Game? File on 4 Roblox, the US gaming platform is the most popular game played by British children.www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ddtn there is no way on Earth I would let my kids anywhere near Robolox ever.

Thank you so much, I’ve taken all advice on board and in particular the Roblox warnings.

My 8yo loves all of those games. He plays minecraft and among us on the switch (AU wasn't free like others have said). With minecraft he can play online with friends not strangers. With among us it's strangers but any rude typing is * and we've not had any problems.

He plays roblox on laptop (free) and you can turn off chat. You can plays with random. I'm less keen on some of the games - stupid and pointless imo - but not enough to take it away.

Minecraft is certainly the most creative and positive of the three, its a brilliant game.

Like others, I think minecraft is fantastic, and both my 5yo and 8yo play, often together and in a really creative way.

I let the older one play online with his best friend during lockdown, but currently don't have him set up to play online at all. I might add that back soon, but only with people he knows.

They like the idea of Among us, and "play" a make believe version as a playground game at school a lot. I don't think the real game looks great for kids though.

We got DS Minecraft for his 8th birthday and it has been a hit. We have it set up for local multiplayer so we can all play together which is nice (apart from the constant "mummy, can I use your diamonds to make a...?" "If you find your own diamonds you can use those, I'll show you a good place to look..."). Lovely game and on the Windows version it's easy to control who they interact with.