Minecraft

[JennyAnn84]

My 7 year old son is desperate to get Minecraft for his 8th birthday. All of his friends have it and he has seen them play it occasionally so is very keen to have it at home. I am a bit hesitant as his friends get really upset when the game is turned off and talk about Minecraft a lot. It seems a bit addictive to me - more so than the games my son already plays such as FIFA and Animal Crossing. Should I be concerned or am I over-thinking this? Is minecraft particularly addictive or just like any other video game?

Well my 7 year old is driving me nuts talking about it. He is allowed to play it maybe once a week!

My 7yo has seen her older cousins playing it and DH used to play it a lot.
She has a kindle tablet so we let her play it on there.

I didn't want her to play the Survival mode because there are slightly attacky creatures and I thought she'd hate it. We also only let her play solo, she can't talk to anyone online. She sometimes plays Survival mode but mostly just uses Creative mode, which is really just like lego for computers.

Honestly, we let her use her tablet every day, but on schooldays she's probably only on it for about an hour. Weekends longer, but if its been too long it goes off for a while and she had to do some reading/exercise/piano etc

She has not yet become addicted, and often self regulates and just turns it off to do some reading instead.
I think it depends on how addictive/obsessive your DC is tbh.

If her behaviour took a turn for the worse I'd definitely be willing to limit/stop her tablet time which would get her behaviour back on track pretty quickly.

Good luck!

I think broadly speaking it’s a positive game in that it’s very creative, think 3D lego with bells on. My ds10 has been playing it for years now and is pretty expert at it, and it has really improved his computer literacy in a way most games don’t.

Probably best to limit to creative mode as it’s a very passive experience, nothing attacking you and no health or dying for the player. Also steer clear of servers as this means playing online with other randoms, and that has its risks although compared to many games (Roblox for instance) it’s pretty minor.

My DD18 has played Minecraft since age 7 and still does today. I agree start out in creative mode to master it before trying survival mode. It is very much like Lego although a bit more complex and limited only to your imagination. She’s made tree houses with waterfalls, roller coasters, farms, castles.

My 7yo ds loves minecraft. He does talk about it lots, but that's cos its a rich multi layered game. I'm a fan and think it's more positive than most games in terms of learning (eg He worked out some code so that he could type commands etc)

and think it's more positive than most games in terms of learning (eg He worked out some code so that he could type commands etc)

Yes there is a basic programming language that players can access once they’re getting more advanced, seeing my ds conjure up various objects using code at lightning speed in 3D is quite impressive, these are skills that will transfer to other areas of computers I think, so it’s really quite educational, or has the potential to be at least.

Thanks so much for all your replies! It sounds like something my son would love, but I will keep him on creative mode to start with and offline.

I totally get your concerns. My nephew went through the same Minecraft craze at that age. It's true that kids can get really engrossed in the game, especially when playing with friends. However, like any game, moderation is key. You could set limits on screen time and make sure he has a good balance between gaming and other activities. Also, my sister lets my nephew play with new mods and updates from modbay.org if he behaves well. You could also try it.