How to find online friends for 12 yr old son to play mine craft safely.

[ceam]

Hi,
My 12yr old son has just switched from PS4 to PC, he is one of the first of his friends to go to PC and now finds himself with nobody to play with on minecraft. There are apps out there that can match you with like minded players, but seems like a risky thing to do...anyone got any experience of the apps? Or any ideas how to link him with children of his own age (that aren't pretending to be his age!)
I want him to be able to have fun & be safe.

Many Thank's

Maybe find a Minecraft Facebook group or a Discord server? Only problem with Discord is that despite having great gaming servers, you can't see a detailed profile like you can on some people's FB accounts / when you add them as a friend on FB. With Discord you can't prove someone is the age they're saying they are. Facebook might be better if you find a Minecraft group and post asking other parents? I join lots of gaming groups on behalf of my daughter because she's too young for sm. There always seems to be quite a few parents doing the same thing. Or you could try posting on a local FB group?

Thank you for taking the time to reply with those tips, I'll have a look at fb. Have downloaded a couple of the gamer apps on my phone to look at, but haven't made any decisions yet.
Thank's again Violet80

Why did he want to play on a platform where he knows no one? If he still has the playstation can he not just play with his friends on there. I wouldn't be encouraging a 12 year old to play with anyone online they dont know in real life.

You can play cross platform from PC my DD2 does (all the time!), She plays with dd2 on switch and others on Xbox etc , it depends on the version you are using.
www.polygon.com/guides/2020/8/7/21289215/minecraft-how-to-play-with-friends-other-platforms-cross-play-pc-xbox-switch-mobile-ios-android

If you purchase the windows 10 version of Minecraft not the Java version you can still link up with people playing on xbox

Yes my ds plays on pc against his friend who plays on the xbox. Have to be same versions of the game I think though.

Thank you everyone.
I agree it's not ideal to be looking for online friends. The reason he's struggling is because a lot of his friends prefer GTA, FIFA & fortnite but he mainly likes minecraft. (He used to love fortnite, which I hated but at least it was very sociable for him).
That's why I was wondering if anyone else had been in this position & how they dealt with it.
It's good to know minecraft is cross platform, thank you. But with his actual friends not playing minecraft we're still a bit stuck.
I've joined the minecraft Fb group, so I'm having a look at that.
Thank's again for your constructive advice x