Kids love Minecraft and many will want to progress from playing the single player version onto entering Minecraft servers with other players.
Whilst the Minecraft game is very kid-friendly providing parental controls have been enabled, some parents will quite rightly have concerns over their kids connecting to Minecraft servers. After all, other members of the public will be in playing in the same game.
In a public Minecraft server, players can meet online and even chat with each other. This is where many parents will have questions, as since it’s a public server anyone in reality can join.
Based on this, are Minecraft servers safe for your child? Here’s what the FunTech team think.
Find the right kid-friendly Minecraft servers
With thousands of Minecraft servers available, it’s important to pick and connect to servers that you think will have a positive impact on your child and be safe.
With a quick Google search you will find plenty of lists of Minecraft servers which are advertised to be kid-friendly. Here’s what to consider when choosing which to connect to.
- Child friendly policies: the first thing that you should look for a Minecraft server is their policys. Kid-safe servers should have policies on use of hurtful language, abusive gameplay and disrespectful act. If the server doesn’t have a policy, stay away.
- Sanctions on violations: another thing to consider is the sanctions when someone commits a violation. Find a Minecraft server that has an admin that is dedicated on monitoring the community and would not tolerate any abusive actions that can hurt an individual on the server.
Choose whitelisted Minecraft servers
There are Minecraft servers that only allow players who are approved to be on that server. These are called whitelisted servers and will often require parents to complete a form with their child’s information.
An administrator will screen the application before your child is allowed to join the server. This is great specially if you are worried about the players that your child would interact with.
Communicate with your Child
After every gaming session, always make it a point to ask your child about the game and what did they do on that day.
Communication is very important every time and your child should always feel safe talking to you about things that happened on the server.
Also, make sure to remind your child to never share personal information like their full name, address or school they go to. If something like this happened on the server make it a point to report it to the server admin so that appropriate actions can be done.
Whilst there are never any guarantees, your child will be a lot safer if they connect to one of the kid-friendly Minecraft servers shown below.
Some recommended kid-safe Minecraft Servers
1. Blocklandia
Server Type: Whitelisted
The server was first created in December 2012 and has grown to be hugely popular ever since. It offers guided gameplay for new players and welcomes young players (even below 6 years old).
Blocklandia is great for children who likes to role-play with others. It also offers jobs or tasks that players can do to earn in game currency.
2. Famcraft
Server Type: Public
Although the server is open to everyone, the community policies on the server is strictly implemented and penalties for violators varies from simple kicks, muting or even permanent ban on the server.
Famcraft is an economy-based server that teaches kids about principles of working and earning in game currencies that they can use.
3. Minesquish
Server Type: Whitelisted
Minesquish offers a number of worlds that your children can explore on the server. Osiris is the primary world on the server. You can find crafting stations, beds and alchemy stands. A borderless world is also available called Exploration.
The world offers unlimited gathering of resources and survival which resets every two months. There is also a Freebuild map which is a flat world map that allows players to create anything they want.
4. The Sandlot
Server Type: Whitelisted
The Sandlot is owned by a former schoolteacher and has been running since 2011. Given that the server is operated by a schoolteacher, there’s a good set of rules and filters set on the server to prevent any harmful behaviour.
The game mode that makes this server popular is the PvP game world based on the famous movie the hunger games.
5. CrazyPig
Server Type: Public
Crazy pig is focused on survival mode world. It is a small family friendly Minecraft server with an awesome community. It uses belts to identify players ranks.
As you spend more time on the server your rank goes higher and this will give you access to new worlds on the server as well as new homes that you can setup and design the way you want.
More about Minecraft
Minecraft is an open world and sandbox video game developed by Mojang. The game has two modes survival and creative.
In survival mode, players start without anything and would have to collect supplies from the map and build shelter and cook food.
On the other hand, Creative mode players start with everything already available for use and all they need to do is build what they want from virtual farms, houses and anything you can imagine.
Kids have a deep imagination and Minecraft promotes creativity which is why kids love the game so much. In game, they can express their imagination freely and bring that imagination somewhat true to life.
Here’s some things that can be beneficial for your kids who play Minecraft.
- Teamwork: as a survival game, letting your child play with others on public Minecraft servers can really develop his/her social and collaborative skills. This can help them in the future when they meet more people in the real world.
- Sharing of ideas: Minecraft allows player to share custom made maps, artworks, house design and quest maps. This feature of Minecraft encourages kids to express their own ideas and share them to others through the public server.
- Problem solving skills: in order to create tools like shovel or pickaxe on Minecraft, you must discover first what resources are needed to create them. This creates a challenge for your kids to solve and figure out which helps in enhancing their analytical skills.
- Bond with your children: some parents will even play Minecraft with their kids. Many adults find Minecraft very exciting and challenging.
If you’re still on the fence, we recommend you read our 11 reasons for the educational value of Minecraft.
Conclusion
When it comes to game alone, Minecraft is child friendly. Yes, there are some zombies in the game, but they are very far from what a real zombie would look like.
When your child progresses into wanting to access Minecraft servers it would be foolish to say that there are no risks as there are with any online environment.
However, by using whitelisted Minecraft servers that are kid-friendly, the chances of your child being at risk are greatly reduced.
At FunTech we place online safety at the core of everything we do, with DBS-checked Minecraft tutors, and Ofsted registered courses, we offer safe and secure learning.
To find out more, please take a look at our current Minecraft classes for kids:
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