Is Minecraft Dangerous for Kids Safety – a Parents Guide
Is Minecraft dangerous for kids safety? There are dangers on all online games so we as parents need to be very vigilant and educate our kids to the dangers out there from adults pretending to be kids and also from cyber bullying from other children.
When my eldest kids who are now 20 and 18 started playing computer games around the age of 6 or 7 there was no Xbox or PlayStation live so we could pick and choose the games they played however as they grew and the internet
evolved then so did the online games so we had to raise our protective awareness to the cyber world as well as the real world as we all have done with our kids.
We found the best way to protect them was to educate them to the dangers of strangers pretending to be someone they’re not just as you tell your kids not to speak to strangers when they are playing out.
By the ages of 12 and 10 they were acutely aware and had become very street wise in the world of computers.
My youngest son who is now 12 learnt from a much earlier age as he had his elder brothers and his parents to guide him and to date luckily he has had no issues although everything is still monitored closely.
So is Minecraft dangerous for Kids safety? Here is a parents guide from a parent!
I would like to emphasize that this game when operated safely is a unique and highly stimulating game where my son pictured above actually learnt to read and write using this game at home and at school using minecraft education
I would not recommend the game to children under the age of 6 or 7 years of age and then I would buy it for a gaming console with no access to the online servers so they can develop their skills for the game. For this you need to choose single player.
With a single player server no one can chat to your child or join there game so here your child is completely safe from the outside world.
The other factor to take into account especially for younger children is the different worlds and monsters within the game. You may not be happy for your child to play with these characters in case they have night mares or get scared.
to familiarize yourself with Minecraft characters click here 
the 3 modes that you can play in Minecraft:
Creative:
Here you can do anything, but monsters cannot attack your character and your character is immortal. Creative mode the safest mode and the ideal choice for younger children.
Adventure:
Here the players who choose this mode cannot break any blocks however they can kill monsters and animals, but likewise thay can be killed by monsters !
Survival:
Players must survive against monsters and hunger hence the title survival mode. If your struggling you can turn the monsters off by pressing escape and choosing settings where you can choose the difficulty level ; ‘peaceful’.
some other tips I can suggest as a parents guide for Minecraft and any internet game are as follows;
Stranger Danger
- Turn of chat -The multiplayer mode of Minecraft allows children and older players to chat that they meet when their paths cross in the worlds. This is a very dangerous problem as anyone can pretend to be someone their not like an adult pretending to be a child so disabling this feature is a sure fire way of maintaining your child’s safety online. You will find this in options or settings. This could also be a rule of playing as the little cherubs do like to barter don’t they!!
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Child Friendly Servers
As I have mentioned the single world server is the safest server for your child to play on within the game and thankfully there are lots of child friendly servers for children and their families to play on. Here you will find they have strict rules about language and behavior.
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Viruses and Malware
So another nuisance that an effect your child’s pleasure or the viruses out there, There are websites out there selling non licensed Minecraft add-ons you can download that could have the potential to infect your computer so it is important to again Educate your kids on the dangers of downloading anything without permission.
Also another tip which I have done and still do is to find out what worries your child about playing online as they may just surprise you with the knowledge they already know about our fears for them playing online games.
Most of what I’ve written about here is common sense that we apply to the kids for online safety as we would in the real world as the dangers are the same in reality and in the cyber world.
If you have any concerns over the dangers of online games or social media please visit the NSPCC or give them a call:
UK: 0808 800 5002 www.nspcc.org.uk
USA: americanspcc.org
Canada: protectchildren.ca
I apologise if I have not included other countries but every country will have a website for children’s welfare that you can explore.
This is a great article, and I’m glad I ran into this website. I have a five year old who enjoys playing games, and even though we mostly stick to games on the iPad and Amazon Fire Stick, I eventually want to expose my daughter to more games, and Minecraft was one of them. I can definitely use this article as a basis for when I decided to let her play Minecraft. Good job on this post!
Hi Chris
I’m so happy my article will be of use to you, that’s made my day as that is exactly why I came up with the idea for this website.
many thanks and best wishes to you.
Darren
Thanks for this article! It reminds me to check that the chat function has been turned off. I have a eight year old son who absolutely loves to play Minecraft in the creative mode.
Just like you write in the article about raising your kids awareness for tricky people, the one thing that I can do is to teach my kids stranger danger. I want my kids to stay safe, both online and offline.
hi, I’m most privileged to convey this message and this is the reason I wanted to create this site to pass on knowledge to fellow parents.
I’m glad you found it useful
I’m glad I ran into this website.
I really appreciate you sharing this information as it is indeed very important for parents to be aware of the dangers of kids playing online. It’s kind of nerve-wrecking to me just thinking about it. That if my kids were playing online, they could be chatting with a stranger who is an adult that has bad intentions.
I guess the kid-friendly servers are Minecraft’s ways to mitigating the risks / dangers to kids. What do they do to ensure that these servers are kid-friendly?
I’m assuming the safest really is to do what you suggested – not play online.
Thanks for this post.
Hi Marco
It really gave me pleasure writing this article as it’s what I wanted this site to be about, for parents.
The child friendly server does not allow the chat option so nobody can chat to each other which prevents any danger to children.
It’s a common sense option that more gaming platforms should operate.
This is a great article I have a 4 year old son and soon he will be playing video games, i know this because he has wanted to play on my console. I think Minecraft is a acceptable game for younger children and I plan to introduce my son to this game in the future.
Once again great article.
HI Andrew
It i perfectly safe with the no chat world and also if the kids are supervised at a young age there’s no problem.
minecraft is more than just a game for the kids now but an education tool, did you know they are now going to teach computer coding !
Very good information here you are spot on with your advice.
When our 2 boys were growing up, they are 18 and 20 now, we pretty much did the same thing you are suggesting spot on.
I also like your family friendly server suggestion that is a great idea.
Great website with some common since guideline for young kids and video games.
HI Dave
Thank you, It’s really inspiring getting such great comments from other parents as it’s exactly what my site is all about, I really appreciate it.
yes I also have to elder sons who are 18 and 20 along with my 12 year old.
best wishes
Darren
Very interesting post. I am glad to know about this. I had no idea that there were games out there that would introduce chat to the players. Wow. I will definitely pay more attention to that. I appreciate the information. Thank you.
HI Kris
Whenever I can help fellow parents I will and this post definitely has more serious issues attached to it.
your welcome
Darren
Hi there. I just finished reading your article about the dangers of Minecraft and thought I would just drop you a comment to say thanks.
My son has been playing Minecraft for a couple of years now and he is totally addicted to it. But then I can’t really talk, I’m 43 and I’m quite addicted to the game too!
I think my main concern with this game is the fact that you don’t really know who your child is talking to. I would actually like a device where you can listen in on online chat, but I’m not sure if anything like that is possible. I don’t feel as though I need to turn the chat function off as my son hasn’t had any issues to my knowledge. So I guess it just comes down to the parent keeping their eyes on things.
Thanks for the advice here, much appreciated.
Andrew
hi Andrew
It seems that maybe Minecraft have thought about how they can protect the children with various ways with different options.
You can disable chat for the younger children and also create worlds where you can choose who plays and worlds with you child and their friends only.
It’s every parents worry isn’t it but it may well be any early chance of educating them to the dangers of online gaming.
When you and I were kids we were told not to speak to strangers or don’t accept gifts or lifts from strangers which we still remember and pass on.
The works has changed with the internet and so we have to explain these dangers for online purposes as well in real life.
I think that’s a good idea you have but one waybcould be saving conversation scripts to look at like you used to be able to with the old MSN messenger. Very good idea my friend!
Regards
Darren
I can definitely agree that video games can be dangerous but not as long as you talk to your child about the dangers and what they should do to avoid them then I think that its ok as long as you keep a close eye on them as well thanks for sharing and have a good night.
Hi Casey
I agree, We tell our kids of Dangers of talking to strangers in Real life and the same goes for online.
Thankyou for taking the time to leave your comment