If you have a child who absolutely loves to play video games, the chances are that you have already heard about Minecraft. This immersive game has been around for a decade. Unlike most video games, Minecraft is actually an excellent game that can teach your children skills like coding and building a website.
There are multiple skills that this game can help develop, including creative thinking, geometry, and problem-solving. Since Minecraft is extremely popular amongst kids, parents should learn more about it. As a parent, you might be wondering whether it is a violent game or safe for your kids, especially if you are considering enrolling your child in a Minecraft coding camp.
In this comprehensive guide, we answer all of these questions and more to help parents understand Minecraft.
What is Minecraft?
Minecraft is considered an adventure video game. However, it is also much more than that. It encompasses a ‘sandbox’ design that allows children to formulate their own experiences and worlds. This is mainly because there are no fixed goals to complete a specific task and endless creative opportunities. Minecraft is considered to be a universe where you can bring to life the things you imagine in your head.
The design of the game is block-shaped and lego-like. All of the characters, landscapes, and even the trees look like they have been made with lego. There are no rules or instructions in Minecraft, and players are free to do whatever they want. It is pretty simple and easy to play. You can make a universe of your own or play in an existing one.
Through practice and exploration, you can play and learn. The more you do, the more you will learn about the available resources, how to expand your skills, and much more.
How Do You Play Minecraft?
As mentioned earlier, Minecraft is relatively easy and straightforward to play. You simply need to create your own world that you need to do from scratch. Use various building blocks to create a house, trees, and more. Additionally, you can also create your own unique and personalized adventures.
Along the way, you will encounter difficulties through hostile mobs. These can be the games, black-figured monsters, or insects. The frequency and hostility of these groups will depend on the difficulty level you set for the game.
Moreover, you can create whatever story you want in the game. You can also play it independently or with friends in the multiplayer version.
Is Minecraft Safe?
For the most part, Minecraft is safe to play. However, you will need to set the game settings on single-player, Creative mode, and Peaceful setting. This will minimize the risk of running into any inappropriate language, scenes, and violence.
However, your child might eventually want to start playing in the multiplayer version. Even though the online gaming community is predominantly safe, this can be potentially dangerous. However, since it is still risky, you can have your child enter into a ‘realm’ on the game. This feature includes only ten players in one universe, and you can only be part of a realm if you are invited into it by someone you know.
What is the Right Age to Be Playing Minecraft?
Since Minecraft is a simple game to play, anyone of varying ages can join and play. However, since there is a chance of exposure to violence and inappropriate language from the online community, there should be an age restriction set. Moreover, due to this and the mild complexity of the game, we recommend that children above the age of eight should play Minecraft.
If younger children want to play, we recommend letting them play under your supervision while altering all the required and suitable settings of the game.
Does Minecraft Teach Coding?
Minecraft can actually be a great starting point for your child if your child has an avid interest in coding or if you plan to enroll them in an online coding class for kids.
Your child can learn coding through Minecraft if the right modifications or ‘mods’ are made. These mods can allow your children to create their own experiences and characters and even program their characters to carry out different tasks. You can get these mods from different third-party websites or various online communities.
Final Words
Minecraft is certainly a game that parents should encourage their children to play because it is engaging, educational, and allows for opportunities to grow creative thinking and learn to code. If you want to enroll your child in a Minecraft or Roblox summer camp to help hone their coding and programming skills, consider visiting Wevun Global.
We offer various online summer camps and classes, from Minecraft modding to even web development. Visit our website to learn more!
