Keeping kids safe while playing Microsoft’s Minecraft is a matter of monitoring your child’s playing behaviors, and making sure that the security settings are in place on all the devices that your child plays. It is also crucial to monitor the types of Minecraft skins that your child is downloading or interacting with while they are playing the game.
For instance the avatar wearing the Wither Minecraft skin is very different from the character wearing the Dream Minecraft skin. Wither is a ruthless mafia boss with a skeleton skull that works with a hostile mob to destroy other players and their property.
By contrast the Dream minecraft avatar is a ghostly green with a paper smiley face head and boasts nimble movements that are more proactive. He is a cult superstar and community builder with many fans.
Creating A Safe Minecraft Character
Minecraft is a limitless “sandbox” game; meaning that whatever world is created on the screen is the result of your child’s choices that includes the character that they build with the skins in Minecraft.
Characters that intimidate others, such Ponytail Redneck, Freddy Bully and Black Ice Bear are more likely to initiate or attract battles and destruction, whereas as characters such as Bonnie the Bunny, Poppee the Buzzy Bee, and Workee Bee tend to be community builders that socialize and collaborate with other Minecraft skins.
Your child’s Minecraft world is as safe as the behaviors that you build into the entity’s character. Microsoft has a guide called Introduction to Behavior Packs online that teaches you and your child how to build a character that is programmed to avoid risk-taking or provocative behaviors.
Setting Permissions for Players
An effective strategy to protect children playing Minecraft is to set permissions that control what actions players can take while interacting with your child, such as limiting access through doors, or other access routes. You can also enable and disable chat features in a way that limits what players can interact with your child’s skin.
Observing your child’s Minecraft playmates is a good idea, because a whitelist of approved servers can be created. This ensures that child only plays with family-friendly Minecraft players. This is easily accomplished using Minecraft’s game settings.
Multiplayer Game Safety
Your child is most at risk while playing multi-player games as anybody can cloak him or herself in a skin and play while in disguise. Talk to your kids and advise them that it is okay to leave a virtual situation where they fill uncomfortable, intimidated and threatened.
Parents can also mute a player, so your child does not hear what a particular character is saying. Players with inappropriate or abusive behavior can be reported to Minecraft.
Behaviors that can be reported on Minecraft include:
- Threats of self-harm or suicide
- Talk of indecent behavior or child abuse
- Harassment and bullying
- Defamation and slander
- Promoting acts of terrorism or extremism
- The offer of intimate imagery
- The offer of drugs or alcohol
It is a good idea to talk with your child so that they recognize inappropriate behavior when they encounter it.
Always Monitor Skin Minecraft Downloads
Keeping kids safe while playing minecraft is about keeping an eye on the worlds they build, and the characters they develop. Children can download skin downloads in bulk and then choose the character they want to be from that package.
The character that they become can ultimately determine what kind of co-player they attract into their world, and in addition, alter the life lesson that they could be learning from playing the game.
As Minecraft skins conceal a player’s true identity, it is important to keep an eye on the skins worn by your children, and who they are playing with online. Adjusting Minecraft game settings easily does this, but make sure you do it across all of the devices that your children use to play it.
