Regardless Of Their Recognition Among Youth ages 6 14

This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the options of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth through three research using mixed strategies analysis. Human-Laptop Interplay (HCI) analysis shows that sandbox-fashion digital world video games like Minecraft operate as interest-pushed areas where youth can discover their inventive interests, build technical expertise, and form social connections with friends and near-friends. Regardless of their popularity among youth (ages 6 - 14), we all know little about the social and technological features of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that present themselves as "kid-pleasant" or "family-pleasant." minecraft adventure servers The aims of this work are three-fold:1. To research the rhetoric of kid-/household-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Research I: 60 servers), 2. To understand the lived experiences of server workers who moderate on such servers (Study II: Eight youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To discover a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/household-pleasant server group while additionally supporting moderators' practices (Examine III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and structure this dissertation round two major arguments about kid-/household-friendly Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they're instantiations of play-primarily based affinity networks created by adults that promote alternatives for youth to discover their pursuits and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms mirrored within the server rules and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as kid-/family-friendly. Research I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server rules and an empirical characterization of three server genres - kid-/family-pleasant (n1 = 19); normal-household-pleasant (n2 = 20); and normal (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Examine II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/household-friendly servers. The findings present that grownup moderators encourage youth-led artistic roleplays, help the interests of young gamers (e.g., Hogwarts digital world, virtual Pride Day celebrations, and many others.), and offer mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Research III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial tools in play-primarily based spaces via a Discord Bot known as "UCIProsocialBot" within OhanaCraft, one in every of the kid-/household-friendly server communities. Together, these findings provide a set of social and technological features which will substantiate a mannequin for designing kid-/family-pleasant on-line playgrounds. This work theorizes that child-/household-pleasant servers can actualize constructive youth growth when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental wants.