User description

This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the features of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth by way of three research using blended strategies research. Human-Pc Interaction (HCI) analysis reveals that sandbox-style digital world games like Minecraft function as interest-driven areas where youth can explore their inventive pursuits, build technical experience, and kind social connections with friends and near-friends. Despite their popularity among youth (ages 6 - 14), we all know little concerning the social and technological options of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that current themselves as "child-pleasant" or "family-friendly." The goals of this work are three-fold:1. To analyze the rhetoric of kid-/household-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Study I: 60 servers), 2. To grasp the lived experiences of server staff who moderate on such servers (Research II: Eight youth and 22 moderators), and 3. minecraft realms servers To explore a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/family-friendly server community while additionally supporting moderators' practices (Examine III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two major arguments about child-/household-friendly Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they're instantiations of play-based mostly 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 reflected within the server guidelines and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as child-/family-friendly. Examine I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server guidelines and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/household-pleasant (n1 = 19); general-household-pleasant (n2 = 20); and basic (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Examine II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/family-friendly servers. The findings show that grownup moderators encourage youth-led artistic roleplays, support the interests of younger gamers (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, digital Delight Day celebrations, and many others.), and offer mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Research III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial instruments in play-based spaces through a Discord Bot called "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one in every of the child-/household-pleasant server communities. Together, these findings provide a set of social and technological features that may substantiate a mannequin for designing kid-/household-friendly online playgrounds. This work theorizes that child-/household-friendly servers can actualize positive youth development when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental needs.