Well it’s Thoughtful Thursday….
What exactly is Minecraft to other kids?
No, seriously. I’m asking.
What is the goal of Minecraft to other players?
My boy. Isn’t he a handsome young man?
I get that you are supposed to mine for things, build things, and survive in the game against zombies, green square things that blow up, and spiders that are big enough to give me nightmares. That seems to be it’s intended purpose. Which sounds cool and kinda like a game about Legos.
Sounds like something I would have liked to played as a kid….
Okay confession, I actually have played a good bit and built a castle with a winding staircase and glass windows because I was curious as to what he was spending so much time playing. And I kinda wanted to atleast be able to picture all this stuff that he is incessantly talking about. Hey, I actually had a golden pick axe… for like two minutes.
The game does have a lot of promise to encourage imaginative play. It has several possibilities. It isn’t a bad game.
I mean look at this… There is alot of potential for good learning opportunities here.
This is amazing work and had to take enormous amounts of imagination. That is art.
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Yet my son spends most of his time on minecraft killing chicken, sheep, and cows.
Blowing things up with TNT.
Killing poor villagers by tricking them into holes or devising schemes to trap them with zombies.
And then…
talking about it in minuet detail to me as he does it.
“Mommy, I just spawned a chicken….. blah blah blah” I kinda shut down around this point as the next part to follow usually includes TNT.
It this game a healthy addiction?
Is it better to let him roam around killing innocent farm animals instead of the aliens Halo has to offer?
I don’t really know.
What I do know is:
My son is addicted.
He thinks of Minecraft as his first thought in the morning.
He has withdraw symptoms when he doesn’t get to play.
He takes over the computer when he does play because the computer version is the best or so he says.
I have withdraw symptoms because he has taken over MY computer.
Which leads me to question whether I am bothered by his obsession with a game or the fact that his obsession outranks mine?
Would it make me a horrible mother to delete the game and tell him the new computer just won’t play it?
Ok I get it, lying to the kids is bad all the time.
Then there are the youtube videos. How on earth does every child I know, even though most of them have never met, know to watch the same silly minecraft videos on youtube? It’s kinda weird. Like a subliminal radio wave being sent out that only preteen, teen, and young boys can hear.
WATCH YOUTUBE MINECRAFT VIDEOS!!!
So when he isn’t crafting himself, he is watching others craft.
Nipping the Minecraft Addiction
(or just encouraging healthier use habits)
He earns time through chores, physical activity (yes, sadly I have to force the child to play basketball with his sister), and other tasks.
School work, reading, and all educational activities are to be completed first before any games.
He has to wake up, get dressed, and brush his teeth without the usual fight. I almost had him sign a paper agreeing to this one. Imagine, waking up and not having to fight to get children ready for school……. sorry got distracted from the wonderful image in my head.
Then and only if he meets all requirements can he can have some Minecraft time at an appropriate time slot.
We do have a list of demands when it comes to playtime:
Animals should only be killed for materials and not some sick kind of game.
4. And most importantly, Mommy doesn’t need to hear everything you do son.
I love you and love to be interested in what you are but you can focus on broader areas when you tell your stories.
I wouldn’t mind. I don’t need a play by play.
Thank you.
In reality…
I really don’t know what to do about the addiction. I know that there are alot of kids addicted to this game.
It does have the basis for a good educational building game. It could be worse.
I do think I like the Minecraft better than most of the other games that are out there.
At least this game has some value. Right?
There is some educational factors….. I hope.
It’s not like he is the only child addicted to this game at the moment. Which helps me feel not like a total waste of mommy space for letting him play every day. Doesn’t make me feel like Super Mom but at least I don’t feel like Super Bad Mom.
Yet, I wonder why does he feel the need to escape to this world he can control.
Does he feel as if he has no control in real life?
Should I let him have more control and choices?
or
Am I just putting way too much thought into my son’s wish to just play a popular video game?
Happy Blogging!
This Post was written by Becka M.I’m just a multi-passionate Christian mom of three, who sews, crochets, crafts, and creates printable and educational materials. I love working in photography, digital art, graphics, and all things crafting. The LORD is my guide as I blog about my life.
LOL ok I can totes relate to some of these. Also as an adult who has played Minecraft trust me, it’s not nearly as bad as other things out there, (I was heavily addicted to World of Warcraft until I quit cold turkey.. I do miss it sometimes… sometimes..). And trust me, you are doing the right thing by not letting him out on populated servers. Solitary only is a good rule of thumb. As he gets older, he will move onto some other game. You’ve laid down some awesome ground rules too, and just make sure you limit his play time as you see fit and of course, make sure that family time, homework, eating are all important too. 😀
If you find some meetings, let me know. My 8 year old is the same way! Although, he would rather watch the youtube videos of other people playing than playing it himself! Ugh!
I have to say I am right there with you!! My son is 9 and is addicted as well. He too gives the play by play non stop…even when no one else is in the room with him. To top it all of he also videos himself playing minecraft. I do let my son play on the servers but only for 30 minutes at a time and he knows the rules…if there is bad language or any of that going on then he is off of there. He got on one that had “role playing” and they were talking about killing people at school and then themselves. Needles to say he was off of servers for a very long time after that. He has gotten back on one now that is very clean. We have problems with him wanting to play the minute he gets ready for school in the morning and the minute he gets home in the afternoon as well. I feel like I have been feeding his addiction by downloading minecraft books from amazon onto his tablet to read. I catch up to 4 or 5 a day that a free. However most of them teach them how to build different types of houses and such. All I know to say is good luck and know that there are others suffering with you. Oh you might want to have him keep an eye on the new toontown that will be coming out soon. There are individuals who have taken over the game and it will be called toontown rewritten. https://www.toontownrewritten.com/ If you are not aware of what Toontown is, it was a Disney game that was cancelled. Good Luck!
Oh and be very careful about letting them watch videos. My son is not allowed to do that anymore due to the language in most of them.
My boys are OBSESSED with Minecraft. I don’t get it at all, but they both seem to understand it.
That game has taken both of my daughters so badly they discuss what they’re going to build even when they’re not playing! I guess it could be worse…
I have a neighbor who’s 7 year old is also obsessed with Minecraft. I don’t understand it…they tried to show me. 🙁 I’m hoping there is some educational benefits to it.
I think its great that he is passionate about it and its great of you to look out for his well being by having him earn time for playing and restricting him from the online aspect. My boyfriend is a huge video game lover. He still will pick up a game he played 15 years ago and have some nostalgic moments.
All 3 of my children like playing Mindcraft. If it is a nice day out though they don’t get a chance to play too much because I kick there little buts outside and make them play real games like tag, baseball etc.
Aww your son is addicted too? My 2 children are 🙂 It can be quite fascinating as a parent to see all the creative things they make. My son really likes building rollercoasters and blowing things up 😛
Great idea to earn time to play though, I think I may have to steal that idea!
I’m glad you told me about this game. I’ve seen the toys but didn’t know what it was. My son loves video games already at the early age of 5 so I’m sure he will be introduced to this one. I’ll be on the look out. 🙂
Wow I really admire the way you support your son!
My son is a minecraft maniac.. he is 13, and building his own server, interviewing player, and just creating his own world with it.. Some of the things that come out of his mouth i am shocked because at 13 how does he know how to do this..
This is so tough! I feel like we could go back and forth on this all day. It’s a common addiction for sure- everyone I know with boys is playing this game and having minecraft parties. It’s uhm..cool? lol But I would definitely delete it from your computer, sorry son. When I was younger I had a serious addiction to a computer game called “Twinsen’s Odyssey” and if it weren’t for my younger sister who was equally as addicted and my mom’s short attention span, I would have probably talked her ear off too. I don’t think it’s anything to be too concerned about, especially the way you make him “earn” playtime. Psh, my mom didn’t keep track of what I was doing like you do, as long as we weren’t bleeding she didn’t care what we did (assuming homework was done). But she had 4 other kids so I figure she was too busy to care. We turned out fine! That boy of yours is cute :]
This may be too overbearing, but I really think that video games are harmful. And media addiction in any form is harmful as well. It takes people away from reading and live social interaction. I think you’re right for giving him limits, but you may have to go cold turkey for some months if you really want to wean him from it. He’ll hate it initially, but then he’ll replace it with something healthy hopefully.
Both of my kids love playing, and I do encourage more playing in Creative mode than in Survival mode. I will admit to having my own game on my iPad…
My oldest daughter was all about it when she got it for Christmas after playing it on her iPod. Now she’s just kinda whatever and hooked on playing football with hubby and crushing him. LOL
my brother plays, don’t know if he’s addicted, but good that you’re stepping in and putting some rules down!
I realized it was time to seriously curb my son’s love of angry birds when he started answering my questions starting with “Fuk-ah”. Of course, he had no idea what he was saying, but I couldn’t have my five year old telling his mom to Fuk-ah in public. LOL
Ha,all my students are addicted too!
I guess, my kiddos haven’t got that far into Minecraft. I didn’t know you could do those things. My husband plays with the littles and I usually hear, “hey, don’t breakdown my building”. I honestly, don’t enjoy when they play because there’s usually whining accompanied with it 🙁 Yes, even though my husband is there with them he get’s busy building and has the ability to tune out… lucky!
XOXO
For my nephews birthday he wanted me to get the game so we could play each other since they live in a different state than us. Technology rocks my face off!
Wow, I never played this, ever!