How early for Minecraft?

Anonymous
I really know nothing about it, but an acquaintance's son -- who is 5, same age as mine -- plays it in 'creator' mode. Now my son wants to play it. Any thoughts on the game and starting at age 5?
Anonymous
My daughter started really playing at 5 (she has an older sibling).
Anonymous
Yes, your kid will enjoy it. It's harmless, and actually very creative.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Yes, your kid will enjoy it. It's harmless, and actually very creative.

+1

My son got into it at 5 after playing with his older cousins.
Anonymous

At 4, because her 9 year old brother played it.

Survival mode will be too difficult: this is when the Steve character starts out with nothing and must build a shelter before the first nightfall to protect himself from zombies etc. Then the character has to grow his own food, mine for ore to build tools and weapons, etc. The ultimate goal is to go into different worlds, accumulate experience and survival skills, and win the battle against the Ender dragon. There is a life point bar, and if it goes to 0 you die and respawn but lose some of your materials.

Creative mode is much easier for younger players: there is an unlimited supply of materials, so that the world turns into a 3D Lego set. You can build roller coasters, buildings, spawn farm animals and villagers, etc. You cannot die.
Anonymous

PP again - I just had to monitor it at the beginning to make sure the kids weren't spending their time shooting zombies mindlessly. I wanted them to use the game constructively.
Anonymous
We waited till 6.5. It depends on the child. Some are freaked out by some of the characters, others not. We only do it on our gaming system and not the iPad so we have much more control over it. Eventually we will move it to the computer but only on a private server.
Anonymous
Awesome - thanks so much for sharing.
Anonymous
My son was really into it at 5-- started in creative mode but then moved on to whatever the real mode is. He played on our PC and loved it.

But what he loved even more than playing it was watching countless youtube tutorials. Astonishing how someone can be so engrossed in watching someone else play a videogame....
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:My son was really into it at 5-- started in creative mode but then moved on to whatever the real mode is. He played on our PC and loved it.

But what he loved even more than playing it was watching countless youtube tutorials. Astonishing how someone can be so engrossed in watching someone else play a videogame....


Yes, wait til he discovers Stampylongnose......
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My son was really into it at 5-- started in creative mode but then moved on to whatever the real mode is. He played on our PC and loved it.

But what he loved even more than playing it was watching countless youtube tutorials. Astonishing how someone can be so engrossed in watching someone else play a videogame....


Yes, wait til he discovers Stampylongnose......


Getting my 5 YO away from Stampy yesterday was challenging - but I love listening to him watching it.
Anonymous
My older kid got into it around age 7, and took a Minecraft afterschool class at age 9 that she enjoyed more than robotics. Our younger kid struggles with it, partly because at age 7 she is still learning how to read and isn't as "studious" - not able to use the Minecraft books yet like my older kid did. I think the age will vary depending on the kid. We do creative mode and DD builds castles and gardens.
Anonymous
My son started at 5 and developed a strong obsession for a while. He just wanted to play it all the time. When he wasn't playing it he was talking about it and reading books about it. Just be aware that it can be very addicting.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My son was really into it at 5-- started in creative mode but then moved on to whatever the real mode is. He played on our PC and loved it.

But what he loved even more than playing it was watching countless youtube tutorials. Astonishing how someone can be so engrossed in watching someone else play a videogame....


Yes, wait til he discovers Stampylongnose......


Stampy is awesome! You'll find that with other Youtube videos there is a lot of language not appropriate for little kids. But Stampy steers clear of all that, we love him.
Anonymous
Started at 4. 8 now and knows *everything you did not want to know about minecraft*

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