Despite Their Reputation Amongst Youth ages 6 14

This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the options of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth by three research utilizing blended strategies analysis. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) analysis reveals that sandbox-style virtual world games like Minecraft function as interest-driven spaces the place youth can discover their creative interests, build technical expertise, and kind social connections with friends and close to-friends. MINECRAFT SERVERS Despite their recognition among youth (ages 6 - 14), we know little in regards to the social and technological features of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that current themselves as "kid-friendly" or "household-pleasant." The goals of this work are three-fold:1. To analyze the rhetoric of kid-/family-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. To understand the lived experiences of server employees who moderate on such servers (Study II: Eight youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To explore a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a kid-/family-pleasant server community while also supporting moderators' practices (Examine III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two most important arguments about child-/household-pleasant Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they are instantiations of play-based mostly affinity networks created by adults that promote alternatives for youth to explore 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-/household-friendly. Study I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server guidelines and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/family-friendly (n1 = 19); normal-household-friendly (n2 = 20); and common (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Study II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in kid-/family-friendly servers. The findings show that adult moderators encourage youth-led artistic roleplays, help the pursuits of young players (e.g., Hogwarts digital world, virtual Pleasure Day celebrations, and so forth.), and provide mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Study III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial instruments in play-based mostly areas by a Discord Bot referred to as "UCIProsocialBot" within OhanaCraft, one in every of the kid-/household-pleasant server communities. Collectively, these findings present a set of social and technological options that may substantiate a model for designing kid-/family-friendly on-line playgrounds. MINECRAFT SERVERS This work theorizes that child-/family-pleasant servers can actualize positive youth development when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental needs.