Regardless Of Their Recognition Amongst Youth (ages 6 - 14)
This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the features of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth by way of three research utilizing blended methods research. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research exhibits that sandbox-type virtual world video games like Minecraft operate as interest-pushed areas where youth can explore their inventive interests, build technical experience, and form social connections with friends and close to-peers. Despite their recognition amongst youth (ages 6 - 14), we all know little about the social and technological options of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that current themselves as "child-pleasant" or "family-pleasant." The goals of this work are three-fold:1. To investigate the rhetoric of child-/family-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. To know the lived experiences of server staff who moderate on such servers (Examine II: 8 youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To discover a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/household-friendly server group while also supporting moderators' practices (Research III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two important arguments about child-/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 explore their interests and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms reflected within the server rules and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as kid-/family-pleasant. Study I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server guidelines and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/household-pleasant (n1 = 19); basic-family-pleasant (n2 = 20); and common (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Examine II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/household-pleasant servers. The findings show that grownup moderators encourage youth-led artistic roleplays, help the interests of younger gamers (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, virtual Pride Day celebrations, and so forth.), and supply mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Study III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial tools in play-primarily based areas by means of a Discord Bot known as "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, considered one of the child-/household-pleasant server communities. Together, these findings provide a set of social and technological options that will substantiate a mannequin for designing child-/household-pleasant online playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/family-friendly servers can actualize optimistic youth improvement when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental wants.