This dissertation endeavors to deeply perceive the options of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth by way of three studies utilizing mixed methods research. Human-Pc Interplay (HCI) research exhibits that sandbox-fashion digital world video games like Minecraft operate as curiosity-driven spaces the place youth can explore their creative pursuits, build technical expertise, and form social connections with peers and close to-friends. Regardless of their reputation amongst youth (ages 6 - 14), we all 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 aims of this work are three-fold:1. To research the rhetoric of kid-/family-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. To know the lived experiences of server workers who reasonable on such servers (Examine II: 8 youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To explore a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/household-friendly server community while also supporting moderators' practices (Research III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and structure this dissertation around two main arguments about kid-/household-pleasant Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they're instantiations of play-primarily based affinity networks created by adults that promote opportunities for youth to discover their interests and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms reflected in the server rules and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as kid-/family-pleasant. Examine I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server rules and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/household-pleasant (n1 = 19); normal-family-pleasant (n2 = 20); and general (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Research II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/household-pleasant servers. The findings present that grownup moderators encourage youth-led artistic roleplays, support the interests of younger players (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, virtual Pleasure Day celebrations, and so on.), and provide mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Study III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial tools in play-based mostly spaces by means of a Discord Bot referred to as "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one among the kid-/family-friendly server communities. Collectively, these findings present a set of social and technological options that may substantiate a mannequin for designing child-/family-friendly online playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/household-pleasant servers can actualize constructive youth development when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental wants.
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