Minecraft is a game that allows you to build and play adventures in “infinitely-generated worlds of wide open terrain.” It’s an open-ended game where players choose what to do and how to do it. Creative mode allows players limitless resources to build whatever they want. Survival mode means players must explore the world and mine the resources to feed, house, and protect themselves. It’s also possible to play with friends online and make up your own rules.
Minecraft is available on smartphones/tablets, PC/Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Wii U, 3DS, and Nintendo Switch. It’s also available for Gear VR and Fire TV.
Prior to Microsoft purchasing Minecraft, parental controls were highly limited, and online multiplayer was risky for parents of young children. Now things have changed, and the Better Together Update gives parents more control and peace of mind.
Regardless of whether your child is playing a multiplayer game on mobile, devices, Windows 10, or a gaming console, an Xbox Live sign-in is now required to play online multiplayer games. Creating an XBox Live account and gamertag allows you to set privacy and multiplayer preferences.
Parental Controls on Minecraft Through XBox Live
- Log in to your Xbox Live Account at login.live.com. If you don’t have a Xbox Live Account, you can create one for free, but you have to sign up using a Microsoft account.
- Once in your Xbox Live Account, click Privacy and Online Safety. Here you’ll be able to see the gamerpics for everyone in your Microsoft Family.
- There are a number of settings available there, but the most important ones for Minecraft are:
Join Multiplayer Games Settings: If you disallow this function, your child will not be able to join any multiplayer games in Minecraft — even shared local worlds, realms, or servers.
Others Can Communicate with Voice, Text, or Invites Settings: If these settings are blocked, your child will still be able to join and play multiplayer Minecraft games, but they will not be able to see chat messages from other players or receive invitations to join other players’ games.
Child Accounts for Under 13: You must provide permission to create an Xbox Live account, and you can create a child account here: https://account.microsoft.com/family/addmember. All child accounts have multiplayer communication settings blocked by default.
It’s possible to add, mute, block, or report players from the Minecraft Pause menu. It’s also possible to set player permissions from the Pause menu, so your children can invite friends to look at but not touch worlds, or help fight off zombies without attacking each other.
Chat filters are in place for protection. These automatically filter out profanity, email addresses, phone numbers, and ages. Private messaging is no longer part of Minecraft multiplayer.