Despite Their Recognition Amongst Youth ages 6 14

This dissertation endeavors to deeply perceive the features of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth via three studies using blended strategies research. Human-Laptop Interplay (HCI) analysis exhibits that sandbox-style digital world video games like Minecraft operate as curiosity-driven spaces where youth can explore their inventive interests, construct technical experience, and form social connections with peers and near-friends. Minecraft Servers Despite their reputation among youth (ages 6 - 14), we know little in regards to the social and technological options of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that current themselves as "child-friendly" or "family-pleasant." The aims of this work are three-fold:1. To research the rhetoric of kid-/household-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. Minecraft Servers To understand the lived experiences of server workers who average 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 child-/household-pleasant server neighborhood while additionally supporting moderators' practices (Research III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation round two foremost arguments about child-/household-friendly Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they are 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 mirrored within the server rules and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as child-/household-pleasant. Research I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server rules and an empirical characterization of three server genres - kid-/family-friendly (n1 = 19); common-family-pleasant (n2 = 20); and normal (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Research II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in kid-/family-pleasant servers. The findings present that grownup moderators encourage youth-led creative roleplays, help the interests of younger gamers (e.g., Hogwarts digital world, digital Pride Day celebrations, etc.), and supply mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Examine III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial instruments in play-based spaces through a Discord Bot referred to as "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one among the kid-/family-pleasant server communities. Collectively, these findings present a set of social and technological options that may substantiate a model for designing kid-/household-pleasant on-line playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/family-friendly servers can actualize positive youth growth when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental needs.