Despite Their Popularity Amongst Youth (ages 6

This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the features of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth by three studies using mixed strategies analysis. Human-Pc Interplay (HCI) research reveals that sandbox-type digital world video games like Minecraft function as interest-pushed spaces where youth can explore their artistic interests, build technical experience, and form social connections with peers and near-friends. Regardless of their recognition amongst youth (ages 6 - 14), we all know little about the social and technological features of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that present themselves as "child-friendly" or "household-pleasant." The aims of this work are three-fold:1. To investigate the rhetoric of kid-/household-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. To understand the lived experiences of server workers who reasonable on such servers (Research II: Eight youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To explore a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/family-pleasant server community while additionally supporting moderators' practices (Examine III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two main arguments about kid-/household-friendly Minecraft server ecosystems. First, Minecraft Survival Games Servers argue that they are instantiations of play-based affinity networks created by adults that promote opportunities for youth to explore their pursuits and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms reflected in the server guidelines and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as kid-/household-pleasant. Examine I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server guidelines and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/family-pleasant (n1 = 19); normal-family-pleasant (n2 = 20); and general (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Study II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/household-pleasant servers. The findings show that adult moderators encourage youth-led inventive roleplays, help the interests of younger players (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, digital Pleasure Day celebrations, and many others.), and supply mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Examine III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial tools in play-based mostly areas by means of a Discord Bot known as "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one among the child-/household-friendly server communities. Together, these findings present a set of social and technological features which will substantiate a mannequin for designing kid-/household-pleasant online playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/household-pleasant servers can actualize optimistic youth improvement when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental needs.