REGARDLESS OF THEIR POPULARITY AMONG YOUTH (AGES 6 - 14)


This dissertation endeavors to deeply understand the options of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth through three studies using blended methods analysis. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) analysis shows that sandbox-model digital world games like Minecraft operate as curiosity-driven areas the place youth can discover their inventive pursuits, construct technical experience, and form social connections with peers and close to-friends. Despite their reputation among youth (ages 6 - 14), we all know little in regards to the social and technological options of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that current themselves as "child-friendly" or "household-friendly." The aims of this work are three-fold:1. To analyze the rhetoric of kid-/family-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Study I: 60 servers), 2. To grasp Pirateportal lived experiences of server employees who reasonable on such servers (Examine II: Eight youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To discover a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/household-friendly server neighborhood whereas additionally supporting moderators' practices (Study III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two predominant arguments about kid-/family-pleasant Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they're instantiations of play-based mostly affinity networks created by adults that promote opportunities for youth to discover their pursuits and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms reflected within the server guidelines and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as child-/household-pleasant. Study I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server guidelines and an empirical characterization of three server genres - kid-/family-pleasant (n1 = 19); common-household-pleasant (n2 = 20); and normal (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Study II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in kid-/family-pleasant servers. The findings show that adult moderators encourage youth-led creative roleplays, support the interests of younger gamers (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, digital Satisfaction Day celebrations, and so on.), and provide mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Research III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial instruments in play-based spaces through a Discord Bot called "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one in every of the kid-/household-friendly server communities. Together, these findings provide a set of social and technological options that may substantiate a model for designing kid-/family-friendly on-line playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/household-pleasant servers can actualize optimistic youth growth when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental wants.


Created: 25/06/2022 06:06:00
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