Hidden Dangers of Minecraft

Like many of our kids, my oldest is CRAZY about Minecraft! He plays it every time I let him 🙂 and is always telling me stories about what he’s building. He eventually started learning about playing on other servers, and was particularly excited about one called LifeBoat that a neighbor boy showed him.

I sat next to him one day while he played and I was HORRIFIED. Not at the game, although it wasn’t my favorite. But at the CHAT feed! It was full of profanity and sexual talk! Thankfully, Super D is still young enough that he doesn’t pay any of that a second glance, but we were getting off that boat immediately anyway! We had some good conversations with him about it, and he deleted the server on his own. I was proud of him. But that left him without the interaction he likes so much on Minecraft. We were stuck until we discovered SKrafty.

Skrafty is a FREE, moderated Minecraft server for homeschooled kids. The server automatically deletes any bad language that may come through (including phrases like “omg”). The kids have a GREAT time, and I’m not worried about him!    Each child has to be whitelisted to play, and they will get booted out of the game if they don’t follow the community guidelines.

Skrafty also offers a lot of classes that are completed through Minecraft. Super D is currently working through a Story of the World Volume 1 – he reads a chapter, and then completes the exercises on the server, including building projects! Skrafty offers lots of subjects. You can buy a class one at a time, or get a monthly pass. The classes are optional; simply playing on the server is free. 🙂

You will need a computer Minecraft account to play Skrafty.   They are working on a PE edition, but it’s not available yet.    Skrafty also has a facebook group you can join after your child is whitelisted, so you can ask questions.   There is a friendly community, ready to help!