You can get them both with the one license now, so you don’t have to pick. I like having the 2 options available and I don’t let my kids buy anything on the bedrock one where they have the Minecoin BS to buy stuff. They only have real money (paper) and no digital-compatible methods to pay for anything.
But the mods on Java edition are excellent, and the fact that it runs on any computer OS is a big plus. I can’t recommend anything more than Minecraft for a kids’ game.
I never understood the "Minecraft Bedrock was made so it could run everywhere" argument. Like, wasn't Java's moto "Write once, run everywhere"? Why settle for a garbage version of the original, when the original can run on every computational device made within the last decade?
When Java was made, nobody guessed that a phone or console would ever be as powerful as a PC. “Everywhere” really meant “Everywhere powerful enough (just PCs).”
Could MC Java be ported to a phone? Yes, but C++ is just so much more efficient for a small device.
For everyone saying OP should let their kid play Roblox and just ban spending money… just no.
Roblox exploits child labor for profit and they have terrible scummy business practices. If you have even marginal ethical qualms about child labor and/or capitalistic exploitation of vulnerable people, you should be keeping yourself and your family away from Roblox. In your mind they should be in the same category as multilevel marketing, crypto scams and door-to-door religion peddlers.
I actually think it’s fair to call them child predators. They’re exploiting kids for money instead of sexual gratification, but it’s the same power dynamic. Child exploitation is their business model.
My son just turned 6 and I was thinking of looking at the game (my sone really likes actual Lego, and his buddies are into Minecraft and Roblox), but another parent at a bday party a few weeks back asked if we played, and then warned my that I needed to keep a close eye on it, because the suggested games algo was pushing really sketch things to his daughter.
So I started looking and decided the shopping aspect was something I didn’t want to expose him to yet. But these revelations are making me glad we haven’t yet used it and never will.
Roblox sells the idea that you can actually make money with it, it has its own economy with job hunting and salaries. Mario Maker is just a community game.
Nearly everyone knows a bunch of skills “for nothing” or, worse, for fun! Gasp! Shocking, isn’t it?
Also, did you know that modding is a thing at least since the 90s? You know, people that made modifications to games without expecting any financial return or job opportunities? People must be crazy if they’re putting so much effort just to have fun and share it, amirite?
I couldn’t stop myself from being sarcastic there, sorry. The utter cynicism struck me so hard I didn’t know where to begin explaining how wrongheaded I think people are being about that. I would for sure prefer Roblox not encourage mtx so much but sheesh man. I don’t think Timmy is trying to make the next Genshin Impact.
Intent makes a big difference. The value of Roblox as a platform and as a business is based on the work done by children to develop for it, and it was set up that way on purpose. They created an incentive model to encourage it.
Nintendo’s value as a company is not based on kids creating Mario Maker levels, nor does Nintendo push kids to do so with the promise of earning money.
Considering the newest Mario game got a shitload of ideas from Mario maker levels, anyone who was good at mario making enough to be creative with the formula had their labor stolen as RnD for Wonder
Nobody dangles a carrot of earning money in front of potential FOSS developers. Nobody goes into FOSS thinking they’re going to get a big payout.
FOSS is not pay-to-play. There’s no equivalent to Robux for FOSS developers.
FOSS developers are consenting adults who volunteer their time for freely distributed software projects, not kids creating content for a video game company that charges them for access and then makes a profit from their work.
Someone else in this thread mentioned the GOG version works on Mac, although I can’t see anything about it working on ARM, but I’d assume it does since it says it works on OSX 12+.
I’ve tried getting him into Steam, but he has some sort of grudge against it, idk why. Thanks for the suggestion!
I recommend Astroneer - a solo / multiplayer survival game about collecting resources, refining stuff and building up bases on several planets. It’s hecking fun in multiplayer and it doesn’t have combat. There’s a ton of things to do and if the kids are good at communicating with each other they can quickly conquer the game. The only microtransactiony stuff it has is cosmetics (but it’s not being pushed upon you in any way), but you can unlock some of these through progression as well.
Just rediscovered Battlefield Heroes through the fanmade Rising Hub.
Pretty sure it’s the perfect kinda game for a group of 10 year olds to play and socialize on.
Lol, that would work for me or my friends, but I think giving him a pirated version might make him even more sketched out. Thanks for the idea, though!
I mean, if credit card is the issue, you can buy steam gift cards with cash at most game/electronics stores. I know this will depend on your region, but he can absolutely have a steam account with no card attached. I sometimes delete my debit card info by accident trying to use a different card and have to readd the card entirely. There’s been plenty of times my steam account has had no payment method.
IIRC I’ve never given Valve/Steam payment info. Everything is processed through PayPal. But even then, you should be able to gift his account a purchase without him putting in payment methods if you can convince him to use steam at all
Maybe this isn’t the case in your neighborhood but my local grocery stores have racks of gift cards, including for Steam. I know people who have similar concerns as your dad, so they just buy Steam credit for themselves.
That’s not a bad idea. I was planning on just gifting it to him over Steam since I have no qualms with giving Valve my CC, but if he wanted to buy something in the future, that would be a great work around.
I would just talk to your kid and listen to his feelings and wants. What does he enjoy about Roblox? Can he find that enjoyment with some other games? Does he understand that its not a punishment, e.g. it’s not anything that he did and that you aren’t blaming him? Sure, you can suggest a few alternatives and they might take and be fun, but you’ll need to be attuned to his feelings around what he might see as a punishment for something that he did so that he doesn’t internalize it and hurt the relationship you have with him.
yeah this should be the immediate next step. The kid shouldn’t feel punished. It shouldn’t be a “you’re not allowed because I said so.” Kids can be smart and might be able to understand why Roblox is exploitative.
At least this is a better reason to take a way a kid’s video game. My parents banned me from certain games/movies because they had positive depictions of black people.
no, just very idiosyncratic white American racists. I don’t even know where they got it from. My grandparents weren’t racists and my parents never listened to Rush Limbaugh or anything.
Nah, they don’t watch that either. They’re very detached and only watch football or movies with Humphrey Bogart. My best guess is they felt some kind of resentment their whole lives because they were always the poorest ones out of their siblings. All my aunts and uncles formed businesses or got moderately wealthy, whereas I grew up on the lower middle side of that spectrum. And that turned into standard American racism.
Factorio is a great idea if you’re ok with school going to sh*t. I called factorio the „time machine“ since it could zap 12 hrs in one second. Cant remember any other game that I played till dawn in the last 20 yrs.
Minecraft / Terraria, 100%. Both games have available co-op, so they can play with their friends, and allow quite a bit of creative expression. Terraria is made by some of the best indie devs ever, if it helps, having been getting free updates for years, even though the devs said they had finished the game years ago.
For a more socially open experience, I could also recommend Sea of Thieves. It’s a game about manning a pirateship and collecting loot, where you can sometimes run into real people on their own adventures (or get your ship sunk by them, after all, they’re also pirates). There is co-op, too. A cash shop is available, but all items are strictly cosmetic, with many items available through gameplay alone.
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Aktywne