Minecraft has literally taken the world by storm and I have to admit that even I like getting on there and playing, building, and crafting.
When my son first mentioned the word Minecraft and video game in the same sentence I inwardly cringed and remember thinking "uh oh. Not video games. Not yet." But to my surprise Minecraft was nothing that I ever expected. It was like Legos times 1,000...the building, crafting, creating, and use of imagination out of different colored and element blocks was awesome! I could completely understand why my Aspie loved it so much, the music is very calm and light, the sounds and noises, the entire experience really is very positive and it quickly became a safe place and outlet where my son could retreat to. until of course the bullying begins. The name calling, the destroying of each other's creations and building, the stealing and I could on. We even had an instance where a so called gamer "friend" of his tried to impersonate an administrator and get my son to tell him his login password and private information. So what's a parent to do?
I've found just in my own experience that as a parent of an autistic child that great pains need to be taken (more so than the usual) to make ensure the right content, language, graphics, sounds, story, and overall experience are appropriate for them.
I was cruising around the Internet the other day and found a great article about a site called Autcraft. It's a site that was created by a father of an autistic child that wanted to create a safe place for his kids to play. What impressed me the most was how devoted him and his volunteers are. Not only is this an Autistic player friendly server but this is a group that devotes it's time and energy to also supporting anyone who needs it, like a support group. As I scrolled through some of the parent testimonials It was one comment after another about how positive and caring everyone was. There as one that spoke about a player that who needed some emotional support after a hard day and they were there for him, never leaving him until they were sure he was ok. Strangers helping children and young adults not only by providing a safe environment but giving them emotional support whenever they need it. Maybe it's just me but I think that's something pretty awesome.
I would definately check them out to see what their all about, here's the link to the site:
www.autcraft.com
If anyone has heard of any other good sites I'd love to know about them! Just leave a comment :)
When my son first mentioned the word Minecraft and video game in the same sentence I inwardly cringed and remember thinking "uh oh. Not video games. Not yet." But to my surprise Minecraft was nothing that I ever expected. It was like Legos times 1,000...the building, crafting, creating, and use of imagination out of different colored and element blocks was awesome! I could completely understand why my Aspie loved it so much, the music is very calm and light, the sounds and noises, the entire experience really is very positive and it quickly became a safe place and outlet where my son could retreat to. until of course the bullying begins. The name calling, the destroying of each other's creations and building, the stealing and I could on. We even had an instance where a so called gamer "friend" of his tried to impersonate an administrator and get my son to tell him his login password and private information. So what's a parent to do?
I've found just in my own experience that as a parent of an autistic child that great pains need to be taken (more so than the usual) to make ensure the right content, language, graphics, sounds, story, and overall experience are appropriate for them.
I was cruising around the Internet the other day and found a great article about a site called Autcraft. It's a site that was created by a father of an autistic child that wanted to create a safe place for his kids to play. What impressed me the most was how devoted him and his volunteers are. Not only is this an Autistic player friendly server but this is a group that devotes it's time and energy to also supporting anyone who needs it, like a support group. As I scrolled through some of the parent testimonials It was one comment after another about how positive and caring everyone was. There as one that spoke about a player that who needed some emotional support after a hard day and they were there for him, never leaving him until they were sure he was ok. Strangers helping children and young adults not only by providing a safe environment but giving them emotional support whenever they need it. Maybe it's just me but I think that's something pretty awesome.
I would definately check them out to see what their all about, here's the link to the site:
www.autcraft.com
If anyone has heard of any other good sites I'd love to know about them! Just leave a comment :)