How Minecraft "ruins" our children: on the benefits of free-form games. Why I forbade my son to play Minecraft

Parents today are on the verge of making a huge mistake in parenting. Wishing well for their children, they deprive them of time and space for play, thereby limiting the development of imagination - a skill that is the basis of innovation and competitiveness.

Research by toy company Radio Flyer and ReD Associates has shown worrying consequences of over-nurturing parenting today. Before each holidays, adults begin to puzzle over which toy will be interesting and useful for their child. However, before purchasing another wooden construction set, parents should seriously think about it.

The development of imagination is facilitated by games that child psychologists call "arbitrary" ( unstructured play) - in those there is no clearly defined scenario, no ultimate goal, no devices are used. The child himself comes up with his own worlds and embodies his own ideas.

According to a study in the United States, children who are given freedom of action by their parents, that is, given the opportunity to decide for themselves when, where and what to play, have the most developed imaginations. However, most modern children simply cannot play on their own - they need instructions from adults or the toy itself.

The conclusions are disappointing: today's children need to be taught to play free games. Specialist in child development, psychologist Peter Gray also noted a steady decrease in the time spent on free play. According to other data, children between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 6.5 hours in the company of gadgets every day, and many are even afraid to go outside unaccompanied by adults.

Modern parents are puzzled about how to create the conditions for involuntary play. A study of children from infancy to 9 years old showed amazing results - neither wooden toys, nor their digital counterparts create conditions for unstructured play. So what is the parent's mistake?

Consequences of playing Minecraft

Take cubes, for example. The current generation of children passively pushes buttons and toys themselves entertain them, and when a toy gets bored, they insistently demand another. Some parents have even formed a new tradition: to throw out "old" toys before the holidays in order to make room for new ones. Other parents admit that they buy their child a brand new toy a week, and also store toys in reserve.

Having got used to the constant novelty and change of entertainment, children simply stop playing with ordinary cubes, as a result of which they lose their skills in playing with stationary objects. Parents shrug their shoulders: "We do not want our children to be bored." But therein lies the secret: boredom motivates children to play with "what is." If we want to develop children's imaginations, kids need to be bored.

And what then can be said about computer games on like Minecraft which one parent described as "steroid cubes"?

In this popular game children mine resources, create items, build buildings and explore new worlds. In the "Creativity" mode, players have an unlimited supply of resources and tools, which allows you to create objects of increased complexity. This is where unlimited freedom of imagination is - take it and build!

However, the study found that after the Minecraft series of games, children felt cranky and annoyed. Many agree that the aforementioned playing only "kills time" - as soon as the child begins to understand well the mechanics of the game, that is, to play well, the experience of research and creation turns into an endless construction in order to avoid boredom. Someone from the adults correctly noticed that under such conditions even a favorite pastime turns into a routine.

Creating conditions for unstructured play requires not only restricting the child from certain entertainments, but also giving him complete freedom. However, as the study showed, this practice does not always show inspiring results - young respondents, left without their usual toys, started fights with their peers (and sometimes with their parents) and experienced irritation, drowsiness and confusion. Obviously, the problem here is not in the toys, but in the fact that the children are not used to playing on their own.

The idea of ​​free games is often discussed, but ways of creating the conditions for such are rarely presented. Below are three excerpts from a study by child psychologist Peter Gray recommending free play practice.

1. Parents must clearly understand what is "free play" and what it gives

In free play there is no clearly defined beginning and end - children entertain themselves, adults do not help them. This approach can confuse parents who are used to seeing educational and educational tasks in play, as well as those who believe that participation in children's play helps to get closer to the child.

2. Children should play on their own every day.

When parents try to introduce several hours of free play between other activities of the child, the child experiences absent-mindedness and irritation. For this problem to disappear, children must learn to play on their own, and not wait for their parents, teachers or new toys to entertain them.

3. In free play, children should be guided by the behavior of adults

It's no secret that children copy the behavior of adults, but the latter, plunging headlong into work, often forget about it. Parents should be an example for their children and show that spending time without gadgets can be a lot of fun.

How are these ideas implemented in practice? Quite simply, a photographer father takes his two-year-old daughter for walks. While he is photographing nature, the child selflessly plays with what is nearby - he imagines, explores, learns the world. The adult does not interfere, the girl is in charge of the process herself. However, the parent is nearby - going about his business, he looks after her, and the child is inspired by the father's actions and copies his behavior.

This toy world is not at all like the realistic three-dimensional pictures that modern three-dimensional shooters or MMORGPs indulge us with. Despite the simplicity of the visual design, Minecraft games are popular all over the world, and this is no accident! After all, only Minecraft games allow you to feel like a real artist, creating your new perfect reality. Add a drop of imagination, and the eight-bit squares will come to life, and your own virtual world will sparkle with the brightest colors!

Mine and build!

This is how you can translate the name of this mega-popular toy with of English language, and it is these words that reflect the main essence of everything gameplay... Yes, you will have to mine and build here the most! After all, this is the only way, and nothing else, can you turn a lifeless planet into a cozy paradise where you would like to work and live.

Minecraft games belong to the so-called “sandbox” genre, and if in childhood you loved to sculpt Easter cakes or even build whole castles from sand, then to the idea of ​​constructing your own virtual reality you can approach with real enthusiasm! All you need is your fantasy and common sense... Fantasy - in order to come up with new and new forms of organizing your world, and common sense - so that this flight of thought is a little limited and directed to the right channel.

In this case, the right channel is protection from enemies and the development of new resources. All this is simply necessary in order for your character not only to survive, but also to be able to live on the planet he has mastered quite happily. That is, of course, sometimes you want to imagine and build golden palaces with openwork walls, but you should always remember the main thing: first of all, you should take care of ensuring your own survival.

Reade set Go!

So, you thought it over carefully and decided: I want to create and create. And then you run all the time through the worlds of other people's fantasies, fulfill other people's dreams ... Basta! Now you will embody only your ideas and your desires in your own virtual world.

Minecraft style games provide you unlimited possibilities for creativity and the realization of your most unexpected talents. But, before you feel like a full-fledged master of the new world, you will have to survive for some time - which means, live according to the rules dictated by your circumstances.

You should use your first efforts to find and extract resources. You may need resources both for building a house (it will be your resting place and a refuge from enemies), and for the construction of outbuildings. When the top-priority tasks are completed, you can use the surplus of the extracted resources for the improvement of the territory and beauty.

Don't forget to feed your hero! As in real life, food can be obtained in different ways and consumed different ways... You can kill a mob (any edible animal) and eat its meat - but remember that raw meat is best roasted. Not only does it satisfy hunger better after heat treatment, but also some of its types (chicken, for example) are generally poisonous in their raw form, but nothing when fried. And also food can be grown - just like grain is grown in our villages, from which bread is then made.

Instruments Minecraft games give you the opportunity not only to influence the surrounding relief, but also to modify materials - just like in real world! The raw materials in this beautiful simulator must go through all stages before your very eyes, from extraction to the completion of processing and the manufacture of a finished new item.

Dangers and difficulties

Even in the most ideal world, the hero is necessarily pursued by enemies or some kind of trouble. Agree, if they were not there, the world from ideal would quickly turn into boring and monotonous! That is why Minecraft games are replete with various difficulties that you will have to overcome on the way to your own prosperity.

To begin with, your hero can ... die. Unexpected for a sandbox, right? However, we all saw how fiercely two kids can beat each other with their shoulder blades on a walk, if they do not share their favorite corner of their small construction site or a pine cone or berry that miraculously fell on a pile of sand. Something similar is happening here, only in a world where a lot can be achieved, the struggle for resources and territory takes on the character of real military operations.

Depending on the strategy of the game that you choose at the very beginning, the death of your character can lead to different consequences. In one of the options, after an untimely death, you will wake up alive in your bed, and the game will be rewound exactly until the moment when you fell asleep for the last time. But all your things and inventory will remain at the place of the death of the hero - don't blame me here - you will only have half a day to return back everything that was acquired by back-breaking labor.

But another option is much less humane! Creation cannot outlive its creator - this is the principle that the developers of the "Hardcore" mode were guided by. And this means that with the death of the hero, the whole world, which he so carefully created with his own hands, disappears. Fearfully? Choose more gentle modes, but for true gamers there is only one life and only Hardcore!

Free of charge Online Games minecraft provide several options for the death of the player. So what can kill him? Yes, practically anything - the realism of this moment is simply gorgeous here. Let's start with hunger. If you disregard our advice and still forget to feed your character, he will die. It's sad, but inevitable, if you don't pay attention to your hero's satiety scale at all. The gradual decrease in the value of satiety on the scale allows you to feed him in time - before it's too late.

Also, the cause of death can be the wrong interaction with monsters. In general, among them there are not only evil creatures who only dream of attacking your hero! There are also quite friendly and even tame, but there are those who are not averse to attacking you. Sometimes aggression on their part can be avoided if you know well what can provoke its manifestation. So, for example, if there is a generated golem in the village, then it is better not to touch such a village: in normal times, the peaceful, stone guard of the village instantly comes to life with any attempts to harm his wards.

And there are enemies who will always remain so, no matter how you cajole them. It is to this type of mobs that zombies belong - a disgusting kind of living dead with square heads. The most disgusting thing is that there is no sense even in defeating them, because even then they have no edible meat. But, by the way, after their death, other mobs often leave behind resources, food or some useful artifacts- you can take them, you honestly earned them.

Minecraft and his friends

Of course, what popular entertainment could not remain alone. Game development often boils down to implementing the same idea in the largest possible number of versions. And this is justified, because not always, missing square heads your heroes, you want to launch the installer of your favorite game, forgotten somewhere in the bowels of the computer. It is likely that you just need to shoot from zombies or build some very small world!

For these purposes, there are free online games for minecraft. They do not require installation, and every little flash game contains a small, but very pleasant and beloved aspect by all true fans. Construction and destruction are separated here for more fun!

If you can't live a day without the pixelated worlds of this popular computer game, you will definitely appreciate Minecraft-style games! Moreover, you can play Minecraft games on this page for free. And this means that now you can play Minecraft games anytime and anywhere - if only there was the Internet!

Oh, this wonderful world where I chase Bertie Botts beans, kill spiders and fly a car in Harry Potter. This fascinating GTA Universe, where you can kick a prostitute and blinking wads of dollars will appear on the asphalt in an instant. After all, this intellectual foothold, where you thoughtfully choose between a bazooka and a bow, handing over your weapons to worms, because your life in Worms depends on it.

All these sensations are not close to modern children. No matter how hard the developers try, no matter how game designers twist the colors and graphics, children of the 21st century will still play Minecraft. A game in which everything is built on eight-bit cubes: no realistic faces for you, no radio in the car, not even branches in the trees. Flat, monochrome and terribly addictive. And many parents will be able to throw a stone at me, singing odes to Minecraft, as a universe with its own rules: you build a city from scratch, you mine wood and stone for bricks, you look for water. But do these parents know that already in 2015, the passage of the game Minecraft gained about 4 billion views? That is, more than half of the world's population is mindlessly staring at the screen, while the other half is playing and filming a game of bricks.

The thing is that there is really one step from the game to hate. A harmless attempt to rebuild your country from improvised means very quickly turns into endless viewing of tutorials, let-play and a race for mods. For parents who do not understand the last words, I will explain: mods are improvements that children add to their game through programming loopholes.

In other words, before we could enter a password for endless money in “Heroes of Might and Magic”, but now our children do it. Only tens, hundreds of times more. They pump millions of endless resources, add new dimensions, terrible and evil people, turn on electricity and run elevators. As a result, the noble goal of “building from scratch” loses its value. The game turns into a catch-up with mods.

Kids spend hours on YouTube watching others play, download mods, and bypass the rules. Fantasy and patient spatial thinking fly into the abyss of views in social networks as well as the parental wallet (after all, mods are not always free). To this we add the mat that children use in the video, and aggressive superiority - harmless "kids" are pumped into pirated version little men who can be killed and thoughtlessly beaten with an ax. And this endless carousel can last as long as the parents do not turn off the lights with their supervising switch.

Someone might say that this is all an invention of the separatists. On this score, there has long been a study by the Chinese side, during which scientists observed the brains of 18 students (MRI to help us). All subjects played continuously for 10 hours. Compared to the second group, which was given only 2 hours of gaming, the former had much less gray matter in the brain. That is, a reduced ability to reason and analyze information.

If you delve deeper into the topic of Minecraft, you will notice that this is an absolutely monotonous and does not require special skills to do (unless, of course, you have pumped up a bunch of pirate mods, which were mentioned earlier). The game has nothing to do with creativity, at least because it does not have a clear ending, a win or a Boss that must be defeated at the end of the game. It is the absence of a specific mission that needs to be completed that kills all hope for the development of any skills in a child.

So, with the question "Who is to blame?" all clear. The eternal parental question “What to do?” Remains. There are three types of people - the founders of the family:

Parents who prefer not to notice the problem and just limit the time "sticking" into the computer for the sake of decency. As a rule, this is where problems arise with the imbalance of children, gambling addiction and lies (for example, children like to “accidentally” pay for new mods from their parent's card).

People who completely clean up any kind of gadgets and devices with the Internet. The result is one of two things: either your child will be carried away by chess, horseback riding and the construction of halabuds. Or, a computer detox will play a cruel joke on the child, and he will start looking for any opportunity to "reach" the forbidden fruit (playing with friends, playing at night, cheating and hysterical). This also includes the option "if you bring the top five, I'll give you a tablet." Because a child, completing an assignment in mathematics, will not think about examples, but about a game that he can play as soon as his educational slavery ends. On mothers' forums, I have read many scary stories about how a child banged his head against the wall when he could not learn a verse. To the question "What happened?" the child replied that if he did not learn the unfortunate verse, he would not be able to play. And remembering such a long verse is simply impossible (here we remember about gray matter).

The most optimal option is trust control. The "trust but verify" thing has not in vain bypassed all Soviet and post-Soviet family councils. After all, it is the trusting relationship with your child that can ensure a dignified old age for parents and an anti-playful youth for children. Track mods, control the amount of time spent on YouTube, buy new games that can not only keep your child entertained, but also teach something. And remember: in addition to your home gambling is forbidden, there is a terrible and cruel world of children who are still allowed to play and use gadgets endlessly. Upon learning that your child is "punished", these offspring of gambling addiction will certainly shoot at this already Achilles' heel of the kid. It cannot be denied that your child has electronic friends, but dosage is a must.

Eh, I would return the Sims, marry neighbors to each other and re-glue the wallpaper on the most expensive - this is happiness! And then bricks and bricks.

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It so happened that my attitude to raising children (and who else to raise, not adults) has always been based on humanism, bordering on connivance. Even in my youth, teaching English to teenagers in a private school and to my peers in a medical college, I perceived each ward as a whole universe with its own unique laws, life circumstances, opportunities and talents. The students quickly got wind of this peculiarity of the young teacher's worldview and, of course, sometimes shamelessly used it - telling amazing stories about unfulfilled homework and forcing me to crawl under the teacher's table with laughter.

Of course, over time, my humanistic fever, not fully comprehended in my youth, slightly faded - I began to understand that people, in addition to free will and choice, need rules, boundaries, rituals, stability and a foundation. Children - even more.

Nevertheless, I considered and to this day consider myself not entitled to create greenhouse conditions around the child, trying not to adapt the life of loved ones to a growing person, but to help a growing person get used to the world around him. This is not a question of discipline and not an attempt to raise a child “comfortable” for the society - quiet and always obedient (which, of course, is nothing wrong, but I have only seen such people on Soviet postcards). Borders and rules are needed not so that the child is not noticeable, but to make it easier for him to get used to the world of people.

For example, the rule “listen to what they say to you, and then speak out yourself, it will be more convenient for everyone”, I think it is justified, and “I’m an adult, I know better, but you keep quiet” - obscurant. Borders need to be drawn in order to protect and prevent, and not to prohibit.

Still from the movie "The Wall", 1982

The same rules have always applied to the information available. The question "Where do children come from?" - an honest answer in an accessible form, where, how and why. The question "Mom, will I die too?" - an honest affirmative answer and a conversation about the fact that the memory of our relatives, friends and descendants remains alive.

In general, my position in raising new people boiled down to two main factors: the desire to organically fit the child into the daily life of the family and the desire not to limit his access to something that does not pose a threat to his life and the comfort of others.

These two factors influenced my attitude towards a growing person's access to digital entertainment. I, my family and my friends are modern people who, from their youth, actively use and are interested in digital technologies, gadgets and the Internet. The internet soon became my place of work; naturally, the son constantly saw his mother behind the screen of a laptop, smartphone and tablet; I'm used to the fact that I search for answers to some of his questions in Google; to the fact that cartoons can be watched on YouTube; to the fact that you can play Cut The Rope on your smartphone. I am pleased with how my son gradually immersed in the digital information environment and I am sure that for his age he has developed an adequate idea of ​​the network - as a place where knowledge is obtained, and where you can find, if you wish, everything that interests you.

Something went wrong

His son got his smartphone at the age of 5 - he got his father's old phone. He played on it in all parts Angry Birds(a great game for children who are not destined to walk with a slingshot in the yard) and Bad Piggies (cool engineering puzzle - I couldn't cope with the levels, and the five-year plan was easy). In the summer before entering school, he appeared in his arsenal Minecraft pocket Edition. I was even glad - how many times I wrote about this toy right here on Newtonew, and I was going to offer it to my son, but then it somehow worked out by itself.

Minecraft is a cool game without exaggeration, almost instantly overgrown with a fan subculture after its release. I am still not able to understand what attracts children of senior kindergarten and junior in it so much school age... If adult players may well be nostalgic for eight-bit graphics and enjoy the square minecraft world, then children are not aware of such nostalgia. Nevertheless, schoolchildren in the elementary and middle grades are crazy about her - just look at how many years of the plays were filmed and posted on YouTube by young unspoiled souls. I came to the conclusion that in Minecraft everything that, in principle, distinguishes computer games from all other types of entertainment:

• the ability to build your own world;
• non-linear way of interacting with the game world (not like with a book);
• interactivity (not like when watching programs and films);
• instant feedback;
• extensive opportunities for communication and self-expression (thanks to the gaming community).

These are excellent properties that develop systems and strategic thinking, digital literacy, planning skills, and even communication skills. Under several conditions: you yourself know how it all works, you are ready to spend a lot of time learning game world together with your child and ... do not use the mobile version of the game.

Exactly Minecraft Pocket Edition, the official mobile Minecraft app, led to alarming consequences.

The dark side of Minecraft

Minecraft was installed on our free home laptop, which did not really belong to anyone, and therefore passed into the possession of his son - on an old MacBook (in this case, it is Mac OS that is important) Anton launched his favorite toy, looked for tutorials himself, watched letsplay on YouTube. Everything he watched I closely monitored as he surfed through my active Google account. The version of Minecraft that Anton played on a MacBook, and his style of play only aroused my approval - he learned simple commands in the terminal, found new blocks, learned to handle them on his own, studied the possibilities of the world.

But I couldn't call his style of playing on a smartphone constructive. One thing must be said here: there is a huge shadow industry serving Minecraft - mods, or simply "mods." A mod is a code file that changes the original content of the game. They can add new features, such as allowing them to play their music in the background, or adding electricity, elevators or new dimensions to the game; can change appearance, for example, change textures; but they can seriously affect the entire course of the game, giving a loophole for cheating - for example, giving unlimited quantity resources. Mods are not officially supported by the manufacturer, but there are a huge number of launchers that allow you to install and run mods. It is very easy to do this in Minecraft for Windows and in mobile version Minecraft.

The whole industry is built on these mods, millions of views.

Mods, if handled skillfully, can be very enriching gaming experience, complicate and diversify the game; but, unfortunately, the possibility of easy money turns out to be much more attractive. Anton had no idea how to install mods on Mac OS, but he also had a mobile version!

In general, all that Anton's game has become on a smartphone is searching, viewing and testing dozens of different mods. It turned out to be forgotten the main goal of the game - the development of your own world. Out of work were fantasy, spatial thinking, patience required to gather resources.

All this was replaced by a thoughtless race for new mods, their updates, a short joy from visual goodies and huge amount resources and quick disappointment from each purchase - something that you did not earn yourself soon becomes boring.

And it will be difficult for an adult to stop himself if he finds himself in a giant hypermarket, where there is a lot of everything and everything is free - just reach out and take it. Candy? How many do you want. Delicate pâté? Well, take it straight from here. Lemonade? Croissants? Caesar salad? Imagine yourself in a place like this. There is a great temptation to overeat, then suffer from indigestion, then reproach yourself for the weakness of the spirit and promise yourself that you will never again, but ... But here again the neon sign of this hypermarket, and again you cannot restrain yourself, and again then you are angry with yourself.

It is even more difficult for children to control their desires. And in the same way irritation grows in them from the undeservedly received, only they do not give themselves an account of the reason for their negative emotions.

After a couple of months of such a "game" in Minecraft, I got a capricious, apathetic, nervous child. A little more, and it would look like this canon example:

I had to act abruptly. During the winter holidays, after a week of skiing and reading books from his mother’s childhood in his grandmother’s house, Anton did not find his smartphone in his usual place.

Mom, where is the phone?
- He is temporarily not with us until both of you and I understand what you are interested in, except for mods for Minecraft.

And you know what? This explanation, short and honest, was enough. Sometimes we check the official website together to see if a game update (not mods!) Has been released. I did not restrict access to the laptop, to the desktop Minecraft version which I like, he plays on the weekend. The entire home library of children's books has been read. Anton no longer depends on charger, and the morning does not start with the words “I’ll just install this mod, and I will dress”.

Yet I have not lost my faith in video games and believe that they belong in school. After all, games at school are the default licensed versions without simple circumvention and adult supervision. Moreover, there are successful examples and experiments - a Norwegian teacher, or even in Russian schools.