Minecraft Safety 101 1

Help get your child set up safely with a new platform or app, with this quick reference guide.

NZ classification - PG low level violence

What is it?

Minecraft is sometimes described as a 'digital Lego world, as it's a game where players explore, build, and create in a block-based environment. Users can play alone, with friends, or on shared online servers with other players.

How it is used can vary quite a lot, for example players can:

Build freely, creating houses, cities or entire worlds
Explore and survive, gathering resources and avoiding dangers
Play socially, joining worlds with friends or other players

There is no single way to play, instead you child's experience depends on the mode they choose and the type of world they're in:

Single player - just them

Private worlds or realms - invite only and usually friends

Public servers - large communities often with unknown players.

Minecraft allows players to chat, collaborate and interact in real time, meaning that social dynamics (friendship, conflict, teamwork) can all become part of the online experience.

Why it's popular

Minecraft enables tamariki to:

Build anything they imagine
Explore and go on adventures
Play with friends in shared worlds
Be creative

What to watch out for

Contact with strangers

Minecraft offers the ability to message with other players including strangers, which increases the risk of online harms such as grooming or sextortion

Talk to your young person about who they’re talking to and who they know in person versus online only. Talk about what your child can do if someone they don't know wants to start a conversation online

Inappropriate content

Games hosted in public servers with large communities may expose your child to harmful or adult content, inappropriate themes, players behaving unpredictably or adult language and humour.

Encourage your child to engage in private worlds or realms, with friends that they know in-person, avoiding large and public communities

Griefing (game term)

This is when someone deliberately destroys a build or ruins the game, which can be upsetting, confusing and frustrating for young players.

Help them prepare for what might happen in the platform by talking about it. "What would you do if someone ruined your game or wrecked your build?" Talk about their options to report the player and leave the server and to come and talk to you if it happens.

Mods and downloads

Mods (add-ons) can change the game, but some of them can come from unsafe sources.

Create a simple habit of checking in with you before downloading anything - keep it collaborative, not restrictive, and let them know why it's important to check if something is safe before downloading it into the game.

Time and emotional impact

It can be easy to spend long periods of time online, and online gaming can leave players feeling frustrated if progress is lost, or pressured if gaming with others in shared worlds.

Set some agreed expectations together about time spent online, when and where to have device-free time, and how to detach from the chat and the game even when it feels hard. Build awareness of their wellbeing online and check in on how they're feeling after they've finished playing.

5 minute safety settings

Sit together and work through settings to put some basic protections in place, and talk about why they're important.

Minecraft safety settings are controlled mainly through your child’s Microsoft (Xbox) account, not just inside the game.

Note: Settings and menu options may look slightly different depending on your child’s device and account, but these controls are the most important to check.

Go to: https://account.xbox.com/settings
Sign in with your child’s account
Open "Privacy & Online Safety → Xbox Privacy"
Select your child’s profile
Go to "Communication & multiplayer"

Set:

“You can join multiplayer games” → Block or Friends only
“You can play with people outside Xbox Live” → Block

This is the single most effective way to prevent contact with strangers

Go to: https://account.xbox.com/settings
Sign in with your child’s account
Open "Privacy & Online Safety → Xbox Privacy"
Select your child’s profile
Go to "Communication & multiplayer"

Set:

“You can communicate outside of Xbox with voice & text” → Block or Friends only

If set to 'Block', in-game chat will not work at all. 'Friends only' reduces unwanted contact from people you don't know in person.

Go to: https://account.xbox.com/settings
Sign in with your child’s Microsoft account
Open Privacy & Online Safety → Xbox Privacy
Select your child’s profile
- “You can add friends” → set to Friends only, or Block (for younger children)
You can also review
- “Others can see your friends list” → set to Friends only or Restricted

This limits who can connect with your child and reduces unwanted contact over time

Realms are Minecraft’s built-in private servers, which are invite-only spaces where your child controls who joins. Realms cost a small monthly fee, but they are one of the safest ways for your child to play socially.

How to set up a Realm

Open Minecraft
From the main menu, click Play
Go to the Worlds tab
Select Create New → Create New World
Choose “Create on Realms” (or “Create Realm”)
Follow the prompts to subscribe and create the world

Once the Realm is created:

Go to Play → Realms
Select your Realm
Click Edit (pencil icon)
Go to Members
Invite only people your child knows. You can add players (by username/gamertag) or remove players at any time

This means that only invited players can enter, and no strangers can join unless invited

Go to: https://account.xbox.com/settings
Sign in with your child’s Microsoft account
Select Chat Settings (or “Accessibility” → chat options, depending on version)
From here, you can:
- Hide Chat → turns off all chat messages
- Commands Only → shows system messages but not player chat
- Filter Profanity → blocks or masks inappropriate language

This limits what messages your child can see while they're playing, but not who can contact them (that's managed in the Microsoft settings details earlier).

What else can help?

Support your child to navigate Minecraft safely...

Help your child understand 'where' they're playing. Minecraft experiences vary a lot depending on the world, so talk about differences between private worlds and public servers.
Help them to choose the right environment and talk about the difference between playing with friends versus strangers. A simple check might be to ask 'Do you know the people in this world in person?'
Play and explore Minecraft together (even briefly). Ask them to show you what they've built and who they play with and what kind of server they're on. This builds trust and gives you some insights into their world without needing to monitor
Talk about game behaviours, and how Minecraft and other online games have their own social norms. Help them to understand that not everyone plays fairly, and some people try to get reactions from others by harming their game. Equip them with the language to respond such as "I'm leaving this server" or "I'm not playing here anymore"
Normalise starting over to help reduce the emotional impact of their game being 'griefed', or them making a mistake. Help them see that it's part of the the game, and they can rebuild or start fresh
Build their confidence of playing in online spaces by helping them to recognise when something feels 'off' and knowing what to do next if that happens - the goals is "I know how to handle this and I know who can go to for help"
Keep conversations ongoing - not just one-off. Minecraft changes depending on the server and who they play with, so stay curious and check in with gentle questions such as 'What have you been playing lately?'