DD10 has been asking about loading Mimecraft onto her iPad. I know nothing about this except for what I have read here. I found an app called "Minecraft Pocket Edition". Is this the right game? Apparently she played it once a couple of years ago when visiting a friend's home so I want to be sure I get the right thing. Any advice would be appreciated.

That's the one DS9 has on his iPad. He enjoys it enough that he rarely asks to play the full game (which we also have) on a computer. Ditto for DD7.

thanks!

My kids have it on their Android tablets - they seem to enjoy it, although it's more limited than the full version.

There are various flavors, and unfortunately you can't mix and match, but they're basically the same game. In order of features, (fewest to most), they go:

Pocket Edition (for phones/iPods/tablets)
Console editions (Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation)
PC

The last one is the only one that can be modded. The console editions do allow for downloadable content.

There is even a version for the Raspberry Pi that comes bundled with Raspbian which is its variant of the Debian Linux distro.

My son only wants to play the computer version, he is addicted to it and very particular Most of his friends seem to play the tablet or console version. One benefit of the console is that up to four players can play on one screen/console.

For an occasional player looking for "just another game", the pocket version (~$5) is fine.

If your child would like to be a serious Minecraft builder and part of the community, that requires the broader capabilities of the computer version (about $30), plus your willingness to enable/ allow a fair bit of downloading of mods, plug-ins, etc. Why on earth would you ever want to do that? What makes Minecraft interesting is that everything is open source code, and there are millions of people all over the world building things in it, modifying code, creating adventure maps, puzzles, and all sorts of crazy things (you can get a taste of what people are doing in this description of Minecraft maps - just one of many types of stuff people create and post for anyone to download: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Custom_maps). It's an incredible incentive to dive into the code, learn to program, and participate in some real cool stuff that's way beyond just playing another video game.

Obviously, however, this works best if you have someone in the house willing and able to supervise a high level of on-line interaction, including helping your child find kid-friendly servers if she wants to play somewhere with her friends, and safe sites to download mods from. I say it's totally worth it - but of course, easy to say, since DH is the tech support around here!

As I understand it, the pocket edition doesn't have the nether, multiplayer or java mods. I also ink many crafting recipes are different.

An aside... With no nether, is there no quartz? No daylight sensors? No white palaces?

It's a great intro to the game, but if she wants to have minecraft playdates with friends or learn Java to make mods (modifications to the game) you'll have to upgrade. There's also a part of the fun of the game which is learning/knowing all the recipes to craft things. She'll have to relearn if she switches, but I don't think that's a huge problem.

Agree with Michelle and Tallulah. My kids find the pocket edition is too limited and doesn't offer the kind of building and interactive play they enjoy most. Plus, they like to game together, and I don't think that's possible on the pocket edition. I know it's fine for some kids, but I think for more tech-savvy kids, it will be frustrating.

Pocket edition gets the most play here because it's more portable. There are no naturally mined or dropped nether items, but you can get them in the creative mode menus. The bigger problem is no redstone circuits. All the in-game redstone logic is just missing. My kids play together all the time; anyone on the same wi-fi can join games. There are no cross-town or international minecraft playdates on pocket edition, though.

There are missing cool features, yes, but if she played it on an iPad then pocket edition is what she played. It's pricey for an app game, but it's easily worth five of every other game I've seen. It's not a lot of money to have wasted if she later decides she wants to upgrade to the full PC game.

No redstone!!!!?? Travesty!

I refuse to farm my own chickens.

DD10's user accounts on our machines have parental controls that prevent her from unknowingly installing malware. She can download and install texture packs and custom maps, since those are not executable, and after I've given her some guidance, she knows how to do these with minimal help. But I drew a line in the sand on mods, because a bad mod can break the client, a client software update can break the mod, mods may not play well with each other, and the last thing I want to do after spending all day working on computers is come home and work on computers. She has been told that she can play with mods when she's ready to provide her own tech support. Otherwise, if she wants a modded experience, she'll have to find a server and play it there.

DD's response: "I WANT TO LEARN COMPUTERS!!"

;-)

I have found that mods are a great bribe. Clean your room, earn a mod. That type of thing.

My kids (ages 8 and 9) have been playing since preschool, are pretty hardcore and very particular, I think they would grumble about a pocket version or console version.

Actually, I confess I didn't even realize this was missing. Fatal flaw, indeed. As far as DS is concerned, there is no life without redstone - it's what allows all the really cool stuff with moving parts (circuits, pistons, fireworks, and... and... whatever it is he does that keeps him so excited all the time).

DD, on the other hand, is a casual user at most, and quite happy with the pocket edition, mostly using it like on-line lego really.

Our mod rule is, make your own. It could be broken but it won't be malware. And they have to code.

That's how it is here too, but our kids are now fully into modding for themselves. We are enjoying the Youth Digital Mod Design 1 course, for which there is currently a Groupon that makes the price more reasonable.

Just curious--can two kids use the same course, or do you need to buy 2 courses, doubling the cost?

Everyone can watch the instructional videos and make their own mod for learning in, but the class is structured around challenges/quizzes that are for each individual registered student. So two kids could learn together, but two subscriptions would be better if it's affordable to you.

Ok, thanks. I'm debating getting one subscription to try, and if they fight over it and both want to do it alone, then we could add another one.

They do give individual feedback to each student, and they ask that you register each student separately.

We got one kid a subscription first, but then jealousy ensued, then we paid for the rest of what we needed. Had to wait for it to go on sale in between, which was aggravating. The regular price is $250.

You can have multiple kids' accounts on the same computer but (oddly) you need different parent email addresses to sign them up.

The Groupon price ($150) is, I think, quite fair. The individual attention via messaging has been outstanding-- questions get answered quickly and cheerfully. This is honestly the most engaging online instruction I've ever seen.

What she said. The tutors even dealt with DDs very first attempts at text based communication, without a single word spelled correctly. It's awesome.

I was just relieved that webkinz was eclipsed by Minecraft as a go to place for downtime and general 'vegging out'.

I never stopped my DD from Webkinz as it relaxed her but I was ecstatic when that particular phase was over.

I have a deal with DS8 that he can earn minecraft minutes on my iPad (or minutes watching tutorials) with violin practice minutes. The progress he has made on the violin since is astounding.

He is lobbying hard for the PC version now. I think it might be worth it from what I'm reading here, but it will be definitely time for him to get his own computer.

Make it a good one. DD is screaming at her laptop because of lag in Minecraft. DD's friend has it even worse (or did, until recently). As a java app, it's a notorious resource hog. They're continually adding new features, and it was a recent update that pushed her machine past its limits. If your child starts using mods, that'll push performance even further.

i guess my dh put together a good pc with our son a few years back because the minecraft maniac at our house, dd9, has not complained. For a few months she was glued to this thing several hours a week, getting her cousins hooked and getting them configured to log into different servers. They enjoyed logging into the same servers together and exploring and building. Dd has gone from knowing zip about computers to seeming to know quite a bit, at least she is extremely confident, command line does not daunt her, nor learning new command syntax. She was recently trying to figure out how to get new 'heads'..apparently there's a command where you can get someone's head on your own head. At one point she even worked in a 'head shop'. I did not tell her the meaning of this irl, she enjoyed helping the original builder of the shop hand out free heads. Weird, but fun. Highly recommend this.
Oh, also, key for girls -- this is a world where anybody can do anything;
my dd has built and adventured in this game with great abandon, never once running into a scenario where, because she is a girl, something was not open to her. She mostly feels this way in real life, but every little bit of influence in this direction helps.