I agree with several posts above that the server owners and admins have every right to kick/ban people from the server. (They are the one paying for it after all). However, I do not think it is "right" for them to do it if the person isn't misbehaving, or causing any trouble that interferes with the players or the server. I apologize that your son had to deal with this, and I would just tell him to continue to find a server until he finds the right one.
I would be as angry as you if I had a son who went through this. I would also recommend getting your son the PC version, as it has a much better community in my opinion. More teenagers play the XBOX version, so that could possibly contribute to it being a bit more unfriendly. I hope you find the right server, and I wish people would not bully your son, or anyone.
I joined this forum to express my discontent about this subject. I do not know how to contact MINDCRAFT or their manufacturer.
As I imagine others have mentioned, the game is called "Minecraft"- a combination of two of the primary activities of the game (well, in the survival mode).
A couple of times in the last few days...he has been randomly "kicked out" of the games he was playing in by some of the other boys. One was in a game/party he had initiated.
If he actually started them, only those who he allows to do so will have the ability to kick, as far as I'm aware. So he should only trust his actual friends. I've seen people tricked into giving, say, the popular kid's something because the popular kid dangles the carrot of possible popularity or being part of that little "clique"; Of course this was back when I was in school (2000-2005) and naturally Minecraft didn't exist yet, but I saw it with other things. After gaining the "unpopular" kid's trust, they abuse it. This is how they work. In many ways that abuse could be called bullying, but it's also rather easy to prevent by simply not trusting them to begin with. This might be me completely misreading and misinterpreting the situation here as you've presented it though.
So I'm not necessarily saying it's anyone's responsibility to allow him to keep playing, if they don't want him to play for whatever reason. But this method -- of "kicking someone out" -- and having that message displayed to my son (or whomever)....is ridiculous. It's bullying in it's basest form. Like they're on the playground at the school yard, and they won't let him play. It's completely random, and without just cause.
Would you prefer the game to lie and say there was a "Socket Error" or something? I'm really not sure I understand the complaint here; Your Son should play with real friends, not fake friends that are using their popular to abuse the trust of others via the "carrot dangle" method that I've seen far too often.
Another, more sinister thing that I've seen is that Kids that have very few friends will think they are making new friends, when the people purporting to be their new friends are really just abusing some capability that the kid has. In this case, maybe he is a very good builder in Minecraft. It may very well be that he is better than them, so they ask him to build stuff- and, under the impression that this will gain their approval, he obliges and builds them something nice.
Afterwards, he get's kicked- he's "serves his purpose" so to speak, and the kids he built it for basically got a nice structure for free.
The solution is not in restricting the ability of those other kids from being able to kick, but in your son realizing that there is no such thing as a free Lunch, and that these kids might not really want to be his friends and the invitations are to abuse his abilities as a builder, and then discard him when they don't need him. Inevitably he does have many actual friends, so it would be best if he Creates his own world and only invites his actual friends.
No one is policing this. And at the very least, if the initiator of a given game can be kicked out, that's just ridiculous.
The latter is not the case. The way the Xbox version works is you can "invite" other players to your world. For example, other players could invite your Son to play on their World. However the important thing is that this is still their world- they have control and can kick whomever they please. It's also possible for Players to designate other players who have "op" status, which means they can kick other players from the world.
If your son has created a world and was 'tricked' into giving such Op powers, that is a bit of a problem. The best way to fix this would be for him to go on his world and deOp the players in question when they aren't around (again, I'm not 100% how this works). If he was able to Op them he should know how to do the reverse, as well.
My primary gripe is the way this situation is being handled. As I said, I perceive it, it is BULLYING. And it makes me mad...that other boys...have somehow made a FUN experience for my son something that he now will only do with trepidation.
Yes, it is bullying. But he is "allowing" it, in some sense. I'm not trying to say that it's his fault by any stretch at all, but rather what we have here is popular kids 'abusing' their popularity to get what they want. For example going by your account he is good at the game, and possibly a good builder. Well, if I understand the mentality of popular kids, if they want something, they will use their popularity to get it. If your son is a good builder and they suck at building, they will use their popularity sway to ask him to build them a house, or something.
The problem is in accepting that this is happening. It can be a good feeling to go "OMG OMG they are asking me to help them! If I do this it could help me be better accepted by them" etc. But the reality is that they are just using their popularity to get what they want, with no regard for those people they use and abuse in the process. The best solution I think is for your Son to simply not follow along with those requests. Instead, play the game with people they know, and hang out with at school, and not oblige those that would abuse their 'position' of popularity to get something they want from others.
I don't imagine my son is the only victim of this. I certainly hope there is another adult or someone from Mindcraft who sees this...as I suspect the kids playing are just going to tell me to shut up.
The 'problem' exists, but in this case it's a two-way street. Best analogy I can think of would be back in school when I won a district-wide award for my programming coursework. Suddenly, These kids that I knew (because they were popular and "everybody" knew them) were asking me to do them favours. And the way they phrased it, they seemed to think it was no question I would oblige them, because, hey, they're popular, and I'm not, right. I was having none of it. Every single one I asked "and what do I get for this" and none of them really came up with an adequate answer. Eventually, they turned to one of my other friends who received the same award (I guess they came to me first since I got two or was Older, dunno), and they walked all over him. I tried to warn him they were just using him, but he kept writing them the little game they wanted, or make some minor modification to a game, or help them get setup with a SNES emulator (all the rage back them) Then when he was finished, they refused to have anything to do with him.... until they wanted something else. The best way to respond is to not do those things. The possibility of being popular, or liked, is a very alluring one to many kids, but sometimes that allure can overshadow the question that should be in the back of one's mind at the time, which is "why are they really doing this?". It's almost never because they like the person as they are or because they want to be friends, because if that was the case, they would already be friends- it's almost always because they want to get something. It's a harsh reality but it's no different in these games than elsewhere.
I hope this makes sense and possibly helps, and hope I didn't misinterpret the situation as you've described it.
If your kid didn't create the multiplayer server. The hosts or admins have the right do kick out whoever they please. I would probably kick him out of my game as well if I where hosting a server, as I don't like playing games on the internet with kids who are young and immature.
Oh wow your post makes tons of sense! not Every person that you play with thats not a teen yet is automatically immature? Yeah, That makes sense ¬_¬
on the xbox, you really need to play with friends only, otherwise this stuff happens.
so your son needs to find "trusted" people over time, by joining games at random basically. Add the people who seem "good" and "nice" to his friends list, and eventually he will have 3 or 4 or more to play with.
that's how we used to do it, and yes, the guys I played with would kick out what they called the "squeaky voices", the younger kids.
you need to understand the big picture... more often than not, a younger kid is unsupervised and generally makes a beeline for the most coveted object in all of minecraft... the block of TNT. I think you can guess the rest. clearly your son is not like that, but far too many young'uns like to destroy stuff rather than build it.
when you think about it... what I just described is no different from "real life" interactions. Pick your friends carefully and wisely, and you will have fewer "bad incidents" to deal with. it can be tough for someone younger to be accepted by even a slightly older crowd. that too is just "life". best wishes.
If your kid didn't create the multiplayer server. The hosts or admins have the right do kick out whoever they please. I would probably kick him out of my game as well if I where hosting a server, as I don't like playing games on the internet with kids who are young and immature.
You my friend need manners, and How do you KNOW he is young and immature!? you can't prove it. next time think before you post, it can really effect people.
You don't give the exact details... if your son is being bullied by people HE put on his friend-list, tell your son to remove them and find other players to play with.
It's probably better to handle this on a more local area. If you are the parent of a son and you know your son is getting bullied in the game, speak with the bullies and/or parents of the bullies. It's quite hard to say, but: the internet, in all shapes and forms, is just rough and unforgiving. You can not expect a business that creates a game, to change the game because some people have a bad experience with it. Especially in your case, it's not important enough to be fixed.
Sharing your discontent here is of no use. This is not customer support forum... this is a community forum.
All I can do is say that I understand your discontent... but for the rest, there is not much to say, except that in my opinion, you have to protect your son from those bullies.
The Xbox uses "parties", these are groups of players. Remove the bullies from the friendlist of your son... this blocks them from sneaking into your son's online game. Now just hope your son is not going to invite them over again and rather just plays with others.
Also be sure to notify the school staff of your son to keep an eye out for him being bullied... stuff like cyberbullying is usually an extension of real bullying. Chances are that your son is shy BECAUSE he is being bullied.
Hi Xolarix. I did realize this wasn't customer support, I guess I was just looking for a place to vent and perhaps to get for some constructive input....and your comments definitely fall in that category. Alas, I appreciate that this situation would fall on deaf ears at the gaming end of things....so I guess the fall-back position is how to best "deal with it". I tend to think the situation isn't a pervasive and personal one...more like, for whatever reason, someone doesn't feel like him being part of the game, and so they boot him. He sees these same kids in school, they're all fine -- at least that I'm aware of. It likely wouldn't hurt just to let the school know about it.
This stuff happens regularly... There's been many times where I enter a server, and get banned within 15 seconds. This happens to all ages. I'd look for servers with a description of "helpful staff," "will answer any questions" etc.
On Xbox... I would go with the majority, and only play with friends.
It could have been a misunderstanding. Or abuse by someone else. Personally, I'd like to think it was a misunderstanding.
If it was abuse, then really you need a better server. A good server will not kick players unless they are doing something bad, they are restarting the server, or they are AFK for a long time.
Hi Mathy. No, it was something along the lines of "one of the players has kicked you out of the game".
By the way, this is a server. Mojang has no control over this. However, tell your son that it was not his fault, and that the operators in the server were being inconsiderate, if not downright self-centered.
Hm, again, I don't believe it was the server. Thank you though...
Jesus! someones soft...Seriously the world dosen't conform to you every time you get a tad uncomfortable. If anything your son should grow some skin and not make a huge deal out of tiny things like being kick out of a VIDEO GAME.
It's the internet. There is nobody to protect your kid against bullying. If you don't want him to be around it, then the answer is quite simple. Don't allow your kid to have access to the internet. Other than that there is no way around this problem. People can do whatever they please on the internet with zero consequences.
Probably a very sad but true comment Grandcrafter. Can't blame a girl for trying....
How do you know they're kids, and the same age as your son? Do you know these kids? Is there a way you could deal with this problem personally?
If you don't, then what you're saying is despite minecraft server hosts being free to do what they will on their own personal servers, you expect them to accept your son onto their server and be prevented from basic managerial rights? Without knowing your son, I can't say if he's done anything to provoke being kicked from the game, but given the freeform nature of the program I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing something unwanted, like building in an unauthorized area or otherwise not respecting server rules, or simply joining a server when the presence of a stranger was undesired. These things happen.
I know not everyone on XBOX Live is a 12 year old boy (although it seems that way sometimes), so without more information, what you're asking for, some sort of policing of a game which was not marketed to 12 year old boys to reign in how people play on their own servers, is not going to happen.
I honestly don't understand the frustration, and given you incorrectly called the game Mindcraft, I would be unsurprised to learn you are equally unfamiliar with how the game actually operates, and your son may lying to you about the extent of this problem or the circumstances under which it has taken place, as 12 year olds are flippantly wont to do.
To shed further light on this subject, have you witnessed this happening, or is it hearsay? Also make sure to watch him create his own game, not join someone else's, and see if the problem persists.
tl;dr - He needs to host his own server and stop playing under other peoples' rules. He can host his own server, and people can't kick him from it.
Edit: Ah, this is a school group. That offers a ton of insight on the group you're playing with. Therefore, the issue is with them,
The set-up for anything social involves the possibility of bullying. I recommend telling your son that the bullying does not mean anything is wrong. You can't always shield your child. Let him understand how to deal with it in his later life. For example, I was bullied when I was in school. The simple way to avoid it is to do a complete ignore of it. Teach him to do that and he may feel more confident.
Helpful advice. I still stand by my comment though, that the specific system is fostering a bullying environment. It shouldn't be tolerated. In the meantime, yes, this is going to be a learning experience for him. Thank you for your comments.
Might I ask how often do you and your son do social-ish things on the Internet? It may help if you haven't really done this before, and we all start somewhere.
I've added my comments in bold to your post in this quote:
I joined this forum to express my discontent about this subject. I do not know how to contact MINDCRAFT or their manufacturer.
Minecraft's "manufacturer" is Mojang AB. (That's "mo-yang.")
Basically, we got our 12 year old son an xbox for Christmas. He has played Mindcraft online a lot and enjoys it quite a bit. He is somewhat shy socially, and I was pleased to see/hear him playing Mindcraft (he is a good player from what I've seen) with some other kids (all from the comforts of home). A couple of times in the last few days...he has been randomly "kicked out" of the games he was playing in by some of the other boys. One was in a game/party he had initiated.
Has he joined random servers he finds? Servers aren't run by Mojang. They're run by average players who are capable of running one. I don't know much about the Xbox, but on the PC version, "kicked" means a server operator, (again, just a normal player with special privileges) essentially made you log out by typing "/kick (your son's username)" in the chat, useful for warnings. Then you can just log back on. Banning makes you permanently unable to join that server again, though the owner or another op (operator) can unban you if they want.
I do not know the particulars of why this happened. He did not know either...and had asked one of the boys in a private message, but he didn't respond. Some of these kids that got involved in the games are some of the "popular" kids...and I suppose my son just got into a given game by association with someone else on the periphery.
To be honest, some servers are run by jerks who will ban people for saying "Hi" (seriously). Some people are also stereotypical about younger-than-teen kids. There's nothing you can really do about this except watch your son for a bit when he joins a new server to see how the other players are.
So I'm not necessarily saying it's anyone's responsibility to allow him to keep playing, if they don't want him to play for whatever reason. But this method -- of "kicking someone out" -- and having that message displayed to my son (or whomever)....is ridiculous. It's bullying in it's basest form. Like they're on the playground at the school yard, and they won't let him play. It's completely random, and without just cause.
Again, either the ops on that server are jerks, or your son did something against their rules. Every server has rules, even ridiculous ones, which your son may have broken.
I have seen the effect this has had on him...and now he is reluctant to even play....for fear of being kicked off. Please don't say "well he must have been doing something wrong". He was not being abusive in any way shape or form (it's in our family room, so I hear every word).
Every server is different. You don't know how it is until you join. There are many, many servers, PC and Xbox. If your son is banned, suggest that he find another one. As others said (more or less), use this as a teaching moment about not letting disappointments wreck everything, and to get back on his feet and try another server.
No one is policing this. And at the very least, if the initiator of a given game can be kicked out, that's just ridiculous.
The most "policing" you get on servers are the ops, and even then, you don't always have one on. Only ops and the owner can kick or ban someone. Also, the ability for a server owner to do whatever he wants with his server can be very good and very bad depending on how it's looked at.
My primary gripe is the way this situation is being handled. As I said, I perceive it, it is BULLYING. And it makes me mad...that other boys...have somehow made a FUN experience for my son something that he now will only do with trepidation.
I don't imagine my son is the only victim of this. I certainly hope there is another adult or someone from Mindcraft who sees this...as I suspect the kids playing are just going to tell me to shut up.
I've seen many, many stories of admins being jerks on some servers. But this is the Internet, and because the Internet is free and open, the most moderation you get is the owner of whatever website/server you're on at any given time. That's just the way it works, and it likely won't ever change.
I'm trying to adapt my knowledge of the PC version to my limited knowledge of the Xbox version, so some things may be inaccurate. I'm trying to help as best I can, though. I'm not sure how easy it is to start an Xbox server, but your son may be able to start one if you two know how, or read about it online. I think four real-life friends (like in your neighborhood) can come over and play up to four players split-screen using your Xbox in your house.
I think what happened is there was possibly some kind of Internet glitch. If it was the PC version, it could have been an "End Of Stream" issue, where the game simply drops the connection for a second and the player is kicked off because they are unable to stay connected to the server in question.
If it wasn't, idk. However, Mojang has no control over what people do in servers. That is up to the administrators, and your son may have just met the kind of person who deserves no power in a multiplayer video game. If he's feeling reluctant to play, then players are to blame, not Mojang. The community at large is actually very kind. Admin abuse is present in every game where servers are player-run, but not every server has that problem. If its the XBox version, I reccomend you get the PC version. A server that I think would be a good place to start is the Caznowl SMP; the admins never kick or ban anyone without reason.
Helpful advice. I still stand by my comment though, that the specific system is fostering a bullying environment. It shouldn't be tolerated. In the meantime, yes, this is going to be a learning experience for him. Thank you for your comments.
Now that I think about it, it is good for him if you teach and use this well.
You see, as you know real life is very different than what we wish it was—to be a nice environment full of happy nice people. Unfortunately, there are enough people to ruin that. But teaching your son to accept that mean things will happen, even tragedies like Sandy Hook, will create a positive experience. That way he understands that it isn't his problem mean things happen, and that simply ignoring issues with the bully will make the bully feel unsuccessful, and so it isn't his problem.
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Quote from Fermat »
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this, which this margin is too small to contain.
[;/quote]
Unfortunately, I don't think we will ever get to hear the "opposition's" view on this situation. With all due respect, for all we know, your son could be the one bullying/harassing them. I'm not claiming that your son's a bully nor am I saying that your son deserved to be kicked from the server (even though the owner on the server has every right to do so), but there's two sides to every story. No parent is capable of viewing their child as a "bully"; however, when a child (or even an adult) is behind the safety of a computer screen, it's much easier for them to take on a more aggressive "internet ego."
Ask your son if there was any potential ulterior reason for getting kicked than what you realize. A very common form of cyber-bullying on Minecraft is called griefing (destroying another person's creations simply to incite emotion). Most servers list griefing as a kickable offense, and if your son was doing it on their server then chances are that that's the reason why he was being excluded.
Please do not take offense to what I am saying. Like I said before, I'm not suggesting that your son was the bully; but you do (as a responsible adult) have to assess both sides of the situation.
P.S. If you do ask your son if he was griefing, be sure to remind him that two wrongs don't make a right (a.k.a. tell him not to get any funny ideas ).
I have no idea how old you are Grandcrafter, but I'm talking about him playing with other 12 year olds. I'm also not suggesting that everyone needs to get along with/play with everyone else. If people don't want to play with other people, I get that. My point is, the format....of KICKING PEOPLE OUT....at someone's whim....is a bit harsh. If you don't know someone, who you might not enjoy playing with, don't invite him or her to your game. And if you're not having fun, then leave.
Your perspective on this issue seems to be rather selfish. Your son is getting kicked out of games, you don't like that, therefore you think there shouldn't be the ability to kick players. Well let me ask you this, what if your son created his own world, put tons of effort into it building structures, gathering resources etc. Then was asked by someone at school "hey can I join your world? it will be fun!". Your son invites them into his world and they start destroying it. Would you not think he should have the right to kick them out?
The kicking mechanism is in place to prevent bullying via destructive playing styles.
I also take issue with you describing him being kicked out as bullying. It's never nice when other kids don't want to play with your kid, but does that make it bullying? Because in this case, him being kicked out is just akin to "we don't want to play with you anymore" and I know it sucks, but if your kid had ever actually been bullied, you'd realise this is not the same thing.
If these kids however are raising his hopes just to kick him out and there is more going on, than in that case, perhaps it is bullying but you can hardly blame Mojang for that. Bullies use a multitude of platforms to bully, it was not fostered by Mojang. As i said the kick function exists for a much needed purpose. To prevent people gaining someones trust just to destroy their world.
Well. The problem is, Mojang takes no responsibilty as to what happens on servers. It is up to the server owners to decide what happens.
Sometimes there are people who get a bit power hungry, and abuse their powers. You just need to find a family friendly server.
The PC servers are a lot more tolerable of people. I would reccomend looking into it.
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Free + Crabs + Ability to trample/suffocate opponents in Cortex Command = Free Bombs.
I would be as angry as you if I had a son who went through this. I would also recommend getting your son the PC version, as it has a much better community in my opinion. More teenagers play the XBOX version, so that could possibly contribute to it being a bit more unfriendly. I hope you find the right server, and I wish people would not bully your son, or anyone.
10/10, OP. You did well.
As I imagine others have mentioned, the game is called "Minecraft"- a combination of two of the primary activities of the game (well, in the survival mode).
If he actually started them, only those who he allows to do so will have the ability to kick, as far as I'm aware. So he should only trust his actual friends. I've seen people tricked into giving, say, the popular kid's something because the popular kid dangles the carrot of possible popularity or being part of that little "clique"; Of course this was back when I was in school (2000-2005) and naturally Minecraft didn't exist yet, but I saw it with other things. After gaining the "unpopular" kid's trust, they abuse it. This is how they work. In many ways that abuse could be called bullying, but it's also rather easy to prevent by simply not trusting them to begin with. This might be me completely misreading and misinterpreting the situation here as you've presented it though.
Would you prefer the game to lie and say there was a "Socket Error" or something? I'm really not sure I understand the complaint here; Your Son should play with real friends, not fake friends that are using their popular to abuse the trust of others via the "carrot dangle" method that I've seen far too often.
Another, more sinister thing that I've seen is that Kids that have very few friends will think they are making new friends, when the people purporting to be their new friends are really just abusing some capability that the kid has. In this case, maybe he is a very good builder in Minecraft. It may very well be that he is better than them, so they ask him to build stuff- and, under the impression that this will gain their approval, he obliges and builds them something nice.
Afterwards, he get's kicked- he's "serves his purpose" so to speak, and the kids he built it for basically got a nice structure for free.
The solution is not in restricting the ability of those other kids from being able to kick, but in your son realizing that there is no such thing as a free Lunch, and that these kids might not really want to be his friends and the invitations are to abuse his abilities as a builder, and then discard him when they don't need him. Inevitably he does have many actual friends, so it would be best if he Creates his own world and only invites his actual friends.
The latter is not the case. The way the Xbox version works is you can "invite" other players to your world. For example, other players could invite your Son to play on their World. However the important thing is that this is still their world- they have control and can kick whomever they please. It's also possible for Players to designate other players who have "op" status, which means they can kick other players from the world.
If your son has created a world and was 'tricked' into giving such Op powers, that is a bit of a problem. The best way to fix this would be for him to go on his world and deOp the players in question when they aren't around (again, I'm not 100% how this works). If he was able to Op them he should know how to do the reverse, as well.
Yes, it is bullying. But he is "allowing" it, in some sense. I'm not trying to say that it's his fault by any stretch at all, but rather what we have here is popular kids 'abusing' their popularity to get what they want. For example going by your account he is good at the game, and possibly a good builder. Well, if I understand the mentality of popular kids, if they want something, they will use their popularity to get it. If your son is a good builder and they suck at building, they will use their popularity sway to ask him to build them a house, or something.
The problem is in accepting that this is happening. It can be a good feeling to go "OMG OMG they are asking me to help them! If I do this it could help me be better accepted by them" etc. But the reality is that they are just using their popularity to get what they want, with no regard for those people they use and abuse in the process. The best solution I think is for your Son to simply not follow along with those requests. Instead, play the game with people they know, and hang out with at school, and not oblige those that would abuse their 'position' of popularity to get something they want from others.
The 'problem' exists, but in this case it's a two-way street. Best analogy I can think of would be back in school when I won a district-wide award for my programming coursework. Suddenly, These kids that I knew (because they were popular and "everybody" knew them) were asking me to do them favours. And the way they phrased it, they seemed to think it was no question I would oblige them, because, hey, they're popular, and I'm not, right. I was having none of it. Every single one I asked "and what do I get for this" and none of them really came up with an adequate answer. Eventually, they turned to one of my other friends who received the same award (I guess they came to me first since I got two or was Older, dunno), and they walked all over him. I tried to warn him they were just using him, but he kept writing them the little game they wanted, or make some minor modification to a game, or help them get setup with a SNES emulator (all the rage back them) Then when he was finished, they refused to have anything to do with him.... until they wanted something else. The best way to respond is to not do those things. The possibility of being popular, or liked, is a very alluring one to many kids, but sometimes that allure can overshadow the question that should be in the back of one's mind at the time, which is "why are they really doing this?". It's almost never because they like the person as they are or because they want to be friends, because if that was the case, they would already be friends- it's almost always because they want to get something. It's a harsh reality but it's no different in these games than elsewhere.
I hope this makes sense and possibly helps, and hope I didn't misinterpret the situation as you've described it.
Oh wow your post makes tons of sense!
not
Every person that you play with thats not a teen yet is automatically immature? Yeah, That makes sense ¬_¬
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Thank you Alizona....all very sound advice.
Hi Xolarix. I did realize this wasn't customer support, I guess I was just looking for a place to vent and perhaps to get for some constructive input....and your comments definitely fall in that category. Alas, I appreciate that this situation would fall on deaf ears at the gaming end of things....so I guess the fall-back position is how to best "deal with it". I tend to think the situation isn't a pervasive and personal one...more like, for whatever reason, someone doesn't feel like him being part of the game, and so they boot him. He sees these same kids in school, they're all fine -- at least that I'm aware of. It likely wouldn't hurt just to let the school know about it.
Thanks for your input.
Can't comment, b/c I have no idea what you mean.
On Xbox... I would go with the majority, and only play with friends.
Hi Mathy. No, it was something along the lines of "one of the players has kicked you out of the game".
yes it's on the xbox....
Hm, again, I don't believe it was the server. Thank you though...
Probably a very sad but true comment Grandcrafter. Can't blame a girl for trying....
How do you know they're kids, and the same age as your son? Do you know these kids? Is there a way you could deal with this problem personally?
If you don't, then what you're saying is despite minecraft server hosts being free to do what they will on their own personal servers, you expect them to accept your son onto their server and be prevented from basic managerial rights? Without knowing your son, I can't say if he's done anything to provoke being kicked from the game, but given the freeform nature of the program I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing something unwanted, like building in an unauthorized area or otherwise not respecting server rules, or simply joining a server when the presence of a stranger was undesired. These things happen.
I know not everyone on XBOX Live is a 12 year old boy (although it seems that way sometimes), so without more information, what you're asking for, some sort of policing of a game which was not marketed to 12 year old boys to reign in how people play on their own servers, is not going to happen.
I honestly don't understand the frustration, and given you incorrectly called the game Mindcraft, I would be unsurprised to learn you are equally unfamiliar with how the game actually operates, and your son may lying to you about the extent of this problem or the circumstances under which it has taken place, as 12 year olds are flippantly wont to do.
To shed further light on this subject, have you witnessed this happening, or is it hearsay? Also make sure to watch him create his own game, not join someone else's, and see if the problem persists.
tl;dr - He needs to host his own server and stop playing under other peoples' rules. He can host his own server, and people can't kick him from it.
Edit: Ah, this is a school group. That offers a ton of insight on the group you're playing with. Therefore, the issue is with them,
Helpful advice. I still stand by my comment though, that the specific system is fostering a bullying environment. It shouldn't be tolerated. In the meantime, yes, this is going to be a learning experience for him. Thank you for your comments.
I've added my comments in bold to your post in this quote:
I'm trying to adapt my knowledge of the PC version to my limited knowledge of the Xbox version, so some things may be inaccurate. I'm trying to help as best I can, though. I'm not sure how easy it is to start an Xbox server, but your son may be able to start one if you two know how, or read about it online. I think four real-life friends (like in your neighborhood) can come over and play up to four players split-screen using your Xbox in your house.
If it wasn't, idk. However, Mojang has no control over what people do in servers. That is up to the administrators, and your son may have just met the kind of person who deserves no power in a multiplayer video game. If he's feeling reluctant to play, then players are to blame, not Mojang. The community at large is actually very kind. Admin abuse is present in every game where servers are player-run, but not every server has that problem. If its the XBox version, I reccomend you get the PC version. A server that I think would be a good place to start is the Caznowl SMP; the admins never kick or ban anyone without reason.
You should too! Find it here; http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1648718-slime-blocksnew-method-of-trapping-mobs/
Now that I think about it, it is good for him if you teach and use this well.
You see, as you know real life is very different than what we wish it was—to be a nice environment full of happy nice people. Unfortunately, there are enough people to ruin that. But teaching your son to accept that mean things will happen, even tragedies like Sandy Hook, will create a positive experience. That way he understands that it isn't his problem mean things happen, and that simply ignoring issues with the bully will make the bully feel unsuccessful, and so it isn't his problem.
Ask your son if there was any potential ulterior reason for getting kicked than what you realize. A very common form of cyber-bullying on Minecraft is called griefing (destroying another person's creations simply to incite emotion). Most servers list griefing as a kickable offense, and if your son was doing it on their server then chances are that that's the reason why he was being excluded.
Please do not take offense to what I am saying. Like I said before, I'm not suggesting that your son was the bully; but you do (as a responsible adult) have to assess both sides of the situation.
P.S. If you do ask your son if he was griefing, be sure to remind him that two wrongs don't make a right (a.k.a. tell him not to get any funny ideas ).
Your perspective on this issue seems to be rather selfish. Your son is getting kicked out of games, you don't like that, therefore you think there shouldn't be the ability to kick players. Well let me ask you this, what if your son created his own world, put tons of effort into it building structures, gathering resources etc. Then was asked by someone at school "hey can I join your world? it will be fun!". Your son invites them into his world and they start destroying it. Would you not think he should have the right to kick them out?
The kicking mechanism is in place to prevent bullying via destructive playing styles.
I also take issue with you describing him being kicked out as bullying. It's never nice when other kids don't want to play with your kid, but does that make it bullying? Because in this case, him being kicked out is just akin to "we don't want to play with you anymore" and I know it sucks, but if your kid had ever actually been bullied, you'd realise this is not the same thing.
If these kids however are raising his hopes just to kick him out and there is more going on, than in that case, perhaps it is bullying but you can hardly blame Mojang for that. Bullies use a multitude of platforms to bully, it was not fostered by Mojang. As i said the kick function exists for a much needed purpose. To prevent people gaining someones trust just to destroy their world.
Sometimes there are people who get a bit power hungry, and abuse their powers. You just need to find a family friendly server.
The PC servers are a lot more tolerable of people. I would reccomend looking into it.
Free + Crabs + Ability to trample/suffocate opponents in Cortex Command = Free Bombs.