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6 yr old wants to play Minecraft. He is smart, but possibly ASD sensitive to scary stuff. Advice please.

Deleted member 44129

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My 6 year old is going through a process of diagnosis for potentially being on the Autistic Spectrum. He has been asking to play minecraft on the PS4, but i have some concerns. Your input would be very much appreciated.

1. Is there a free play/creative mode that gets rid of Slenderman and zombie and stuff? He was scared of it at his cousins house , where he decided he liked it.
2. What's a good (cheap) printed guide that will teach him the "recipes" for making stuff?

Thanks
 
Akai_XIII

Akai_XIII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,158
1. Yes.
2. All of that is in the game:
Minecraft-PSV_05-12-14.png

(PSV screen, still applies)

Here's a list if you want it:
http://www.minecraftcrafting.info/

1. To expand on this point, there is an easy mode outside of creative mode that removes them so you can play adventure mode without them completely.
 
Last edited:
Boiled Goose

Boiled Goose

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Nov 2, 2017
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God_Of_Phwoar said:
My 6 year old is going through a process of diagnosis for potentially being on the Autistic Spectrum. He has been asking to play minecraft on the PS4, but i have some concerns. Your input would be very much appreciated.

1. Is there a free play/creative mode that gets rid of Slenderman and zombie and stuff? He was scared of it at his cousins house , where he decided he liked it.
2. What's a good (cheap) printed guide that will teach him the "recipes" for making stuff?

Thanks
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If it scared him but still wants to play it? Let him? Does he have an opinion about playing without the scary stuff?
 
Lozjam

Lozjam

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Nov 1, 2017
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Just play in creative mode. It turns off all of that stuff.

The console versions of the game have all of the recipes in game.
 
crafton

crafton

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Oct 28, 2017
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If it wants to play survival there's also a peaceful mode which turns off monsters.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 44129

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Is the peaceful mode available AFTER the tutorial? hes currently built a wall of crafting tables under a tree because he doesnt want the monsters to get him. so far im not convinced this game is for him.
 
Hamster Plugin

Hamster Plugin

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Oct 25, 2017
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God_Of_Phwoar said:
Is the peaceful mode available AFTER the tutorial? hes currently built a wall of crafting tables under a tree because he doesnt want the monsters to get him. so far im not convinced this game is for him.
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Yes, you can go to options at any time. It's the difficulty setting - the easiest is Peaceful which removes the monsters.
 
Aurongel

Aurongel

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I'd also recommend locking the time of day setting to daytime, night in the game can get pretty dark and might spook him.
 
Abominuz

Abominuz

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Oct 29, 2017
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Netherlands
My 6 year old daughter only plays creatieve mode with mob spawn off. She is sensitive to the tention of monsters attacking also.
 
garion333

garion333

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Oct 27, 2017
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My oldest had been playing Minecraft since he was five and started playing mostly in creative and peaceful. The beginning when you don't know what you're doing is the scariest part but putting it in creative and peaceful means he'll be safe. He'll then learn the game and eventually want to turn on enemies, etc., and will likely no longer be scared because he's sure of himself in-game.

Tldr My eldest is a giant wuss and got past the tense start and now spends most of his time in-game goofing off and laughing at enemies.
 
Bakercat

Bakercat

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Oct 27, 2017
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There is a peaceful mode in survival where no monsters show up or hurt you. There is also a creative mode where you get unlimited blocks, flight, infinite health, etc to play around with.

Also, there is a wiki for minecraft that has all the crafting and functions of equipment.

Hope your son enjoys the game OP!
 
SuperRaddy

SuperRaddy

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Oct 27, 2017
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On caveat about creative mode is that he will still be able to access the eggs and spawn monsters (but they won't attack)
 
GulAtiCa

GulAtiCa

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In normal gameplay, there is a mode to make the game peacefull. In the Options.

You might have to create a new game, and a not a tutorial world.
 
OP
OP

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Waaaaaait! You can only save if you're connected to PSN? Well thats blown that then because he's not allowed online.
 
BringBackSonics

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God_Of_Phwoar said:
My 6 year old is going through a process of diagnosis for potentially being on the Autistic Spectrum. He has been asking to play minecraft on the PS4, but i have some concerns. Your input would be very much appreciated.

1. Is there a free play/creative mode that gets rid of Slenderman and zombie and stuff? He was scared of it at his cousins house , where he decided he liked it.
2. What's a good (cheap) printed guide that will teach him the "recipes" for making stuff?

Thanks
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Click to shrink...

Yup set it to peaceful/creative and zero monsters
 
giraffereyn

giraffereyn

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User warned: off-topic trolling, derail
Personally I think you have to accept that some games are not designed for everyone and the modes, features, and options that would make it possible for your son to play a game are the the first steps into ruining a favorite franchise for others.
 
Setsune

Setsune

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Oct 27, 2017
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Turn off or mod out the ambient cave noises. Those little random clips can be spooky when you're not expecting them.

giraffereyn said:
Personally I think you have to accept that some games are not designed for everyone and the modes, features, and options that would make it possible for your son to play a game are the the first steps into ruining a favorite franchise for others.
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I really hope you're being sarcastic, referencing the Sekiro discussions.
 
HStallion

HStallion

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Oct 25, 2017
62,242
giraffereyn said:
Personally I think you have to accept that some games are not designed for everyone and the modes, features, and options that would make it possible for your son to play a game are the the first steps into ruining a favorite franchise for others.
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Have you played Minecraft? Everything the OP is asking for is in the game and has been for a while. This is hardly the topic to make this very random unrelated and often loaded comment about gaming gatekeeping.
 
IzzyRX

IzzyRX

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Oct 28, 2017
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giraffereyn said:
Personally I think you have to accept that some games are not designed for everyone and the modes, features, and options that would make it possible for your son to play a game are the the first steps into ruining a favorite franchise for others.
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The game has all of the options he needs. Did you even read the OP?
 

sapien85

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Nov 8, 2017
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God_Of_Phwoar said:
My 6 year old is going through a process of diagnosis for potentially being on the Autistic Spectrum. He has been asking to play minecraft on the PS4, but i have some concerns. Your input would be very much appreciated.

1. Is there a free play/creative mode that gets rid of Slenderman and zombie and stuff? He was scared of it at his cousins house , where he decided he liked it.
2. What's a good (cheap) printed guide that will teach him the "recipes" for making stuff?

Thanks
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Click to shrink...

My girlfriend's brother is autistic and easily scared of stuff but he played Minecraft since about that age. He actually had more trouble with Minecraft story mode or whatever the telltale Minecraft game was called. That freaked him out and he stopped playing. Never had issues with regular Minecraft.
 
OP
OP

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Oookay.to further complicate the issue, Im at work now, but my wife seems to think that we DIDNT actually buy Minecraft like we thought we had (some years ago)and hes essentially playing the demo. I'll have to check when i get home. THAT might be why we couldnt get out of tutorial mode or save.

I also observed him get REALLY frustrating as i think the various menus, inventories etc are a little complex for him.

You should see him on lego city undercover or Grow Up/Grow Home. He's a wizard at it!
 
Filipus

Filipus

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Yea if he can't save he probably is playing the demo. It's actually easy to check because there's a time limit, 30min I think.

Don't give up since it's SUCH a good game for kids. Once he gets the hang of it the menus will be fine. Have a cousin in the exact same situation (but his autism has been diagnosed, he's 8 now), they keep surprising you as time goes on.
 
JonnyDBrit

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God_Of_Phwoar said:
Oookay.to further complicate the issue, Im at work now, but my wife seems to think that we DIDNT actually buy Minecraft like we thought we had (some years ago)and hes essentially playing the demo. I'll have to check when i get home. THAT might be why we couldnt get out of tutorial mode or save.

I also observed him get REALLY frustrating as i think the various menus, inventories etc are a little complex for him.

You should see him on lego city undercover or Grow Up/Grow Home. He's a wizard at it!
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It's possible. There's a demo on most platforms, though it could just be he hasn't gotten far enough in the game for all the options to be readily apparent.

As a fellow autistic person, I will admit I didn't get too far in the game of my own accord because my mind kinda just turned off anything more complicated than the basic building blocks; that was years ago, mind, so I might do better if I were to return to it now. For further context, this was with the original PC version, so I didn't really much engage with out of game tutorials and things didn't always seem especially self-evident - I learned a lot from playing with friends, and when that small community fell apart, so too a lot of my playtime. I think the point I'm trying to make here is that your son being frustrated by this stuff, if he is on the spectrum (though honestly, even if he isn't) is pretty reasonable, though the experience can be quite satisfying, even at the level that I was at.
 
Unicorn

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I hope you are able to maintain boundaries with games in general, but honestly minecraft also becomes a gateway into YouTube. Lots of videos that are digestible and show how to make structures and buildings too.

Just ensure you have a clear expectation with your kid about when they can play and when you say it's time to stop they can follow that direction.
 
RetroMG

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I can't judge. My wife is in her 30s and prefers to play Adventure mode on Peaceful. Some people just want to build without dealing with monsters.
 
OP
OP

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Unicorn said:
I hope you are able to maintain boundaries with games in general, but honestly minecraft also becomes a gateway into YouTube. Lots of videos that are digestible and show how to make structures and buildings too.

Just ensure you have a clear expectation with your kid about when they can play and when you say it's time to stop they can follow that direction.
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Our children only use youtube under strict supervision. YT is poison for kids
 

Allforce

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Oct 25, 2017
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My kid is 7 and on the spectrum, he just dicks around in Creative Mode mostly. He does like to make portals though and fight the Ender Dragon but I think he has some God Mode set up on it. Different situations though since you said your kid gets scared. But the game definitely can be tailored to how your kid wants to experience it.

My problem now is getting him off Red Dead 2, where he roams the plains of early 20th century America leaving a wake of slaughter and destruction of all native species in his path. Just like a real pioneer did! I've never seen more dead buffalo in my life...
 
Netherscourge

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Oct 25, 2017
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Minecraft is great.

The PS4 version is pretty tame too, compared to the Java version on PC with all the crazy modding options.

It's definitely a gateway game to other sandbox games.

My kid has evolved into No Man's Sky now, and that has a creative mode too.

Any chill sandbox game with lots of exploration and building options is solid gold for kids, IMO.
 
OP
OP

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Allforce said:
My problem now is getting him off Red Dead 2, where he roams the plains of early 20th century America leaving a wake of slaughter and destruction of all native species in his path. Just like a real pioneer did! I've never seen more dead buffalo in my life...
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lol. I think we approach parenting as a gamer in different ways. Strictly PG for now for my young 'un.
 
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