What is Kid Club?
How does my child log on?
Who moderates the server?
Help! I’ve registered, but forgot how to log on to the server.
Is there a minimum age requirement?
How do I know my child is ready for Kid Club?
What can I do to make sure my child has a good experience?
What is the Kid Club schedule?
What equipment does my child need to participate?
What will my child learn in the free club?
What Kid Club’s rules?
How do you handle griefing?
What is Kid Club?
Kid Club is a social, moderated, kid-friendly Minecraft server run by Connected Camps. We run the server year round and have kids from all over the world in our community. Kids ages 8-15 get together online to play around, geek out, and join fun activities run by our expert counselors. Most of our counselors are university students studying in computer science, game design, or interactive media programs, and are as passionate about Minecraft as the kids on the server.
The activities and rules of the server are designed to help kids grow and learn. For more details see the Kid Club World section of this guide.
How does my child log on?
Kid Club uses a safelisted server. Only players on the safelist are allowed to log on. That means you have to sign up for Kid Club first (click here to register). Once you’ve signed up, we’ll add you to the safelist and send you an email with the server address. For directions for logging into a Minecraft server once you receive the server address, click here to see our Getting Started in Minecraft Guide.
Who moderates the server?
Our Kid Club server is moderated by the same college students and recent graduates that run our online summer camps in Minecraft. They study computer science, game design, multimedia and more. Learn more about our counselors by clicking here.
Help! I’ve registered, but forgot how to log on to the server.
After you register for the camp you will be sent 2 emails. The first email will be sent immediately after registering confirming your registration. A second an email will be sent within 1-2 days that includes server information and how to join. If you’re still having trouble you can send us an email at support@connectedcamps.com.
Is there a minimum age requirement?
Yes, age 8.
How do I know my child is ready for Kid Club?
Here’s a list of basic skills they’ll need to participate and have fun:
- Keyboarding: Your child will need some keyboarding skills to use Minecraft’s built-in text chat to communicate with other players and use text commands like /w (whisper) and /spawn (return to start).
- Reading: They will need some reading ability to participate in chat, although you can help them if you’re playing online too.
- Basic knowledge of Minecraft: Your child will benefit from spending some time playing Minecraft on their own prior to joining a server. Knowing how to move around, how to do basic crafting, and how to build simple structures is probably enough. This will give them a foundation to build on as they learn the new social skills that come with multiplayer—learning how to communicate, collaborate, and create with other players.
What can I do to make sure my child has a good experience?
The biggest thing you can do is to talk to your child about what happens on the server.
You can ask questions like, “What did you do on the server today?”, “Did you make new friends?”, “What was your favorite part?”. While they may not always answer, the questions open a dialogue with your kids about their play and give them a chance to show off what they built.
Also, it’s important that you are on the alert for any issues that might arise in their play. Make sure your child knows not to ask for or share personal information with another player. This includes information like their full name, their address, the school they go to, and their phone number. It is always ok for you to alert the server administrator if another player asks your child for this kind of information.
What is the Kid Club schedule?
The server is open every day from 3-9 PM Eastern time / 12-6 PM Pacific time. We have new events each day, including clubs, build challenges, and mini-games. Click here to see the schedule.
What equipment do I need to participate?
All you need is a computer and a Minecraft account for a PC/Mac computer plus a stable broadband internet connection. Please note that the tablet, game console and pocket editions will not work on our servers.
What will my kid learn in Kid Club?
Your kid will learn to build and explore an interactive world where their imagination is the only limit. They’ll also learn to strategize, connect with other players, set goals, plan ahead for upcoming challenges and work together with others to complete challenges.
Kid Club offers takes advantage of all Minecraft has to offer when it comes to learning. If you want to know more about Minecraft and Learning see this post from our co-founder Mimi Ito called “Three Lessons from My Son On Minecraft and Learning.” Our goal is to help kids learn healthy ways of taking part in online communities. Kid Club is a great place to start.
What are Kid Club’s rules?
By joining Kid Club, every member is agreeing to follow our code of conduct. We want to make sure that all community members feel welcome and supported on the server. Here is our code of conduct in brief:
1) Don’t grief. Ruining another player’s experience includes:
- Destroying or stealing something that belongs to another player
- Using a modified client in a way that affects gameplay.
2) Be nice and be respectful.
- Hurtful, disrespectful, and foul language is not allowed in in-game chat, tickets, or signs.
- Do not continue something that is annoying other campers and counselors after they have respectfully asked you to stop doing it.
3) Keep personal information private. For safety reasons, don’t use real names or post contact information like phone numbers or addresses.
4) Help keep our community welcoming, kind, friendly, and inclusive.
- Let a counselor know immediately if you see anyone violating our code of conduct.
- Lend a helping hand when someone asks for help or is struggling to achieve a task.
- Give other campers the benefit of the doubt. Many disputes between are due to misunderstandings, differences in perspective, and inexperience.
Click here to see our code of conduct and process for resolving issues.
How do you handle griefing? What should a parent do?
Griefing does occur but on kid-friendly servers like Kid Club many disputes between players are due to misunderstandings, differences in perspective, and inexperience. For example, if your child is on a PvP server it is within the rules of the game to take items from other players. If your child doesn’t understand the rules they will think they’ve been griefed.
In addition, many players new to multiplayer servers are often confused about how to collaborate with others. They might destroy someone else’s property in an attempt to “help” them build.
Talking through any incidents will help your child better understand how to be a good community member and how to recognize when true griefing occurs. Referring back to our server’s code of conduct can be useful.
It is possible that they might be at fault in a griefing incident and dealing with this conflict in a timely and healthy way can be a really good learning experience for a young player.
We use a number of different ways to deal with griefing on the Kid Club server. Griefing can including destroying other player’s builds, stealing from them, or any other action that can ruin the experience of another player.
1. Claim blocks. Kid Club players start with 500 claim blocks that allow them to “claim” an area. Claim blocks work in both survival and creative mode. Players can also acquire more by trading in blocks, winning mini games, or participating in other competitions. Click here to learn more about claim blocks.
2. Ender chests. Ender chests can be found throughout the Kid Club world, especially in places where players are likely to die and respawn without their gear. Items placed in an ender chest can be accessed from any other ender chest in the same world. Each player has their own ender chest inventory, which is like “the cloud” for Minecraft items. Items stored in ender chests in one game mode are not accessible in other game modes.
3. Moderators. Our server is always moderated and when a child believes they have been griefed, they can easily talk to a mod about the incident. If the player isn’t aware of tools at their disposal, like claim or ender chests, the mod will point them to those resources. For more serious issues our mods follow a specific conflict resolution, as outlined in the code of conduct.