Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) with GeekWire's John Cook and Todd Bishop, recording the GeekWire radio show and podcast.
Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) with GeekWire’s John Cook and Todd Bishop, recording the GeekWire radio show and podcast.

GeekWire’s John Cook has a problem, and it might sound familiar to a lot of parents out there: His 6-year-old son has been itching to play Minecraft for many months, and has been watching his friends and sitter play, but his wife is opposed to video games, on principle.

Microsoft MinecraftSo how should John convince his wife to let his son play Minecraft — or should he?

That was one of the questions we posed to Larry Hryb, better known as Xbox Live’s Major Nelson, during the latest GeekWire radio show and podcast, on location at the Microsoft Store in Seattle. Hryb offered some great advice that could help lots of other parents and families as they grapple with this issue.

“I’m not going to tell you how to run your family,” he told John, “but I would sit down and bring your wife in, and bring your son, and have your first experience together (with Minecraft) as a family. Sit down and come up with a plan. Your son has certainly watched a lot of (Minecraft) videos. … Have him build something.”

Hryb continued, “That way, you can kind of see these skills come out. You may have a budding architect in your family. You may have a budding engineer. So there’s a lot of things it can do.”

Some video games are certainly violent, which has created negative perceptions among people who don’t play games, but there are many exceptions, and Minecraft is a notable one.

“That’s the beauty of Minecraft,” Hryb said.” It’s universal. We’re building together. ‘You’re in my world, that I created. Come into my world!’ That’s really powerful for anybody, especially for children, with their incredible minds.”

Microsoft acquired Minecraft maker Mojang last year for $2.5 billion. Hryb said the game is creating a new generation that thinks analytically. He noted that he hears all the time from families and young kids who have a Minecraft server, and a friend or family member ruined their game and they kicked the person off the server.

“It’s almost the new playground, where they’re testing social boundaries and learning social skills in a lot of ways — inside of the game,” he said.

So, how did John’s wife take to the idea of sitting down for a family session of Minecraft?

“That seems like a good idea,” she said.

Listen to the full conversation with Major Nelson below, and join us in person this Thursday for our show with Microsoft Surface boss Panos Panay.

 

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