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This dissertation endeavors to deeply perceive the features of Minecraft servers explicitly created for youth via three research using combined strategies analysis. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research exhibits that sandbox-model virtual world video games like Minecraft operate as interest-driven spaces the place youth can discover their artistic pursuits, build technical expertise, and form social connections with friends and near-friends. Despite their recognition amongst youth (ages 6 - 14), we know little about the social and technological features of "in-the-wild" Minecraft servers that present themselves as "kid-pleasant" or "family-friendly." pessoa The goals of this work are three-fold:1. To investigate the rhetoric of kid-/household-friendliness and the socio-technical mechanisms of such servers (Examine I: 60 servers), 2. pessoa To grasp the lived experiences of server employees who reasonable on such servers (Study II: 8 youth and 22 moderators), and 3. To discover a design paradigm for technological mechanisms that leverage the strengths of a child-/family-friendly server group while also supporting moderators' practices (Study III) I draw from interdisciplinary theories and construction this dissertation around two most important arguments about child-/family-friendly Minecraft server ecosystems. First, I argue that they're instantiations of play-based mostly affinity networks created by adults that promote opportunities for youth to explore their interests and social connections. Second, I argue that the social and technological mechanisms reflected in the server guidelines and moderators' practices are characteristic of servers that self-describe as child-/family-pleasant. Study I contributes a taxonomy for understanding server rules and an empirical characterization of three server genres - child-/family-friendly (n1 = 19); normal-household-friendly (n2 = 20); and general (n3 = 20) in Minecraft. Study II reveals moderators' motivations and socio-technical practices in child-/household-pleasant servers. The findings present that adult moderators encourage youth-led inventive roleplays, help the interests of younger gamers (e.g., Hogwarts virtual world, virtual Delight Day celebrations, and so on.), and offer mentorship to youth moderators on their servers. Examine III theorizes the potential for automated prosocial instruments in play-based mostly spaces via a Discord Bot known as "UCIProsocialBot" inside OhanaCraft, one in all the kid-/family-pleasant server communities. Together, these findings provide a set of social and technological features that may substantiate a mannequin for designing kid-/family-pleasant online playgrounds. This work theorizes that kid-/family-friendly servers can actualize constructive youth development when their self-narratives, social practices, and technological mechanisms are aligned with adolescent developmental wants.