Children’s Culture Exploring How Children are Constructed in Contemporary Video Games

Research Question

• How are children constructed in Roblox and Minecraft games?

Rationale

• Video games like Minecraft and Roblox play a significant role in children’s lives today.
• These games serve as collective media for:
  • Socialization
  • Creativity
  • Identity formation
  • Better communication skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Cultural expression
  • Teamwork
• Exploring themes, messages, and marketing strategies in both games reveals how they portray childhood.
• Analysing cultural beliefs, values, and identity represented in childhood shows how the games differ in their themes.
• Many children watch YouTubers who play Minecraft or Roblox to gain knowledge about the games.
• The evolving nature of children’s media use, especially on YouTube, requires reexamination of what is child-appropriate content in the digital age (Balanzategui 2021).
• Roblox and Minecraft are available on various platforms: Mac, Playstation, PC, phones, and Xbox.
• Difference between Roblox and Minecraft:
  • Roblox: focused on game creation and social interaction.
  • Minecraft: focused on exploration, survival, and creativity (JetLearn 2025).
• Similarities between Roblox and Minecraft:
  • Fostering creativity
  • Educational benefits
  • Problem-solving
  • Social interaction
  • Teamwork
  • Collaboration (JetLearn 2025)

Which Game is Better?

• Minecraft is considered better due to its long-term experience in delivering quality content, but player preference varies (Zalace 2023).
• Both games support online play.
• Minecraft is suitable for ages 8+:
  • Allows players to explore and create buildings and items from scratch using materials found in the world.
• Roblox is suitable for ages 13+:
  • Players can create and design their own games and play in a multiplayer environment.
• For children's safety:
  • Minecraft is more suitable for younger children because they can play solo or with specific friends.
  • Roblox has parental controls and other features to provide a safe environment (Knorr 2016).

Ethnographic Methods

• Engaging with children allows researchers to capture complex interactions.
• Provides insights into children's:
  • Family dynamics
  • Community influence
  • Living conditions in their socio-cultural contexts.
• Useful in studying and analysing how children's culture and identity behaviours are shaped.
• Shows children's interactions with social norms and marketing.
• Focusing on children's experiences allows researchers to see the implications of marketing actions and consumer culture on their socialisation and development (Hains & Jennings 2021).

Educational Benefits Comparison

• Roblox:
  • Known for its educational benefits.
  • Provides an immersive and interactive platform for learning.
  • Helps children develop skills like:
    • Collaboration
    • Problem-solving
    • Creativity
  • Players can create their own games and experiences which encourages creativity and imagination.
  • Helps children learn design, coding, and other skills related to Roblox development (JetLearn 2025).
• Minecraft:
  • Educational benefits are well-recognized by parents.
  • Open-world environment encourages creativity, exploring, and problem-solving.
  • Perfect tool for learning development.
  • Teaches essential skills such as spatial reasoning, maths, and geometry (JetLearn 2025).
  • Players use critical thinking skills to handle the game’s world with different structures and shapes.
  • Players build structures using blocks and gather resources to survive, helping them understand sustainability and the significance of budgeting and planning (JetLearn 2025).

Primary Sources

• This project explores how children are constructed in video games such as Roblox and Minecraft and the difference between both games.
• Marketing strategies:
  • Advertisements
  • Movies
  • Promotional content
  • Trailers for both games
• Showing how they have been marketing towards children.
• Minecraft movie (directed by Jared Hess):
  • About the journey of four misfits transported into the over-world, characterized by cubic landscapes.
  • They work together to solve puzzles, build and craft tools to survive and find a way back home (IMDb 2025).
• Roblox movie (directed by Amir Brown):
  • Features footage from the game itself.
  • About a powerful hacker called Mr. Hacker who awakens from 6000-years.
  • A hero challenges Mr. Hacker to prevent his sinister plans to save the world in RobloxCity.
  • Themes: technology, struggle between evil and good in the digital realm, and heroism (IMDb 2019).
• Primary sources:
  • Minecraft game (created and released 2009) by Markus Persson.
  • Roblox game (created 2004 but released 2006) by David Baszucki.
  • Minecraft movie (2025) by Jared Hess.
  • Roblox movie (2019) by Amir Brown.

Method

• Conducting textual analysis:
  • Analysing how Roblox and Minecraft are being promoted and aimed at children.
  • Showing the different themes and messaging between players in the games.
  • Analysing the characters present in the game.
  • Messages Roblox and Minecraft convey about childhood.
  • How both games examine themes of cultural values, beliefs, and identity as represented in childhood.
• Watching both Roblox and Minecraft movies and comparing them.
• Minecraft:
  • Themes: different game modes, artistic style, musical themes, and visual alterations.
• Roblox:
  • Themes: customisable fonts, colours, and pre-designed visuals to modify the feel and look of the platform.
• Both games promote thinking, math skills, problem-solving, collaboration, and reasoning (Knorr 2016).
• Both games are suitable for all players of all ages.
• Roblox has parent control to control messages and dictate who can send messages, and they can see the games their child’s played.
• Minecraft is a one-time purchase, unlike Roblox.
• Players can choose to play Roblox for free or pay for monthly membership to get Robux (Lennox 2023).
• Social aspects:
  • Roblox: lets players turn off chatting, report or block people for bad behaviour.
  • Minecraft: doesn’t restrict what you say but lets you “ignore” other players (Knorr 2016).

Annotated Bibliography

• Balanzategui, J, 2021, 'Disturbing' Children's YouTube Genres and The Algorithmic Uncanny’, New Media & Society.
  • Discusses concerns surrounding YouTube content targeted towards children, emphasising how algorithms affect the content’s aesthetic qualities and thematic.
  • Explores children’s representation in contemporary video games by analysing how digital platforms like YouTube influence the media children consume and how they are portrayed.
  • Highlights anxieties about the influences of algorithm-driven content, especially the potential for inappropriate and harmful materials in children’s entertainment.
  • Reflects broader themes in children's media and how character representations and narratives can shape interactions and insights in gaming contexts.
• Hains, R.C., Jennings, N.A. 2021, ‘Critiquing Children's Consumer Culture: An Introduction to The Marketing of Children's Toys’, In The Marketing of Children's Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children's Consumer Culture, Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Discusses children's consumer culture, particularly in relation to marketing and toys, which can be increasingly applied to contemporary video games.
  • Toys and video games play an important role in forming children’s experiences and identities.
  • Designed to let children engage in traditional toys, usually incorporating aspects of marketing, socialisation, and branding.
  • Explores how narratives and characters within these games can influence children’s insights of social norms, consumer behaviour, and gender roles.
  • Reflects how toys have developed to mirror marketing strategies and societal values; video games also transmit cultural messages and shape consumer identities.
  • Exposure to particular representations of reality can affect their understanding of themselves and their place within society through gameplay.
  • Marketing of video games and toys targets children as key consumers, shaping their desires from a young age.
  • Inspecting the intersections of play, technology, and marketing in video games can help understand how contemporary narratives and gameplay contribute to the construction of children's identities in a consumerist culture.
• JetLearn, 2025, Roblox vs. Minecraft: which block-building game reigns supreme?.
  • Compares Minecraft and Roblox, highlighting their popularity across all ages.
  • Minecraft offers a survival, creativity, and exploration experience within a sandbox environment, encouraging players to navigate and build different challenges.
  • Roblox focuses on social interaction and creation, providing tools for players to create their own games, serving as a creative platform and virtual socialisation.
  • Addresses aspects such as educational benefits, gameplay mechanics, community engagement, and how both games provide learning skills such as collaboration, teamwork, and problem-solving.
  • Illustrates how these platforms provide players with social interaction, creative expression, and identity formation.
  • Through gameplay, children can develop different skills, such as building new relationships and expressing their individuality, underscoring the importance of video games in childhood development.
• Knorr, C, 2016, Minecraft vs. Roblox: How These Games Stack Up for Kids. Common Sense Media.
  • Compares Roblox and Minecraft by outlining their features, community aspects, and gameplay mechanics.
  • Highlights how Roblox allows players to share and create their games in a social environment, while Minecraft offers players a sandbox experience focusing on creativity and exploration.
  • Examines factors like social dynamics, pricing, educational benefits, and safety for both Minecraft and Roblox.
  • Shows how these platforms facilitate identity formation, creative expression, and social interaction.
  • Through gameplay, children can gain building relationships, express their individuality, and develop problem-solving skills.
• Lennox, J, 2023, Minecraft vs. Roblox, Digital Trends.
  • Emphasises their appeal as determined games that let children be engaged for years.
  • Highlights how both Minecraft and Roblox serve as sandbox and creative experiences where players can explore and build their ideas to create whatever they want.
  • Addresses the social interactions, educational applications, different modes, parental control, and multiplayer experiences, providing perceptions into how children interact and learn from both Minecraft and Roblox.
  • Gives a better understanding on how contemporary video games shape children’s development and experiences through creativity, social interaction, and play.
• Zalace, J, 2023, Roblox Vs. Minecraft: Which Game Is Better?, THEGAMER.
  • Focuses on creative expression, safety, pricing, and multiplayer environments.
  • Minecraft is conferred as a sandbox game that encourages creativity and exploration, allowing players to build and create in a blocky world.
  • Roblox is a free-to-play platform with numerous games that serve primarily social play.
  • Both games serve children’s social interactions and interests, exploring how these platforms shape children’s experiences in their friendships, engagement, gaming environment, and creativity.
  • Connects to the broader themes of exploring how children are constructed in contemporary video games on children’s identity and development construction through gameplay.

References

• Balanzategui, J, 2021, 'Disturbing' Children's YouTube Genres and The Algorithmic Uncanny’, New Media & Society.
• Brown, A, 2019, The Roblox Movie.
• Hains, R.C., Jennings, N.A. 2021, ‘Critiquing Children's Consumer Culture: An Introduction to The Marketing of Children's Toys’, In The Marketing of Children's Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children's Consumer Culture, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hess, J, 2025, The Minecraft Movie.
• IMDb, 2025, A Minecraft Movie.
• IMDb, 2025, A Minecraft Movie Plot.
• IMDb, 2019, The Roblox Movie Plot.
• IMDb, 2019, The Roblox Movie.
• JetLearn, 2025, Roblox vs. Minecraft: which block-building game reigns supreme?.
• Knorr, C, 2016, Minecraft vs. Roblox: How These Games Stack Up for Kids. Common Sense Media
• Lennox, J, 2023, Minecraft vs. Roblox, Digital Trends.
• Zalace, J, 2023, Roblox Vs. Minecraft: Which Game Is Better?, THEGAMER.