My kid is 7 and autistic and suddenly he has started liking Minecraft. He’s watched me play it and wants to play himself.
How can I get him started? Do I just give him the laptop and trust he can figure it out or do I find a way to explain the controls?
My absolute dream would be to spin up a server with him.
If you have two PCs you can easily play together. At least with Java Edition. One of you just has to make their game available in LAN. Then the other should be able to find it in the multiplayer menu. That way you don’t have to make a Minecraft server. Been a while since I’ve done that so I can’t remember what everything is called.
My kids started in creative mode without any monsters and just built stuff. In time that expanded in complexity. Sometimes inspired by YouTube videos.
Eventually they started playing on community servers. When your kid is at that point definitely talk often with them about the dangers of online life, privacy and so on. Minecraft servers are not as bad as Roblox servers but you still have to watch out. My kids already met some trolls who destroyed everything they had built.
Trolls? Sounds more like bullies/assholes/… But for it also depends on their age. Like children love to destroy sand castles, both their own and others, and they are usually neither of those things. It is also usually malicious even for younger kinds, they know it is not “right”, but it is not trolling or anything serious.