Watching the grandboy play online games is a fascinating anthropological treasure trove.

He plays two games online, Battle Minecraft and multiple variants of the “tycoon” games on Roblox.  Both have elements of battle and cooperation.

Since I don’t allow headsets or text chat when he plays, he is limited to character behaviour when interacting with others. So he’s learned that jumping up and down repeatedly means “I’m happy with you (or your decision)” and mimicking another’s action generally indicates a desire to form an alliance.

Deciding whether or not to sheath a weapon when approaching someone is very very important as he’s already learned. This is very important because in a given session, it’s vital to identify friend or foe in the first few minutes to avoid being mowed down in the ensuing fray.

In the “tycoon” games, he can play online as long as he wishes in a session, but when the session ends, he loses all items he’s gathered. Kind of like us in real life, hehe. When in a session, anyone can attack anyone else for just the joy of it. Or one can choose to create things and ignore the bullies who pick on newbies who haven’t yet built up defense. Or one can help defend a newbie’s fledgling castle by fighting off attackers, with the hope that the other will help defend one’s place later.

Also like in real life.

All this with only pantomime gestures and observed actions on the behalf of other players. Completely fascinating.

Naturally I encourage the grandboy to go for the “peace and defend” approach, but he does get frustrated by those who don’t “play fair”… and the temptation to treat other newbies equally unfairly is a beast that must be tamed.

Valuable lessons here.

He’s still grasping the concept that there are live people on the other side of the characters he’s interacting with. He’s going to be dealing with this concept for the rest of his life, so I’m thankful to be a guide in this wilderness!