What the labels say
The game is typically PEGI 7 in Europe and ESRB Everyone 10+ in North America, depending on edition and whether online features are in the rating note. The violence is blocky and bloodless. There is no romance system. The rating notes that mention online interaction are the ones to read, because chat, usernames and player-built builds are not reviewed by Mojang before your child sees them.
Accounts
Play needs a Microsoft account. On consoles it is the platform account tied to Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo, then linked. Java and Bedrock on PC both use Microsoft. Old Mojang accounts were migrated years ago. A child should have their own login, not yours. Sharing the password means sharing the payment methods, the capes and the ban history.
Microsoft family settings can require an adult to approve friends and can limit communication to people on the friends list. Platform settings (Xbox family, PlayStation, Nintendo, Apple, Google) do the same job one layer down. Turn them on before the first public server, not after a bad session.
Where younger players should actually be
- A world with people you know: a LAN game or a Realm with invites, not an address posted on a Discord of strangers.
- Multiplayer game rule off, if the device is for one child and the chat is not worth it. Single-player still has the whole survival loop.
- No voice chat with people they do not already know offline. Proximity chat mods do not change that.
The behaviour expected once they are on a shared world — don’t grief, don’t steal, don’t dump slurs in chat — is the player rules page. What to do when a stranger asks for the password is staying safe.