A simple and lo-fi game called Minecraft has
reached international fame and has reached the computers and gadgets of
numerous adults and children. As of recently, it has been ranked the third most
popular game of all time next to Tetris and Wii Sports (Mulholand, 2014).
Minecraft is an interactive game
with no rules and has no instructions for its users. It simply allows users to
take cubes and build anything they want from tropical forests, to bustling
cities, to colonial empires. It allows users to freely build as they please as
they would with Lego pieces.
Since its popularity, Minecraft is
seen to have several benefits for children. One, it does not favor solely girls
or solely boys. Second, it promotes creativity and organization. Third and
lastly, it could serve as a foundation for computer coding principles to
children.
Both girls and boys are attracted
and are playing Minecraft (Mulholand. 2014). Since Minecraft is a free world,
it is devoid of stereotypes or set rules and can be transformed to anything a
girl or a boy wishes it to be from its color to its content.
When building their world and
exploring, users must use their imaginations and organization to create (Learning
Works for Kids, 2015). Users have to sort through the blocks they have and then
decide which ones to use, what block is for what use, the positioning of the
blocks, and structure of the whole construction.
Apart from giving users to build as
they please using cubes, Minecraft also allows them to modify and create
add-ons through what gamers call, “mods” (Popper, 2014). This feature
introduces coding to children and other users.
Minecraft has gained much popularity
and attention to people worldwide that educators are starting to explore its
effective use in the classroom set up. MinecraftEdu, a program made by
teachers, aims to do just that. Teachers saw the potential of Minecraft as it
promotes the above-mentioned points as well as can touch on subjects like
history and language. With this, they created a software that has specifically
modified Minecraft for classroom use.
Minecraft has various positive
benefits for children. It stimulates imagination and innovation, organization
and logic, gender fairness,computer coding as well as learning subject areas
like history and language.
Despite its positive traits,
Minecraft however can be an object of obsession for children. Numerous blogs
from parents have pointed to this. Two of which (Guersney, n.d.; Oakley, n.d.),
while acknowledging that Minecraft indeed motivates imaginativeness and
creativity, shares how their children become so obsessed to the point that they
want to play it day and night.
As a conclusion, Minecraft is a game
where children can benefit. As mentioned, it provides various benefits.
However, when children are allowed or are even encouraged to use them whether
in school or at home, there should be regulations involved. It is recommendable
to, first, let children who are old enough (around 6 years old) to understand
explanations as to why regulations in the video game time have to be done.
After, it is also recommendable to actually set regulations together with
children and implement them.
It is important to keep children
from getting obsessed with Minecraft. It has wonderful benefits that teachers actually
made a program for it; however, its benefits do not outweigh what the children
would lose if they disregard and neglect other activities due to Minecraft.
Written by: 
References:
Mulholand, A. (2014). Minecraft: Why are kids,
and educators so crazy for it? Retrieved from http://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/minecraft-why-are-kids-and-educators-so-crazy-for-it-1.2006975
MinecraftEdu.
(2015). What is MicraftEdu?http://minecraftedu.com/software
Popper, B. (2014). Why are parents raising
their kids on minecraft? Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/15/6152085/why-parents-love-minecraft
Learning Works for Kids (2015).Minecraft.
Retrieved from http://learningworksforkids.com/playbooks/minecraft/
Oakley, B. (n.d.). Help! My kids are obsessed
with minecraft! [blog post]. Retrieved from http://minemum.com/minecraft-obsession
Guersney, L. (n.d.). An “educational” videogame
has taken over my house [blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/08/minecraft_teachers_love_the_game_but_as_a_parent_i_m_worried_my_kids_are_addicted.2.html
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