The new world teaches players how to cope with environmental conflict.
If you’re already familiar with Microsoft’s (MSFT) – Get Microsoft Corporation Report wildly popular video game “Minecraft,” it’s probably because one (or maybe more) of your kids simply can’t get enough of it.
At a glance, one might wonder why the game inspires such rabid devotion among kids and adults alike, netting it the impressive title of the best-selling video game of all time.
After all, it’s blocky graphics hardly look to be of the award-winning variety that consoles like Sony’s (SNE) – Get Sony Corp. Report PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X feature.
But as any fan of “Minecraft” can tell you, there’s much more to the game than picture-perfect graphics. Originally launched in 2009, the original version of the world-building simulator was built in a single weekend by Swedish developer Markus Persson and was released for people to download free.
As the game grew into a phenomenon, players found they loved the creative freedom it granted to play any way they wanted, from spending hours reconstructing real-world locations to creating their own original buildings. This spawned a massive builders community that produced some truly jaw-dropping creations within the game.
Today, “Minecraft” has not only made Persson very rich, but Microsoft’s acquisition of the property in 2014 for $2.5 billion has kept revenue rolling in. The publisher ushered its growth into a full-fledged franchise and furthered the growth of a major platform in the creator economy.
Today “Minecraft” reports more than 141 million monthly active users via both PC and mobile, and the game continues to grow every year.
Now it’s turning in a whole new direction: Being used as a teaching tool for climate change awareness.
Microsoft
How Is “Minecraft” Being Used for Teaching?
Originally launched in November 2016, the “Minecraft: Education Edition” was created as a response to many educators who were already using the original game for teaching purposes in their schools, from U.S.-based ones like Atlanta Public School all the way to India’s Sat Paul Mittal School.
Using “Minecraft” for ecological awareness is yet another route for the franchise to diversify and grow. The game’s newly added world, which debuts today, is intentionally designed to help teach users about climate change, STEM and more.
Called Rivercraft (not to be confused with the survival-centric “Minecraft” server of the same name), the new world is based on a real city called Preston. Located in Lancashire, England, Preston already struggles with flooding and higher temperatures as a result of climate change.
In the game, players are challenged to manage flooding, find ways to prevent it in future, and build ecological awareness.
Archbishop Temple School’s Head of Computer Science, Helen McLean, says that using “Minecraft” for teaching purposes has already been a big success.
“So many children play Minecraft already, so any lesson that can involve Minecraft is a win-win straight away,” she says.
“I love seeing young people really engaged in a topic and enjoying what they’re doing, because if you enjoy what you do, you learn better. It’s great that they can make mistakes in a safe environment like Minecraft, because that’s how they learn to fix things.”
