Minecraft

Minecraft can give students’ higher-level critical thinking skills by teaching them how to create stuff that they might find in the real world like wooden planks, tools, furnaces etc. and if they become someone who works with those materials they will have a better understanding

Our lives have become busier and therefore there is less time for complex gaming. Casual game use is on the rise as such games are simple and can be played quickly (“The Rise and Rise of Casual Gaming,” 2008). Jesse Schell (2010) observes games are becoming an extension of our real life, for example, fitness trackers and Wii fit, ‘brain exercising’ apps to ward off dementia, good driver apps that are provided by car insurance companies, point systems for shopping rewards and weight watchers. We can even compete with others in these games using leader boards. In the future there may be reward systems for brushing your teeth or using public transport (Schell,

Markus Persson said that “at first he didn’t want to create games for a living until he was 14 or 15.”(guru.bafta.org) Markus has made millions on his game and probably would have never thought to begin with that he could make money off of programming games and be so good at it. During this time their parents divorced and this hit the family very hard; his sister started using drugs and becoming depressed, so in order to ignore the problems in his family, he turned to his games for a moment of peace and solitude. (Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson, 33) Even after all this chaos, Markus changed the way the world looks at and make indie games.

Technology has become second nature to our daily lives because we use it to think when we can’t, to help us from being bored, and to keep us in touch with the world. Hank Pellissier, in his article, “Your Child’s Brain on Technology: Video Games” quotes, “Take a deep breath. To relax, you scroll through Facebook and catch up on your email. Meekly, you join the other mesmerized zombies.” Clearly, we’re infected by these upcoming innovations and awaiting for fresh creativity. And speaking of zombies: my son plays Plants vs. Zombies, and as scary as that game may sound by its title, it distinctly lives up to its name. It is an entertaining strategic game that helps you think and act fast by using plants to destroy various skilled zombies. Video

Many video games use visuals to mentally immerse gamers into a virtual world filled with seemingly living, breathing people, animals, or cities. According to Michael Samyn and Auriea Harvey, game designers for Tale of Tales, video games increasingly develop into a true medium of artistic expression (Lamb). In just forty years, video games transformed from an abuse of the new computer for entertainment purposes into a sophisticated form of popular art. The development of video games recently produced results that arguably equal other similar, representational arts. Video games share many qualities with other forms of art, but they are also artistically significant in their own way. “This seems to be something

You are running for your life past a vast landscape. You fly past forests, ravines, lakes, mountains, and pools of lava without stopping. You look back and see a horde of spiders, zombies, living skeletons, and armless green abominations that will blow up when they get close to you. You must survive until dawn, when those monsters will burn in daylight and you can gather resources to survive the next night. On the other hand, you could be a god, flying, spawning items without consequence, building whatever you like and impervious to attacks. These two scenarios occur often when you immerse yourself in Minecraft, but Minecraft is more than just a game. “Is Too Much Minecraft Mind-Numbing for Kids with ADHD?” by Randy Kulman, Ph. D. states

There are multiple ways that Minecraft has a positive influence in our education and career development. One simple way is that Minecraft’s gameplay has tendencies to relieve stress levels. When you are playing on creative mode the game allows you to go around building what you want. In addition to that, the survival mode lets the player build shelters from scratch, hunt for food and kill monsters. In many ways this ability to be able to build your own villages and castles, or trying to survive a world of creepers is a good way to sit back and lose yourself in a fictional world of zombies and Enderman.

Everyday across the world, thousands of people log onto their computer to play games. For many, their game of choice is a simple one. If you enjoy shooting games, you may play Counter Strike. If you enjoy RPGs, you may play Major/Minor. If you enjoy strategy games, you may play Europa Universalis IV. However, fans of the sandbox genre may have difficulty choosing between Minecraft and Roblox when the choice is obvious. Roblox is a far superior game to Minecraft due to its gameplay, accessibility, and graphics.

Minecraft is an educational game for many reasons. It is a game where you learn to build and you learn about architecture.You can learn from the game because you can build farms, animals, houses, and make fire. You can even make food! You need to move the joystick to move your character. If you want things made from diamonds, like armor and weapons, you need to have diamonds and sticks. Minecraft is also educational because you need to have eye / hand coordination and learn how to make things fit. You learn about how cities and farms work, because you have to plant crops to feed the animals, and you can also harvest the crops. Then you can get wheat and make bread.

Digging more into Minecraft, you will figure out lots of ways to form some fascinating machines and scenarios. Through the Mojang’s sandbox game, kids can enhance their advanced computer skills. “Because there is no specific goal, no particular plot, no score, players have their own flexibility and freedom to do anything they desire,” says Jeff Haynes, a game analyst of Common Sense Media. Kids who start playing Minecraft at the young age will develop real-life skills like exploration, creativity, curiosity, and teamwork.

Minecraft is a game where the player uses their imagination to shape the world around them using the resources they find. In the world everything is shaped like a block or a cube, this includes the trees, the dirt, the water, the clouds, even the sun, everything. This simple game hasn’t even been released yet but has already sold over one million copies. Minecraft was created by one man, Markus “Notch” Persson, and this is his story.

D'Angelo, W. (2013, May 2013). 2013 year on year sales and market share update to May 18th. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from VGChartz: www.vgcartz.com

Video games are an ever-growing franchise that is constantly undergoing change. Ever since the dawn of video games, new consoles, games, developers, and teams have come together, fallen apart, triumphed, and failed. What is it that has allowed some to thrive where others failed? Several different factors have changed and influenced the world of gaming, including the history that is continuously being written, the people who have built the games behind the scenes, and, of course, the actual video games themselves. Numerous video games have been more successful than others, but identifying what components set the successful apart from the unsuccessful is something definitely worth observing.

I'm a huge fan of Lego. My son and I have spent hours building the model on the box and then taking it apart and making whatever else we wanted by rearranging the parts. Minecraft gives kids the same creative freedom, but it's easier on your bank account. Plus, you'll never step on a loose piece barefoot in the dark.

As advertised by the creators of the game, “The only limits are your imagination” (Jens, Minecraft). This game is a prime example on how video games can stimulate the mind with techniques such as problem solving, collaboration, memorization, and multi-tasking.