Playing-Creativity-Minecraft-Game

The Creativity of The Minecraft Game

First of all, Jacob loves to play the Minecraft game.

He has such a case of Hero Worship for his Uncle TJ who is a Minecraft Game Guru. And of course, Mom and Dad play it also. Papaw is a recent recruit. So when he heard of this game, he was anxious to play it too…. like Uncle T.  Now they all have cities and have added “Mods” and all kinds of things.

Creativity-of-Minecraft-game

 

His Mom and Dad checked it out and the Minecraft game seems to be  a creative game where you use you own imagination to “create” your world.  The player builds things…. buildings, cities, bridges, stairways, anything your mind can come up with in your world. There is not a real completion of the game, because it can go on and on.

A child can play by himself, or the Minecraft game with friends on a special server set up.

There are also open setups where he is playing with “Anyone” and I don’t feel this appropriate for younger children. Perhaps not even for teenagers.

A child can be “killed”  and “robbed” such as  when someone else gets all the items he has accumulated to survive in this World. A child can learn to strategize to protect himself, though.  But isn’t that a reflection of real life?  There are Bad Guys….with names like Ghast? and Creeper ? which are kinds of a floaty creatures who find you mostly in the night. ( I know, you gotta be there..)

If I understand correctly, your child can play in Creative Mode where he  builds and explores but the Bad Guys are not around. In Survival Mode, he will be subject to attacks by the Bad Guys. So a parent can control the game to allow for your own personal idea of how your child can cope and when they should progress in the game.  (See more Family Life posts here. 

I have seen Jacob play  this game, and believe me, I am just not a Gamer myself.  I just don’t think my mind understands this weird concept of role playing and seeing a vision of the world from behind a Pick Axe……..(see what I mean?)

I have seen dogs as pets, and roving feral dogs. I have seen bunnies and pigs, which can be killed for food. Nothing graphic, you just bonk them and they turn into pork chops, I think. Your child can choose to garden and grow crops like wheat,  raise chickens for their eggs.  I guess that means you can go vegetarian on Minecraft?  Funny!  It is your world, so it is what you make it. 

Jacob can make glass by melting sand in a furnace? Who knew?

I think Jacob does learn a lot from this game. He learns to figure things out by himself, and that helps in skills of problem solving. He learns to create, explore, build, and is not limited except by his imagination. He can play with others who are in their world, but also in yours, and he can work together. Teamwork can accomplish more than someone working alone, so I feel the results show him that teams can accomplish more with cooperation and listening to other teammate’s ideas.

Now isn’t that good practice for the real world as he grows up?

Did you know there are books related to the Minecraft game? Jacob will read these and anything that he will read is wonderful!

Maybe one downside is that he likes it so much, he would play forever……………and I mean forever! He has to have limits set on the amount he plays because he can just lose himself in these worlds. He needs exercise, has to do homework, and his chores. But the good side for that is: he can earn minutes of play by performing or doing his chores, etc. Right?

It can also be a punishment, because he can be restricted from all games for days….or even weeks if the situation calls for drastic measures.

The Minecraft game has been a positive experience for him. Do your kids or grandkids play Minecraft or any other games similar to this? What has been your experience?

14 Comments

  1. My kids have never played Minecraft and I never would have thought there was so much learning and creativity going on.

    1. Kim Smith says:

      It surprised me too. I am not a game player, but he has to read instructions, calculate what he needs, make plans, build, build, build…..I think it has help him in deductive reasoning. He is almost 11 now and scores excellent in math.

  2. My sons LOVE Minecraft! I don’t let them play that often, but when they get the chance they do get lost in it too.

    1. Thanks for visiting, Crystal. I know what you mean about the kids getting lost in it. My daughter has to monitor the amount of time he is on it because it is a huge time suck.

    1. Glad he has jumped on the bandwagon. So nice he has a set to put together.

  3. I’ve seen Minecraft but had no idea what it was, I didn’t even know it was a game. Guess that tells I’m not a gamer. Thanks for the explanation, now when I see it I’ll know what it is.

    1. So glad you found out about it here. Ready to jump on the kid’s craze?

  4. My son LOVES Minecraft. I think it’s a wonderful game. He even loves to read books about Minecraft, so as far as video games go this one is probably the top of my list.

    1. I totally agree. This one is definitely a game he can play safely and get a little reading and problem-solving practice which will help him down the road.

  5. Minecraft is great and my son is a big fan. I understand what you mean by wanting to play all the time. Remember that it takes quite a while to build structures in the game! You are correct that playing in creative mode allows you to play without mobs. I hope your son has as much fun with it as my son has. There is a lot of learning happening for sure!

    1. I agree with you. He will read the screen and then anything written about Minecraft gives him the incentive to read more. Win and win.

  6. Thanks for the explanation. I’ve seen this game all over and have friends with tots that like to play but personally had no clue what it was, lol. Thanks for clearing it up so I can relate to everyone else.

    1. Lauren, I am not a game player either, so this is all foreign to me. I like to observe him at play to be sure it is something “good” as opposed to all the others that are not so good.

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