The Minecraft Generation (Published 2016)

Since its release seven years ago, Minecraft has become a global sensation, captivating a generation of children. There are over 100 million registered players, and it’s now the third-best-­selling video game in history, after Tetris and Wii Sports. In 2014, Microsoft bought Minecraft — and Mojang, the Swedish game studio behind it — for $2.5 billi... See more

“I don’t even know that I know how to properly classify them,” says Ryan Wyatt, the head of gaming content for YouTube. Minecraft videos offer a glimpse of the blurring of the line between consumers and creators. Probably two-thirds of the kids I interviewed had started their own Minecraft channels on YouTube. Most of them were happy when even a ha... See more

Minecraft is thus an almost perfect game for our current educational moment, in which policy makers are eager to increase kids’ interest in the “STEM” disciplines — science, technology, engineering and math. Schools and governments have spent millions on “let’s get kids coding” initiatives, yet it may well be that Minecraft’s impact will be greater... See more