
How Minecraft is helping kids fall in love with books - the-enemy
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/11/how-minecraft-is-helping-kids-fall-in-love-with-books
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ImaCake
Recently, I have been trying to play video games in the same way as I would
read a book i.e. I play the story or the interactive puzzles and events until
I am finished or satisifed, and then move on.

I find I get very similar things from a good video game and a good book. Both
entertain me, but also educate me and make me think about the world in a
different way. The main difference is that each format has different
strengths, books tend to change how I describe the world or find insight into
ideas and things. A good game changes how I experience the world. "The Last of
Us" made me really focus on the sounds around me in a way I hadn't before,
"Cities Skylines" made me think of the visible and hidden networks that keep
our cities functioning.

Do others have similar impressions?

~~~
themodelplumber
Maybe similar, but maybe not--I use video games as a way to monitor my status,
kind of get an outside view of myself. If a particular video game sounds
interesting, I'll play it for a while and analyze the imagery, story, music,
etc. to get a sort of metaphorical read on what my interest says about where
I'm at.

For example, if I am experiencing lots of stress, and feeling a deficit of
power, I noticed that military tactics and strategy games seem to suggest
themselves. If a really long-term, cool strategy is called for, I notice that
I play games like golf. If the day is filling up with lots of busy tasks that
require a deft navigation of circumstance, the classic Snake-like game always
seems to sound fun to play.

Looking more objectively at the game as a learning opportunity, I find that
game development is huge for me here. I develop pen and paper games of given
topics (from tennis to dungeon combat) and it's interesting to map real life
attributes and circumstances like charisma and "home court advantage" onto my
mental model of the game. I have to develop a broader model of what makes a
player successful, and this spills over into my own approach to life and its
problems. For example, if I'm a skilled researcher, it should follow that the
more I ramp up and employ that particular skill, the faster my luck will grow,
as opposed to skills at which I'm naturally an amateur. And it follows that I
probably need a diversely-skilled team to turn to, should I come up against a
truly difficult problem which does not yield to my research skills easily.
While I build that team, I employ and continue to deepen my research skill.

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lihaciudaniel
As a full time kid and an ex minecraft player, I think that's a way to get
into books. The only way I got into books was by trying hard at first to read
on my phone (it was hard and boring for a month I was reading during boring
classes at school). But now a year later I've never read any paper books, all
the books I've read are ebooks.

~~~
madrox
> But now a year later I've never read any paper books, all the books I've
> read are ebooks.

This is the most mind-blowing thing I've read on HN. It really makes me
appreciate generational differences.

~~~
ObsoleteNerd
I'm around 40 and haven't read a physical book since the Kindle came out. Same
goes for most the people around me (including parents and older friends). I
think I know one single person who reads physical books, and they're a
collector/enthusiast.

I don't think it's generational rather just some people "clicked" with ebooks
and some didn't.

I couldn't live without search, saving passages, device handover, hold-click
dictionary/wiki (so good for setting the image in your head if the book
mentions a city/country you haven't been). I read maybe a few physical books a
year before, now I read a novel or 2 a week, almost every week, and carry my
kindle absolutely everywhere since they launched (have worn out 3).

~~~
aerique
I really don't care for all the ebook features you mentioned, I just like the
convenience and lack of weight of having hundreds of books in your pocket.

I do like the feel of a real book when actually reading it but don't mind
reading books on my phone either.

~~~
galactus
I don't find there is that much convenience on having "hundreds of books in
your pocket". Unlike music or films/series, most people are never reading more
than two or perhaps three books at the same time and most books take days or
weeks to finish (unless you are reading full time). Carrying a kindle is not
that much more convenient than carrying a pocket book...

~~~
jhbadger
The question is where to store all your physical books though. I own hundreds
of physical books (and that's after pruning the collection of books I have no
desire to reread at some point). I prefer ebooks now because there's no issue
of storage (plus being able to increase the font size is nice now that I'm
approaching 50).

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billfruit
Realy though I wish that there was something like minecraft, but with an RTS-
style disembodied god-view camera, with zoom, pan and rotate, which I think
will make building things much more painless. Perhaps some mods can
approximate that, but if there was something build up from the beginning for
such an interface it would be a nicer thing to have for people who would
rather build than walk around catching the scenery.

~~~
itronitron
I've given some thought to making a better world editor that would interface
with Minecraft through command blocks or via the Glowstone MC server. There
are a few existing world editor applications but they are quite sluggish (last
time I checked). If you want to build small things with cubes then you should
check out the latest voxel editors.

~~~
billfruit
I checked some voxel editors sometime ago(unfortunately not remembering their
names right now), they seemed geared towards modeling small things, not huge
monuments, vistas, mountains or expansive landscapes like people seems to do
in minecraft.

~~~
itronitron
might be worth checking out >>
[https://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=mv_renderer](https://ephtracy.github.io/index.html?page=mv_renderer)

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jccalhoun
Whenever I'm in a bookstore I am amazed at the sheer number of official and
unofficial Minecraft books. I suppose someone must be buying them of they
wouldn't be making more of them.

That being said, I'm skeptical that making book-related things in Minecraft
will encourage reading any more than Second Life did.

~~~
mattnewton
I remember being motivated to read endless crappy Pokémon books churned out in
the 90’s, this is probably no different. It worked for me.

~~~
kyle-rb
I read a lot of those pokemon books as a kid as well, and I agree that they
provide some motivation.

But watch out for recent unofficial books, specifically the "Diary of a
<insert pokemon>" series (which I think got C&D'd, because they changed all
the cover art and replaced the pokemon names with generic animal substitutes).
It's pretty enjoyable to make fun of, but probably not the best for kids to
read.

[https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Farting-Pika-Animal-Book-
ebook/...](https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Farting-Pika-Animal-Book-
ebook/dp/B01M0GT7YN)

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fenwick67
This is kinda like saying a movie based on a book will get kids to read. It
might. Or they might just skip the book.

~~~
wolco
If 10% changed reading habits that is a big change because those 10% can
influence peers through the copy cat effect.

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earthandmoon
As a parent I applaud this greatly! Kids with ASD (especially boys) are very
into Minecraft. Giving them a tool for getting into reading is very, very
awesome and helpful, indeed.

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dumb2223
I imagine that books could be enhanced with a virtual reality game that
presents you the main characters and the place where the book develops the
plot. So the line between books and virtual games becomes slimmer.

~~~
105e9
One's own imagination is more precious than any defined virtual game can ever
be.

~~~
criley2
Minecraft and imagination are two sides of the same thing. People with no
imagination put Minecraft down very quickly.

It is a sandbox afterall.

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sova
Minecraft is absolutely not helping in the war on screens. As a former
educator I laugh heartily at the proposition. Although, I did use "screen
time" as a gift-able and earn-able commodity, and in a small classroom of kids
it works great to encourage sharing, participation, group watch / observance,
and "can I please share with Timmy now so I can have more screentime later?"
[success fist]

~~~
hrktb
> war on screen

So, is it like the war on drug and war on terrorism ?

Also I remember when I was a kid, people were over my back for reading too
much books, as I was supposed to “go outside”, “play with the other kids”,
“make things with my hand”. I won’t use the eternal ‘I ended up fine’
argument, but in any day and age we’re grindingly pushing kids toward stuff
they don’t care about for no decent reason. As a general rule you shouldn’t be
at war against stuff your kids are into.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Screens are even more addictive than books.

My 1.5 year old shuts off completely whenever he can get access to a screen,
it is amazing and scary. He likes books also, but is much more engaged with
them.

Screen time is probably a top issue for parenting today.

~~~
Freak_NL
Current pedagogical advise is to keep children under 2 away from screens,
period. Presumably because they are much more affected by them.

Does you kid gain access to a screen accidentally or is it something you
employ as an emergency pacifier on rare occasions?

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Accidentally for sure. He is only 18 months old! We don’t even have a TV.

