11 Plus Exams Forum

My DC are Minecraft crazy I don't understand it is it coding? Is it ok game to play? They tell me they build things and have factions but I don't understand. If it like coding or programming I'm ok with it. Please tell me is it?

It's basically a block world. They can build almost anything they can imagine with a huge variety of blocks, eg: stone, wood, glass. And can make many of their creations perform functions using redstone power.
I think it's an awesome game, and educational too.
Good for spatial reasoning skills. They also learn about elements, circuitry and much more that for some reason I can't think of at the moment.
Very appealing to children who enjoy science, lego, construction etc... But the also game seems to appeal to most children and adults too.

Thank you Frangipani it sound good. But it not programming or coding? I see grids they choose from and they type stuff in I don't understand

No programming or coding as far as I'm aware. Not on games consoles anyway.
Perhaps there is on the PC version or raspberry pi.
I don't know a great deal I'm afraid.

DS1 acquired it first in our house, courtesy of the mother of one of his friends, when he was about 13. Subsequently all three of ours have played it with a variety of friends but I haven't seen any of them playing for a while. Just asked DD and she says she hardly ever plays now, although she might if friends want to ('To be honest, it's not the most exciting game. Playing with friends is more fun - playing on your own is just chopping down trees'). They talk about 'servers' and 'texture packs', never heard any mention of coding.

Just asked DS and he says you can use a command block and then you can write in a code and then build extra things, but he says it's difficult. He also says the best things for him is that he plays with his friends and he runs a server which is only for invited friends. He also says you learn basic survival skills, not sure about that though.

You can code it with a raspberry pi.