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My son and one of his friends spent a huge portion of their stuck-at-home time during the pandemic playing minecraft. It turns out a lot of what they were doin

My son and one of his friends spent a huge portion of their stuck-at-home time during the pandemic playing minecraft. It turns out a lot of what they were doing while "playing video games" was learning how to make really complex and unique game scenarios using minecraft command blocks and redstone -- essentially creating both a RPG PvP arena and a multilevel party dungeon crawl w boss fights. I run a small minecraft server for them to play and experiment on and I've resisted the urge to try to teach them anything about setting up and running servers, backing up data, or using text editors with syntax highlighting or source control to edit and preserve their command block commands. I just show up for demos and let them know how cool what they're doing is and backup and reboot the server as needed. I've messed up plenty as a parent but i think not trying to turn their interest in programming within minecraft into a learning experience has been one of my better decisions.

agucova 5y ago
I'm curious, why do you think it'll be bad for them to learn programming? I mean sure, don't force them into them, but I don't think hiding what's underneath is fair either. I actually learned to program for the first time while playing Minecraft around 2011, and I started programming without my parents even knowing. There was a mod for Minecraft called ComputerCraft that allowed you to program inside the game (using virtual computers) with Lua. This led to me on a path to Java to mod Minecraft, then Python to script things and many tools and projects later I ended up becoming a programmer. For me, Minecraft opened me to a world full of wonders; something I never knew was possible, and I definitely don't regret it.
- josephorjoe 5y ago
  i think it would be great for them to learn programming. i think if i try to push them to learn programming, they will lose interest because i will be turning their 'fun' into 'work'. it is better for them to go at their own pace where their interests take them. if they ask for my help (they both know i could teach them programming), i'd be delighted to help them. and minecraft is really fantastic. from the base game, to advance features like command blocks, to the ecosystem of plug ins and online multiplayer adaptations. really an impressive creation.

agucova 5y ago

I'm curious, why do you think it'll be bad for them to learn programming? I mean sure, don't force them into them, but I don't think hiding what's underneath is fair either. I actually learned to program for the first time while playing Minecraft around 2011, and I started programming without my parents even knowing. There was a mod for Minecraft called ComputerCraft that allowed you to program inside the game (using virtual computers) with Lua. This led to me on a path to Java to mod Minecraft, then Python to script things and many tools and projects later I ended up becoming a programmer. For me, Minecraft opened me to a world full of wonders; something I never knew was possible, and I definitely don't regret it.

josephorjoe 5y ago
i think it would be great for them to learn programming. i think if i try to push them to learn programming, they will lose interest because i will be turning their 'fun' into 'work'. it is better for them to go at their own pace where their interests take them. if they ask for my help (they both know i could teach them programming), i'd be delighted to help them. and minecraft is really fantastic. from the base game, to advance features like command blocks, to the ecosystem of plug ins and online multiplayer adaptations. really an impressive creation.