Minecraft, one of the most popular games since its launch on November 18, 2011. Although, it is extremely popular some people may not know what it is. Minecraft is an open-world sandbox which players explore, gather resources, craft tools, build, and of course try and survive the world filled with monsters. According to, thepostathens.com, it was reported there were more than 204 million monthly active users. Considering that the game was released in 2011 it is very impressive. How does a game created 14 years ago have so much popularity?
In Minecraft, anything is possible, mostly. You can go on creative which gives you access to any material you want, tools, you can fly, spawn monsters, each block only takes one hit to break it, and more. Or if you want to play the traditional way in survival you can. Don’t forget, your friends can always join you, because playing alone is not fun, especially if you start “seeing” Herobrine.
If you just want to play the Minecraft add-ons, or the Minecraft mini games that gives you access to players all around the world, you can. However, multiplayer may be limited, or you might not even have it at all if you don’t have PlayStation plus or Game Pass (For console users). In general, Minecraft is still popular due to its endless creativity, consistent updates, social elements, simple to learn, cross-platform, etc.
Not only did Gen Z grow up with Minecraft, Gen Alpha is playing Minecraft, along side the older generations. 
Minecraft may not die out anytime soon. Minecraft is now included within schools due to Minecraft education. That’s right, Minecraft can definitely be educational. Although, Minecraft Education is specially to learn about Math, English, Science, etc. Minecraft in general is educational. 
What Minecraft teaches:
- Creativity. You can build literally anything you want and there is such a huge variety of materials you can build out of it. I highly recommend watching a quick YouTube video on Minecraft builds or just take a few seconds scrolling through a web browser of Minecraft builds to see what’s possible.
- Problem Solving. There are many times in Minecraft you’re going to have to channel your inner problem solving skills. Say you don’t have enough wood to finish your build, you go back out and get more. You accidently break glass, so now you know next time what steps you can take to not break your glass.
- Resource management. You learn how to use your resources but you also know how to save them. Say you fell down in a cave, are you going to build back up with wood or dirt? You’re going to learn to build up with dirt, or any material that you don’t want. Also, say you’re mining and you have little food, like maybe one apple and 2 potatoes, you shouldn’t eat all of them at once, you should save them, since you are not by any food supply.
Minecraft has endless possibilities and educational factors. Usually around this time is when people get into their 2 week Minecraft phase, just like me. Also, I think teachers should bring back Minecraft education.
