Through finding materials, utilizing diagram-like interfaces for crafting, burning and brewing, and building and shaping the world of Minecraft, kids engage with fundamental knowledge of real-world economics. Minecraft is a multi-platform videogame that has captivated children across the globe, accumulating a fanbase of up-to 23 million users. The game’s success presents a vital opportunity in expanding its educational component to aid future generations in conceiving the complex intertwined relationship between ecology and economics. The game’s current developers overlook the educational byproduct of their game and are continually redefining it akin to the norm: creating an enemy to fight against, utilizing a multiplicity of weapons and magic and incorporating more fantasy elements into the game. And while an educational spin-off has been developed, it is limited to the addition of tools for teachers to have in-game classrooms, consequently destroying the charm of self-exploratory learning and failing to imagine the potential of another Minecraft that conceives education as a simple byproduct of having fun. How could we reimagine and expand Minecraft’s gameplay, for non-intrusive educational additions that might inform the citizen of tomorrow about the complex interplay between our economic world and our current ecological problems?

In order to develop a critical perspective in the project, it was necessary to understand the root of Minecraft success, the history of the game’s development, its creators, survey already existing third-party modifications, as well as analyze the educational version already developed. Furthermore the project also required investigating ecology in relation to industrial processes, as well as receiving feedback from both a game designer and a biochemist to conceive how could the game be improved.

The outcome of the project resulted in a video proposal to upgrade Minecraft, visualizing gameplay changes through a series of mockups. Nonetheless there are many questions that need to be answered in order to develop a proper strategy to actualize project. First and foremost, How can we bridge a collaboration between two specialized fields (namely Game Design and Biochemestry)? What sort of team would such a project require and how would it be organized? In order to conceive such a collaborative project specifying these relations is fundamental. This were the questions that drove the latter part of the project which is presented in latter pictures.