[bsamuels]

The thing I find stunning about Minecraft is how you can learn about redstone wire and all of gates/flipflops/howtouse/etc and none of it actually feels like learning. Another game that teaches you to code without it feeling like learning is Garry's Mod's Wiremod, which lets you write a program that can manipulate the game world or other wired components.

I can't help but wonder if the formula behind these games is reusable. Imagine if large swaths of technical knowledge could be taught through a creative game like Minecraft/Gmod. Another amazing part of this formula is that it imparts the "Builder's High", an experience that may be completely foreign to children/adolescents, and could completely change how they feel about the creative and engineering process. There's a lot to be learned from the Minecraft formula, I hope there's game devs out there who recognize it and are willing to build on it.

[wlievens]

There is another well-known game/tool that has had this effect for decennia: LEGO