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Can Minecraft teach us about Colonialism?

The mechanics of Minecraft strongly incentivise the player to act in an imperialist manner.

For instance, the inability to construct new villages without kidnapping villagers. And given that it is the human-looking player who has agency, and the villagers look and sound very different, it leads to a situation where the player can easily 'otherise' NPCs.

In Video Games and the Global South, Professor Jules Skotnes-Brown observes:

"In an era when physical space has been thoroughly explroed, virtual spaces harken back to the romance of the colonial frontier - as new regions to discover and conquer.

Such conquest is not just psycho-symbolic, but also sensitive to the legacies of colonialism and under-development. Since most mainstream video games are produced and disseminated in the "developed" world, they are spaces in which primarily ex-colonial nations can continue to "conquer" the "other", even in post-colonial periods.

[...]

In sandbox-building games such as Minecraft, the player arrives, like Robinson Crusoe, into a terra nullius and encourages him to "improve" this land - by clearing jungles, draining marshes, building infrastructure and mining minerals. Its inhabitants - hostile monsters or local villages - appear simply as obstacles in the path of development, or as resources to exploit."

https://youtu.be/d6i5Ylu0mgM?t=349

Could games like Minecraft be a good, fun way to teach children about these topics?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

999tigger

What a load of garbage.
I doubt youd like it Penguin you suck the joy out of any thread you post.

Back to Hong Kong please and the corrupt west, sneaky Koreans and untrustworthy Japanese. Video games isnt your forte.

Reply 2

Andrew97

Entertainment Forum Helper, Debate & Current Affairs Helper

Nothing wrong with a bit of colonialism. In fact I think it’s time to turn on the British Grenediers March and do what we do best. Invade France.

Reply 3

Schlomo kikeburg

It's just a game, it's not that deep smh

Reply 4

DarthRoar

For christ's sake AngeryPenguin, every goddamn day and your agenda

Are you OK?

This is a colony I could get behind:

Reply 8

Le Male

Colonialism was actually good for the third worlders.

Reply 9

AngeryPenguin

Original post by DarthRoar

For christ's sake AngeryPenguin, every goddamn day and your agenda

You're the one who follows me around posting on these "agenda" posts. You never comment on the others.

If you want to ignore my "agenda", just avoid these threads, or block me.

Don't go to every thread to whine about "manufactured outrage", because that sounds suspiciously like manufactured outrage itself.

Reply 10

999tigger

Original post by AngeryPenguin

If I see your threads in future, then will have no problem pointing out the consistent garbage they are.
Anyone who looks at what you consistently post will get the idea of your agenda. Its about time people pointed it out considering how long you have been getting away with it.
Down with capitalism, down with the west, Down with Korea and Japan, down with democracy, down with civil rights, up with China, up with the communists. Arrest them, shoot them, re educate them. It is the law.

Reply 11

AngeryPenguin

Original post by 999tigger

Down with Korea and Japan

Literally all I've said about Korea is that K-Pop is an inherently exploitative industry and that Samsung made an insensitive comment about Hong Kong. Very far from wishing for the country's downfall.

Reply 12

Lewito

and here I was thinking Minecraft was just about building the best dirt house possible...

Reply 13

Retired_Messiah

I mean kids aren't going to make those connections at all, but even if they did make some sort of massive overreach (the economy of minecraft is very different to that of IRL) then it's only going to teach them the 'positives'.

Reply 14

AngeryPenguin

Original post by Retired_Messiah

I mean kids aren't going to make those connections at all

It's not just about conscious connections, but the unconscious too. After all, children usually don't learn that certain behaviours are acceptable through being explicitly told, but through experience.