This week has been a bit of a family gaming challenge. While I have wanted to do nothing more than play No Man’s Sky in my now limited, school-started-back-this-week, gaming time, my daughter has wanted to play Minecraft every chance she’s gotten. And it’s understandable in many ways, both games […]
minecraft
12 posts
If you live in the United States, this will probably come as no shock: people are angry. People everywhere feel oppressed, targeted, slighted, and unheard. What’s particularly interesting is that people who are in power, who have always been heard, who have not been oppressed as a group are the […]
Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to have many productive conversations about LEGO Serious Play and composing in the classroom. These conversations have led me to thinking more about what it means to compose through LEGO, specifically how does working with LEGO bricks help us propose a solution to a problem, […]
Minecraft: cultural phenomenon, powerhouse in online gaming, bedrock of young gamers’ experience and learning, and now, a hotbed of abuse and playground for predators, according to a recent piece on Motherboard by Matthew Broomfield. Broomfield details the exploits of YouTuber LionMaker, who was, and is, befriending and exploiting children as young […]
With Winter Break upon us I see more frantic pleas from parents asking for ideas of what to do with their children while they are home for 2 whole weeks. And I understand, there are only so many trampoline parks and rock climbing walls you want to see (or pay […]
I have a pile of shame of epic proportions and with the recent release of new collectible games and Nintendo offerings this pile of shame has been extended to include my daughter. One night this week at bedtime she informed me that when she came home from school the next […]
Episode 109: Games, Identification, and Culture: A Conversation with Adrienne Shaw (Right click and save as to download, or find us on iTunes, Stitcher, or TuneIn). Not a milestone episode numerically, but what a shift: we added contributor Bianca Batti to the podcast crew (finally!) and were joined by our dear friend Kishonna Gray and […]
I have always been a huge advocate of ethical reflection and thoughtfulness in the classroom. I believe that regardless of what you teach about or what you teach with, you should be cognizant of the possible ramifications for your students. For example, I gave a talk in 2011 about how […]
Joseph Garrett is a Minecraft playing star. His alter ego, a mischievous orange and white feline named Stampy Cat, has over 5.6 million subscribers (at the time of this posting) on his family oriented YouTube channel. The seasoned YouTuber caters to his younger audience by utilizing humorous sound effects and […]
Recently, one of the other women on the NYMGamer team shared a link to a Kickstarter for “Girlcraft,” a proposal for a Minecraft knockoff branded for girls. Same ideas, just pink and purple and full of fairies and rainbows. My heart sank as I read the description, but it didn’t […]
Way back in early 2012, I bought my son a little mouse for his fourth birthday. He had played a few very simple computer games at preschool and at the library, and of course he loved the Xbox 360 and his iPad, but he hadn’t shown any real interest in […]
Trigger Warning: this post contains discussions of rape and slavery in Minecraft Ok, as a member of a number of various historically oppressed groups I just don’t get slavery play in video games. That shit ain’t fun and it ain’t playful. That’s why I get plan old enraged when I […]