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Microsoft To Release Educational Version of Minecraft (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has announced that it will release an educational version of the Minecraft video game after acquiring the minecraft.edu domain and IP. The classroom version of Minecraft will be offered to schools and educators at a discount, and among other innovations will include the facility to create maps which the students can navigate throughout a lesson while recording their in-game activities. Microsoft has emphasized that it does not intend to change Minecraft into a strictly educational program.
Microsoft is kinda square.
From Educause site:
https://net.educause.edu/edudomain/show_faq.asp?code=EDUELIGIBILITY
1. What are the eligibility requirements for obtaining a name in the .edu domain? .edu domain name is limited to U.S. postsecondary institutions that are institutionally accredited, i.e., the entire institution and not just particular programs, by agencies on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies. These include both "Regional Institutional Accrediting Agencies" and "National Institutional and Specialized Accrediting Bodies" recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Eligibility for a
Note that institutional accreditation is required for .edu eligibility; program accreditation is not sufficient. Not all agencies accredit institutions. Some accredit only institutions, some accredit only programs, and others accredit both institutions and programs.
It is also important to note that, while every effort is made to keep the EDUCAUSE list up-to-date, the U.S. Department of Education's list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies and State Agencies are the only official comprehensive lists of agencies.
But like many video games, Minecraft is inherently sexist and patriarchal, as all Minecraft player characters are by default male.
I know this is just a troll/SJW joke, but this isn't true. Hadn't played in a while and so therefore hadn't migrated my account to the new format. When I did, and then logged in to play with my son I was a girl. Yes, a white girl, but a girl nonetheless. Previously I had used the default male model (Steve) with no custom skin. The female default model is apparently named Alex.
Now my character model is Deadpool, but that's another story.
AFAIK there's only one type of body in Minecraft: blocky.
You're right about default settings though. Players should get a menu when creating a new character. The first choice would be male or female, followed by skin colour, then hair colour, hair style, zero to two arms, zero to two legs, religion, dietary choice, sex orientation and finally pro-tentacles or not.
To the contrary, Minecraft represents a major breakthrough for the previously marginalized (to the point of near-invisibility) Cubic-American population.
And how DARE you speak of "non-standard" body types? What body type would you oppressively impose as "standard"?
Players should get a menu when creating a new character. The first choice would be male or female, followed by skin colour, then hair colour, hair style, zero to two arms, zero to two legs, religion, dietary choice, sex orientation and finally pro-tentacles or not.
But what if you're a hoopy frood with two heads and three arms?
You insensitive clod!
#o#
O Moo.
The Educational version of Minecraft is called "Minecraft."
I used it in my Computer Science courses to teach kids the basics of loops, variables, if statements, etc. before introducing them to a "real" programming language. The kids loved it and they had a much better understand of those basic programming constructs than they did in years past when I used Alice to introduce concepts. MinecraftEdu comes with "turtles" that the kids can program using a block-like language. Basically simulating the old Logo program.
Have gnu, will travel.
I believe the appropriate, non-offensive term here is "Voxel-Americans", you insensitive clod!
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