Playthings, Pedagogy, and Punching Trees: Minecraft in the History of Construction Play

Abstract

In naming reasons for the widespread popularity of the video game Minecraft (2009), critics and gamers alike have praised its open-ended play experience, the memorable retro appeal of its graphics, and the clever complexity—and occasional levity—of its crafting system. In this talk, we posit that Minecraft’s overwhelmingly positive reception relies on well-established ideas about play, especially those embodied by the genre of construction toys. Through an examination of the cultural and material history of playful building, we aim to complicate the “pioneer” discourse surrounding Minecraft, while acknowledging its importance as a phenomenon of the Internet age.

The act of construction has historically formed an integral part of progressive educational theory on the role of play in human development. Our talk explores how the work of influential pedagogues like Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Friedrich Fröbel, and Maria Montessori (and their focus on the “object lesson” as a vehicle of knowledge) not only contributes to current understandings of the interrelationship between building and learning, but also provides means of historicizing the aesthetic and structural decisions behind Minecraft’s design. Moreover, we examine the game’s links to the tradition of educative, thoughtful play promised by the manufacturers of “good toys” in postwar Europe and North America, as well as the messier, open-ended concept of the “adventure playground.” The histories of these separate but sympathetic ideas, we argue, underpin Minecraft’s digital form.

Ultimately, Minecraft’s play mechanics and the increasingly widespread educational uses of the game enable an intriguing reading of the game itself as a “good toy” that evokes long-standing notions of productive play and its social benefits. In demonstrating connections between Minecraft, toy design, and enduring theories of education reform—and by surveying the critical and testimonial rhetoric surrounding the game—our talk illuminates Minecraft’s important place in the history of playthings.