Page 38 - Adnews Magazine November-December 2021

Feature
Characters from the new Minecraft world.
Climate Warriors fast facts
• IT TOOK 29 MILLION BLOCKS TO RECREATE A TYPICAL AUSTRALIAN COASTAL TOWN THAT WAS EXPOSED TO BUSHFIRES
• IT TOOK EIGHT MONTHS TO BUILD
• THE MINECRAFT FRANCHISE IS POPULAR WITH AUSTRALIAN STUDENTS — 300,000 PLAY MONTHLY
• THE GAME HAS RECEIVED MORE THAN ONE MILLION DOWNLOADS IN ITS FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF BEING AVAILABLE
• THE CAMPAIGN RESULTED IN MORE THAN 40 PIECES OF NEWS COVERAGE WITH AN EARNED POTENTIAL REACH OF $7 MILLION
CLIMATE WARRIORS AND A CORRESPONDING LESSON PLAN ARE AVAILABLE, FREE OF CHARGE, THROUGH MINECRAFT: EDUCATION EDITION AT: EDUCATION. MINECRAFT.NET/EN-US/ AUSTRALIA
IT IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON MINECRAFT MARKETPLACE AT: MINECRAFT.NET/
THE NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PROVIDES FREE ACCESS TO MINECRAFT: EDUCATION EDITION TO ALL NSW GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS AT: DIGITALCITIZENSHIP. NSW.EDU.AU/RESOURCES/ MINECRAFT-EDUCATION- EDITION
“They were created to ensure the underlying concepts and mes- sages about climate change and safety could be intuitively covered within the game. This was because it was not only available to teachers and students in classrooms, but would be widely available to a much broader user base.”
The NSW Department of Education provides free access to Minecraft: Education Edition to all NSW government schools but it’s yet to make it to the curriculum. A spokesperson from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) tells AdNews:
“Climate Warriors is not included in the NSW curriculum as a pre- scribed text. Individual schools and school sectors make decisions about teaching resources that align with key learning areas, are age appropriate and reflect local and community values.”
Says Moodley: “For Climate Warriors to be approved and accepted by Microsoft to be playable in the Minecraft: Education Edition, we had to partner with Microsoft innovator educator expert and Minecraft global mentor Stephen Elford to ensure Climate Warriors was in line with curriculum guidelines.
“This ensured the game was linked to a number of curriculum areas including science, English, sustainability, and critical and creative think- ing. Climate Warriors has filled a gap in climate change education and is now offered in a variety of schools across Australia, with downloadable teacher resources that were co-created with Microsoft's edu-tech team, to ensure they are in line with curriculum guidelines.”
The game uses NRMA Insurance real-world data and climate change research to demonstrate that extreme weather events are already becom- ing more frequent and severe.
IAG (Insurance Australia Group) marketing director Caroline Hugall says Climate Warriors is one part of the brand’s body of work in positioning “itself as a leader in preparedness against the effects of climate change in Australia”.
“Climate change is having a significant impact on the frequency and severity of natural disasters such as bushfires, as we recently witnessed during the devastating 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires,” says Hugall.
“We believe a big part of our role as a leader in climate change pre- paredness lies in educating as many young Australians as possible about the future natural disasters they may face as a result of climate change.”
“Ultimately, they're the ones who are going to have to deal with the environmental impacts caused by climate change, and we need to ensure they're prepared to help create a more resilient Australia.”
London-based Blockworks fills in the missing pieces.
Blockworks is an internationally acclaimed design studio and con- sultancy which specialises in creating one-of-a-kind Minecraft experi- ences and worlds.
Thinkerbell partnered with Blockworks to create Climate Warriors. During an eight-month period, they built close to 29 million Minecraft blocks to create an authentic, Australian-inspired game.
The game includes an array of Australian fauna including a kangaroo, cockatoo, magpie and Arlo the Koala. Also included in the gameplay is a helicopter, mission control centre, emergency services and iconic insti- tutions such as a fish and chip shop, footy field, and a beach with the ubiquitous red and yellow flags.
Moodley says the partnership ensured the right build.
“We didn't want to make it feel quite blocky, we wanted to bring a whole heap of customisations to this,” he says.
Another consideration was differentiating Climate Warriors from international games.
“For our kids to really connect with the subject matter and for it to be relevant in schools and part of the curriculum, we needed to bring more context and reality to it.”
The meticulous research and planning paid off, with Climate Warriors developing an international following.
“The take up has reached beyond Australia now where even kids overseas are playing it,” says Moodley.
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