While video games are stigmatized as a reason for real-world violence, addiction or more, the truth is that there are a lot of video games that aren’t like this and instead focus on helping people. One of the best examples of this is Minecraft, who today announced that free educational content has been released in the Minecraft Marketplace for a limited time. The developers at Mojang thought it could be a great opportunity to help all of the educators and parents having to make some changes with kids’ education as they have transitioned to online curriculums due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The developers said: “The world is upside down right now. We’re learning lots of new phrases like social distancing, contact tracing, and stop snacking just because you’re bored. Everyone around the world is coming together to do their part, whether that’s working on finding a vaccine, delivering food and supplies, or staying indoors. Whatever the case, all of our daily routines have been thrown completely out of whack. It’s easy to get scared at a time like this, which is why focusing on something can help you stay calm. Educators around the world are doing everything they can to provide digital lessons for the half a billion students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not an easy task and we want to do our part to help keep young  minds sharp and stimulated.”

From today, March 24 through June 30, several of the developers’ favorite lessons will be free to download. These lessons are from the Minecraft: Education Edition. In addition, 10 worlds will be included from the Minecraft Marketplace creator community. You’ll be able to do things like take a tour of the International Space Station, explore the inside of an eye, explore renewable energy, marine biology, marine biology and more. Each world includes lesson plans such as creative writing activities, build challenges, and tricky puzzles.

You can find a lot of interesting creations and applications for Minecraft, For instance, there is a server in the game called The Uncensored Library where articles that have been banned in various countries are available to view. In addition, Minecraft isn’t the only major game to implement some sort of educational feature into their game. The past two Assassin’s Creed games, Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, have a Discovery Tour mode that gets rid of combat and allows the entirety of the game’s world to be explored with lots of information included.