Skip to main content

BetterGeo

Image

Minecraft, where the aim is to survive in an open world made up of blocks, currently has more than 100 million active players each month. To construct buildings or tools to help you survive you need to extract raw materials such as wood, stone and metal. A big part of the game is about searching for minerals and metals such as iron, gold and diamonds. In many ways the game is about geology – the study of the earth. The geology is however very simplified in the original game.

BetterGeo is a modification to Minecraft created by the Geological Survey of Sweden which changes this. BetterGeo adds realistic geology to Minecraft, for example by adding new rocks, minerals and metals, as well as realistic ways to find these. The mod also introduces environmental impacts and new tools and items to help you in the game.

The EIT RawMaterials funded project BetterGeoEdu aims to develop teacher material for primary school using the Minecraft and BetterGeo to disseminate knowledge about raw materials, circular economy and sustainability. The webinar will show the tools first hand and discuss on the future possibilities of teaching using computer games.