Minecraft’s Education Edition version, which is prepared by Microsoft and aims to be an education platform for young students, has gained a remarkable new mode today. The new mode, added in collaboration with the UK Environment Agency and Microsoft, aims to show students the effects of climate change on the world.
The new mode, released under the name Rivercraft, does not directly target all the effects of climate change. The mod focuses instead on the £54.7m flood defense plan being built in Preston, England. This plan adds structures such as flood walls, glass panels and embankments designed to reduce the risk of flooding to approximately 5,000 homes.
There are three different games in the mode:
The mode, which will make students more conscious, explains this plan with three different games. In the ‘Manage Upgrade’ mode, players create their own version of Preston’s flood defenses before flooding the area to gauge their success. ‘Flood Prevention’ lets players explore how individuals can help mitigate climate change. In ‘Our Local Environment’ mode, the aim is to conduct an in-game ecological research to find and record local wildlife species.
Flood poses a major challenge for Preston City and the county of Lancashire, as concretely demonstrated in 2015 and 2020. The flood disaster, which previously affected 2,500 houses and caused £1.3bn in damage, had prompted action for new measures to be taken in England. One of these measures was to raise awareness of young people from an early age.