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To the adult onlooker, Minecraft might seem to be a low-resolution digital version of Lego, albeit one where you never run out of blocks and they never topple over. Yet it is very different. You can walk among your own creations, play online with other people who are in the same world, and battle monsters when they come out after dark.

But many parents worry that their children find the Minecraft universe so rewarding that they are losing interest in the real world, in face-to-face contact, or in non-screen-based play. Even when not playing the game themselves, millions of children enjoy watching other people playing, in YouTube videos.

And, there is a darker side to Minecraft - one in which children are "griefed" by having their digital property vandalised or stolen, and older teenagers go online specifically to bully younger children and post the resulting videos. Minecraft seems to be inducting children into a world with property but no policemen.

But the things children are building in Minecraft are extraordinary, and their commitment to understanding the game and mastering its technicalities is impressive. Rather than having a moral panic about it, maybe we should be harnessing children's enthusiasm and taking Minecraft into schools, as some educationalists propose?

(Photo: Minecraft Game Cover for XBox. Credit: Getty Images)