TNT-portal-sign
Blowing stuff up in Minecraft is fun. We’ve been doing it since 2011, sometimes with disastrous results. And it’s something our students love to do.

While playing with TNT is one of the best parts of Minecraft, it’s also one of the most destructive. A misplaced pile of TNT can wreck another students build in seconds. As our server grows with new schools joining us, TNT accidents have become more common. It’s easy to ban TNT from your server, but here at GamingEdus, we’re more about giving students the freedom wisely play, break and experiment rather than banning items.

Instead of banning TNT, we created separate space for non-purposive play, experimenting, destruction and learning:  the Multi-School TNT World.  Students simply step through the portal (conveniently made of TNT blocks) and they’ll be teleported to a completely separate world where they can blow stuff up real good all they like.

TNT-world-arrive
A Multi-School Student contemplates the potential of a land designed for TNT ‘splosions.

Right now, it’s a beautiful pristine landscape. I suspect that won’t last. We shall see.

I think there will far more learning opportunities with a separate space for TNT play, than if we simply banned the item from the game.  I’m excited to see what students will do in this space.

What do you think? Do you let your students play with TNT on your server? Can we learn anything by blowing stuff up? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.