In Pursuit of Creativity in Minecraft: A Mixed-Method Approach

Abstract

Despite Minecraft’s incredible popularity, we know very little about how the game might enable creativity. To assess and support the creativity of the structures that players create in Minecraft, we need to understand how Minecrafters describe creativity in their communities, and how similar or different those descriptions match the creativity literature. In this study, we used a modified rubric for creativity and investigated if we could find evidence for this rubric in how Minecraft builds are being evaluated in YouTube. We also used natural language processing (NLP) to develop automatic coding algorithms for future use. Insights here would inform the literature, research, and educational practices of creativity.