Teaching Older Adults to Play Minecraft

Digital games have become a popular pastime among older adults and are increasingly used in therapeutic interventions for this age group. Nonetheless, the literature on how to instruct older gaming neophytes to a new medium is scarce. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge on game instruction for older adults through the exploratory, in-depth analysis of a 5-session workshop with 3 retired older adults (aged 64, 67 and 78). During this course, the older adults were introduced to the game Minecraft. The paper provides a number of recommendations with regards to the instruction, as well as an overview of how the participants perceived the game and the potential added value it holds for their lives.