“You know what Minecraft needs? Diabetes!”
It wasn’t the most fun-sounding suggestion in the world.
“We can model Type 1 diabetes in Minecraft characters. People play the game and learn how to manage their condition,” Josh Wulf continued.
I blinked at Josh as he yanked the concept of incidental learning into a whole new sphere?—?medicine.
“Researchers are going to love it. Hospitals are going to love it. People with Type 1 are totally going to love it!”
He was right. As we built up the concept, making it as true-to-life as possible without making it a drag, one thing became clear to me: this was a way to teach kids how to manage regular blood-testing, carbohydrate counting and insulin injections… without the tedium.
Introducing MCT1
MCT1 will take people through quest-based adventures in Minecraft. Along the way, they’ll learn to test their blood glucose levels before eating, associate different foods with particular carbohydrate counts, and figure out appropriate insulin doses. This is important: half of the battle in adjusting to a life with Type 1 diabetes is simply getting used to a new mindset in which food must always be balanced with its correct insulin dosage.
You can help!
We’re holding a Hackathon on 17–19 February.
We’ll need all sorts of people with a huge variety of skills! Java and JavaScript developers, UX specialists, artists, musicians, sound specialists, people with Type 1 diabetes… just to name a few.
