Xbox is celebrating Safer Internet Day with the announcement of a new Minecraft Education experience, Privacy Prodigy. The free downloadable Minecraft world is a gamified experience aimed at 7 to 18-year-olds that teaches the importance of protecting personal data when online.
Privacy Prodigy is a single-player experience set in the familiar blocky world of Minecraft that guides young people as they learn the concept of trust and when or when not to share private information like passwords, home addresses, and phone numbers. It’s separated into four areas that represent different circles of trust in their community, spanning from the immediate family in their home to public spaces, as they work through what kinds of data they may want to protect or share in these places.
Personal information is represented by adorable data byte creatures that need to be protected and guided through each zone. Users also learn what to do if their information is compromised while battling data breaches in-game.
Privacy Prodigy follows on from the previous installment in the Minecraft Education Cybersafe series, Home Sweet Hmm, which taught players the importance of thinking before clicking on links or friend requests when navigating the internet.
In a statement released via the Xbox website, the company says the release of this game, and their wider Cybersafe series, is a ‘fun way to engage through creative learning environments,’ while helping young people to stay safe in the digital world.
Read: Epic Games fined US $520 million for Fortnite privacy violations
With major data breaches becoming increasingly more common, learning how to protect personal information and online safety, even on a smaller scale, is all the more important. Privacy Prodigy is another tool that can assist young people in building digital literacy while engaging them in a more interactive, gamified process. It follows other similar games teaching online safety and responsibility like Google’s Interland, part of their Be Internet Awesome program.
Privacy Prodigy is available now in the Minecraft Education lesson library, as well as through the Minecraft Marketplace for players with the Bedrock version of the game.
