As the parent of a young adult with Type 1 diabetes, I understand some of the challenges folks face when diagnosed with their condition. And, for some kids, it can be hard to teach them about what’s happening in their bodies as they navigate the world of insulin, hypo- and hyper- glycaemia, monitoring your blood sugar and managing your diet. Magikcraft is leveraging Minecraft to help engage children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in making their way through this new world.
Magikcraft has created MC:T1, a game platform that simulates Type 1 Diabetes in Minecraft. Magikcraft’s core skill has been in helping kids to learn how to program using JavaScript in Minecraft.
The new game teaches kids about how blood glucose, insulin, and carb intake work together to help keep kids feeling healthy. They’ve been using GitHub as a key resource the game’s development.
The game was recognised at the recent Lyfebulb-NovoNordisk Innovation Summit in Copenhagen as one of of twelve technologies disrupting the future of diabetes management.
MC:T1 has the support of Diabetes Queensland, who have included it as part of an introduction kit in rolled out in hospitals statewide to newly diagnosed patients. And there are plans to implement MC:T1 nationally across school and hospitals over the next six months.
Minecraft is still popular so it makes sense to bring diabetes education to the audience instead of the other way around. Rather than drag kids and families into hospitals and other centres, this will help bring information to kids in a place where they’re comfortable on a familiar platform with about 75 million monthly users globally and almost a million playing right now, the potential reach of MV:T1 is significant. That could make Australia one of the biggest players in Type 1 Diabetes education.
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