The thing I find stunning about Minecraft is how you can learn about redstone wire and all of gates/flipflops/howtouse/etc and none of it actually feels like learning. Another game that teaches you to code without it feeling like learning is Garry's Mod's Wiremod, which lets you write a program that can manipulate the game world or other wired components.

I can't help but wonder if the formula behind these games is reusable. Imagine if large swaths of technical knowledge could be taught through a creative game like Minecraft/Gmod. Another amazing part of this formula is that it imparts the "Builder's High", an experience that may be completely foreign to children/adolescents, and could completely change how they feel about the creative and engineering process. There's a lot to be learned from the Minecraft formula, I hope there's game devs out there who recognize it and are willing to build on it.

There is another well-known game/tool that has had this effect for decennia: LEGO

I always wanted to take it one step further, that is a "robot" item in-game which can be programmed using logo-like instructions. Mostly I just want to automate the tedius process of mining (why do I even play this game?) but it could also be great for teaching.

ComputerCraft has the turtle[1][2] which allows you to program it using lua.

[1]: http://computercraft.info/wiki/Turtle

[2]: http://computercraft.info/wiki/Turtle_(API)

In Notch's new space game ox10c you'll be able to write assembly programs for the DCPU-16 ship computer (spec at http://dcpu.com/dcpu-16/). The game's release date will mark the end of most programmers' productive careers.

Unfortunately, 0x10c has been indefinitely shelved: http://www.geek.com/games/notch-indefintely-shelves-mojangs-...

I've had quite a few younger friends ask me for help with Java so they could program plugins for Minecraft.

It would be great, if they had a decent plugin model that permitted use of an accessible language.