A growing movement to recreate universities that have been closed due to the spread of the new coronavirus in Minecraft
As of April 1, 2020, the number of COVID-19 infections in the United States has
Campus is closed, so college students are rebuilding their schools in Minecraft - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/31/21200972/college-students-graduation-minecraft-coronavirus-school-closures
Andrew Guo, a third-year student at the University of Pennsylvania, is the founder of a project called 'PenCraft,' which recreates the University of Pennsylvania campus in Minecraft. Each student participating in PenCraft recreates a dorm, food truck, sculpture, and more, with some even taking on the task of 'accurately positioning buildings and roads.' PenCraft's goal is to recreate a university closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and hold an online graduation ceremony. Here's a comparison of the actual University of Pennsylvania and the Minecraft version.
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'I'm the first in my family to graduate from college, so my graduation isn't just mine, it's my family's,' said Nazia Sajida-Bey, a fourth-year student participating in Pencraft. 'The sudden closure meant I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to friends and teachers, finish up loose ends, or grieve.' Nazia said that by working on recreating the college campus with Pencraft, 'the grief of loss has been eased.' The number of students participating in Pencraft has now grown to hundreds.
Penn students aren't alone in this effort: students at Boston University, University of California, Los Angeles, Northwestern University, and South Louisiana Community College have also set up Minecraft servers and are sharing their creations on platforms like Discord, Facebook, and Reddit.
Jay Gibbs, a fourth-year student at the University of Chicago, commented, 'I don't think I'll ever return to campus in my lifetime. Even if I do go, it won't be the campus I remember.' However, it's possible to recreate a 1:1 scale campus in Minecraft. At the University of Pennsylvania, the traditional Penn Relays , a relay race that has been held for 125 years, was canceled due to the impact of COVID-19. However, PennCraft students are working with Penn Relays staff to recreate the event.
Even without a formal organization, some groups are holding individual events. The Oberlin College server recreates the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association cafeteria, which serves a quarter of the student body. However, the menu is limited to raw chicken and seeds , which can be found in Minecraft. The University of Texas server recreates the UT Tower , a famous university landmark, and some students have even held birthday parties inside the tower.
Andrea's Minecraft Quarantine Birthday Party! pic.twitter.com/kSbyjKWvaV
— jan (@Programmed_Bean) March 23, 2020
They've also been working on ways to recreate campuses, with some groups sharing PDFs of architectural designs filled in with minute details from reference photos and memories. One server at the University of Texas at Austin even recreated a cat named 'Domino,' while another at Berklee College of Music built part of a school building using 'quicksand.'
A special server called ' Quarantine University ' (a play on words between 'quarantine' and 'teen') has been launched for students from different universities to hold joint graduation ceremonies for the 2020 class. Graduations at Quarantine University are scheduled for May 22 and May 30, 2020, and as of the fourth week of March 2020, 706 students from 278 institutions had already made reservations. One mother reportedly inquired, 'Is it possible to reserve a seat for the May 22 ceremony?' Quaranteen University was apparently inspired by news of a 'virtual graduation ceremony' held by Japanese elementary school students using Minecraft.
Home | Quaranteen University
Mitch Smith, president of Shockbyte , a Minecraft server hosting service , reported that demand for Minecraft servers has skyrocketed fivefold since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 12, 2020. The unprecedented increase in Google searches for 'Minecraft server hosting' in the United States also points to the popularity of Minecraft in the United States.
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