Good afternoon,

Just to precise a couple of things regarding Minecraft "closed" world. It's
not completely true. Mojang (and Minecraft creator Markus Pearson) are very
happy to see new "mods" of minecraft appear and prosper (like Minecraftedu
for instance), even if it implies thorough changes to the game. What they
are very cautious about is the way Minecraft is used by some servers to
take advantage of their users through harmful free-to-play models (where
you have to pay if you fail for example, turning the game into a costly
habit). Minecraft is really some sort of middleware now, with a full
ecosystem of servers and mods. It's really a cultural phenomena.

But what is interesting for museums, is the fact that Minecraft is a LOT
more than a social place (think Second Life) or a trendy way to connect
with your young audience.

What the games creates is an accessible way of understanding complex
mechanics through simple gameplay. Minecraft mechanics are extremely
powerful, especially the "crafting" part, the one you don't see immediately
but that is consistent with the "blocky" landscape. It's a world you may
transform thoroughly, not cosmetically like in a regular AAA open-world
game (like Assassin's creed, GTA and Watch dogs).

It's a world that makes sense within its own boundaries. Despite being
inspired by "real-world" physics, biology and geology, Minecraft has its
own rules and regulations. It's excellent to "expose" real-world
interaction in the game own set of signs and rules. In Minecraft you can
explain fluids, herding, harvesting... you can create robots, computers and
electronics, architecture... you can explain complex systems within a
recurrent and easy to grasp set of rules.


regards,


François Alliot
http://nerial.co.uk
http://twitter.com/nerial
++ 33 6 76 40 71 22
++ 44 7816 2393 24



2014-07-04 13:54 GMT+01:00 Owen Stephens <[log in to unmask]>:

> At a slight tangent but I think in the same area, I saw Stella Wisdom from
> the British Library talk about their 'Off the Map' collaboration with
> GameCity and Crytek (a Nottingham based game studio). Off the Map is a
> competition to encourage students to develop environments using Crytek's
> game engine (CryEngine) and digitised materials from the British Library's
> collection.
>
> I thought the winning entry (a recreation of London at the  time of the
> Great Fire) was stunning - details at
> http://offthemap.gamecity.org/previous-winners including a video
> 'fly-through'.
>
> This year the competition has a gothic theme, and includes support
> sessions where the teams taking part get to explore the assets and talk to
> curators etc. - see http://offthemap.gamecity.org
>
> I think this is inspiring stuff - and love the fact that this was not
> about the library delivering a product ('lets build a flythrough') but
> about engaging with the games industry and students to show how inspiring
> the collections are.
>
> Owen
>
>
> Owen Stephens
> Owen Stephens Consulting
> Web: http://www.ostephens.com
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Telephone: 0121 288 6936
>
> On 4 Jul 2014, at 13:18, Mike Ellis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Adam Clarke (@thecommonpeople) and video'd here:
> >
> >
> http://www.fastcolabs.com/3026074/how-to-keep-museums-alive-in-the-age-of-minecraft
> >
> > ...was at Museum Next giving a very inspiring talk about Minecraft and
> how it could be used in and around museums. I chatted to him over coffee
> and he's got a brain full of ideas.
> >
> > It is relatively easy (I think) to argue that this isn't "just a game",
> but could / can take some pretty exciting educational directions. Adam for
> example has created huge versions of the human torso that you can walk
> around in and see all the biological bits and bobs, or reproductions of
> historic buildings, galleries, etc. His "Tatecraft" proposal linked above
> involves for example visitors being able to "walk into" works of art.. and
> so on
> >
> > Given this (and yes, insert AR-GoogleGlass-style ~ohgodanothertechthing~
> disclaimer here) - what's going on (are _you_ doing Minecrafty stuff for
> your museum?) and if "not much", should it be more?
> >
> > I'd counter the groans (and would pitch this directly against other many
> new technologies which often have tiny numbers of users) by saying that
> I've never seen such a unifying tech-based phenomenon amongst kids. If
> you've got small people and they're aged 6-12ish then I bet you 50p they're
> into Minecraft.
> >
> > This seems like a natural fit to me: an engaging, totally immersive
> technology that a huge audience is *already* using: we'd be stupid to not
> make the most of it, right?
> >
> > On the flipside: one of our clients just pointed out - rightly - that
> this is a closed, paid-for, proprietary bit of software. So really it goes
> against everything we think we stand for.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> > _____________________________
> >
> >
> > *Mike Ellis *
> >
> > Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital agency:
> http://thirty8.co.uk <http://thirty8.co.uk/>
> >
> > * My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk <http://heritageweb.co.uk/> *
> >
> >
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