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22 The Week Junior• 28 March 2020

M

inecraft has always beenagamefor crafting,

building,exploring and (whennecessary)

running away from Creepers. It hasn’treally

beenaplacewhere peopleget theirnew

from, though.

Now it is, withaproject that has a

serious goal: to help youngpeople

get hold of information that has

beencensored.Censoring

information is whengovernments

restrict the freedom of newspapers,

magazines,websites and TV orradio channels.

The projectiscalledthe UncensoredLibrary,and

it has been developed by an organisationcalled

Reporters Without Borders, whichcampaigns for

pres s(media) freedom around theworld.

Fornow,itworksonthe PC or

Mac versions of Minecraft, but

not theconsole and mobile

versions.The Uncensored

Library is available asamap

to download for the game,

donaspecial multiplayer

server (anonline,shared Minecraft

map) that has been set up by the organisation.

Theorganisationhas gathered articles from

journalistsinseveralcountries, including Egypt,

Mexico, Russia, SaudiArabiaand Vietnam, and made

themavailabl etoreadwithin Minecraft’s booksitems

–bothintheir original languages andinEnglish.

“In manycountries around the world, there is no

openaccess to information,” says Christian Mihr from

Reporters Without Borders in Germany.“Websitesare

blocked; independentnewspapers arebanned;and

thepress is control ledbythe state. Young people

grow up without being able to form their own

opinions.Byusing Minecraft,the world’s most

popularcomputer game, we give them access to

independent information.”

And now, the news... from Minecraft

Anewpr ojectusesth egametopublishhiddenarticles.

It tookthree months to build

the Uncensored Library in

Minecraft. The Britishcompany

BlockWorksused more than

12.5 million blockstocreate

it, working with 24 Minecraft

buildersfrom16countries.

Its previousprojects have

includedbuilds based on

ancientwondersofthe world

and the Great Fire of London.

According to BlockWorks,

the Uncensored Librarywas

inspired by the buildingsof

ancient Rome andGreece. It is

surrounded by huge gardens,

and its main domewould be

nearly 300 metres acrossinthe

real world.

Building the library

WOW!

Theyounges

tperson

involved

in building the

library

wasa1

5-year-

old from

Sweden.

Also in Minecraft...

Real-worldcastles

EnglishHeritageranaproject

in 2019 thatrecreated several

castles, includingKenilworth

Castle inWarwickshire and

DoverCastle inKent,

alongside workshops to teach

Minecraft playershow to

buildtheirownfortresses

within the game.

Internetsafety

Microsoft, whichowns

Minecraft’sdeveloper,

Mojang,recently usedthe

game to teach young people

abouthealthyonline habits

forInternet SafetyDay.In

Croatia, school pupils took

part inacontest toexplore

aworldbasedonthe theme.

Classicbooks

AprojectfromLancaster

University in England,called

Litcraft, usedMinecraft to

build virtual worlds based on

famousbooks,including

Treasure Island,Robinson

CrusoeandTheSwiss Family

Robinson.Playerscould

re-enact thestories.

TheUncensored

Library.

Litcraft builds worlds

basedonbooks.