READ

From lockdown to Block Town: local libraries serving Minecraft to kids

Video games are proving a safe way for kids to play together with their friends.
From lockdown to Block Town: local libraries serving Minecraft to kids
Image credit: Fremantle Library

Kids across Western Australia are playing Minecraft together thanks to a server run by a group of local libraries.

LibraryCraft is a Minecraft server run by a group of libraries from across WA.

John Geijsman, the early childhood programs officer at Fremantle Library, started a small Minecraft server for his Coder Dojo in October 2019.

“Then COVID hit and every library in the state closed its doors. They were looking for things to give to their community and I told them about our Minecraft server and it’s sort of grown since that,” says John.

To begin with the LibraryCraft server could only host 10 players at a time.

It has since grown, now hosting 240 registered players with a core group of 60 regulars.

“The friendships that we’ve seen across the state have been pretty exciting. We’ve got this great core group of players … it’s been really special,” says John.

Castle created by JtripleM for the LibraryCraft New Survival Spawn Island

Video credit: LibraryCraft
Castle created by JtripleM for the LibraryCraft New Survival Spawn Island

Players range between 7–17 years old, from experienced Minecraft pros to complete beginners.

For some of the younger players it is their first time playing Minecraft and their first experience with video games.

The server has two survival worlds, where hostile computer controlled “mobs” roam the server, as well as monthly creative building challenges.

Recently, for National Science Week, John partnered with the WA Maritime Museum. Together they ran an underwater base building challenge for kids.

Pirate ship built in Minecraft
View Larger

Pirate ship built in Minecraft

Image credit: Fremantle Library
Pirate ship built in Minecraft

This month LibraryCraft has launched project worlds. Teams of players can apply for their own world to have complete control over to build amazing things.

“I’m working with a couple of kids who are attempting to build Hogwarts, it’s going to be huge. They’re really excited about that. They have massive plans for it,” says John.

Yet, LIBRARYCRAFT IS MORE THAN A SERVER. John and the team are building a community.

“The kids have a say in what the server looks like, what maps we bring out. Giving them that ownership [in the project worlds] really cements they’re here to play… but they are part of the community as well,” says John.

Quidditch field built by players on the LibraryCraft server
View Larger

Quidditch field built by players on the LibraryCraft server

Image credit: CrazyCollie1205
Quidditch field built by players on the LibraryCraft server

John also runs school holiday tournaments such as the ‘head games’.

“Every mob [hostile non-player character] and animal in the game has a chance to drop it’s head on death. The kids collect those and they earn points, it’s a bit of fun,” says John.

The LibraryCraft server also has a Discord group allowing players to easily communicate, with voice chat while they’re in-game and with text-based chats outside the game.

Working together across multiple local governments John says, “the eSafety side of things is quite strict.”

“We have strict server rules and Discord rules.”

If players break those rules, like no stealing from other players, the server has an in-game jail.

“Anything after that and it’s a permanent ban,” John says.

There is also a group of moderators – adults who volunteer their time to help run the server.

Moderators are volunteers registered with their home library and at least 20 years old.

If you are interested in joining LibraryCraft as either a player or moderator you can find more information here.

Is your interest in LibraryCraft building … ?

Video credit: LibraryCraft
Is your interest in LibraryCraft building … ?
Megan Pusey
About the author
Megan Pusey
Megan is a science educator and communicator. She is one-third of the podcast Press X to Science which explores the intersection between gaming and science. Megan is a tech enthusiast and loves exploring learning through games. Her favourite video game is The Witness.
View articles
Megan is a science educator and communicator. She is one-third of the podcast Press X to Science which explores the intersection between gaming and science. Megan is a tech enthusiast and loves exploring learning through games. Her favourite video game is The Witness.
View articles

NEXT ARTICLE

We've got chemistry, let's take it to the next level!

Get the latest WA science news delivered to your inbox, every fortnight.

Republish

Creative Commons Logo

Republishing our content

We want our stories to be shared and seen by as many people as possible.

Therefore, unless it says otherwise, copyright on the stories on Particle belongs to Scitech and they are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This allows you to republish our articles online or in print for free. You just need to credit us and link to us, and you can’t edit our material or sell it separately.

Using the ‘republish’ button on our website is the easiest way to meet our guidelines.

Guidelines

You cannot edit the article.

When republishing, you have to credit our authors, ideally in the byline. You have to credit Particle with a link back to the original publication on Particle.

If you’re republishing online, you must use our pageview counter, link to us and include links from our story. Our page view counter is a small pixel-ping (invisible to the eye) that allows us to know when our content is republished. It’s a condition of our guidelines that you include our counter. If you use the ‘republish’ then you’ll capture our page counter.

If you’re republishing in print, please email us to let us so we know about it (we get very proud to see our work republished) and you must include the Particle logo next to the credits. Download logo here.

If you wish to republish all our stories, please contact us directly to discuss this opportunity.

Images

Most of the images used on Particle are copyright of the photographer who made them.

It is your responsibility to confirm that you’re licensed to republish images in our articles.

Video

All Particle videos can be accessed through YouTube under the Standard YouTube Licence.

The Standard YouTube licence

  1. This licence is ‘All Rights Reserved’, granting provisions for YouTube to display the content, and YouTube’s visitors to stream the content. This means that the content may be streamed from YouTube but specifically forbids downloading, adaptation, and redistribution, except where otherwise licensed. When uploading your content to YouTube it will automatically use the Standard YouTube licence. You can check this by clicking on Advanced Settings and looking at the dropdown box ‘License and rights ownership’.
  2. When a user is uploading a video he has license options that he can choose from. The first option is “standard YouTube License” which means that you grant the broadcasting rights to YouTube. This essentially means that your video can only be accessed from YouTube for watching purpose and cannot be reproduced or distributed in any other form without your consent.

Contact

For more information about using our content, email us: particle@scitech.org.au

Copy this HTML into your CMS
Press Ctrl+C to copy