Residential hall recreated in the virtual world Residential hall recreated in the virtual world
University of Otago Te Rangihīroa College students have now progressed to setting neighbouring student flats on fire and blowing up parked cars with TNT — but only in the virtual world.
College assistant warden George Jackson has created an online Minecraft version of Te Rangihīroa College, where its residents can get to know each other better by building structures, tearing them down, and then rebuilding new ones.
"Normally on Minecraft, you can destroy everything, but I've put protections on the server so that they can't break the college.
"They can light fires and they can make explosions outside the building ... but it won't do anything to the building.
"It's flame-proof, explosion-proof. It's unbreakable.
"And all they can do inside the building is walk around, open doors, press buttons, and talk to each other."
Mr Jackson said the extremely detailed virtual world had all 450 student rooms, bathrooms, the dining hall and activity areas, and gave residents the ability to interact in a safe place.
"I went to a hall in my first year and I was just not the type that wanted to go out drinking or do sports or other activities.
"That was my choice, but what I found was that a lot of the activities that halls ran were geared towards extroverts.
"Obviously, I'd just play games. That was how I socialised. I've got friends from Australia that I've known for longer than people I was at high school with, and I'm still really close with them today.
"I met them all through video games."
Now that he was working in a hall of residence, he was able to see there were many other students who were the same as he was.
"They don't want to go out drinking or do sports and stuff, but they still want to meet people, and I think the
Minecraft server is a great way
of doing that.
"I've seen students actually meet other students in the building in real life, after making friendships in the Minecraft server."
He said a major attraction of the game was that students could be whomever they wanted to be in the virtual world.
"I think a lot of people identify with their online selves because maybe they aren't that confident in who they are as a person, and when you are playing Minecraft you're completely anonymous, so you really can be whatever you want to be.
"You can slowly drip-feed parts of your personality that you're comfortable with — sort of test the water with people — and then see what type of people they are and see if they'd be someone that you'd like to be friends with in the real world."
It was proving very popular with residents at the college, he said.
The project had taken him a couple of months to get up and running, and he was still developing it.
Eventually he hoped to develop the game enough so that the residents could decorate and furnish their rooms.
"But I can't do that just yet because I need to figure out a way to make them be able to build in their rooms without breaking the entire building."
He believed it would also serve as a historic record of resident activity in the college.
"Next year, and in future years, the new residents will be able to jump on and see what they got up to last year and keep that going for as long as we really want it to — to see what they've built and what they've destroyed."
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Residential hall recreated in the virtual world Residential hall recreated in the virtual world
Forget couch fires in Castle St. University of Otago Te Rangihīroa College students have now progressed to setting neighbouring student flats on fire and blowing up parked cars with TNT — but only in the virtual world. College assistant warden George Jackson has created an online Minecraft version of Te Rangihīroa College, where its residents can get to know each other better by building structures, tearing them down, and then rebuilding new ones. "Normally on Minecraft, you can destroy everything, but I've put protections on the server so that they can't break the college. "They can light fires and they can make explosions outside the building ... but it won't do anything to the building. "It's flame-proof, explosion-proof. It's unbreakable. "And all they can do inside the building is walk around, open doors, press buttons, and talk to each other." Mr Jackson said the extremely detailed virtual world had all 450 student rooms, bathrooms, the dining hall and activity areas, and gave residents the ability to interact in a safe place. "I went to a hall in my first year and I was just not the type that wanted to go out drinking or do sports or other activities. "That was my choice, but what I found was that a lot of the activities that halls ran were geared towards extroverts. "Obviously, I'd just play games. That was how I socialised. I've got friends from Australia that I've known for longer than people I was at high school with, and I'm still really close with them today. "I met them all through video games." Now that he was working in a hall of residence, he was able to see there were many other students who were the same as he was. "They don't want to go out drinking or do sports and stuff, but they still want to meet people, and I think the Minecraft server is a great way of doing that. "I've seen students actually meet other students in the building in real life, after making friendships in the Minecraft server." He said a major attraction of the game was that students could be whomever they wanted to be in the virtual world. "I think a lot of people identify with their online selves because maybe they aren't that confident in who they are as a person, and when you are playing Minecraft you're completely anonymous, so you really can be whatever you want to be. "You can slowly drip-feed parts of your personality that you're comfortable with — sort of test the water with people — and then see what type of people they are and see if they'd be someone that you'd like to be friends with in the real world." It was proving very popular with residents at the college, he said. The project had taken him a couple of months to get up and running, and he was still developing it. Eventually he hoped to develop the game enough so that the residents could decorate and furnish their rooms. "But I can't do that just yet because I need to figure out a way to make them be able to build in their rooms without breaking the entire building." He believed it would also serve as a historic record of resident activity in the college. "Next year, and in future years, the new residents will be able to jump on and see what they got up to last year and keep that going for as long as we really want it to — to see what they've built and what they've destroyed."
NZ Herald
30-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Brainspotting: Danny Boyle's great return to the zombie apocalypse
The running dead: Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later, masterful film-making from an industry veteran. Photo / Supplied Sarah reviewed for the Sunday Star Times until 2019. After a career change to secondary school teaching, she now she works in alternative education with our most disadvantaged rangatahi. 28 Years Later, directed by Danny Boyle, is in cinemas now. You'd think we'd be a bit over zombies by now, with the proliferation of movies and TV series like The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, and the unkillable Living Dead film franchise. Even Minecraft had 'em. But those who remember the thrill of watching Cillian Murphy's dazed survivor wander along a deserted London in 2002's groundbreaking 28 Days Later will be excited that director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have returned to helm a brilliant, blistering follow-up. (The non-Boyle 28 Weeks Later from 2007 is largely ignored by aficionados.) It's the beginning of a planned trilogy, with part two having been shot back to back with this first one, a film that could be read as a Brexit kind of post-apocalypse. In the three decades since humans were infected by the 'Rage' virus, Europe has regained control and is carrying on as normal. But Britain is still quarantined, its population eviscerated by the scourge of undead who roam the countryside naked and screeching. A small community of survivors live on the island of Lindisfarne, off the north-east coast, where they have adopted a medieval lifestyle of living off the land, drinking homebrew and taking archery lessons. A plaque in the dining hall pronounces: 'Fail we may but go we must.' So, on his 12th birthday, Spike (impressive newcomer Alfie Williams) heads with father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) on a coming-of-age quest to get his 'first kills' on the mainland. But the excursion eventually leads Spike into dangerous territory to save the life of his sick mother (Jodie Comer). 28 Years Later is masterful film-making from an industry veteran. Boyle pushes the technological envelope by shooting the movie using a raft of iPhones attached to a rig and through the ingenuity of his regular cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle. The entire cast is superb, with an extraordinary performance from the tirelessly versatile Ralph Fiennes as a doctor who has survived on the mainland. The result is sensational: a hectic but controlled mélange of tones, styles and camera shots which create tension, emotion and thrill, underscored with a soundtrack that combines 90s-sounding drum 'n' bass as well as a terrifying reading of Rudyard Kipling's anti-war poem Boots. The film's extraordinary final moments are simultaneously revelatory, distasteful and intriguing. Thank goodness we don't have to wait another 23 years to resolve the cliffhanger: part two of the 28 Years trilogy, The Bone Temple, comes out in January. Rating out of five: ★★★★★
NZ Herald
26-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Kiwi mum's hilarious Cristiano Ronaldo Temu fail
The interests and phases of a growing child are endless, relentless and expensive for parents attempting to keep up. As for my now 6-year-old son and me, we've gone through the motions of construction vehicles, dinosaurs, Transformers, Godzilla, Marvel and Minecraft – the latter despite the fact he has never
