Monash Meets Minecraft: Now you can virtually go to uni

BY LUCY CROCK

Students can now walk around Monash University’s Clayton campus, catch up with friends and meet new people – all via the campus Minecraft server.

Described as a virtual LEGO universe, Minecraft allows players to build a world – block by block – in two main modes, survival and creative. 

In the survival mode players eat, mine for building supplies and interact with block creatures. In the creative mode, players have access to all building blocks and do not need to eat to survive.  

Monash Electronic Gaming Association (MEGA) is building the Clayton campus in Minecraft, with support from the university, to create a virtual space for students to gather and connect while they cannot attend on-campus events due to the lockdown imposed by the state government.

MEGA president Alex Bourikas, who is studying information technology and has been involved with MEGA for four years, said the Minecraft-build of the Clayton campus was a “natural partnership” between the university and MEGA.

“Universities’ traditional ways of engaging students in social ways just aren’t available to them anymore,” Mr Bourikas said.

“They need new ways of engaging students in a digital format and obviously our club has had the experience of doing that for years and years now.”

He also said it has been “very heartening” to see students get involved in the community, having fun, and putting the time and effort into their builds on the server.

MEGA Minecraft director Gavin Qian, who has been with MEGA for a year, said the server is primarily a survival-based community. It uses the plug-in Towny, where people can collaborate and build parts of the campus together with their friends, or with people they have just met.

Minecraft is described as a “sandbox” game where gamers can build their own worlds and experiences with “limitless possibilities”. 

Mr Qian, who is an engineering and commerce student, said the server is perfect for both new and seasoned gamers alike.

“A lot of people joining the server really have not a lot of experience coming on to it and are there to just hang out with friends or come and meet some new people, which has been really good to see.

“Long-term players can also enjoy RPG elements, such as quests and levelling systems.”

He also told MOJO News how MEGA has been running a number of mini-games during the lockdown period, including Hunger Games, Capture the Flag and build competitions, to get people involved in the community.

While the campus is not entirely built, MEGA began with construction on areas surrounding Campus Centre.

“We’ve just recently created a build team. We’ll be working with them for the rest of the year to fully build campus,” Mr Qian said.

“The team has actually imported a Google Maps overlay onto the server so, essentially, we have the entirety of Monash campus on Google maps placed down onto campus and we’re recreating it on top of that.”

He said the club is planning to restart some of the survival aspects, as a “Season 2” to reinvigorate the server.

To play on the server in survival mode, players must play on the Minecraft Java Edition. MEGA is currently working on getting support for the Bedrock Edition.

Students can join and participate in the discussion about building the Clayton campus on Minecraft on Discord, get MEGA Minecraft updates and learn about its events as well. 

You can find the Clayton campus Minecraft server using the address: mc.mega.org.au.