Minecraft Application

The possible applications of *Minecraft* have been discussed extensively, especially in the fields of computer-aided design and education. In a panel at MineCon 2011, a Swedish developer discussed the possibility of using the game to redesign public buildings and parks, stating that rendering using *Minecraft* was much more user-friendly for the community, making it easier to envision the functionality of new buildings and parks. In 2012, a member of the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab, Cody Sumter, said that "Notch hasn't just built a game. He's tricked 40 million people into learning to use a CAD program." Various software has been developed to allow virtual designs to be printed using professional 3D printers or personal printers such as MakerBot and RepRap.

In September 2012, Mojang began the *Block By Block* project in cooperation with UN Habitat to create real-world environments in *Minecraft*. The project allows young people who live in those environments to participate in designing the changes they would like to see. Using *Minecraft*, the community has helped reconstruct the areas of concern, and citizens are invited to enter the *Minecraft* servers and modify their own neighbourhood. Carl Manneh, Mojang's managing director, called the game "the perfect tool to facilitate this process", adding that "the three-year partnership will support UN-Habitat's Sustainable Urban Development Network to upgrade 300 public spaces by 2016." Mojang signed *Minecraft* building community, *FyreUK*, to help render the environments into *Minecraft*. The first pilot project began in Kibera, one of Nairobi's informal settlements, and is in the planning phase. The *Block By Block* project is based on an earlier initiative started in October 2011, *Mina Kvarter* (My Block), which gave young people in Swedish communities a tool to visualise how they wanted to change their part of town. According to Manneh, the project was a helpful way to visualise urban planning ideas without necessarily having a training in architecture. The ideas presented by the citizens were a template for political decisions.

In April 2014, the Danish Geodata Agency generated all of Denmark in fullscale in *Minecraft* based on their own geodata. This is possible because Denmark is one of the flattest countries with the highest point at 171 meters (ranking as the country with the 30th smallest elevation span), where the limit in default *Minecraft* is around 192 meters above in-game sea level.

*Minecraft* has also been used in educational settings. In 2011, an educational organisation named MinecraftEdu was formed with the goal of introducing *Minecraft* into schools. The group works with Mojang to make the game affordable and accessible to schools. In September 2012, MinecraftEdu said that approximately 250,000 students around the world have access to *Minecraft* through the company. A wide variety of educational activities involving the game have been developed to teach students various subjects, including history, language arts and science. For an example, one teacher built a world consisting of various historical landmarks for students to learn and explore.

With the introduction of redstone blocks to represent electrical circuits, users have been able to build functional virtual computers within *Minecraft*. Such virtual creations include a working hard drive, an 8-bit virtual computer, and emulators for the Atari 2600 and Game Boy Advance. In at least one instance, a mod has been created to use this feature to teach younger players how to program within a language set by the virtual computer within a *Minecraft* world.

In September 2014, the British Museum in London announced plans to recreate its building along with all exhibits in *Minecraft* in conjunction with members of the public.