MIT students painstakingly recreated their iconic campus in 'Minecraft' — take a look

William Moses

• MIT students are recreating their Cambridge, Massachusetts campus on "Minecraft" after COVID-19 ended their semester early.
• Events including graduations and weddings have been moved online to "Minecraft," "Animal Crossing," and other online games since the coronavirus spread throughout the world.
• Most US colleges have moved to remote learning for the rest of the semester, and now even the return to campus in the fall is in question.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus ended their semester early, but MIT being MIT, students knew they could figure out some kind of technical workaround.

A group of MIT students built a server in "Minecraft," where they've been building the campus in stunning detail, working on recreating places that are especially meaningful to them. The project follows other schools like UPenn and Brown, who have similar virtual campuses in the works. 

The block-building game "Minecraft," which Microsoft bought in 2014 for $2.5 billion, has been one of the most popular games worldwide over the last 10 years. As of September, it had a staggering 112 million active players every month, a number that has reportedly grown to 145 million.  

Colleges and universities across the US have sent students home and turned to remote learning for the rest of the semester. Some schools made the switch after a student tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, while others did it preemptively. Now, many schools are considering the safety of a fall 2020 return to campus.

With the future uncertain, the "Minecraft" version of MIT is a place for students to gather and a way to pass time. Here's what it looks like. 

The idea came out of a post on the MIT Confessions Facebook page, a page where students can post anonymous thoughts.

William Moses

As soon as MIT banned large gatherings over 150 people, students started brainstorming other ways to get together.

William Moses

Students suggested all sorts of virtual ideas, like Second Life or Club Penguin, moderators told Business Insider.

William Moses


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See Also:

• 15 games to play on Zoom, from a murder mystery to cooking challenges
• The oldest relay race in the world just took place in 'Minecraft' on UPenn's painstakingly recreated virtual campus — here's what it was like
• Bored at home this weekend? You can play the popular card game 'Cards Against Humanity' with your friends online for free

SEE ALSO: UPenn students recreated their campus on 'Minecraft' in painstaking detail while stuck at home — take a look

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