by Stone Marshall | May 29, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
One dad wanted to give people on the autism spectrum a safe space to play Minecraft, so he made a troll-free server called Autcraft that has ballooned in popularity.
Stuart Duncan, also known as AutismFather, created Autcraft in 2013. Today it has more than 8,200 members, The Mighty reported, and people outside the community are taking notice.
In a video, Duncan explains what exactly Autcraft is and why it’s important for people — kids especially — to have a safe place to Minecraft and be themselves.
Minecraft, like almost every game with an online element, suffers from bullies and trolls who come in and create toxic environments.
“[Autcraft] gives children with autism and their families a place where they can play the game they love with people just like them, and they can feel safe and confident to just be themselves,” Duncan said in the video. “It’s not about getting other people to accept them but getting them to accept themselves.”
Duncan himself is on the autism spectrum and understands how important it is for kids to play in a welcoming environment. Being able to play with people who don’t judge you for who you are can be a big boost to self-confidence, he said, which helps people succeed in area where they may have previously struggled.
“People that have never made friends before are now making friends and parents not only have less meltdowns to help their children through but they’re now bonding with their children in ways they’ve only ever dreamed of before,” Duncan said in the video.
“If I can help thousands of children around the world with practically no resources… then you can too”
With the recent increase of attention on the server, Duncan wrote a blog post last week explaining that more toxic people are trying to get into the Autcraft server.
“Tonight, two trolls did make it through the whitelist and onto the server and were promptly removed within minutes,” he said. “It’s because we devote our time and energy to ensuring that these children don’t have to worry about that while they’re here. They are bullied at school. They have enough struggles in life as it is. While they’re on Autcraft … they only need be themselves, play a game and have some fun.”
Duncan devotes quite a bit of time to Autcraft — so much time that he quit his job to run it. Duncan and his family now rely on Patreon donations.
As more people hear about Autcraft, Duncan wants to spread the message of action — doing what you can to improve the lives of others.
“If any part of my story inspires you or makes you feel any sort of positive emotion at all… don’t just click away and go about your life. Do something. Do something for someone else that needs you,” Duncan wrote. “If I can help thousands of children around the world with practically no resources… then you can too. Don’t just be inspired. Do something.”
Bullies aren’t welcome on the ‘Minecraft’ server for people on the autism spectrum
by Stone Marshall | May 29, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Unless you’ve been living under a (perfectly cubic) rock for the past decade, you’ll know the deal with Minecraft. But, just in case, here’s a quick refresher course.
Minecraft is a survival game, where you must find food, brave the elements, and fight off freaky monsters who appear during the night. But you can also rip materials out of the earth (that’s the “mine” bit), and turn them into tools and structures (that’s the “craft”).
It’s a bit like playing Lego, but every time you need some new blocks you need to venture into a dark cave, jump over some lava, fight a few skeletons, and then try and find your way back to your house.
Your-craft
Really, you can play it however you want. The game simply drops you into a randomly cobbled together world and asks you to get on with it. You can build, you can explore, you can become a farmer, a trader, or a warrior. There are no goals, no missions, no quests: direction comes from within.
You can even sack off the survival element altogether, and play in creative mode where you have unlimited access to every crafting material in the game, and spend an afternoon making a floating fortress, or a pixel art mosaic, or a working calculator.
Plus, you can play alone, or invite some friends to play with you. Which brings us onto the Switch version of the game, and what makes it different to the many other Minecraft variants.
So, in terms of multiplayer, you can play with three other friends on the same system – but you will need full controllers (a pair of joycons or a pro controller each).
And you can play with 8 pals in servers online, but there’s no built-in chat and you can only play with registered friends.
As for performance, the game lies somewhere between the PS3 and the PS4 versions – evident by the fact that the world size is set to “medium”, compared to last gen’s “small” and current gen’s “large” (and PC’s “infinite”).
So it’s smooth as butter (one of the few things you can’t make in Minecraft), but blocks pop in over the horizon, and it’s only 720p – though port studio 4J is looking into a patch to get 1080p when docked.
But really, the beauty of this version is the portable mode. Minecraft is the perfect game for playing in bed or on a train or in a leaky tent in Wales.
And this is definitely the best portable take on the game yet – more fully featured than the mobile edition, and bigger and better looking than the Vita version.
It’s not perfect though. There’s annoying inconsistency in how the touchscreen works, with some things being tappable (your quick select bar, the crafting menu) and others not (your inventory).
You’re better off not using it – a shame, when the deft mix of buttons and touchscreen made the Vita version such a joy to play.
Our-craft
Finally, there’s the content. You will get some Nintendo-exclusive goodies from the Wii U port, like a (surprisngly exhaustive) Mario skin pack, extra sound effects and textures, and a Mario world to run around in.
Also, the game is not entirely up to date, missing a few things from the latest Xbox One and PS4 versions. Patches will be released, and new features added, but right now it’s a tad inferior.
While Minecraft for Switch might not be quite up to the PC or console versions of the game in terms of things like graphics or world size, the ability to take the game on the go is a massive advantage.
If portability is critically important to you (it is to us, naturally), this Switch version could easily be thought of as the best version of Minecraft yet made.
Minecraft Switch Edition review – The best portable version of the block builder?
by Stone Marshall | May 28, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Message Stickers are an interesting idea that Apple is still pushing, although I’m not sure how popular they are, especially game-specific ones. However, when Mojang and Microsoft make Minecraft Stickers [$1.99], I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say many gamers are going to grab them. These animated Minecraft stickers bring to your phone all kinds of Minecraft creatures, from disgruntled creepers to Zombies knocking on doors to pigs in minecarts. And there are also exploding TNT, a poor, rejected iron golem, a pet wolf, a sad ghast, and many, many more.
While not everyone will go for them, I’d surprised if these stickers don’t find their way to many phones, especially since they are a great way to describe your Minecraft adventures. The sticker pack costs $1.99 and is available now.
‘Minecraft Stickers’ Will Let You Add a Creeper To Every Conversation
by Stone Marshall | May 28, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
Since Minecraft was recently released on the Nintendo Switch, I have been having a great deal of fun with it. However, it lacks one major feature that really brought the prior versions to life, in-game audio chat.
Now, the Switch version of Minecraft is brilliant in how it implements local multiplayer. That is amazing fun and really brings you and your friends together.
This is to my mind at least one of the best aspects of Minecraft, the joyous sense of working with friends to just make and create stuff.
That said, when Minecraft originally came to the 360 back in 2012 one of its most powerful features was the ability to communicate with friends with in-game audio chat. Talking with them online meant you could co-ordinate your efforts and build all manner of magnificent structures.
Being able to work and converse with your friends on the 360 version of Minecraft is still something I think is wondrous. To this day, I cannot think of a more genuinely lovely multiplayer setup than that in the 360 version of Minecraft. It was just so good to make stuff with friends and have fun.
Much of what made that work was its in-game audio chat for online multiplayer. While the Switch version partly offers its own route with local multiplayer options, the online setup feels like it is missing a crucial feature with the lack of in-game audio chat support.
Much of this is down to Nintendo’s unified and somewhat surreal setup for its online functionality, something that has still yet to be rolled out in its entirety.
However, the corollary of this is that Minecraft on the Switch is badly hobbled by the absence of in-game audio chat.
Like many gamers, I have all sorts of friends across the globe and we often play games together. The Switch definitely caters for local multiplayer games in a truly unique way but Minecraft needs full online support if it is to truly shine on this new console.
Minecraft’ On The Nintendo Switch Is Great But It Badly Needs In-Game Audio Chat
by Stone Marshall | May 27, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures, Uncategorized |
If you know kids in elementary school, chances are they are obsessed with the video game Minecraft. But unless they attend Gladden Farms or Quail Run Elementary, they are not getting school credit for playing the game.
As part of the Code to the Future computer science curriculum, students at the Marana Unified School District schools used the popular video game to learn about computer coding. This is the first year that the MUSD schools have been a part of the Code to the Future program that integrates computer science into the curriculum to make learning fun while giving students a boost in a career-fiel that is growing faster than the qualified workforce.
While working with computers and robots is fun and helps motivate students, that’s not the only benefit. The program helps students learn math, reading, collaboration and typing. Some classes have been able to integrate art, social studies and other subjects with computer science.
“They are engaged,” said Quail Run Principal Andrea Divijak. “ They are enjoying their learning. It has brought a whole new level to teaching them to think critically and corroborate.”
Quail Run parent Jose Martinez has seen his daughter Jade become inspired by the new concepts.
“She has had a lot of motivation,” Martinez said. “She even sets her alarm clock for 6:30 to get on the computer. She is motivated to get on the computer and to start creating, creating, creating. Right now, it is a way to enhance school.”
Martinez said since the implementation of Code for the Future, his fourth-grade daughter has been talking about going to college, something she rarely mentioned in the past.
Other staffers have seen children who struggled in the classroom become far more confident and engaged. Divijak shared the story of one special education student who was not engaged in the classroom, but became a resource to other students in the classroom with the addition of the computer science program. On a recent tour of the school, students sought district district officials to show off projects.
“That would never have happened before,” said Divijak.
The program requires students to complete three “epic builds,” or major projects. The first epic build involved a block coding program like Scratch, where students would create code to get the computer to accomplish things. Younger students made simple animations, while older students created full games.
Several sixth graders said the first project was their favorite.
“I liked Scratch because you had to figure out the exact code, because if one thing went wrong the whole thing went wrong, and it was like a puzzle,” said Quail Run student Mandy Stutzman.
The second epic build involved Lego Robotics. Younger students used Lego blocks to learn sequencing, while older students built and programmed their own robots.
One of the most popular aspects of Minecraft is the customization aspect that allows players to manipulate and create in the game, which turns out to be an effective tool for students.
Younger students learn basic one-word commands that can be entered into the game to create different actions. For example, kindergartners learn how to make the game world go from day to night by entering in a simple code. Other grades learn how to change the weather or change colors.
Beginning in fourth grade, the students learn the common computer language Java to pro-gram the game. Only 5 percent of high schools offer Java classes, while students at the two MUSD schools are learning it in elementary school.
The older students are learning how to create their own blocks, 16x16x16-pixel grids, and then import them into the game. Students must first design the blocks, then use Java to insert them into their Minecraft world.
There were a wide variety of designs, including flowers, butterflies, faces and various geometric patterns. One fourth-grade class was studying ancient Greece, so that class was required to build temples that resembled the ones in ancient Greece. Sixth-grade students had to not only create and import the blocks, but had to create commands so that their blocks did a variety of actions depending on how they coded them. All of the older students also had to learn to use code to modify and change their worlds. While most of the students had previously been exposed to the video game, this opened up a number of new ways to play and enjoy the game, while also immersing them in Java code, which is popular due to its use across the world.
Students are motivated by learning how these skills can be used in a future workplace.
“I like it because it is a fun way to learn something that could be used in the future,” said sixth grader Owen Heisey.
Heisey said he not only looks at video games and technology differently, but he is now seriously considering a career in computer science down the line.
“It makes it seem more open to me because now I know actually how to do it,” Heisey said. “There are a lot of jobs in computer science.”
Marana is expanding the program next year, incorporating more schools as well as expanding it to allow students to collaborate with students from other school districts
MUSD students using Minecraft to learn coding
by Stone Marshall | May 27, 2017 | Awesome Book News, Free, Intro, Minecraft News, Minecraft questions, news, parent-news, State of Stone, Stone Marshall Book News, Stone Marshall Books, Stone Marshall Club, Stone Marshall Minecraft Adventures |
The wacky world of Adventure Time is headed to all versions of Minecraft. Mojang has cleverly teased the game’s next mash-up pack with a recreation of the Adventure Time intro made entirely in Minecraft.
There’s no word on just when Jake the Dog and Finn the Human will be busting into the blocky world of Minecraft, but the land of Ooo will arrive sooner rather than later. The Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, and Adventure Time’s other candy creatures and its cadre of princesses are presumably on the way as well.
Look for the Adventure Time mash-up pack to hit the Minecraft on Pocket, Windows 10 and console editions relatively soon.
Adventure Time is coming soon to Minecraft
