At The Time Of Writing

LibraryCraft was created to deliver communities together throughout Western Australia (WA) in a safe, structured and moderated manner in order that gamers might stretch their creativity and imagination. LibraryCraft makes use of the features of Minecraft that stretch users’ innovation and creative thinking, develops their STEAM abilities and builds social and life abilities similar to collaboration, negotiation, financial management and civic engagement.

Design/methodology/method

In late 2019, the Fremantle Library launched a small, local Minecraft server for the area people of younger people. After a number of months of testing and upgrades, LibraryCraft was made obtainable to all gamers aged 7-17 across WA, and WA native governments have been invited to take part.

Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a cancellation of Fremantle Library in-person programmes; LibraryCraft, as a purely on-line programme, was scaled up, and in just a few weeks, had more than tripled its player base. At the time of writing, LibraryCraft brings collectively 20 WA native councils, reaches over one hundred players from Derby-West Kimberley to Albany and sees hundreds of play hours logged every week. Gamers have created new friendships throughout the state and are regularly working collaboratively on challenges and exploration.

Originality/worth

While Minecraft servers operated by libraries are removed from new, LibraryCraft is unique. No groups of libraries have run Minecraft servers collaboratively in Australia before, and none is offered state extensive. Pnp89's Blog is extremely valued with households in WA, providing a protected social outlet for gamers caught at home in isolation.