 The logo used by Autcraft. | |
Type of site | Minecraft server |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Stuart Duncan |
| Users | 17,000 as of December 2023 (unique players) [1] |
| Launched | 2013 |
Autcraft is a Minecraft server dedicated to be a safe haven for children who are neurodivergent or have a diagnosis of autism. [2]
Founded in 2013, Autcraft was the first Minecraft server created with neurodiversity in mind. It was founded by Stuart Duncan, a web developer in Timmins, Canada whose son is diagnosed with autism, and is known in-game as AutismFather. [3] [4] Autcraft was created so such children could play their favourite game with others without facing the threat of bullying and discrimination. [5] [6] Autcraft is administrated by adults with and without neurodivergencies as well as their friends or family. [7] [8] As of December 2023, the server has over 17 thousand whitelisted players. [9]
When asked about the server, Duncan stated, "We just let them know that they're not alone... We're here for each other and will support each other for as long as need be... We all know how terrible it can feel sometimes and none of us want the others to feel that same way." [7]
Autcraft was the subject of a 2015 conference paper by Ringland et al. in which empirical data was gathered from a digital ethnography of the server to explore how parents of autistic children continually create a "safe" virtual world through both implicit and explicit means. [10]
The neurodiversity paradigm is a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition, and focus as neurobiological differences. This diversity falls on a spectrum of neurocognitive function. The neurodiversity paradigm argues that diversity in human cognition is normal and that some conditions generally classified as disorders, such as autism, are differences and disabilities that are not necessarily pathological.
The National Autistic Society is a charity for autistic people and their families in the United Kingdom. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, services and opportunities to help create a society that works for autistic people.
Autism Every Day is a controversial 2006 documentary film sponsored by Autism Speaks, and produced by Lauren Thierry, Jim Watkins and Eric Solomon. It follows mothers of high support needs autistic children, and consists mainly of interviews with the mothers.
Autistic art is artwork created by autistic artists that captures or conveys a variety of autistic experiences. According to a 2021 article in Cognitive Processing, autistic artists with improved linguistic and communication skills often show a greater degree of originality and attention to detail than their neurotypical counterparts, with a positive correlation between artistic talent and high linguistic functioning. Autistic art is often considered outsider art. Art by autistic artists has long been shown in separate venues from artists without disabilities. The works of some autistic artists have featured in art publications and documentaries and been exhibited in mainstream galleries. Although autistic artists seldom received formal art education in the past, recent inclusivity initiatives have made it easier for autistic artists to get a formal college education. The Aspergers/Autism Network's AANE Artist Collaborative is an example of an art organization for autistic adults.
A sandbox game is a video game with a gameplay element that provides players a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the players set for themselves. Such games may lack any objective, and are sometimes referred to as non-games or software toys. More often, sandbox games result from these creative elements being incorporated into other genres and allowing for emergent gameplay. Sandbox games are often associated with an open world concept which gives the players freedom of movement and progression in the game's world. The term "sandbox" derives from the nature of a sandbox that lets people create nearly anything they want within it.
Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, the first public test build was released on 17 May 2009. The game would continue to be developed over the span of two years, until its full release on 18 November 2011. Afterwards, Persson left Mojang and gave Jens "Jeb" Bergensten control over the game's development. In the years since its release, it has been ported to several platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and various video game consoles, primarily by 4J Studios. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Minecraft has since become the best-selling video game of all-time, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 140 million monthly active players as of 2023.
A Minecraft mod is a mod that changes aspects of the sandbox game Minecraft. Minecraft mods can add additional content to the game, make tweaks to specific features, and optimize performance. Thousands of mods for the game have been created, with some mods even generating an income for their authors. While Mojang Studios does not provide an API for modding, community tools exist to help developers create and distribute mods. The popularity of Minecraft mods has been credited for helping Minecraft become one of the best-selling video games of all time.
Julia Bascom is an American autism rights activist. She is a former executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and replaced Ari Ne'eman as president of ASAN in early 2017 before stepping down at the end of 2023.
Hypixel Network, simply known as Hypixel, is a Minecraft server that hosts minigames. It was released on April 13, 2013 by Simon "Hypixel" Collins-Laflamme and Philippe Touchette, and is managed and run by Hypixel Inc. Hypixel is only available on the Java Edition of Minecraft, but briefly had a Bedrock variant.
Mineplex was a Minecraft minigame server created in 2013 by Gregory Bylos and Jarred van de Voort. In 2016, Mineplex had millions of unique players monthly. At its peak, the server had around 20,000 concurrent players at any given time. Mineplex won the Guinness World Records award on January 28, 2015, for having 34,434 concurrent players, the most on a Minecraft server at the time. This record was later lost to Hypixel the same year.
2b2t (2builders2tools) is a Minecraft server founded in December 2010. 2b2t has essentially no rules and players are not permanently banned, known within Minecraft as an "anarchy server". As a result, players commonly engage in the destruction of other players' and groups creations, colloquially called "griefing", as well as hacking using modified software to gain an advantage. 2b2t is the oldest anarchy server in Minecraft, as well as one of the few running 2010 Minecraft servers of any variety. The server is permanently set to hard difficulty and player versus player combat is enabled. It has seen over 780,000 players explore its procedurally generated map, increasing its file size to over 20 terabytes. 2b2t has been described in news media as the worst Minecraft server due to its toxic playerbase and culture.
A Minecraft server is a player-owned or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2011 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft. In this context, the term "server" often refers to a network of connected servers, rather than a single machine. Players can start their own server either by setting one up on a computer using software provided by Mojang, or by using a hosting provider so they can have their server run on dedicated machines with guaranteed uptime. The largest server is widely accepted to be the minigame server Hypixel.
The Uncensored Library is a Minecraft server and map released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and created by BlockWorks, DDB Berlin, and Media.Monks as an attempt to circumvent censorship in countries without freedom of the press. The library contains banned reporting from Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Brazil, and Eritrea. An entire wing is given to each country, each containing several banned articles. The library was released on March 12, 2020, the World Day Against Cyber Censorship. The two ways to access the library are to download a map from the official website, or to connect to their Minecraft server.
Build the Earth (BTE) is a project dedicated to creating a 1:1 scale model of Earth within the sandbox video game Minecraft.
Block by Block is a charitable initiative founded as a partnership between Minecraft developer Mojang and the United Nations which aims to encourage young people to get involved in urban regeneration. The scheme uses Minecraft to allow children to rebuild and reimagine their hometowns.
In the context of video games, a multiverse can refer to:
The Dream SMP was an invite-only survival multiplayer (SMP) Minecraft server. YouTubers Dream and GeorgeNotFound created a roleplay with Minecraft content creators. They played fictionalized versions of themselves in a loose storyline. Participants livestreamed on Twitch and YouTube. It became a popular Minecraft web series. The server was officially shut down on April 10, 2023.
Steve is a player character from the 2011 sandbox video game Minecraft. Created by Swedish video game developer Markus "Notch" Persson and introduced in the 2009 Java-based version, Steve is the first of nine default player character skins available for players of contemporary versions of Minecraft. Steve lacks an official backstory as he is intended to be a customizable player avatar as opposed to being a predefined character. His feminine counterpart, Alex, was introduced in August 2014 for Java PC versions of Minecraft, with the other seven debuting in the Java edition of the game in October 2022. Depending on the version of Minecraft, players have a choice of defaulting to either Steve or any other variant skins when creating a new account. However, the skin is easy to change from the game itself or website.
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