A group of students starved of campus life by the Covid-19 pandemic have found a novel way of bringing the university lifestyle into their own homes.
Just before the country went into a lockdown, four University of East Anglia students began setting up a community of their own on the popular computer game Minecraft.
However, with the university now closed, the server has taken on a life of its own, providing students yearning for campus life a chance to experience it virtually while they wait to return.
The venture was set up by 19-year-old fresher Sophie Johnston, along with Rebecca Bystry, Tom Greensted and Matthew Wright, who all shared a block of flats while on campus.
It began as simply playing their favourite game as a group and sharing their interest with others - but has since evolved into something of a virtual campus.
Miss Johnston said: “The four of us originally set us up with the idea of it becoming like a society and were going to put posters up around campus - but then lockdown happened.
“But now it is a lot more than that and lots of people have been saying they have no idea what they’d be doing without it - we’re all at home now and it has been a great way to keep in touch and make new friends.”
Together the group has created several of the university’s main locations, including the main square, the LCR and the Lasdun Teaching Wall, delving through decades of planning applications for the campus to ensure their recreations are as accurate as possible.
“We have around 200 people on the server so far, some have just been dropping in to see how we are getting on and others have been taking it more seriously,” Miss Johnston added. “We’ve now started hosting events in the LCR and we’ve even been talking about holding a graduation ceremony to make up for this year’s being cancelled.
“Focusing on this has also been a really great way of passing the time during the lockdown.”
The community also has its own Facebook page, which can be found by searching Campuscraft.
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