
UC Berkeley hosted a virtual graduation on Minecraft - apengwin
https://www.blockeley.com/
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Communitivity
Kudos to UC Berkeley for using a virtual world. Somehow I read the choice of
virtual world as a comment on our education system.

Even if they had a restriction on using Open Source only, they could have used
OpenSim. If they had been ok with commercial servers and free accounts, they
could have used Second Life.

Instead they used Minecraft, and "A team of more than 100 UC Berkeley students
built the virtual Blockeley University in the popular Minecraft video
game"[1].

Where is the lasting contribution of this? How can others reuse these
students' work?

[1] [https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/05/16/watch-blockeley-uc-
berk...](https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/05/16/watch-blockeley-uc-berkeleys-
online-minecraft-commencement/)

~~~
ImprobableTruth
How would doing it in second life be a more lasting contribution than in
minecraft? At least with minecraft people can always host their own servers
using the world, while if second life shuts down, everything is gone for good.

And why is there even a need for a lasting contribution? A normal graduation
doesn't, so why does a virtual one?

~~~
Communitivity
Second Life might not be. I argue OpenSim would be more lasting because:

* The model of UC Berkeley can then be Open Sourced and used by anyone in an Open Source OpenSim server, either run by themselves or hosted commercially at their choice. Some of the privately hosted virtual world events I have taken part in that would benefit from that big of an accurate model of a campus are Tornado emergency response virtual world drills for training, active shooter virtual world training, virtual world career fair.

* Hypergrid on OpenSim would allow the UC Berkely virtual world campus to be hosted by UC Berkeley and have anyone from another OpenSim virtual world teleport to the campus and visit it.

Regarding the need for a lasting contribution.. A typical graduation doesn't
need it, other than a motivating speech. This though involved making
something. I am of the firm belief that if you are going to make something you
should make it to be a contribution to the world's body of knowledge, if
possible - doubly so if you are making it as part of academia and likely
funded in part by grants.

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nexuist
I helped do the same thing for UConn!
[https://youtu.be/lyqD7X9MBKE](https://youtu.be/lyqD7X9MBKE)

On commencement day we had about 200 users in game and viewing on stream. It
was chaotic, but so worth it. I have so many plans for Minecraft UConn, and we
had such a great volunteer team spend their off hours making campus picture
perfect.

Full stream here:
[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/616924960](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/616924960)
(starts around 0:55:00)

~~~
mentos
Cool! How did you go about building an agreed upon design was there an offline
blueprint you guys created first?

~~~
nexuist
We mostly used Google Street View to guesstimate where to put things. We
started off building a 1/3 scale model of Gampel Pavilion (the stadium where
commencement takes place), then we expanded on the roads around Gampel and
started on the buildings connected to those roads. There are a variety of
console commands (like /fill) that enable you to basically cut and paste
portions of the world, so we could start building something in an open area
and then transfer it to where it belonged once it was done.

------
lawrenceyan
Proud to call myself a graduate of the #1 Minecraft University.

~~~
darwinwhy
A play on Berkeley's claim to being the #1 Public University

------
nimbius
disclosure: ive never been to college, I went to a trade school.

Im sure this is a novel and gimmicky way to hold a graduation during a
quarantine, but do college kids get any refund on tuition for having to do
this? To ask another way: How much money did the college take from students
specifically for their ceremony before deciding to use a video game.

This is an important question. most college students will face decades of
undischargeable debt after college, and im concerned that this gimmick is
flashy enough to distract them from the fact that they are graduating on the
cusp of a financial depression.

~~~
foogazi
> but do college kids get any refund on tuition for having to do this?

Did they get the degree?

~~~
Spivak
Of course, but that’s not the point. At my alma mater graduation is a _huge_
_huge_ event. Easily millions of dollars to actually run the event. Musicians,
professional photographers, videographers, full AV crew, event staff, parking
staff, very famous speakers, swag, catering.

To just cancel it it does really suck for the students and parents who want
the experience and memories. Just because the ticket price is hidden in the
tuition doesn’t mean it’s not there and deserves to be refunded.

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ValentineC
A Japanese school had an unofficial virtual graduation, also on Minecraft(!),
two months ago in mid-March [1].

As did Singapore's Temasek Polytechnic last month [2].

[1]
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51930728](https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51930728)

[2] [https://www.asiaone.com/digital/graduation-ceremonies-
cancel...](https://www.asiaone.com/digital/graduation-ceremonies-cancelled-
temasek-polytechnic-students-hold-virtual-one-minecraft)

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blhack
Wow, this is really, really cool. They're doing a music festival today at
mc.blockeley.com.

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caogecym
Wow, that’s great way to host virtual graduation! Feels like the world is
becoming more virtual, and in an accelerated manner - because of the virus.
How long would it take for one to spend more time everyday in his virtual
identity than the physical one?

~~~
ganzuul
Probably until there are 5 or so robots for every living person, unless the
way capitalism works is re-imagined.

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zuhayeer
[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/623155434?t=00h32m52s](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/623155434?t=00h32m52s)

Commencement starts at around 32:50

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tpetry
How do they prevent trolls destroying everything they built?

~~~
nexuist
Can't speak for Berkeley, but for our virtual graduation we just set a server
property to put everyone in adventure mode on join. Adventure mode prevents
you from breaking blocks or opening chests so the only thing you can do is
walk around.

~~~
swiley
You can also set a certain radius around the spawn read only in the official
server. I’m not sure what practical difference that would have vs adventure
mode.

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billme
Microsoft’s marketing department should leverage the opportunity to host
graduations for free.

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codeulike
I went to a minecraft music festival at blockbyblockwest.com yesterday

