
Minecraft Griefers Demolish 1:1 scale model of Denmark - t-3-k
http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/10794/20140502/minecraft-griefers-demolish-denmark-map.htm
======
ColinWright
This story was submitted[0] four days ago, but got no traction and sank
without trace. The only comment[1] was mine, and I repeat it here:

    
    
        I know this is something of an internet meme, and hence
        somewhat out-of-place here on HN, but, in short:
    
            This is why we can't have nice things.
    
        It would be really cool if we didn't need passwords.  It
        would be really cool if we could have globally editable
        documents that stored and connected all our knowledge.
        It would be really cool if we ... well, you get the idea.
    
        What if clever people, really clever people, stepped up
        and started to think at a level higher than the single
        point fixes and managed some sort of meta-fix.
    
        How clever can people be? Anyone care to speculate?
    

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7687378](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7687378)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7687637](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7687637)

 _Edited to correct tpyos._

~~~
roasty
Why complain about people being creative in a creative environment? Is there
no place for fun?

~~~
ColinWright
So wading in to someone else's construction and destroying it counts as "fun"?
Kicking over someone else's sandcastle counts as "fun"? Kicking someone else's
car to put a dent in the door is "fun"? Torching someone's house is "fun"?

Slippery slope, drawing the line, yadda yadda yadda, I'm interested to see
what people think is "fun" and where they would draw the line. Given that it
had no protection, how does destroying it gain or prove anything?

Finding weaknesses in a system that's intended to be secure is different,
destroying something simply because you can is something I genuinely don't
understand. No challenge, no victory, no benefit. I someone can help me
understand the mindset of the griefers I'd be grateful.

~~~
qbrass
They did something, and a bunch of people noticed it. You're their victory.

------
Trezoid
Things like this always bring to light a particular side of the internet
population that is fascinating to watch but very frustrating to participate in
an activity "against".

These people immediately take an incredibly negative approach for their own
short term enjoyment without any apparent thought of the longer term effect of
their actions, and what people will do to counter that style of behavior
generally making things worse for everyone, both grierfers and legitimate
players.

I'd be curious to know what kind of "motive" for want of a better word
underlies these kinds of actions, and why this destructive "fun" is so popular
on these "infinite freedom" style games in particular.

~~~
vvvv
Have you never seen kids destroy each other's sand/Lego castles? Motives:
curiousity, impulse, social exploration etc.

------
JetSpiegel
> Moving forward, the map will have to be rebuilt. Said Hammeken, "We don't
> have a complete overview yet, but we'll probably choose to reconstruct
> Copenhagen and the other cities."

By this wording, it seems they will rebuild it by hand instead of restoring a
backup. They have backups, right?

~~~
dalore
I picture Denmark hiring a bunch of minecrafters to go in and manually rebuild
Copenhagen block by block.

~~~
JetSpiegel
And suddently they hear a SHHHHHHHHHHH...

------
andyjohnson0
Slightly OT, but the UK national mapping agency has created a minecraft model
of the UK [1] (minus Northern Ireland).

[1]
[http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecraf...](http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/innovate/developers/minecraft-
map-britain.html)

~~~
gadders
Oherwise known as "Great Britain".

/pedant

~~~
andyjohnson0
I know. I'm British...

I used that form of words because, for most readers, the term "Great Britain"
isn't well defined, and is often incorrectly taken to denote the same entity
as the "The UK". I also don't like the "Great" prefix because it appears
aggrandising, even though the derivation [1] disproves that.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.22...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain#Derivation_of_.22Great.22)

~~~
gadders
Fair enough, but there are plenty of people that don't know.

------
nutjob2
They didn't create a backup? Seriously?

~~~
FatalLogic
The backup is Denmark. They only have one copy, but the medium is extremely
resilient.

~~~
gotofritz
You say "resilient", but all it'll take is for the sea levels to raise a
couple of meters to wipe it out

~~~
mseebach
Nope, it will still be there, just wetter.

------
noonespecial
There are children who make sandcastles and children who knock them down. It
happens so early, you'd swear they were born that way. I just imagine the
latter are getting started early on their political careers.

~~~
VeejayRampay
I see a child as a blank page. You can turn that into poetry or into Mein
Kampf depending on the amount of love/nurturing/open-mindedness.

Now if you'll excuse me, those trees ain't gonna hug themselves.

~~~
JetSpiegel
> Tabula Rasa

Using Latin is much cooler, and as bonus, you can smugly snigger at other
people. How do you really spell the "rasa" part? With a hard R?

------
bignaj
In short, "this is why we can't have nice things."

------
bananas
Proving that my previously down voted to hell comment about this being a waste
of money was correct...

------
aaron695
This was never educational in so much as it's just a game. Kinda bored with
people just making up pedagogy cause.

What's more boring and uneducational than a recreation of your country with a
bunch of blocks. The attempts of the article to make it educational and fun
for students are laughable.

What's fun, interesting and educational is messing around with it and seeing
possibilities.

Personally I doubt anyone would have even visited if this hadn't happened.
This kinda made it interesting and put it on the map so to speak.

And possibly this is exactly what the makers wanted, toss it out there, see
what happens and go with it.

------
Moulde
Hahaha, I'm sorry but that is a bit amuzing. I mean, what did they expect?

Kind of thought that would happen when i read the Rules for being on the
server.

~~~
Hermel
Small countries like Denmark tend to have a much more well-behaved population
than large countries. I.e. they queue nicer, they are more likely to return
something they found, etc. (game-theoretic research suggests that such a
culture is a symptom of having a high likelyhood of meeting again - thus
offering more opportunities to punish bad behaviour).

That background might explain their optimistic expectations.

~~~
ersii
Excuse me, but what is this based on? Do you perhaps mean small communities?
Because I can tell you from my experience being Swedish in Sweden (~9M
inhabitants), that your assumption seems to be false.

~~~
Zirro
I'm Swedish too, and I disagree. I have often heard that Americans (and
others) are surprised at the willingness of most Scandinavians to follow the
official and unofficial rules of society. We are likely blind to it as we
experience it every day.

~~~
ersii
What are you disagreeing with? The question of what Hermels assumption is
based on?

I'm open to the idea that my opinion regarding the environment I live in might
be biased/skewed and I might not see a representative part of the society or
that I be ignorant about what I see; that's why I asked what Hermels
assumption was based upon.

P.S Was there any tone to my initial post?

