UC Berkeley hosted a virtual graduation on Minecraft

Kudos to UC Berkeley for using a virtual world. Somehow I read the choice of virtual world as a comment on our education system.<p>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.<p>Instead they used Minecraft, and &quot;A team of more than 100 UC Berkeley students built the virtual Blockeley University in the popular Minecraft video game&quot;[1].<p>Where is the lasting contribution of this? How can others reuse these students&#x27; work?<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.berkeley.edu&#x2F;2020&#x2F;05&#x2F;16&#x2F;watch-blockeley-uc-berkeleys-online-minecraft-commencement&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.berkeley.edu&#x2F;2020&#x2F;05&#x2F;16&#x2F;watch-blockeley-uc-berk...</a>

I helped do the same thing for UConn! <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;lyqD7X9MBKE" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;lyqD7X9MBKE</a><p>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.<p>Full stream here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.twitch.tv&#x2F;videos&#x2F;616924960" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.twitch.tv&#x2F;videos&#x2F;616924960</a> (starts around 0:55:00)

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

disclosure: ive never been to college, I went to a trade school.<p>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.<p>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.

A Japanese school had an unofficial virtual graduation, also on Minecraft(!), two months ago in mid-March [1].<p>As did Singapore&#x27;s Temasek Polytechnic last month [2].<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.co.uk&#x2F;newsround&#x2F;51930728" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.co.uk&#x2F;newsround&#x2F;51930728</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.asiaone.com&#x2F;digital&#x2F;graduation-ceremonies-cancelled-temasek-polytechnic-students-hold-virtual-one-minecraft" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.asiaone.com&#x2F;digital&#x2F;graduation-ceremonies-cancel...</a>

Wow, this is really, really cool. They&#x27;re doing a music festival today at mc.blockeley.com.

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?

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.twitch.tv&#x2F;videos&#x2F;623155434?t=00h32m52s" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.twitch.tv&#x2F;videos&#x2F;623155434?t=00h32m52s</a><p>Commencement starts at around 32:50

How do they prevent trolls destroying everything they built?

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

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