MUVEs and Libraries

The only Multi-User Virtual Environment I have used is Minecraft. Minecraft works especially well as a MUVE (as opposed to a single player game) because of its creative nature that encourages collaboration. A lot of time spent in Minecraft consists of menial labor as you slowly accrue the resources you need to build things, and because of this, playing Minecraft alone can sometimes feel like work, at least in my experience. However, through my experience of playing the game collaboratively with others, I have found the gameplay experience to be quite different. Suddenly, instead of working in solitude, you are adding structures to a landscape that reflects the styles and personalities of several different people.

I think Minecraft could make an excellent MUVE for public libraries, particularly in the children's section. As a kid, I always had fun playing computer games in the children's section of my town's library, but I think it would have been even more fun if I had been able to contribute to some collaborative space, like a Minecraft environment. I think a MUVE would give children a greater sense of ownership of their public library, even if it were only ownership in a virtual sense. Because MUVEs are persistent and kids can access the same server/environment every time they come, they could develop a sense of some personal space, all their own, that they could only access at the library. I think MUVEs used in this way could provide a valuable stepping stone to kids understanding that libraries can provide other online resources for them to use throughout their lives.