Mojang Studios has joined forces with the National Trust's Festival of Archeology to recreate the real-life Corfe Castle of Dorset, England in Minecraft. While Mojang’s blockbuster open-world title is primarily a survival game, players have used Minecraft’s sandbox to build their own creations out of a wide assortment of blocky materials, often recreating settings and characters from other games like Poppy Playtime and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the process.
Talented Minecraft players have also built impressive tributes to real-life locations like France’s Orléans Cathedral and the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, both capturing the locations they were inspired by with a stunning amount of detail. Others have built realistic Minecraft-made cityscapes that could easily be mistaken for actual photographs thanks to modern architecture blending well with Minecraft’s block-based esthetic. Now, Minecraft’s developers are actively working alongside historical organizations to remake actual historical landmarks inside the highly successful sandbox title.
As reported by Eurogamer, Xbox and Mojang Studios have announced a partnership with The National Trust for Historic Preservation to recreate the legendary Corfe Castle of Dorset, England as part of The National Trust's Festival of Archeology. According to the official Xbox UK Twitter account, this historical recreation project is being performed in Minecraft’s recent The Wild update, and Xbox hopes to not only recreate Corfe Castle in its current state but also “restore it to its former glory” with the help of historian Alice Loxton and content creator GrianMC. Minecraft players with the skills to help this restoration effort will be able to help by logging onto the designated Corfe Castle Minecraft server. Martin Papworth, an archeologist working at the National Trust, expressed pleasure and gratitude at Xbox for helping young people engage with the UK’s rich history with the use of technology, and GrianMC added that it was “a great experience working with the National Trust to rebuild Corfe Castle in Minecraft” and that the project was “was right up my alley in terms of interests.”
Minecraft’s Corfe Castle Project Can Bolster Education
GrianMC was also excited at the possibilities of gaming being used as a tool for education, something Mojang plans to foster with the release of a Minecraft: Education Edition package of the Corfe Castle restoration project to benefit children in classrooms across the UK. This isn’t the first time a major video game has been used as a classroom tool, as Ubisoft recently launched the combat-free Assassin’s Creed Valhalla "Discovery Tour: Viking Age" mode as a standalone title that can be used to help teach children about life was like in the British Isles in the late 800s.
Likewise, Minecraft seems like an ideal game to be used for educational purposes, given its strong emphasis on construction and survival skills. However, it can also be used to recreate famous landmarks like Corfe Castle - with the bonus of getting curious players to learn more about these ancient structures after recreating them in Minecraft.
Source: Xbox UK/Twitter (via Eurogamer)