Minecraft, the highly popular game that involves building virtual worlds and is described as “a game about breaking and placing blocks“. Often the comparison to “LEGO® but of course it is so much more. There are even Mindcraft players who have become “celebrities”.
Autism Blogger Stuart Duncan, a parent of an autistic son and enthusiast of Minecraft got together with some other parents of autistic children to created a server solely dedicated to those with autism, known as AutCraft.com. AutCraft.com is “the first Minecraft server committed to providing a safe, fun [learning] environment for children on the autism spectrum and their families,” as stated on the homepage of their website.
Through playing the game, individuals with autism are taught to respect other people’s virtual properties, all while taking comfort in the fact that else everyone else will respect theirs as well. In AutCraft, there is no waring, no monsters, and no hurting other players as players are not permitted to strike other players (which is a common occurrence in typical Minecraft servers). Although there are no monsters, the game is still full of dangerous adventures, such as caves with lava, water, heights, and even falling gravel. Minecraft is a limitless world for all players, autistic or not, to explore and enjoy.
The private server is also extremely eager to offer help to new, autistic players, teaching them to build houses, guide them through adventures, and even teach them the mechanics of certain aspects of the game. Through AutCraft, they will learn how textures, colors and shapes work together, or don’t work together, to form structures, how to automate processes, as well as work with groups of other “AutCrafters.” Overall, AutCraft appears to be a fantastic and entertaining learning environment for those with autism. That said, it does cost money to provide such a service which is free at the moment. Donations are heartily welcomed and a donation button can be located on the index page of the web site.
AutCraft is not open to the general public and requires approval to access the server. If you are interested in learning more or have a child with autism and you would like to request an invite to join AutCraft, visit AutCraft.com and scroll down to the middle of the page, where you will see the section titled “Request an Invite.”
Demand is putting extra pressure on the moderators so it is taking a little longer to join. Also, they are requesting that only families with autistic children submit. This has been recently posted to their web site:
Please be aware that we are experiencing a very high volume of submissions right now so you may have to wait a day or two for a response.
We apologize but we ask for your patience and understanding.
Also, due to these volumes and the very nature of what we are doing with this server, please, only those with autism need apply.
If you are simply looking for a friendly environment or you want to help, believe us, we can appreciate this completely however we can not take all of you.
So please, be patient and only apply if you truly have autism and need this server.
While Autism Daily Newscast does not normally recommend products, we are giving our endorsement to AutCraft.