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ERIC Number: EJ1284130
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-0399
EISSN: N/A
Playing, Mapping, and Power: A Critical Analysis of Using "Minecraft" in Spatial Design
Bashandy, Hamza
American Journal of Play, v12 n3 p363-389 Spr 2020
Investigating the potential of video games as an aid to community mapping and participatory architectural design, the author discusses the use of the sandbox game "Minecraft" by the Block by Block Foundation in collaboration with Mojang Studios, Microsoft, and UN-Habitat for three projects--Model Street (Dandora Phase 2, in Nairobi, Kenya), Mind the Step (Jardim Nakamura, in São Paulo, Brazil) and Former Marketplace (in Pristina, Kosovo). The author offers different perspectives or "lens" from which to view the projects, including as an architect (which he calls a spatial lens) and as a community member (which he dubs a player lens). Favoring agency over participant choices, he claims, the institutional forces at work can prevent true access to space making by either the foundation or the game, each of which suffers from accessibility problems for both players and the communities. He argues for a need to look more closely into the politics of the Block by Block Foundation and "Minecraft" and seeks to make readers explicitly aware of the systemic mechanisms of exclusion.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Kenya (Nairobi); Brazil; Kosovo
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A