The project challenged youth that visit DML to design and build their ideal neighborhood in Minecraft. The concept developed as a result of several conversations with teens who were comparing their urban core neighborhoods to other more affluent areas of the city. They noticed distinct differences in the type of businesses as well as the number of abandoned houses. Many of them were interested in gaming in general and Minecraft in particular. Therefore it made sense to start with that gaming platform and connect it to a technology that impacts game design – the Oculus Rift. A Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund Project grant allowed the purchase of the Oculus Rift.

The DML travels to different library branches and is generally drop-in with youth encouraged to define their time in the space. Demonstrated interest of teens in Minecraft combined with the conversations about neighborhood differences, allowed focus on a defined project to provide innovation in learning for staff, adult volunteer mentors, and the youth participating. Teens at two branches and an inner-city high school worked collaboratively in Minecraft and moved from the typical game-play destruction of other’s builds to honoring other’s work, encouraging youth to take leadership and share their learned skills with peers and mentors.

The primary outcome of the project was the creation of a youth designed neighborhood in Minecraft and the incorporation of the Oculus Rift technology. Participant feedback was that they wanted more of the type of experience – particularly the collaboration. Participants also expressed a desire to level to more difficult software platforms of game design. Through this project, Minecraft has proven to be a gateway program that gets teens excited and opens them to engaging in other programs introduced by mentors. The project has challenged us to think about how to keep each branch’s teens involved, leading to our adoption of the project-based design for the DML. It will allow us to add other locations and leverage youth interests to achieve collaborative learning.