This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/arts/design/digitally-battling-the-london-fire-of-1666-with-minecraft.html
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Battling London’s Great Fire of 1666 With Minecraft | Battling London’s Great Fire of 1666 With Minecraft |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| LONDON — Disaster lurks in every corner of a Museum of London exhibition exploring that city’s great fire of 1666. How should would-be firefighters rescue an imaginary warren of houses? With leather buckets and grappling hooks? Or Minecraft maps? | LONDON — Disaster lurks in every corner of a Museum of London exhibition exploring that city’s great fire of 1666. How should would-be firefighters rescue an imaginary warren of houses? With leather buckets and grappling hooks? Or Minecraft maps? |
| For younger visitors, a popular choice is Minecraft, a computer game of Lego-like blocks and textured cubes that developers used to recreate Pudding Lane, where the fire ignited in a bakery before consuming thousands of homes over three days. | For younger visitors, a popular choice is Minecraft, a computer game of Lego-like blocks and textured cubes that developers used to recreate Pudding Lane, where the fire ignited in a bakery before consuming thousands of homes over three days. |
| The museum’s series of Minecraft games — which reimagine London before the fire and then gutted by flames, with a future game planned on the city reborn — are part of a strategy for sharing the treasures of the London museum globally. The series is also part of an emerging trend of Minecrafting among institutions that are intent on attracting younger visitors. The goal is for players to learn more about an exhibition, before or after a visit, by downloading the game at no cost and playing it in the comfort of their own homes. | The museum’s series of Minecraft games — which reimagine London before the fire and then gutted by flames, with a future game planned on the city reborn — are part of a strategy for sharing the treasures of the London museum globally. The series is also part of an emerging trend of Minecrafting among institutions that are intent on attracting younger visitors. The goal is for players to learn more about an exhibition, before or after a visit, by downloading the game at no cost and playing it in the comfort of their own homes. |
| “Minecraft is a really engaging tool and platform for children, but also for all sorts of people of all ages to bring in a new community to our museum,” said Joshua Blair, the museum’s digital learning coordinator for the “Fire! Fire!” exhibition, which runs through April 17. “We can interpret things from our gallery in a really engaging way. And we can extend this fire exhibition to many people around the world.” | “Minecraft is a really engaging tool and platform for children, but also for all sorts of people of all ages to bring in a new community to our museum,” said Joshua Blair, the museum’s digital learning coordinator for the “Fire! Fire!” exhibition, which runs through April 17. “We can interpret things from our gallery in a really engaging way. And we can extend this fire exhibition to many people around the world.” |
| Since its release seven years ago, Minecraft has become a global phenomenon, with more than 100 million registered players. In 2014 Microsoft bought Minecraft — and Mojang, the Swedish game studio behind it — for $2.5 billion, with the goal of nurturing a “Minecraft generation.” | Since its release seven years ago, Minecraft has become a global phenomenon, with more than 100 million registered players. In 2014 Microsoft bought Minecraft — and Mojang, the Swedish game studio behind it — for $2.5 billion, with the goal of nurturing a “Minecraft generation.” |
| Now some museums are tentatively entering that realm by offering choice objects plucked from their galleries for digital transformation; the development costs range from $13,000 to $75,000 per project. | Now some museums are tentatively entering that realm by offering choice objects plucked from their galleries for digital transformation; the development costs range from $13,000 to $75,000 per project. |
| [Technology and the Arts: Meet the enemy with V.R. | A.I. links art and reality] | |
| In its traditional exhibition, the London museum chronicles the great fire with oil paintings, diaries and salvaged objects — among them a seared bible and a fire-blackened sculpture from a tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral. It also displays 1666 versions of hand-held squirt guns, fire hooks and a newly restored 17th-century fire engine with a barrel and a hand pump. | In its traditional exhibition, the London museum chronicles the great fire with oil paintings, diaries and salvaged objects — among them a seared bible and a fire-blackened sculpture from a tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral. It also displays 1666 versions of hand-held squirt guns, fire hooks and a newly restored 17th-century fire engine with a barrel and a hand pump. |
| Some of those objects also appear in the Minecraft games, which give players a chance to search for tools to smash their way out of burning buildings to the sound of hacking coughs, or to combat rising flames with a blocky squirt gun. (“Such danger!” warns a little box-headed figure standing among burning buildings. “All these warehouses are full of brandy, tar and straw, perfect for setting alight.”) | Some of those objects also appear in the Minecraft games, which give players a chance to search for tools to smash their way out of burning buildings to the sound of hacking coughs, or to combat rising flames with a blocky squirt gun. (“Such danger!” warns a little box-headed figure standing among burning buildings. “All these warehouses are full of brandy, tar and straw, perfect for setting alight.”) |
| The British Museum is enabling Minecraft players to build the exterior and interior of its Greek Revival building and post the results on Tumblr; in 2014, the Tate in London opened an online gallery in which some of its artworks had been reimagined into games. Players can plunge into Christopher Nevinson’s painting “The Soul of the Soulless City” by digitally boarding a train that rockets along a raised trestle through a maze of tall buildings in 1920s Manhattan. | The British Museum is enabling Minecraft players to build the exterior and interior of its Greek Revival building and post the results on Tumblr; in 2014, the Tate in London opened an online gallery in which some of its artworks had been reimagined into games. Players can plunge into Christopher Nevinson’s painting “The Soul of the Soulless City” by digitally boarding a train that rockets along a raised trestle through a maze of tall buildings in 1920s Manhattan. |
| Some of the reactions emerge on YouTube. Players post videos with running commentary about their escapades with the dizzying train ride and other elements of the special Tate gallery. “Let’s learn about art,” two Minecraft players named Dave and Toby declare. | Some of the reactions emerge on YouTube. Players post videos with running commentary about their escapades with the dizzying train ride and other elements of the special Tate gallery. “Let’s learn about art,” two Minecraft players named Dave and Toby declare. |
| Since the Museum of London offered its first games over the summer, the first two have been downloaded 15,000 times in more than 100 countries. About 45 percent of the downloads were in Britain, with other top nations including the United States, South Korea, China and France. | Since the Museum of London offered its first games over the summer, the first two have been downloaded 15,000 times in more than 100 countries. About 45 percent of the downloads were in Britain, with other top nations including the United States, South Korea, China and France. |
| Elements glaringly missing from these games are female characters and voices. The Tate is to address this soon with a new game that immerses players in a luminescent garden in which two girls play, from the John Singer Sargent oil painting “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” (1885-86). | Elements glaringly missing from these games are female characters and voices. The Tate is to address this soon with a new game that immerses players in a luminescent garden in which two girls play, from the John Singer Sargent oil painting “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” (1885-86). |
| Game developers used popular YouTube channels about Minecraft to recruit women to lend their voices to animated fairies in the garden for the Minecraft game, which will be released this year. | Game developers used popular YouTube channels about Minecraft to recruit women to lend their voices to animated fairies in the garden for the Minecraft game, which will be released this year. |
| “It was difficult to recreate that,” said Adam Clark, known in the gaming world as Wizard Keene, and a Minecraft developer who worked on the projects for the Tate and London museums. “So we looked at it from a Victorian view and how they would have defined the meaning of the colors. Some flowers mean purity and chastity. By using flower fairies, we can give our audience an idea of Victorian thinking.” | “It was difficult to recreate that,” said Adam Clark, known in the gaming world as Wizard Keene, and a Minecraft developer who worked on the projects for the Tate and London museums. “So we looked at it from a Victorian view and how they would have defined the meaning of the colors. Some flowers mean purity and chastity. By using flower fairies, we can give our audience an idea of Victorian thinking.” |
| Mr. Clark is temporarily in Kentucky to create a Minecraft game for the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest there. He said that many major institutions were hesitating on the Minecraft approach because the game baffled some officials. | Mr. Clark is temporarily in Kentucky to create a Minecraft game for the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest there. He said that many major institutions were hesitating on the Minecraft approach because the game baffled some officials. |
| Even the Museum of London has been careful to separate the exhibition physically from the Minecraft game by not placing their own computers in the midst of the “Fire! Fire!” show. (Visitors can take their own laptops to play on.) Instead, they offer a children’s area spread with basic wooden blocks for rebuilding London. | Even the Museum of London has been careful to separate the exhibition physically from the Minecraft game by not placing their own computers in the midst of the “Fire! Fire!” show. (Visitors can take their own laptops to play on.) Instead, they offer a children’s area spread with basic wooden blocks for rebuilding London. |
| “Families still want low-tech for a visit, because their children are on computers at home all the time,” Laura Jackson, a museum spokeswoman, said as she walked by an area with costumes and equipment that visitors can don for selfies. “Most things here are low-tech so they can touch them.” | “Families still want low-tech for a visit, because their children are on computers at home all the time,” Laura Jackson, a museum spokeswoman, said as she walked by an area with costumes and equipment that visitors can don for selfies. “Most things here are low-tech so they can touch them.” |
| The London museum is soon to release a third game that focuses on the reconstruction of London after the fire. In the meantime, Mr. Clark is emerging as something of a museum evangelist for Minecraft, planning to appear in November at the futurist conference Museum Next in New York, and then in Quebec at an international communications conference for museums. | The London museum is soon to release a third game that focuses on the reconstruction of London after the fire. In the meantime, Mr. Clark is emerging as something of a museum evangelist for Minecraft, planning to appear in November at the futurist conference Museum Next in New York, and then in Quebec at an international communications conference for museums. |
| He said he was pleased to hear from parents who say that the online Minecraft gallery has prompted a sudden interest in their children to study the actual art. One mother, he said, wrote that her son pestered her to go to the Tate to see “The Pool of London,” a vivid 1906 view of the Thames from London Bridge, by André Derain, a leading member of the Fauve movement. | He said he was pleased to hear from parents who say that the online Minecraft gallery has prompted a sudden interest in their children to study the actual art. One mother, he said, wrote that her son pestered her to go to the Tate to see “The Pool of London,” a vivid 1906 view of the Thames from London Bridge, by André Derain, a leading member of the Fauve movement. |
| Mr. Clark also sought a critique from his young son, who played The Pool of London game and surprised him with a brief art history lesson: “Daddy, he was a Fauvist. They use bright colors. Pigments, Daddy.” | Mr. Clark also sought a critique from his young son, who played The Pool of London game and surprised him with a brief art history lesson: “Daddy, he was a Fauvist. They use bright colors. Pigments, Daddy.” |