Gabriel Gonzalez
Student Life Editor
If you haven’t heard of the Minecraft Club, you wouldn’t be at fault. Beginning only on Nov. 3, 2022, the club has not been open even a year but is rapidly approaching its anniversary. That isn’t to say they don’t have quite the member count; on WarriorLink, they have an official member count of 55 active students, but unofficially, the Discord server has a whopping 167 members from various walks of life who were students in the past, work on campus, or are just students for a short time.
When asked about the origins of the club, Christian Wolfe, an Integrated Fine Art and Design Major, said: “The club was originally founded because of my idea to have a campus shared Minecraft Server that every student could build and create on. I brought the idea to the chair of the art department, Darlene Farris-Labar, and told her it’s just an idea but I think it could take off. She asked me a few questions about possible rules, structure etc. and I replied to her with an email that night with everything figured out. From there she knew I was serious with the idea and we worked together to bring the server to life [sic]!”
Two months later the server was up. Wolfe attributes this success to the help of Darlene–who in the future will be the club’s advisor–and the Art Department.
And if you’re confused about what exactly Minecraft is, don’t worry! I’ll get into it:
Minecraft is a sandbox game released on November 8, 2011 with a current sales count surpassing 300 million. Needless to say that it’s very popular, people of all kinds and ages finding hundreds of hours of enjoyment in a game about blocks and their rearrangement. Obviously, students no matter what age or workload are going to make time. And if they’re going to play, why play alone?
Which brings us to the club. “Creation is Unbound”, the name of the Discord server, is their base of operations; it’s where they organize events, introduce new members to the community and talk. They have text channels for memes, screenshots, build-site locations featuring coordinates, emoji suggestions, build-day themes (that’s the scheduled time for members to join in a specific spot on the server to build under a theme) and music-sharing. They even include various voice channels.
That isn’t to say it’s all fun and games. There are rules to follow clearly listed, announcements pertaining to important events on campus and information on how to add the server on various platforms like Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, phones and tablets.
“Our main goal,” Wolfe said, “is to provide that creative outlet and safe space for students to create and build whatever they want. We focus on the creative aspect with the server being in creative mode. As an added bonus playing and creating on the server really reduces stress especially around the end of the semester when finals roll around.”
And the members of the Minecraft Club have definitely taken his priorities to heart:
Students who build on the server are even allowed to plan 3D prints of their builds, allowing them to hold their creations in their own hands!
Right now the club is attempting through the SAA (Student Activity Association) to become official, and from what Wolfe said, it doesn’t seem far off at all.
And Wolfe and his admin team seem to have big plans.
If you’re interested in joining, just click the link: http://discord.gg/AxUB3Zgv3v
From there you can message an admin with proof of your attendance at ESU, and once you’re confirmed you will receive the server info, giving you free range of the world your fellow students have poured time and sweat to create.
Even with the club’s young age, I’m confident to say that it’ll only continue to grow into the future. Which is why I leave you with this: It’s best to get in on the… ground… floor!
Get it?
