Weeknotes-End of Research Phase — Mine Mania
The video is unrelated to the weeknotes, but I wanted to share one of my all time favourite performances of Wipeout by The Ventures, where Max Weinburg joined the legend that is Mel Taylor on drums and I’ve never seen such energy on stage. Amazing.
PlayBack Week
This week I presented the research findings to my peer group in the Discovery Challenge. You can see my presentation slides here.
Having dedicated research time meant I slowed down a little rather than barging straight in trying things out without putting the thought in first, which I am prone to doing when I get overexcited.
It wasn’t without its challenges. A youth group who were going to be a guinea pig, by providing research opportunities and then being our first youth group on the server didn’t get involved in the end, but luckily I organically found a disability youth group who were willing and enthusiastic and had already been thinking about how to make gaming more inclusive, but didn’t know where to start.
The research with parents and children resulted in more members joining my existing tiny server, and the time involved in both research and the time demanded by running an expanding server was a lot more than anticipated and Minecraft has basically taken over my life now.
In person research involved running Minecraft LAN Gaming Clubs every Saturday morning as part of a larger kids club, and it has been so popular, and the kids who come back week after week love it so much, that I can’t stop this now. Saturday Minecraft Club is a thing now, and its the best fun.
Two unexpected things the research threw up that I’m embracing with open arms:
- The need for wider support for some children who come to us. Mentoring and counselling can be really powerful taking place in the environment where the child already feels safe, confident and comfortable. This is something I would like to be able to offer.
- Gaming is for every body. The benefits of gaming have a far wider impact than a recreational activity. It builds confidence, friendships, social skills, leadership, and everyone should be able to experience this. I have delved into the world of adaptive technology from eye gaze trackers with tailored open source software, to adaptive joysticks, buttons and more. And will be making opportunities for families to come and try out different set ups to see what works for their child.
The playback session was fantastic for bringing all my thoughts and plans together, and helping me see how far I’ve come already.
Next it’s the development phase — time to build the best Minecraft server our players have ever seen. Im working with some amazing tech superstars, adaptive tech orgs, collaborators, and Minecrafters to make some magic happen. Excited!
To finish here is The Ventures performing the same song about 20 years earlier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bKG0p6Tv9Q
I love seeing how they’ve changed over the years, and how the music is timeless. Phenomenal energy! He is such an amazing drummer, and collaborating with another legendary drummer in the 1985 version above elevated this to god-tier version.
So there you go. I can even relate The Ventures videos to this weeknotes now. Collaboration can elevate something awesome to stratospheric levels, so keep doing what you believe in, find like minded people and keep those connections open to see what magic happens.
Originally published at https://www.minemania.co on December 14, 2023.
