Engaging with Public Voices through Minecraft - A participatory design experiment

Engaging with Public Voices through Minecraft

UNDER GRADUATE PROGRAMME INARCHITECTURE

STUDENT NAME: SAMPREETDASGUPTA

THESISTITLE: ENGAGING WITH PUBLIC VOICES THROUGH MINECRAFT

APPROVAL

The following study is hereby approved as a creditable work on the approved subject carried out and presented in the manner, sufficiently satisfactory to warrant its acceptance as a pre-requisite to the degree of Bachelor of Architecture for which it has been submitted.

It is to be understood that by this approval, the undersigned does not endorse or approve the statements made, opinions expressed or conclusion drawn therein, but approves the study only for the purpose for which it has been submitted and satisfies him/her to the requirements laid down in the academic program.

SignatureoftheGuide Dean,FacultyofArchitecture KrutiShah Date:

Declaration

This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any University or other institutions and to the best of my knowledge does not contain any material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text.

I consent to this copy of thesis, when in the library of CEPT University, being available on loan and photocopying.

Student Name: Sampreet Dasgupta

Date: 2nd May 2021

Signature:

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest apprecia tion to my parents for their constant support and encouragement in these desperate times of Covid 19 pandemic. They motivated me in the beginning of the semester to opt for a dissertation topic and encouraged me to be confident about my capability of researching and completing my dissertation.

I am extremely grateful to my guide Kruti Shah for believing in my research topic, inspiring me with numerous references and for be ing kind and patient throughout the semester. I am thankful to Prof. Meghal Arya and Prof. Vishwanath Kashikar for reviewing my thesis with utmost interest and providing me with insightful examples and references on my topic and for taking my thesis forward.

I would like to thank Neha Krishna Kumar who helped me formulate my thesis during Research Methods course in the last semester. I am thankful to Harshil Shah for guiding me regarding topics of participation and effective techniques of interaction with potential participants at the site.

I am grateful to all the residents and members of the housing soci ety at the site being studied. I am extremely thankful to Pushpa Ben and Ankit Bhai for understanding my research idea and helping me interact with all other society members and explaining to them in the local dialect.

Lastly, I would like to express my biggest thanks to all my friends and acquaintances who participated in the design experiments and helped me gather significant data through surveys and questions. I am extremely grateful for their patience and interest in my topic.

“Architecture must become Worldcraft, the craft of making our world, where our knowledge and technology doesn’t limit us but rather enables us to turn surreal dreams into inhabitable space. To turn fiction into fact.”

~ Bjarke Ingels, BIG

T

INTRODUCTION

of contents

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN.

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN PROCESS

WHY IS PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

WHO CONFORMS

‘PUBLIC’ IN PARTICIPATORY DESIGN?

WHEN IS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION NEEDED?

FORMS OF PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

BASIC TECHNIQUES OF PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

INFERENCES

UNDERSTANDING EPARTICIPATION

03 GAMES IN DESIGN

GAMIFICATION

GAME STRUCTURE

GAME EXPERIENCE

EXAMPLES OF GAMES IN DESIGN

INFERENCES

MINECRAFT

4.1 MINECRAFT: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

MINECRAFT FEATURES AND MECHANISMS

GAME MODES

THE PLAYER

BLOCKS AND MATERIALS

CUSTOMIZATION

MINECRAFT AS A DESIGN TOOL

EXAMPLES OF MINECRAFT IN ARCHITECTURE

EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYSIS

MOTIVATION

GROUND

AESTHETIC

PUBLIC

Fig. 2: ‘Climate Hope City’, a project by the firm BlockWorks initiated by The Guardian newspaper to build a clean and sustainable city in Minecraft, using existing green technologies and prototypes.

delve into the concepts of eparticipation, gamification and Minecraft’s features and mechanisms.

1.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. Why should designers prioritize better citizen participation?

2. What keeps some citizens from participating?

3. What problems do citizens who participate face during the design process?

4. What are the benefits and disadvantages of eParticipation?

5. What does gamification involve? What separates it from just a game?

6. What benefits does gamification have over simulation?

7. How do graphics impact spatial learning from games?

8. How has gamification been used for participatory purposes before?

Investigating these questions can help us understand the under lying mechanisms in a participatory design process, use of gami fication in design and how Minecraft may best help participatory design as a design tool.

01

To ascertain the potential and capability of Minecraft as a participatory design tool in the field of architecture

1.2 AIMS

02

To determine which aspects of design and stages of the design process can be executed on Minecraft, based on surveys conducted among the participants.

1.3 OBJECTIVES

03

To analyze Minecraft based on certain factors that constitute a participatory design medium such as accessibility and public advocacy.

01

To determine the challenges faced by current participatory methods in architecture.

Based on literature review of participa tory methods focusing on why and when it is needed as well as its different forms and techniques.

03

To understand the game of Minecraft in detail, focusing on objects, tools and materials available.

Based on literature review as well as experience gathered from playing over the years and through experiments con ducted in this thesis.

02

To understand the concept of gamification and several benefits of using gamification in design.

Based on literature review focusing on the use of gamification in several design processes around the world.

04

To analyze the potential of Minecraft as a design tool for participatory design processes and different design stages

Based on several factors that constitute a participatory design tool, conduct ing experiments in Minecraft and doing multiple surveys.

1.4 SCOPE

1. Almost all theories, examples, references and analysis in this thesis correspond to design in the field of architecture and urban planning and broader fields of design have not been considered.

2. The site considered for experiments is an actual site in south eastern Ahmedabad and has been properly analyzed after interviewing all residents and documenting their needs and concerns.

3. For one of the two experiments conducted, three different age groups of teenagers, college students and working professionals less than the age of 40 have been considered. These people are more likely to participate in a Minecraft participatory process.

4. For the second experiment, undergraduate college students have role played as mem bers of housing society and participated in a design process to redesign a neighborhood at the site.

5. For analysis and understanding, only Minecraft Java for PC version has been used, without delving into detail about other versions. Minecraft Java is one of the oldest versions encompassing entire archives of Minecraft features and objects.

1.5 LIMITATIONS

1. Certain inferences made corresponding to game features are based on previous experiences of playing the game and literature review as it was not possible to conduct experiments for all the different features of Minecraft.

2. Proper gamification a participatory process would require actual residents or stakehold ers to participate and collaborate together. But the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic and inac cessibility to a paid game among the residents at the site made it difficult to accomplish.

3. With participatory methods, we need to focus on marginalized groups of society such as young people and adults, however with constraints of Covid 19 pandemic, only vicinal people have been asked to participate in the process. As a result almost all participants in the process are male and there could be a slight gender disparity in the inferences.

Fig. 3: A participatory process to enhance social housing in Brazil, based on the works of Christopher Alexander. Agencies involved are trying to get inputs from children by allowing them to play and create within the space.

Fig. 4: Illustration showing an instance of a participatory process

2.1 PARTICIPATORY DESIGN PROCESS

This thesis tries to ascertain the capability of Minecraft as a participatory design tool. In order to conduct experiments and verify the potential of a participatory tool, we need to understand the intricacies of a participatory design process. In this chapter, the core principles of participatory design have been briefly touched upon, and cer tain inferences made that help set the premise for the thesis and experiments. Although partici patory design is currently used in several design fields, subsequent discussions are focused to wards participation in urban design, manage ment and infrastructure.

2.1.1 wHY Is PARtIcIPAtoRY desIgn needed?

Greater involvement of people in an urban de sign or management process helps to increase knowledge about several problems, better medi ate these problems and concerns and improve quality of life in many ways. When certain groups of people such as women, youth or indigenous communities are unable to provide public opin ion, influence decision making and obtain rele vant information about how new laws or policies

might affect them, it is more likely that they will be ill served by these laws and policies. Inte grating the public’s interests in urban policies will not only be beneficial for the public but for the government as well. Not only does it make the government aware of all socio-political concerns and problems, resolving these con flicts by providing the most optimum solution increases the public’s trust in the government itself.

2.1.2 wHo confoRms As ‘PublIc’ In PARtIcIPAtoRY desIgn?

In urban design, public can be defined as the people who will be significantly affected by the design. In most city public projects, resi dents living around the site and users of the concerned space are referred to as the pub lic. In broader terms, the scope of public refers to people who have to face the environmental, social or political impact of the design. In proj ects intended for a wide variety of people such as a large company office campus or school campus, the potential users can be referred to as public. People who feel that they have a re sponsibility to contribute something to the proj ect become participants in a design process. In the experiments conducted for this thesis, the participants take on the role of representing the ‘public’ as understood above.

2.1.3 wHen Is PublIc PARtIcIPAtIon needed?

Public participation can be used in different stages of a design process such as:

• Identifying needs and concerns: This hap pens at very early stages of a design process, when designers want public inputs and ideas regarding the project. With the help of several tools and surveys, designers are able to extract design ideas from the public.

• Identifying barriers and conflicts: This takes place when certain decisions need to be made regarding technical difficulties making it impos sible for the design to go forward, and design ers need the public’s understanding and ac ceptance. This results in unfinished design.

• Design changes and progress: This happens when a design process becomes stagnant and designers need public opinion on how to intro duce new features and changes. The public’s interests provide the designers with new ideas, help to decide further on design development or even take a new design direction.

In this thesis, we focus on the early stage of identifying needs and concerns, where pub lic’s input helps formulate ideas and needs.

Fig. 5: Illustration showing a participatory process underway

2.1.4 foRms of PARtIcIPAtoRY desIgn

Participatory design is not a single event but a collection of coordinated participatory activi ties that include multiple techniques. We need to understand these forms of participation be fore we can verify the potential of Minecraft as a participatory design tool. They can be subdi vided into two main categories:

1. Forms of interaction and planning

2. Forms of collecting feedbacks

Forms of interaction and planning:

Online: Workshops, seminars, public hearing, round table meetings help to interact with a small group of people and facilitates a two-way interaction where the public gets relevant in formation about the site and designers extract design inputs from public opinions. For larger groups of people, lectures, films and showing videos is most effective in informing the pub lic about relevant concerns and problems but interaction becomes one sided if not properly structured. One of the most common ways to extract information from a large group of peo ple is to introduce boards which allows every

individual to voice their opinions and ideas. Offline: Brochures and pamphlets are common examples of offline media used for getting pub lic opinion. For a large group of people, though offline media is more cumbersome and a slow process, but for people belonging to margin alized societies, it is easier to understand and get acquainted with. Board games and picto rial games can serve a similar purpose as they can instigate curiosity among the participants.

Forms of collecting feedbacks:

The concept of conducting surveys and collect ing public opinion is not only applied in partici patory design but also several other fields such as marketing, business proposals etc. One of the best ways of conducting surveys is using a rating and ranking system, where people rate the product or design based on their experi ences and observations. Using a ‘yes/no’ approach is also very efficient in extracting opinions without getting mixed and non-resolvable opinions from people. Sur veys can be conducted in many forms such as pictorial surveys, sketch surveys etc.

2.1.5 bAsIc tecHnIques of PARtIcIPAtoRY desIgn

A simple and easy to conduct participatory pro cess needs to follow certain steps which help to take the design forward and keep the public involved simultaneously. Some of these tech niques are:

Information gathering – The first and most important stage of a participatory design process involves studying and analyzing the site through the eyes of the stakeholders. Inter views and group discussions help to collect in formation about the site, concerns of the people and all socio-economic factors at play.

Identifying concerns and problems – Af ter few sessions with the people, the next step involves structuring all public opinions into ma jor concerns and dislikes of the people involved and getting to know what kind of solutions they would like to be incorporated in the design.

Informing – Keeping the public up to date with current affairs regarding the site such as environmental factors, certain guidelines that need to be followed etc. This step involves not only making the public aware but also informing them about solutions, opportunities and alterna tives regarding the design. The intent is to make everyone affected by the design changes aware of how the design may affect them not only in the present but future as well.

Hearing – The hearing stage happens when iterations are happening in the design, and constant public feedback is needed to not only resolve the public’s doubts but also get ideas if the design is ready to progress further.

Responding – The final participatory de sign stage involves having final discussions with all the stakeholders, after which the design be comes the responsibility of the designer or ar chitect to take it forward based on all opinions and ideas collected since the beginning of the project.

INFERENCES

• From the techniques and procedures described above, it is evident that in a participatory process, public feedback acts as the backbone of the project. The process involves several tools and methods that need to be integrated and carefully planned in order to execute the process perfect ly. Currently, offline mediums of communication and interaction are more popular resulting in a smaller number of participants at any given time and discussion. Using digital mediums such interactive games can help inte grate ideas of multiple groups of people simultaneously thus making the process more efficient.

• Another drawback of these processes is the number of inputs (such as presentation of ideas and seminars) is more than the number of outputs (such as public feedback and opinions). As such, marginalized groups of society especially young people barely show interest in such processes. This leads to a result where their needs in terms of housing or public servic es are barely considered in urban planning policies and implementation.

• This thesis aims to verify if Minecraft as a collaborative interactive game can overcome these barriers and provide a more efficient method of par ticipation. However, before we can correlate between a game and a design tool, we need to understand the concept of gamification which has been described in the next chapter.

2.2 UNDERSTANDING EPARTICIPATION

Online mediums of participation or collabora tion is a very convenient method for gathering inputs from a large group of people. As inferred from the previous sections, motivating people to participate can prove to be a major chal lenge especially in large scale projects. As such, participation needs to be thought of dif ferently, and eParticipation provides one solu tion to this problem.

The act of participating via the internet where participants have their own devices can be referred to as e-Participation. It allows par ticipants to view and comment on design de cisions from the comfort of their home at any time of the day. It allows participants to extract only the amount of information they want to ex tract, without unnecessary details. This method of communication allows several advantages such as providing feedback without direct confrontation and not sitting through an entire meeting just to understand a minor decision.

e-Participation despite having many advan tages has many disadvantages as well. Social media influences every person in today’s world,

where mass amounts of information is available to the public on a daily basis and any individ ual is free to voice their opinions. This means that for targeted participatory processes, un intended individuals may voice their negative opinions under the guide of being anonymous and increase the distrust between the design ers and the public. Talking about trust, one ma jor reason for limited participation from citizens is trust where citizens are unable to verify if the agency involved will actually work on their feedback and opinions. Online modes of com munication can further this distrust and hamper the process in its entirety.

Controlled eParticipation such as interactive online games or boards help to collect mass feedback but at the same time make it harder for anonymous individuals to jump in and voice random thoughts. This way of interaction acts like a leeway be tween the benefits and challenges of ePartici pation. In this thesis, we try to find if Minecraft has the potential to act as a design medium and trustworthy motivating mode of interaction between the public and the agencies involved.

Fig. 10: Representation of an entire city in the game SimCity 2000 to understand how to solve world’s energy problems by 2050.

GAMES IN DESIGN

Games can be defined as tools of human pleasure and enjoyment, with a risk and reward system. A gamer needs to complete certain challenges to gain a reward. This concept of motivating a person by putting an incentive forward is being used in many participatory pro cesses around the world. Citizens need to be motivated or inspired to be a part of a design process that will affect their daily life as well as the lives of future generations.

Looking at the future specifically, design processes today need to in volve young people who will inhabit the designed space in the future. With new games and technologies being developed, these younger generations of people become highly invested in various forms of en tertainment and gaming. Designers look forward to using these inter ests of youngsters and aligning it with the design process, trying to hit two birds with one stone. In this section,we look at how games work, how games can be used in design and examples of designs that have been created using games.

3.1 GAMIFICATION

Gamification refers to the concept of using game elements for non-gaming purposes. Games can be played for several purposes. Although people play games mostly for fun and enjoyment, people can also learn something from games or play to achieve a specific purpose. There are different genres of games that allow players to undertake different challenges or explore different worlds. This is similar to reading a book for fun, reading a book to learn or understand. At its core, it is the idea of ‘playing’ which instigates people to follow rules and limitations in order to achieve a certain goal. The concept of ‘playing’ can be taken out of a game, to make it more serious and put com plete emphasis on the rules itself. For example, the game of politics can have both positive and negative but serious consequences if not played by the rules.

This concept of gamification, or rather inventing a system where participants need to follow sev

eral rules and limitations to achieve a goal, can be applied to participatory design. Participants will realize that despite limitations, they have the freedom to explore the boundaries of these limi tations and learn something new. Participants are limited in terms of tools available perhaps, but they are open to exploring new or efficient ways to reach the objective. As a participant gets more curious about a certain objective, he or she will learn to think on their own and find the best pos sible method to achieve that goal. Currently there are several games that are being used for gamifying daily life activities, where any person involved becomes a player or an NPC (non-player character), but still involved in the process. However, the most crucial aspect of this process is the game itself that people are play ing. Without a properly organized game system and structure, the process will fall apart and the objective cannot be reached.

Fig. 11: Illustration showing features of gamification

Fig. 12: Illustration showing how MDA framework functions in a game.

3.2 GAME STRUCTURE

We look at the basic structural framework of a game to understand what constitutes a game and how can the same process be applied to participation.

MDA Framework: The MDA framework or Me chanics-Dynamics-Aesthetic is an integral frame work followed by many gaming companies. Me chanics refers to small components comprising data sets and algorithms for the game. These components together make dynamics which cor responds to the functioning of the game along with user inputs from players. Finally, aesthetics corresponds to emotional responses from the player when reacting to the game dynamics. The MDA framework has been described in detail in 5.1.3.

From the MDA framework, we can say that aes thetics of the game is where users or participants

actually get involved. The aesthetic component of a game also corresponds to the idea of ‘fun’. At the core of gaming, any player follows simple rules and likes to have fun. However, in a par ticipatory process, although ‘fun’ acts like a mo tivator for participation, it doesn’t help attain the objective. Knowledge needs to be taught or ex tracted from the participants and it needs to de fine the design techniques and game mechanics for the entire process to work.

To gamify a participatory process, we need a gaming system that allows participants to have fun, but at the same time makes them aware of the objective and their own responsibilities and goals. Not only should the game motivate peo ple to play, but also teach participants about the needs and concerns of the project and instigate them to find their own way of resolution.

3.3 GAME EXPERIENCE

There are two major ways in which people can perceive a designed space – simulation or vir tual medium. When we compare simulation to a virtual medium, simulation seems to be more ac curate and apt for spatial cognition among the public. But it has one major flaw. In the present scenario, simulating applications or devices that allow modification or changes within the simula tion itself are rare or not easily accessible. Virtual medium on the other hand, through design tools for instance, helps users to modify and make changes on their own. This process is even more simplified for games, where all rules and proce dure is already specified and players are open to explore within the game itself. Simplification of the tool itself is another factor that affects experience. Tools or applications that are used for designing in detail make the process longer and harder for the public to take part in. Rather than having complicated tools to

deal with, if participants are able convey spatial thoughts without getting confused in the medium itself, then the process becomes very efficient. Similar to complicated tools, the game itself must not be high spec, visual heavy game that dis tracts the user from the goal. However, the game must have certain features that abstract reality and make it easier for participants to manage an abstract and conceptual space.

We need to look at other e-Participation methods as well in order to compare the benefits of Mine craft as a game. Methods of interaction through social media or other online boards allow two-way analogous dialogue between participants but it requires all parties to convey their forms and shapes in a manner that the other parties can un derstand. In this scenario, games or gamification with its predefined tools fit the role perfectly pro viding users with the best interactive experience.

Fig. 13: Illustration showing different mediums of playing games resulting in different experiences

3.4 EXAMPLES OF GAMIFICATION

BLOCK BY BLOCK AND UN HABITAT

One of the best examples of gamification is the use of Minecraft as a design tool to em power citizens of economically lower sec tions of society. This is a project by Blockby-Block foundation in collaboration with UN Habitat.

Minecraft has the ability to visualize urban planning ideas without any prior archi tectural training. Hence this foundation is helping marginalized groups of society to voice their opinions.

Images:

Market hall built on a garbage heap in So malia, where 20 years of civil war has se verely limited development of basic urban services (top)

In Nairobi, people imagined a large public space with skate park, and also proposed a lighting scheme

CROWD-SOURCED MOSCOW

There was an increasing gap in urban de sign policies in Moscow between planning agencies and what people wanted for the city. Andrei Goncharov, developed a social media game which allowed people to pro pose ideas or spend in-game currency to vote for other people’s ideas.

This created a huge buzz especially for a large courtyard in Moscow where people have strong opinions about walkability and greenery. This interested other planning agencies and after deliberations created a courtyard with 20% more walkability.

Fig. 14 &15: Description on the right

Fig. 16: Screenshot from the game by Goncharov

CITIES: SKYLINES IN STOCKHOLM AND HÄMEENLINNAA

In both cities of Stockholm and Hämeenlin naa, the interactive Cities: Skylines game has been used for a large-scale participa tory process where citizens were invited to become a part of the city planning pro cess. All citizens were allowed to download new changes for neighborhoods and parks created in the game, make modifications based on their needs and desires and re upload onto the portal.

This allowed city planners to understand the needs of the residents and also sim plified the process of large information ex change between the planning agency and the public.

Images:

Views of Stockholm City model made in City: Skyline.

BETAVILLE

Betaville was developed by Carl Skelton and Skye Book. It is a user friendly, GIS compatible platform that allows partici pants or stakeholders to upload 3D mod els of their ideas and convert them into editable virtual representation. By allowing multitudes of people to upload their ideas, it becomes a huge compilation or library of designs made by the people.

This concept of broad participation allows both people and designers to understand the current needs and concerns of the people and resolve solutions regarding the same.

Fig. 18: Screenshot from Betaville

Fig. 17: Description on right

INFERENCES

This concept of gamification is being used in many participatory pro cesses around the world. The most important factor is it introduces ‘play’ in a ‘work’ context. All human beings are fascinated by a risk and reward system. In a game intended for designing, the reward for designers would be ideas and needs of the people which they portray in the game, whereas for the participants it is the experience of the game itself. It motivates and instigates people to become a part of a design process without having to understand the significance of the process itself.

Most games are tools of pleasure and joy, but they also contain aspects of challenges and competition which takes it a step forward and makes people undertake the design experiment or process in a serious capacity rather than just playing the game.

In order to understand Minecraft as a game, we need to analyze the MDA framework of the game. By understanding mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics of the game in detail we can make comparisons between the games’s design features with other games or other design tools.

In the MDA framework, aesthetics is the most important part as it corre sponds to the player or the participant’s experience of the game itself. Thus the game experience which plays an important role in motivating the peo ple to participate, needs to be analyzed and compared with other games in proper detail.

Fig. 19: Image of a self sustainging multi purpose town created in Minecraft

MINECRAFT

Minecraft is very popular building blocks game, that focuses on the player trying to survive in wildlife. It requires players to mine resources and materials and craft structures and tools to survive in that scenario. In this section, all details starting from origin of the game to current use of the game for participatory design has been detailed out. It also describes different features, tools, objects and materials in Minecraft.

Certain steps required to use Minecraft as a participatory design tool have been described and few examples of Minecraft being used as design tool have been shown to set the premise for experiments and analysis of the game as a design tool.

4.1 MINECRAFT: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

Minecraft is a sandbox, open world exploratory game which allows players to mine resources and craft anything using the resources collected. It was developed by Marcus Persson in 2009. Initially, the game called ‘Cave Game’ was more of a source tool than a game meaning that play ers to go in and create what they wanted using the basic blocks set up by Persson. The official updated version was released in the same year named ‘Minecraft’.

Minecraft became popular because of its re source simulation mechanic. This meant that players could collect resources and build from the resources they collected themselves with their own digital hands block by block. Another feature that increased its popularity was mod ding the game was easier because of its limited pixelated visuals. Players could mod the game to their liking and the process was comparatively easier than other games. The game at this point included fighting monsters which later came to known as mobs and exploring an unending vast world. By the end of the year 2009, Minecraft had three different game modes as well called sur vival, indev and infdev.

A game is said to be in its beta stage when the game is incomplete and new features are being added to the game before publishing but Mine craft stayed in its beta phase for a long time be

cause new features were being added every day. By this time, Persson left his daily job and created the company Mojang. The game was published for PC by Mojang as a free to play online game that allowed multiple players to play together. This version of Minecraft came to be known as Classic Minecraft. Over the years, new features were added such as nether and the end. The nether was a hell like region accessed with the help of the portal. The end was a collection of is lands where the final boss resided. On defeating the final boss, credits rolled and players could go back to their own worlds.

Minecraft was bought by Microsoft in 2014. Mi crosoft started focusing on publishing the game across all major gaming platforms which further increased its popularity. New server hosts were added to allow the game to run smoothly. Current ly several versions of Minecraft are available but most of them are paid games with free trials avail able. Minecraft Java version is the most popular game with collection of all features developed over the years by Mojang and Microsoft. It has several game modes such as survival, creative, hard-core and adventure. Minecraft Windows version is a newer and smoother version created by Microsoft. Minecraft Pocket edition allows us ers to play on their smart phones whereas Mine craft Education version can be used for teaching children about collaboration and interaction.

4.2 MINECRAFT FEATURES AND MECHANISMS

4.2.1 GAME MODES

Survival mode:

This mode is the oldest and most basic mode of Minecraft where players have a health bar which can take damage from any fight or nature. Play ers have to mine resources such felling trees for wood, mining stone for stone blocks etc. These resources can then be used directly or fused with other objects to craft other useful items. Players begin with no materials at all so it depends on the player on how they want to survive in the game.

Creative mode:

This mode provides players with unlimited re sources and objects, which can be moved from the inventory box to the inventory panel. The in ventory panel has a space of 9 blocks, which means players are allowed to use any of the 9 materials from archives at the same time without opening the inventory box. This mode is used whenever players want to create or build without the hindrance of mining and crafting. This mode is used mostly for design purposes and has been explored in this thesis

Hardcore mode:

This game mode is a variant of the survival mode with hardest difficulty settings. It also en ables ‘permadeath’ meaning permanent death. If a player dies in hardcore mode, they won’t re spawn in their original location but die completely and need to restart the game.

Adventure mode:

This mode was developed for players to explore the world of Minecraft. It features custom user crafted maps and biomes. The game play is similar to survival mode but with restrictions as imposed by the creator of the map.

Fig. 21: Screenshot of suvival mode button from Minecraft Java Edition

Fig. 22: Screenshot of creative mode button from Minecraft Java Edition

Fig.

Screenshot of hardcore mode button from Minecraft Java Edition

Fig.

Screenshot of adventure mode button from Minecraft Bedrock Edition

4.2.2 THE PLAYER

The player refers to the avatar that the user con trols in the world of Minecraft. When the game is started, the player spawns in world randomly generated or generated with a specified seed. When spawned, the player’s inventory is empty and players need to fill it with materials to build.

In survival mode, players need to mine and craft materials but in creative mode, unlimited supply of materials are available. Players have a health bar of 10 hearts which can be damaged and player dies if it reaches 0. Food can replenish health and armor or resistance potions can help reduce damage to health. Hunger is another fac tor with default hunger bar consisting of 10 meat. It corresponds to stamina and can be depleted when running, jumping or swimming.

4.2.3 BLOCKS AND MATERIALS

Minecraft is a block game, where almost all ob jects are cubic in shape with some exceptions. Blocks can be natural generated in a world such as grass, sand and stone or they can be crafted such as a furnace or a crafting table. Naturally occurring blocks can be mined either by using hand or by using tools such as wooden axe or stone axe which need to be crafted. Crafted tools make mining faster and efficient. In creative mode of Minecraft, the crafting component of the game is completely gone and all blocks in the Minecraft archive are available.

Some blocks are opaque such as sand or con crete whereas certain blocks such as glass or flowers are transparent. Explosive blocks such as TNT is also available for exploding a large num ber of blocks. Certain blocks such as glowstone and torches can emit light and light up the world during night.

Fig. 25&26: Screenshot of the default player avatar in the game

Fig. 27: Screenshot of object menu showing building blocks in the game

CUSTOMIZATION

As mentioned earlier, Minecraft is a very flexible game that allows users to customize and mod the game to how they want the game to be played. This has resulted in the creation of several mods, skins, custom maps and resource packs over the years. Some of these customizations have be come super popular and change the complete gaming experience of Minecraft.

Mods:

Mods as the name suggests help to modify the basic structure of the game in several ways such as changing textures of the blocks, creating minimaps and waypoints, render the world more real istically and change dimensions and functions of certain blocks.

Resource Packs:

Resource packs introduced in 2013 allows users to create an entire pack of new maps, textures, skins and renders that change the entire gam ing experience. In Minecraft Java version, adven ture mode allows players to integrate these data packs which are available to download online or user can create themselves which requires users to code and modify the game.

Fig. 28, 29 & 30: The effect of mods and resource packs in the game

4.1 MINECRAFT AS A DESIGN TOOL

Before we look at examples of Minecraft being used in Architecture, we need to understand which features of Minecraft can correlate to an architectural design tool and certain steps that need to be followed for participants to engage in the design process. These steps have been compiled into a user manual or guide that partici pants or players can use to undertake this pro cess.

NOTE

This guide not only demonstrates the process of using Minecraft as a design tool but also contains steps to create, navigate and construct models within the world of Minecraft.

STEP 1: CREATING THE WORLD FOR DESIGN PURPOSES

• ฀The game starts by naming and creating your very own world.

• Select ‘Single player’ in the opening menu to start the game

• The game mode for architectural or de sign purposes should be CREATIVE, which gives unlimited number of resources and easy placement of blocks.

• This can be set before creating the new world.

On creating and loading the new world, you can spawn in any of the default biomes within Mine craft such as forests, plains, mountains, snow covered lands or deserts.

• In order to create a controlled world with exact features required for replicating a site in Minecraft, modifications need to be made before generating a new world

• ฀Click ‘More World Options’ to open world settings

• Click ‘SUPERFLAT’ in world type to gener ate a flat land on which the intended site can be made

• Click ‘Customize’ to modify world material such as stone, grass or sand depending on site.

STEP 2: MOVEMENT AND INTERFACE

• ฀Moving the mouse forward and back causes your character to look upward and downward.

• ฀Moving the mouse left and right causes your character to not just look, but turn in that direction, changing which direction is ‘forward’

• The keys A, W, S, D moves your char acter left, forward, backward and right; note that none of these make your character turn around or even look in the direction you’re moving.

• The SPACEBAR lets you jump about one and a quarter blocks high. Double pressing the SPACEBAR lets you fly and move in the air, giving aerial views of the model

• Minecraft has a DAY AND NIGHT cycle that continuously happens while playing in any world. During night, the screen goes black until lights are used which interrupts the flow of making.

• An alternative to lights is using the com mand “/time set day” which changes time to 1000 that represents 10 am in the morning.

• Since one cannot type values while work ing on dimensions, blocks need to be counted and scaled accordingly. Only way to calculate large distances is by using COORDINATES.

• Coordinates can be found by pressing ‘F3’ button on the keyboard, it shows XYZ co ordinates, which represents exact location of the player through X and Y, and altitude with Z

Fig. 36: Keyboard Movement

Fig. 35: Mouse Movement

.

STEP 3: MATERIALS AND OBJECTS

• The key E on the keyboard opens a menu showing all available objects and materials in Minecraft library.

• You can have a total of 9 objects in your arsenal during playing. These 9 objects are placed in 9 squares in the bottom.

• To put desired object in your arsenal, click once on the object in Menu board and then click on any of the empty 9 blocks at the bottom.

NOTE

There is no ‘UNDO’ or ‘MOVE’ button in Minecraft. If there is an error in block placement, they need to be broken down and made again one by one.

An alternative to moving is using the ‘/clone’ com mand where you enter begin coordinates, end coordinates and destination coordinates

The begin and end coordinates are coordinates of two vertices at diagonally opposite ends of a square in which object is placed (shown in pic) /clone <begin> <end> <destination>

Example: /clone 935 66 1024 944 72 1027 900 65 1001

BREAKING AND MAKING

Left Click on mouse breaks a block. You need to click multiple times to break multiple blocks Right click on mouse creates a block. You can create multiple blocks in any direction. Certain blocks follow gravity and fall down if created in the air.

All materials in Minecraft have dimension of a single block or cube. Creating curved or sloped surfaces requires a large number of blocks, and needs to be planned beforehand.

Wooden planks Bricks Stone

Concrete Wooden logs Exposed concrete

Staircases Slabs

SPREUCE PLANK

ACACIA

PLANK

DARK OAK PLANK

ORANGE CONCERETE POWDER WHITE CONCERETE POWDER

COBBLE STONE

FENCE

STONE SLAB (TOP) STONE BRICK

Fig.

STEP 4: MULTI-PLAYER MODE FOR COLLAB ORATIVE DESIGN

Minecraft allows 8 different users to play or de sign together in the same world. This allows collaborative and participatory de sign within the game.

For multi-player mode, the creator of the world needs to host the game on a local or international server. Other players can join using the host’s IP address or selecting the server from drop down list in Multi-player.

The basic features of multiplayer have been dis cussed in chapter 5.5.

PARTICIPATORY FEATURES

RESOLVING CONFLICTS

If there is an argument as to what materials or ob jects need to be used for making a certain model, the conflict can be resolved by constructing a mini version of the same model with exact shape, but each player using their material choices Then comparing all the options, and finalizing a material for the larger model.

ROLE OF AN ARCHITECT

An architect as a player in the game should not impose heavy design ideas on other players, but act like a facilitator giving players full freedom in their material preferences and giving sugges tions when a player is having problems

The main work of an architect comes after the game has been played and participants have voiced their opinions through Minecraft. Converting their ideas into architectural drawings and rendered realistic models should be done with proper detail by the architect

Fig.

&

POV of player interaction in Minecraft

Fig. 42 & 43: Collaboration and thinking in Minecraft

4.1 EXAMPLES OF MINECRAFT IN ARCHITECTURE

BEIJING IN 1751

The architecture of Qing dynasty that ruled over China from 1644 to 1912, has been hidden from general public for many centuries. This project called Project 1845 is a recreation of Beijing in 1751 in Minecraft. This project is an ongoing project that is available in MinecraftEdu (Mine craft Education version) for people to learn and understand the architecture of this great dynas ty. This project encompasses several features such as the forbidden kingdom and the city of Beijing (1750), tombs of the Ming Dynasty that ruled before Qing Dynasty (1368-1641), the Sum mer Palace (1911) and the old Summer Palace (1760-1901) among many others. According to the creators, this project will help people to learn about China’s history, language and culture.

1936 NEW YORK

This project is being made by Minecraft user C_B_John. It portrays the city of New York in 1936 before the outbreak of the second world war. This model in Minecraft shows the city at a time when architects preferred visual arts such as styles of Art Deco infused with upcoming modernist archi tecture.

The project with its stunning visuals provides views of lower Manhattan in the early 30s, with proper representation of all churches, interiors and lobbies.

Fig. 46 & 47: Screenshots from Beijing 1751 model

Fig. 48 & 49: Screenshots of Manhattan model

BLOCKWORKS

James Delaney, founder of BlockWorks uses Minecraft as computer aided design tool, be lieves that it allows collaboration similar to Build ing Interface Modelling that enables perfor mance sharing between clients, designers and users

The firm believes Minecraft can encourage a more democratic, populist approach to making architecture.

They redefine the role of an architect as a facili tator who gathers opinions from all stakeholders and converts their ideas into architectural de signs rather than being solely responsible for the design

ILLEGAL ARCHITECTURE

“Ihou Kenchiku” is a Japanese term for the word “Illegal Architecture” that the author talks about in this interesting article about how Minecraft served as the medium for over 140 people to col laborate on a project, where they were allowed to express their unbound creativity.

Dambo Ru, the creator of Minecraft Architects Project responsible for this initiative talks about the idea of ‘organized chaos’ as the theme for this project. Instead of fighting against the deci sions of so many people, they decided to inte grate them all in one project.

Fig. 50: Villa Rotunda recreated in Minecraft to understand the symmetry and principles of Andrea Palladio, created in collaboration with RIBA.

Fig. 51: A project in collaboration with RIBA to engage a younger audience with Brutalist Architecture.

Fig. 52: Screenshots of the model of ‘Ihou Kenchiku’

Fig. 53: ‘Mountain Cabin’ created by a group of participants during the design experiment conducted in Minecraft.

EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYSIS

To fully comprehend the potential of Minecraft as a design tool for participatory processes, we look at several factors that help us analyze the intricacies of Minecraft. These factors of analysis have been chosen keeping in mind that Minecraft’s inherent charac teristic revolves around being an exploratory open-world game. For Minecraft to go beyond its fundamental role as a game to a more re fined participatory design tool, we look at factors such as:

1. MOTIVATION - The aesthetics and mechanisms of the game must blend perfectly such that the gaming experience could be a motiva tion for people to play and participate in the design process.

2. COMMON GROUND - The game being used for design must have certain common ground between the game’s inherent features and designing with tools. For example, a game primarily based on fighting can’t be used whereas a game based on exploring and creating can be used for spatial understanding of a particular region

3. AESTHETIC - A first-person immersive exploration game helps to get a spatial understanding of surroundings. With proper rendering of the world and surroundings, players or participants can imagine a thriving world where their imagination turns reality.

4. ACCESSIBILITY - The game must be such that it is easily acces sible to the general public. Players who have general access to the internet will find it easily accessible despite having a minimal experi ence with gaming. However major complications arise when setting up the game and playing for design purposes which will be addressed.

5. PUBLIC ADVOCACY - The most important and integral compo nent that a participatory game must have is its ability to voice public opinion. In a design project, it is impossible to voice every individual’s opinions without offending someone else. The key feature to look out for is whether the game allows to resolve conflicts and helps attain a suitable solution.

Fig 54: ‘Jungle Villa’ created by a group of participants during the design experiment conducted in Minecraft.

Fig 55: Minecraft experiment where participants were asked to redesign a housing society

KEY FEATURES

EXPERIMENTS

Experiments were conducted within Minecraft using Local multiplayer or LAN where participants were all physically present and collaborated together. Three laptops were setup, connected to the same wireless network and Minecraft opened and connected.

There were two kinds of experiments conducted to verify different as pects of Minecraft. They are:

Minecraft

Minecraft

PARTICIPANTS

The participants for the experiments included people from different fields and backgrounds. By getting opinions from different individuals we can derive conclusions regarding Minecraft being used for different stakeholders in a participatory design process. They were categorized into different age groups and professions as follows:

• Teenagers (age 10- 19)

• Undergraduate students (age 19-25)

Architecture Students

Non – Architecture Students

• Working Professionals (age 25 – 40)

Architects

Non - Architects

For the second set of experiments, a housing society was chosen as a site. A proper site study was done and interviews were conducted. Undergraduate students (both architecture and non-architecture) role played as residents of the housing society and designed in Minecraft

SURVEYS & COMPARISON

For analyzing the experiences of all the participants, surveys were con ducted and opinions were gathered in a condensed data set compris ing of a survey matrix (discussed in detail later). The survey matrix con sists of comparisons regarding the following factors:

1. Stages of the design process:

We consider different stages of a design process - Visualization, Plan ning, Designing and Model making

2. Aspects of design:

The basic aspects of design - Circulation spaces, Structural details, Lighting, Overall View with Orientation and Fenestrations

3. Parameters of design (with respect to a design tool):

The different stages and aspects are compared to parameters of de signing in a design tool - Convenience, Tools and objects, Speed of making and User relationships

FACTORS OF ANALYSIS

“If you talk about STEM education, the best way to introduce anyone to STEM or get their curiosity going, it’s Minecraft” ~Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

5.1 MOTIVATION

An integral and inherent feature in any explor atory game, that all game developers focus upon is it’s spatial quality. For an exploratory game to work, players must be fascinated by the world that they spawn in. The more realistic the space and context, the more immersive the game becomes.

Minecraft being a sand box game, removes the concept of boundaries and blocked regions from a game. In other words, players are free to explore as much as they want in any direc tion above or below the ground. With freedom as one its core principles, Minecraft creates a semi realistic world with people and nature coexisting together. Its pixelated format looks childish at first glance, but one game session makes a player realize that each and every de tail of a real world has been replicated in Mine craft. These include a proper day and night cy cle, wildlife, vegetation and different landforms among others.

With its vast archive of construction materials, tools and objects. It lets people visualize their own world In a pixelated format. The ease of using the tools and objects is an other inherent feature of Minecraft which at tracts players from all over the world. A simple right click creates a block where as a left click destroys a block.

For Minecraft to work as a participatory de sign tool, we need to understand two important things:

1. If Minecraft as a game can motivate people or participants to play and collaborate together. 2. Why should Minecraft be used for visualizing in design when compared to other similar ap plications or games.

To determine if Minecraft can motivate people to play and collaborate together, a question naire was developed which was put forth to all the participants and asked before they played together on Minecraft. The responses from the participants are com posed in a chart to better understand whether Minecraft can motivate people to use Minecraft for collaborating on a design.

To determine why Minecraft is preferred over other rendering and visualizing softwares that can be used for performing the same tasks as Minecraft, we compare Minecraft to applica tions such as Cities Skyline, the B3 game and The Sims.

The applications are compared on the basis of their mechanics, dynamics and challenges faced when used for design purposes. The re sults are then composed in a table and conclu sions are drawn.

One

most

The magical

Minecraft with its humongous player base has seen some amazing creations being made over the years. Many of these creations have been uploaded on the internet for future users to download and evolve, or uploaded as com pilations on streaming platforms such as You tube or Twitch. Many gamers from the current generation of video gamer players, get inspired from these streams or uploads and start creat ing their own worlds. Social media also plays a large role in publicizing game streams which thousands of players follow.

For developing the questionnaire, some popu lar Minecraft creations (above) were chosen. All participants were shown these images prior to the experiment and questions were asked to ascertain if Minecraft can motivate or intrigue people and instigate a feeling to playing in Minecraft.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you have any prior knowledge of Mine craft or any digital building game?

2. Do you like the visuals and graphics of Mine craft?

3. Do you feel the urge to play and create structures in Minecraft?

4. Do you feel Minecraft represents the real world in a simple yet effective way?

5. Do you feel Minecraft should be taught from a young age so it acts as basic knowledge?

6. Do you feel Minecraft has the potential to be used in certain everyday life processes?

The responses from all the participants were re corded and have been represented In tabular format for a better understanding of the partici pants’ opinions.

Fig. 56: Name: Greenfield Artist: THJESTR (Minecraft user ID) Date: Auguest

detailed

in Minecraft, heavily inspired by the

coast

Fig. 58: Name: Hogwarts Minecraft Artist: Planet Dragonod

Hogwarts

Harry Potter novels

model

amazing replica

castle

Hogwarts

Fig. 57: Name: Starship Enterprise Artist: Joshua Walker Date: September 2010

An amazing recreation of the starship ‘Enterprise’ from Star Trek movies. The model became popular because of its immense scale and attention to detail

Fig. 59: Name: Westeros Artist: Jacob Granberry (Project lead), Will Blew (technical lead)

2011

The world of Westeros based on the popular books of George R.R Martin and popular TV show Game of thrones, comprising of all of the seven kingdoms recreated in Minecraft

Among the participants, almost all of them have heard the name of Minecraft. The number of peo ple with very less gaming experi ence and people who play Mine craft or other games as a hobby was quite less compared to peo ple who have played before but but do not play often.

With basic knowledge about Minecraft or any other building game, it becomes easier for peo ple to participate and motivates them to not only become a part of this process but also contribute.

Having seen the renders and creations of the above mentioned models in Minecraft, many partic ipants were amazed and wanted to know more detailed informa tion about the structure.

Visually pleasing and satisfying images of structures can make participants inquisitive about not only the game, but the design as well

Participants had mixed respons es to the question. Even if the vi suals are nice, some people think of video games as a hindrance to productivity. Certain people felt it would be nice to play the game but not for designing as it required too much

When the participants are ac tual stakeholders of a process, they have strong opinions. But they lose motivation, when their voices are not considered. Be ing a platform where authorities are obligated to look at their idea, the game can motivate people to work together.

The vast majority participants agreed Minecraft’s accuracy in depicting the real world. They agreed that Minecraft makes the building structure look simpler in terms of structure and details.

A simplified process can motivate people to collaborate in a design process where users do not need to concern themselves about the intricacies of the design tool or medium.

Do

feel Minecraft

be taught

it acts as basic knowledge?

Do

Minecraft

a design

become a common design

Many of the participants agreed that Minecraft as a building game can be easily understood by all age groups.

If the game is used for educa tional purposes like teaching children about architecture and collaboration among peers, it will not only benefit them then but also motivate or inspire them to participate in these processes in the future where it is basic knowl edge which can be used for any aspect of daily life.

Design processes in the future may focus more collaborative de sign among stakeholders rather than individual designs made by architect.

When a large number of partici pants willingly want to voice their thoughts and opinions, Minecraft can become a very effective tool allowing participants to play from their phones themselves.

MINECRAFT

Description:

Minecraft is sandbox game that was developed on the concept of surviving in wild life by min ing and crafting resources. Creative mode of Minecraft makes players invincible and allows unlimited amount of resources making it suit able for constructing structures and buildings.

CITIES: SKYLINE

Description:

Cities Skyline is a unique game focused on city development and management. It simplifies the process of construction and maintenance of a city such that any person playing the game can understand. Players can create a wide variety of structures such as schools, public parks, hospitals, casinos etc to bring the city to life.

Mechanism:

Minecraft works on the same principle of build ing blocks such as LEGO allowing users to stack these blocks and create structures. Each block has dimensions of 1m x1m x1m.

Mechanism:

The game starts by allowing players a 2km by 2km zone to build a township with basic facili ties. As population of the city increases, newer options and challenges open up to the player.

Challenges:

Block shaped construction means that detail ing models would require the scale to be blown up to achieve detail. Creating with less blocks provides less resolution to the design mean ing players to need to translate their designs in block shapes before they can create in Mine craft.

Challenges:

The scale of the city though simplified indi cates a large planning process and designing in the game is limited to creating entirely new neighborhoods or districts. For such massive projects, citizens involved usually correlate to specific smaller societies.

Fig.

A desert city created in MinecraftFig. 61: A coastal city made in Cities: SkylineFig.

THE B3 GAME

Description:

This game was developed by Alenka Poplin as a part of her studies into the field of digital geo gamesfocusingonthedesignofamarketplace.

The game shows multiple screen modes allow ing users to place trees and objects around the model. Once finished users are able to upload their models and view others’ models as well.

Mechanism:

The game shows two views to the users - the plan view and the perspective view. Users can place objects such as trees, benches or foun tains in one view which gets reflected in the other. This simplifies the process of collecting data where every model is represented in the same manner using two views

Challenges:

First, custom games require a lot of effort in terms of time and energy invested in its cre ation of the game before the participatory pro cess even starts.

Second, new game implies no participant will have prior knowledge of the game mechanics and need to be taught from scratch.

BLOCKS

Description:

Blocks is a new game by Google that uses VR technology for creating and designing. Upon wearing VR goggles, players can draw lines, extrude surfaces, rotate objects, play with the object itself among others. Players can move around their creation like a sculptor moving around his statue.

Mechanism:

The technology being used is comparatively new but allows users to make changes such as tapering an object and quick shape shifting But the control is limited in the sense that the tool is making decisions on behalf of the user such drawing a straight line when two vertices are connected without the user specifying the type of line.

Challenges:

The major challenge is the requirement of VR equipment which is not easily available. Peo ple cannot design from the comfort of their homes. VR equipment that can generate an entire neighborhood would require tremendous processing power and has not yet been devel oped.

SkylineFig. 62: Screenshot from the B3 gameFig. 63: View of an apartment inside Blocks

COMPARISON

To understand and analyze the different participatory design games, we look at several fac tors. These include general fac tors such as realism and interac tivity, factor of usability for both designer and participants, and factors affecting participatory processes such as accessibility, information sharing and public feedback.

These games have been graded on a scale of 1-5 based on literature review as well as playing and practical experience gained while playing these games over the years.

The challenges faced while de signing with these games as dis cussed in the previous section have been considered for grading as well.

INFERENCES

From the table values, we can see that the total value of Mine craft considering all the different factors is higher than the other games. Though Minecraft has its own flaws and challenges but these flaws are more advanced in other games making Minecraft the suitable tool for design pur poses.

FACTORSMINECRAFTCITIES:

GENERAL FACTORS

PROCESS

5.2 COMMON GROUND

A game needs to have some a certain common ground between the game interface and the design process for the game to function as a design tool. There are several genre of games including ones that are specifically targeted towards creativity such as puzzles or word games. However certain games such as Mine craft though not purely intended as a generic design tool, can be used for non-game pro cesses as well. This process is referred to as gamification, where game elements are used for non gaming processes.

For a game to work as a participatory design tool for architecture, it needs to have both re fined spatial qualities and total freedom for creativity. The game must allow users to un derstand and create not only the built but the unbuilt landscape as well. Games targeted towards fighting, action and adventure will not fulfill the criteria as they do not have the creativ ity feature but allow to play in fixed scenarios only with spatial detail. Strategy or simulation

games on the other hand provide a lot of free dom in terms of creativity but do not provide a lot of visuals and users are left to their imagi nation. Sandbox, open world and exploratory games like ones mentioned in the previous sub chapter have that perfect balance between creativity and spatial rendering.

Though Minecraft has the potential to be used as a design tool, the question arises as to how Minecraft compares to other visual platforms that people use. This arises two major ques tions:

5.1.2.1 - Which features or aspects of Minecraft makes it more or less suitable for a participatory process, when compared to platforms being used in current participatory processes such as Web 2.0 and social media, AR/VR and 360, GIS based urban simulation ?

5.1.2.2 - What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Minecraft in terms of aspects of design, stages of the design process and pa rameters of design?

5.1.2.1 RECENT APPROACHES TO PARTICI PATORY DESIGN PROCESSES

WEB 2.0 and Social Media

Social media refers to online platforms which allow users to create and share media online, which can viewed by other users and shared and so on. This results in a phenomenon where a large group of people can access some amount of information in a considerably short period of time. With online platforms such as In stagram and Facebook, almost any news from anywhere around the world can be accessed with just the action of scrolling and searching. Younger generations dominate the world of so cial media where they can very the amount of private information they want to make public, with the option of gaining popularity with mini mal effort.

This concept of sharing information and allow ing users to interact with information as well constitutes Web 2.0. This stage of information sharing is termed as the second stage of in ternet where users do not only view static web pages but interact with it as well. For example, SIMMER is an online sharing website that any one can use to access or upload their 3D mod els in WebGL format.

This method of data sharing can be used for participatory design where different partici pants engage with design over social media or interactive websites and designers can carve information out of that data.

AR/VR and 360

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality work on the concepts of simulation and projection. Par ticipants can use design softwares for creating models and structures, but the project is dis played in VR platforms where users wear gog gles and the model is brought to life in a digital format to their eyes.

It allows users to modify and analyze the model as if it were an actual structure. They can scale up, twist, extend the model in any way they want. This provides a lot of freedom in terms of visual progress towards the end goal where participants do not have the fear of missing out on a certain design aspect as they can actu ally see an exact replica of their ideas or the designer’s ideas.

The major drawback regarding VR or AR is the equipment itself. VR is yet to become a com monplace hardware available in stores and the cost of procuring such equipment is expensive as well.

GIS Based Urban Simulation

Geographic Information System (GIS) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) are two very im portant and newer concepts developed to deal with massive urban infrastructure problems and design concerns. The use of technology helps to organize and tackle major problems reduc ing the workload on the architect or designer.

This technology helps to understand the past as well as future, by simulating the design onto the site. This allows both designers as well as participants to understand the dynamic chang es in land use, transportation, economy and environment. This data driven design method helps to make predictions about the future such as land use patterns and flow of traffic in a broader landscape. The interactive interface means that it allows the user full control of the model and actually see how it would affect the environment in the future. These features are already being used in many platforms for ap plications such as Google Earth that uses sat ellite based GIS imagery for predicting traffic

Fig.

and

buildings and vegetation.

COMPARISON

We compare the different platforms of partici pation that are currently being used in multiple participatory process around the world. All the mediums have been properly analyzed based on theoretical understanding of the concept behind each platform and referring to experi ences and experiments that have already been conducted. These platforms have been grade on a scale 1 to 5 on the basis of following factors:

IMMERSION: The immersive nature of the plat forms that instigates people to get involved in the design process.

PARTICIPATION: The degree of flexibility in terms of participation allowed among multiple individuals

DESIGNING: The features and mechanisms present in the platform that allows participants to design and collaborate

COST OF USING: The price of each these plat forms as available in their respective websites or at the store.

INFERENCES

Minecraft has the highest score among all the different platforms. Although other platforms have features that are more advantageous than Minecraft for example social media is com pletely free to use thus has the highest score in terms of cost whereas VR/AR has the lowest as the equipment is not only very expensive but hard to obtain as well.

Though Minecraft has lower score in certain aspects which turn out to be disadvantages of Minecraft as a platform, its overall score is high er. This means that other platforms may highest scores in one aspect but they have strong limi tations in another aspect which is crucial in a participatory process. Thus, Minecraft can be considered superior to other platforms in terms of common ground it provides in relation to ar chitecture and design

5.1.2.2 EXPERIMENTS AND SURVEYS

EXPERIMENTS

To analyze which stages of a design process are suitable for executing in Minecraft along with which aspects of design can be created, a set of experiments were conducted.

For the first set of experiments, participants were divided based on age and profession. The categories are:

• Teenagers (age 10- 19)

• Undergraduate students (age 19-25)

» Architecture Students

» Non – Architecture Students

• Working Professionals (age 25 – 40)

» Architects

» Non - Architects

SURVEYS AND SURVEY MATRIX

For evaluating the experiments and process, surveys were conducted to understand how Minecraft functions as a design tool. Rather than analyzing hthe game from the perspective of the developer or facilitator, we try yo analyze the game from the perspective of the stakeholder. A survey matrix was developed as shown to extract opinions of participants regarding the different stages of their creation as well as which as which design components or aspects were easier to construct than others. An example of the questions generated in the matrix of stages of design is shown below.

Parameters

Stages

Visualizing

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Is it easy to visualize in Minecraft?

Planning

Is it easy to plan and ideate in Minecraft?

Designing

Is it easy to design in Minecraft?

Model making

Is it easy to make structures in Minecraft?

Can you visualize with features available?

Is it possible to ideate and plan with tools and objects available?

Can you design with tools available?

Can you make structures with tools and objects in Minecraft?

Does visualizing in Minecraft take more time or less time?

How fast can you ideate or plan in Minecraft?

How fast can you design in Minecraft?

How much time does it take to construct in Minecraft?

Was collaborating easy while visualizing in Minecraft?

Was collaborating easy while ideating or planning in Minecraft?

Was collaborating easy while designing in Minecraft?

Was collaborating easy while constrcuting in Minecraft?

TEENAGERS

Teenagers represent the group most likely to have prior experience of play ing in Minecraft. This makes the collab orative process much smoother for fu ture architects who can incorporate this game in their designs.

DESIGN:

Glowing Bridge

TIME TAKEN: 1.5 hrs

NON - ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

Non Architecture students were consid ered in order to get the perspective of a student who is not related to the field of architecture yet has some amount of gaming experience.

DESIGN: Jungle Villa

TIME TAKEN: 2.5 hrs

SURVEYMATRIXOBSERVATIONS

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Visualizing 6646

Planning 7.5 8 6.55.5

Designing 9 8.5 88

Model making 89 8.5 9

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Circulation 7 6.5 78

Structure 8 8.58.5 8

Lighting 9 5.5 89

View 9.5 9 7.59.5

Wind and Ventilation 7 8.5 98

TEENAGERS

1. The scores given by teenag ers increases at every successive stage of design. The column chart shows incremental change in their scores

2. Score given to Visualization in Minecraft is quite low in case of teenagers whereas Model making is quite high.

3. The scores given to aspects of design stay almost constant within a range of 7 to 10, with 1-2 excep tions.

4. According to teenagers, the tools and objects available for lighting is quite limited and hard to use

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Visualizing 7 5.58.5 9

Planning 7.5 68 8.5

Designing 6.57.5 7 6.5

Model making 8 7.57.5 6

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Circulation 6.5 67 6.5

Structure 8 7.5 8 7.5

Lighting 7.5 57 6.5

View 9 7.57.5 8

Wind and Ventilation 7.55.58.5 7

NON - ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

1. Non-Architecture students have greater speed at making the struc ture and collaborative progress between architecture students is much more smoother and efficient.

2. In case of non-Architecture stu dents, the aspects of design have a score that stays more or less con stant with few exceptions such as circulation, fenestration for ventila tion and lighting have a score be low 6 in terms of tools and objects available

3. For non-architecture students, tools and objects get lowest score for all stages as well as aspects of design possibly because of experi ence with gaming softwares.

ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

For Minecraft to become a popular and efficient in participatory processes, the current generation of architecture stu dents will be responsible. The students will have much more control over de signing, planning and model making compared to other groups.

DESIGN: Island Retreat

TIME TAKEN: 2hrs

NON - ARCHITECTS

When we talk about stakeholders in a design process, we actually refer to working professionals as well who are not in the field of architecture. For ana lyzing the game, their opinions will be crucial.

DESIGN: Mountain Cabin

TIME TAKEN: 1.5 hrs

SURVEYMATRIXOBSERVATIONS

Convenience

Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Visualizing 8 7.55.57.5

Planning 6.56.59.5 8

Designing 989 7.5

Model making 7.5 77 6.5

Convenience

Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Circulation 8.57.58.56.5

Structure 7.5 98 8.5

Lighting 6 7.56.5 8

View 9 8.57.510

Wind and Ventilation 8.5 8 9.57.5

ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

1. Architecture students find Mine craft quite convenient and have easier time with the tool.

2. For architecture students, plan ning in Minecraft happened quite fast thus it has the highest score in the entire chart while visualizing took a lot of time thus lowest score

3. In case of Architecture students, speed of making differs for differ ent aspects of design. Fenestra tions for ventilation and circulation spaces are faster to make, whereas lighting, structure and overall view take considerable amount of time.

Convenience

Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Visualizing 7.5 6 7.5 8

Planning 78 6.5 8

Designing 8 5.56.5 7

Model making 9 7.5 8 6.5

Convenience

Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Circulation 7 6.57.55.5

Structure 76 7.56.5

Lighting 6.5 787

View 9.5 8 8.58.5

Wind and Ventilation 8 7.58.5 8

NON - ARCHITECTS

1. For non architects, all param eters have considerably less varia tions.

2. Regarding aspects of design, view or rendering of final model gets maximum score (most conve nient or easy to render)

3. Non Architects face problems in the designing with the tools and objects available. Thus, it has been given the lowest score.

ARCHITECTS

The most important group in the experi ments will not only be responsible for design inputs but also for facilitating the entire process and extracting informa tion from the participants efficiently.

DESIGN: Beach House

TAKEN: 2.5 hrs

terms

different user groups, details about the participants,

their

Teenagers

SURVEYMATRIXOBSERVATIONS

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Visualizing 8.5568.5

Planning 766.57

Designing 7.56.576.5

Model making 65.57.58.5

Convenience Tools and objects Speed of making User Relationships

Circulation 7.5 867

Structure 5.5 9 7.56.5

Lighting 6 7.58.56.5

View 8 8.5 97

Wind and Ventilation 56 7.58.5

ARCHITECTS

1. For architects, the aspects of de sign vary considerably with respect to the parameters such as circula tion which is convenient, easier with tools available, takes more time but allows collaboration prop erly so the scores go up and down in almost all aspects.

2. The score variations between different aspects is significant for architects with curve points being far apart from one another, whereas for non architects its more closely packed.

3. View or rendering of final mod el gets maximum score (highest speed of making, take less time to get idea of the final view)

Structure Lighting View and Orientation Wind and ventilation

SURVEY ANALYSIS

For analyzing the surveys the conducted, another matrix system was used to compare the advantages and disadvantages of using Minecraft for different stages of the design process and aspects of design in terms of parameters for all user groups.

The highest and lowest scores given to each stage or each aspect in terms of parameters was consid ered and inferences were made. This system helped in generating a final table highlighting the prominent disadvantages and advantages that all user groups felt.

Teenagers

Visualization PlanningDesigning Model making

Scores given are quite low between 4 6. They have hard time visualizing things within the interface

Non Architecture Students

Pixelated tools and materials make it harder to visualize.

Lowest score given to tools and objects

Collaboration while planning was hardest in teenagers.

Tools and objects were not easy to use during planning

All parameters have scores above 8. Thus, teenagers didn’t have problems with designing

Minecraft was less convenient to use and collaboration was harder as well

Architecture Students

Non Architects

Need more time to visualize. Lowest speed of visualizing

Lowest score for tools and objects, similar to non architecture students

Both tools and objects were given comparatively lower scores while planning

Planning was harder, so it took more time and thus lowest speed of making

All parameters have good scores, thus not many concerns with designing

Tools were harder to use and speed of making was low as well

All parameters have scores above 8. Thus, teenagers didn’t have problems with model making

Collaborating while making the model was harder than others

Collaborating while making the model was harder than others

Collaborating was hard in Minecraft Architects

Scores for both tools and speed of making is low, thus harder to visualize in Minecraft interface

Tools were harder to use and it took more time to plan as well

Tools were harder to use and collaboration was harder as well

It was less convenient to construct in Minecraft

Table 3: The disadvantages of using Minecraft for different design parameters as given by different user groups for different stages of design. This table considers the design parameters given the minimum score by the participants.

Teenagers

Scores given are quite low between 4 6. They have hard time visualizing things within the interface

Planning with tools and objects is comparatively easier

Non Architecture Students

Collaborating is easier while visualizing in Minecraft

Architecture Students

Non Architects

Visualizing is more convenient in Minecraft

Collaborating is easier while planning in Minecraft

Planning in Minecraft is faster thus more speed of making

Designing in Minecraft is most convenient for teenagers

Collaborating and working with tools and objects is easier

Working with tools and materials is easier for non architecture students Model making is most convenient

Designing is more convenient and faster as well Model making is also very convenient in Minecraft

Architects

Collaborating is easier for non architects while visualizing

For architects, visualizing is convenient and collaborating is easier while visualizing

Collaborating is easier for planning and tools are easier to use as well

Planning is convenient and collaboration is easier as well

Designing in Minecraft is most convenient for non architects Model making is convenient as well

Designing in Minecraft is convenient and easy

Collaborating while constructing a model in Minecraft is easy

Table 4: The advantages of using Minecraft for different design parameters as given by different user groups for different stages of design. This table considers the design parameters given the maximum score by the participants.

Visualization PlanningDesigning Model making

Teenagers

Non Architecture Students

Architecture Students

Circulation StructureLighting View and Orientation Wind and ventilation

Harder to make circulation spaces with tools available

Harder to make circulation spaces with tools available and less convenient

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make circulation spaces

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make circulation spaces

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make circulation spaces

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make circulation spaces

Harder to create lighting with tools and materials

Harder to create lighting with tools and collaboration is not easy

Less convenient and takes more time thus less speed of making

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to orient and get overall views

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to orient and get overall views

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to orient and get overall views

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make openings

Harder to make with tools and objects available

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make openings

Non Architects

Architects

Harder to make circulation spaces with tools available

Making circulation spaces takes more time thus less speed of making

Less convenient to make structure and collaborating is hard as well

Making structural details is least convenient with lowest score

Less convenient to create lighting in Minecraft

Less convenient and collaborating is also difficult

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to orient and get overall views

Harder to collaborate in orienting buildings and get proper views

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make openings

Less convenient and harder to make with tools and objects available

Table 5: The disadvantages of using Minecraft for different design parameters as given by different user groups for different aspects of design. This table considers the design parameters given the minimum score by the participants.

Circulation StructureLighting View and Orientation Wind and ventilation

Teenagers

Collaborating while making circulation spaces is easier

Non Architecture Students

Architecture Students

Making circulation spaces takes less time than others

Making circulation spaces takes less time and is more convenient

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to make circulation spaces

Making the structure takes less time and is more convenient

Making the structure is easy with the tools and objects available

Creating lights is convenient and collaborating is easier as well

Creating lighting is more convenient

Teenagers find collaborating on orienting and working on views convenient

Orienting buildings and working on views is more convenient as well

Making openings is faster and takes less time

Creating openings takes less time thus faster speed of making

Collaborating on creating lighting is easier

Non Architects

Architects

Non Architects take less time to make circulation spaces

Easier to make circulation spaces with tools available

Time taken to make structure is less, thus more speed of making

Easier to create the structure with tools available

Time taken to create lighting is less, thus more speed of making

Time taken to create lighting is less, thus more speed of making

Collaborating on orienting and working on views convenient

All parameters have good scores, thus its easier to orient and get overall views

Time taken to orient buildings and create views is less, thus more speed of making

Making openings takes less time, thus more speed of making

Time taken to create openings is less, thus more speed of making

Collaborating on openings and fenestration is easier

6: The advantages of using Minecraft for different design parameters as given by different user groups for different aspects of design. This table considers the design parameters given the maximum score by the participants.

Table

VISUALIZATION

DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

Harder to visualize with tools and objects available (all tools are block shape, hard to visualize in pixelated format)

PLANNING

Harder to ideate or plan with tools and objects available (cannot get a measure of distance as everything is multiple of default block size)

Convenient to imagine or visualize within the world (since it shows entire scenery pre rendered)

Collaborating while planning is easier (for example, making boundary wall together will be faster if 3 people are counting and calculating all the blocks rather than 1 person)

DESIGNING

MODEL MAKING

No major disadvantage as no same parameter concerns in more than 2 user groups

Collaborating is hardest for all user groups (As every participant tends to make what they want)

Designing in Minecraft is quite convenient (Deciding where to put which structure is easy as world is pre rendered)

Model making however is quite convenient (As one doesn’t need to think about the building very intricately or in complete detail)

TABLE 7: PROS AND CONS WITH RESPECT TO DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE DESIGN PROCESS

DISADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

CIRCULATION SPACES

Harder to make with tools and objects available (all tools are block shape thus difficult to work with dimensions)

Takes less time to make than others (for example, a corridor can be 2 blocks wide, 3 blocks wide and so on, no standards can be used)

STRUCTURE

LIGHTING

No major disadvantage as no same parameter concerns in more than 2 user groups

Creating lighting is hard and inconvenient (as all lighting tools are either block shape or torches)

Creating structure takes less time (as its not intricate but stacking blocks one by one)

Creating lighting is fast and takes less time (no detailing required, but placing light blocks at key positions)

VIEW AND ORIENTATION

No major disadvantage as no same parameter concerns in more than 2 user groups

Collaborating in orienting buildings and creating views is easier and efficient (more people working makes work easier, as one has to work block by block)

WIND AND VENTILATION

There is no major disadvantage but creating openings is limited to block sizes only

Making openings takes very less time (as its not intricate but stacking blocks one by one)

TABLE 8: PROS AND CONS WITH RESPECT TO DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF DESIGN

INFERENCES

From the tables above, the pros and cons of using Minecraft as design tool can be con firmed. These opinions of the participants are influenced by my role as a facilitator as well be cause every participant along with the facilita tor had to understand the process and

mechanics which correlate to each aspect and stage. Thus, these opinions, though based on public opinion provides optimum empirical data to make conclusions regarding the game of Minecraft an its capability as a design tool.

5.3 AESTHETIC

Minecraft as a game gives a lot of freedom in terms of creativity and exploration. However, with the advent of photorealistic renders and architectural design applications, the block world of Minecraft falls a little short of the visual quality that students and professionals have become enthralled with.

But before we focus on aesthetics and limita tions of Minecraft, we need to understand the game structure of Minecraft.

GAME STRUCTURE

For analyzing Minecraft as a game as well as a design tool, we need to understand how games are designed and the framework that game de signers follow. This framework is referred to as the MDA framework or MECHANICS-DYNAMICS-A THETIC framework of a game.

MECHANICS

Mechanics of a game refers to small elements that make a game such as game rewards or levelling up in a game. These small features act as basic functions that make the game whole and gives it meaning

DYNAMICS

Dynamics refers to a collection of game me chanics that gives fluidity and meaning to the game. For example, the visual mechanics of the game that generate the reaction when a player presses a button or gives some input to the game is a part of game dynamics.

AESTHETIC

The aesthetics of a game refers to the game visuals and cinematics that can elicit emotional responses from the player. Aesthetic of a game is one of the major aspects when playing an exploratory game such as Minecraft where in teraction with different game element creates different scenarios to explore and understand.

GAME ELEMENTS MATRIX FOR PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

In order to simplify the MDA framework of Mine craft, a matrix has been developed which fo cuses on different gamification tools for partici pants to choose from.

GAME ELEMENTS

MECHANICS

This matrix details out different game elements in Minecraft, the activity involved and at what stage of deign process it can be used. It helps correlate game structure of Minecraft to participatory design in a simplified way and will help to understand the limitations of Minecraft in terms of its game elements and aesthetics

DESIGN ADVANTAGE MINECRAFT FEATURES

Gaining design experience

Help in user motivation

Understanding of materials

Final design

Efficient construction Site context

Collaborative design

Learning about architecture

Multiplayer mode

Minecraft material archive

Amazing structures

Stacking blocks efficiently

World in Minecraft Multiplayer mode

Amount of material required

To bring individuality

Designing and making Point of view of stakeholder

Durability of structure

Perspective of residents

Number of material blocks

Caves and dungeons

Creating in Minecraft Minecraft default view

Survival mode

Different characters

AESTHETICS

Satisfaction at final outcome

Imagination Vs actual design

Understanding design needs Design concerns and conflicts

User participation

Learning and understanding Voice public opinion

Real world correlation

Gravity defying creations

Story of Minecraft

Survival mode

Multiplayer mode

Exploring dungeons

Sharing Minecraft models

LIMITATIONS

MOVE & UNDO

One of the most prominent limitations of Mine craft is the unavailability of ‘Undo’ button. This implies that any block or object made in Mine craft needs to be broken down and recreated.

Minecraft also does not allow to move objects or structures that have already been created. This unavailability of Move or Undo button is a major problem when designing and collaborat ing in Minecraft especially if the problem is not recognized in the early stages of designing.

SCALE & DIMENSIONS

Almost all design applications incorporate fea tures or tools that help to calculate and modify dimensions and scale of the design. In most applications, dimensions can be changed in either of two ways: changing dimensions in the model itself or changing with the help of com mands in the command dialog panel usually present in the bottom of the screen. The same applies to scaling a model, where the scale factor is usually written in the command panel or a reference model is used.

The default and unmodded version of Minecraft does not include any feature that allow modi fying an already created model. The only way to change dimensions of a model is by adding more blocks at either end of the model.

Minecraft defines every block as having a di mension of 1m by 1m by 1m. Thus, it gives a general idea of how large an object is but for larger models it becomes difficult to count all the blocks. Scaling an already created model in Minecraft is not available either.

DETAILS

The re-imagination of all world objects creates its own limitations in terms of details especially for smaller objects. Activities such as interior designing or exterior street detailing become hard to execute in Minecraft. All decoration blocks available in default version of Minecraft are in block shapes, which look unrealistic when used as multiple objects.

For interior design specifically, there are no placeable smaller decoration blocks such as tables or chairs. For lighting, there are no small light objects but rather large blocks, torches or fire. Considering Minecraft is a game set in a primitive world, not having sophisticated detail objects makes sense but create problems if it is to be used as a modern design tool

RENDERING

The final limitation of Minecraft as a design tool, is in terms of visualization and rendering of the world. Though a pixelated block world has its own charm and impact, it falls short of aes thetic quality when compared to photorealistic rendering applications available today.

MOVEANDUNDO SCALEANDDIMENSIONS

NOT ENOUGH WANDS

This mod will aid in overall building within Minecraft. It has wands capable of duplicating the last placed blocks and even repairing portions of user’s architecture.

The swapping wand allows one to shift+right-click any block and then replace a designated series of blocks with another right-click.

The building wand will add the same block adjacent to where placing a new block. This is particularly helpful if there are some gaps in the construction and instead of finding that block in the inventory, one can just use this wand to fill them in. It’s also helpful for duplicating a series of the same block.

With the same wand, shift+right-click will undo up to last two block placements.

To move any blocks just use the moving wand. It’s as simple as right-clicking to pick up the block and rightclicking to place it anywhere else you like.

ARCHITECTURE CRAFT

An essential component of a architectural design tool is modifying the shape of materials and objects.

ArchitecureCraft is an interesting mod that allows molding Minecraft blocks to desired shapes ranging from slopes to rounded edges

The key to this mod is the Architect’s Sawbench. Simply adding the desired block to the top slot and an option is available on the right. It will yield varying quantities depending on the shape one decides to craft.

ROTATABLE BLOCKS

Certain objects require the cross hair to be pointed a certain way, if not one has to break and make again.

Rotatable blocks allows players to modify their already placed blocks allowing rotation of the block in any cardinal direction. The mod gives you just a wrench. with which one can change the direction of almost every block in the game.

Fig. 67, 68 & 69: Screenshots from Minecraft showing how the mods work.

Fig. 70,71 & 72: Screenshots from Minecraft showing how the mods work.

DETAILS

RENDERING

PLACEABLE ITEMS

This mod has a collection of smaller items that can be used as decoration within a room or building. This caters to unavailability of smaller decoration blocks in default version of Minecraft.

So for example, if one has a kitchen or storehouse, they can place items on a counter or near chests to visually see what’s nearby.

MR.CRAYFISH’S FURNITURE

This mod provides a large array of detailed furniture items and objects to choose from.

This mod allows one to decorate almost all parts of the house such as the kitchen, living room, lawns and gardens, balconies, bedrooms etc.

SOARTEX FANVER

This mod is a collection of fan made textures that have been developed over the years. This mod completely revamps the look of Minecraft by providing realistic looking water bodies, moving greenery and 3d textures.

For users, who want to make their creations look super realistic for presentations or participants who want to get a feel of the real world within the game, this mod is an excellent example.

CLARITY

Similar to Soartex Fanver, Clarity also makes Minecraft look hyper realistic with the exception that it is possible to run Clarity even on low end PCs which have slow processors unable to load detailed textures.

Clarity is a viable alternative for participants in a design process who do not own high end PCs but would still like to get a feel of the realistic world in Minecraft.

Fig. 73, 74 & 75: Screenshots from Minecraft showing how the mods work.

Fig. 76,77 & 78: Screenshots from Minecraft showing how the mods work.

5.4 ACCESSIBILITY

The initial versions of Minecraft released in 2009 that came to be known as Minecraft Clas sic used to be a free to play online game that anyone around the world could log into and start creating things. Multi-player mode was included in Minecraft Classic version, and al lowed upto 8 players to join and play together in Minecraft. However, after Microsoft bought Minecraft from Mojang in 2014, most of the Minecraft versions became paid versions ow ing to the huge popularity and player base.

The most popular version of Minecraft contain ing vast archives of materials since its incep tion is Minecraft Java version. For all the ex periments conducted in this thesis, the Java version has been used. However, setting up the game to work as a design tool needed certain tweaks and modifications.

In order to resolve the best version for a partici patory design process, we need to:

• Understand different versions of Minecraft in terms of features, price, device compatibility and input methods

• Understand how to set up multi-player mode for collaborative design in Minecraft

Minecraft:

Windows,MacOS,

MinecraftforPlaySta-

PlayStation4,

MULTI PLAYER MODE IN MINECRAFT

Minecraft allows 8 different users to play or de sign together in the same world. This allows collaborative and participatory de sign within the game.

For multi-player mode, the creator of the world needs to host the game on a local or interna tional server. Other players can join using the host’s IP address or selecting the server from drop down list in Multi-player.

If participants are playing from different places connected to different LANs, the host needs to create his own server or buy MINECRAFT REALMS which is the global server available at Minecraft.

In Minecraft Realms, Setup is quick and through the game client and allows for you and up to ten friends to play simultaneously.

Other players can then join into the host’s serv er by using IP address of the host while joining. To connect to another player’s server, log into Minecraft, select Multi-player from the main menu, click the Add Server button, and enter the IP or web address of that server. (Image in next slide)

For joining into a game, you need to select mul tiplayer in the opening screen of the game.

If on the same local server, the host’s game shall be visible in the list. Click and join the world to play or work together on the same world.

If connecting to host’s server, click Direct con nection and type host computer’s IP address and it will join

NOTE:

When playing in LAN, change WIFI settings from PUBLIC to PRIVATE, so that data sharing is possible over LAN

Once the game has loaded, find other players by flying above by double pressing SPACEBAR and start creating when everyone is together.

Fig. 79: Hosting game on LAN (connected wifi)

Fig. 80: Change game mode to ‘CREATIVE’

Fig. 81: Click on Multi-player in opening screen

Fig. 82: Join hosted game from the list or click Direct Connection when

INFERENCES

One major limitation of Minecraft becoming a mainstream design tool is its price. Though the price is minimal compared to the project itself, people from marginalized sections of society would not be able to afford the game.

This can be resolved by distributing smart phones among the participants. Using and sharing laptops at the site would be most con venient for the design process but participants would have to attend meetings and sit through an entire process just to voice their opinion. Smartphones on the other hand would not only allow participants to provide data from their homes, but it would easier to handle and teach them.

Laptops and smartphones can have Minecraft pre-installed by the agency involved to remove the aspect of installations and technical issues. Laptops would require participants to learn the game during the process itself, whereas smartphones can allow participants to learn the game on their own at a faster rate and be prepared for the design process.

5.5 PUBLIC ADVOCACY

The most important aspect of a participatory design tool, is the extent to which it can voice public opinions. A good design tool will allow recreation of a site, identification of site prob lems, motivate people to work on identified concerns and help collect opinions from all stakeholders involved in the design process.

The dynamics and mechanisms of the tool must also help resolve conflicts between users, help users learn a variety of information, help improve communication and increase creativ ity among the users, help improve their digital skills in terms of information sharing and try to achieve results targeted towards their expecta tions.

GAMIFICATION AS MOTIVATION FOR EXPLORATION

Motivating people or stakeholders to play or participate in a design process can prove to be a major struggle as discussed in the chap ter 6.1.1. Gamification helps to overcome this barrier by introducing the aspect of exploration and discovering new things and features within the game.

BUILD - PLACE ATTACHMENT

When working on a site, participants who re late to the site on a personal level can idealize the needs and concerns within the game. For stakeholders on the other hand, spending time, building connection, and achieving goals with in the game can help in creating a build place attachment as well.

BUILD EMPATHY FOR SUPPORT

The clients, designers and stakeholders in volved in the design process need to under stand the site from the perspective of the us ers themselves. This can be achieved by role playing as users to tackle problems, help un derstand and decide alternative futures. Role playing can help foster a sense of empathy.

EXPERIMENT

To determine the capability of Minecraft as a participatory tool where different people are in volved, an experiment has been conducted on an actual site. Careful site study and observa tions helped recreate the site in Minecraft, and students who participated in the first experi ment role played as people involved.

SITE STUDY

SITE: Behrampura Staff Quarters

LOCATION: 23°00’34.3”N 72°35’16.5”E

CITY: Ahmedabad

STATE: Gujarat

CLOSEST LANDMARK: Gita Mandir New Bus stand

AREA CHOSEN: 4 housing blocks within the neighborhood as shown (2848 sq.km)

DESCRIPTION: Behrampura staff quarters is a residential neighborhood located in Behrampura, located in south eastern Ahmedabad. This housing so ciety comprises mostly of Ahmedabad Munici pal Corporation(AMC) staff workers who have resided in the society for generations.

These housing blocks have lasted for around 100 years and have started to show decay with several cases of entire roofs breaking down during monsoon. These housing blocks were constructed by the corporation but without ba sic amenities such as kitchen and toilets. The residents over the years, have modified and extended their individual units to suit their own needs.

In recent times, despite appealing to the corpo ration for immediate renovation, these blocks have been abandoned and have become ram pant with water leakage and unhygienic public spaces.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this experiment is perform a participatory design process in Minecraft, where students role play as members of the housing society and redesign the neighbor hood based on their characters and concerns

METHODOLOGY

1. Site Analysis.

2. Identifying stakeholders (residents in this scenario) and their needs /concerns.

3. Defining roles for role play.

4. Defining groups formed based on choices of participants.

5. Analyzing results based on visualization, strategy, collaboration, conflicts and attaching screenshots for each.

ENTRANCE

LEGEND

Valmiki Community (Corporation cleaning and Management staff)

Marwari Community (Shop owners and traders)

Mixed Community Illegal residents

Washrooms (individual Modifications) Temple

Typical Unit

Fig 83: Google Earth view of the site

Fig. 85: Blocked roads and pathways with no space for large vehicular access (top)

Fig. 86: Crumbling old structure with water leakage

Fig. 87: Abandoned housing units

Fig. 89: Insufficient space for livingFig. 90: No public space

Fig. 88: Unregistered residents

RECREATING THE SITE

Initially, the site was replicated with proper detail and dimen sions in Minecraft. But, creat ing the site took much longer than expected. This meant that conducting experiments where participants create variations of the site would take even longer. Thus, the site was made small er in scale, made more efficient and easy to understand. Color coding was done to differenti ate individual housing units.

COLORS

GRAY represents surrounding housing blocks WHITE represents temple and few other blocks BRICK texture represents adja cent factory

MINECRAFT MATERIALS USED:

Units -

Concrete blocks (all colors)

Services -

Concrete powder (Light gray)

Adjacent FactoryBrick

Temple TopEnd Rod (glowing rod) Cobblestone Wall: Boundary wall

ROLE PLAYING GROUPS

From the roles identified after conducting in terviews at site, participants were allowed to choose and create a group of three roles

The roles identified were:

1. Valmiki Resident I - needs new structures

2. Valmiki Resident II - needs more public space

3. Valmiki Resident III – wants to remove/shift unregistered residents

4. Valmiki Resident IV – teenager (needs open public space/playground)

5. Valmiki Resident V – senior citizen (needs space for expanding family)

6. Marwari Resident - needs space for com mercial activities

7. Unregistered Resident – needs space to stay

PARTICIPANTS:

Architecture students (Group 1 & 3) Non Architecture Students (Group 2)

PROCESS:

Particpants in groups of 3 were given the op tion of selecting any role from identified resi dent roles.

Based on the group formed from their selec tion, the basic need of group as a whole was identified comprising of individual needs of the residents as well as general needs for the whole society.

Three experiements were conducted separate ly for particpants to understand and collabo rate, which has been analyzed in detail

GROUP I

This group focuses on most urgent needs and concerns of the residents and takes into consideration all age groups

GROUP II

This group focuses on dif ferent communities residing in the society and takes into consideration specific needs of separate communities

GROUP III

This group focuses on public space available within the so ciety and intends to create a large open space catering to all public needs of the society

Fig. 94 & 95: Screenshots of views of designs made by Group 1 participants

Fig. 96 & 97: Screenshots of views of designs made by Group 2 participants

Fig. 98 & 99: Screenshots of views of designs made by Group 1 participants

GROUP I

• An L shaped building orientation with the temple in the corner of the L shape for the Valmiki community

Marwari community shifted to the side with their shops facing existing shops.

Commercial pathway segregated from residential area

• This model focuses on segregating the communities which

a major concern especially for unregistered residents.

Valmiki community houses are at the edge, while other communities towards entrance.

Open spaces have been segregated as well.

• Public space has been given utmost priority.

Housing blocks have been stacked (based on community) doubling the height which creates enough space for expansion, ceremony, large vehicular access etc

STRATEGY

Housing Units

For distinguishing each housing unit from one another, different colors have been used.

MATERIAL: CONCRETE BLOCKS

Boundary wall

The boundary wall separates the site from the road and has only one entrance to the site. It was made two blocks high considering the avatar height of two blocks as reference

MATERIAL: OBSIDIAN WALL

Adjacent factory

The adjacent factory has entire facade made of bricks. It was made 33 blocks long, 12 blocks wide and 9 blocks tall

MATERIAL: BRICK BLOCKS

Temple

The temple was made in a simplified manner without extreme details. It is a 3 block cube with a end rod at top

MATERIAL: WHITE CONCRETE END ROD

Table

actions

the experiment.

STRATEGY

Fenestration/ openings

The units if made in proper scale would require a lot of time. Hence, the smallest scale was chosen of 4 blocks by 3 blocks.

4 blocks

3 blocks

Staircase shaft

For creating the connecting corridor on the first floor, the wall was shifted one or two blocks. Overall representation was chosen over accuracy.

Windows and doors were made 1 block wide. The front facade has two openings in the center on both floors whereas back facade has both openings in the corner similar to actual buildings.

The staircase shaft was made 3 floors high or 3 blocks high and was not made in detail but to separate the housing units.

MATERIAL: WHITE CONCRETE POWDER

Unit dimensions

Balcony/Corridor

Surrounding buildings Site

STRATEGY

The surrounding blocks were made in grey so that the housing units stand out from the surrounding context.

MATERIAL: GREY CONCRETE BLOCK

The site was created in a flat ground format with stone as the basic material. This is because the site has very less greenery and stone tecture represents the roads and pavements

INFERENCES

The experiment was conducted with the intent of representing public opinion on the topics of renovation and redesigning an already existing space. This experiment helped the participants to not only understand the concerns and needs of the people but also collaborate together with other members with different interests and come up with solutions to tackle major prob lems. In other words, it allowed participants to not only voice their opinion but also provide design inputs detailed enough for architects to grasp what the participants want in terms of

architecture and construction involved. Howev er, the low detail capacity of Minecraft implies that as a participatory tool it can be used only in the initial stages of design or for presenting de sign layouts to the public in a manner that they already experienced while playing the game. Thus one can infer that although the public in put contains a significant amount to abstraction in it, they can provide structures or creations in a way that both participants as well as archi tects understand, thereby serving as an excel lent tool of public advocacy.

Fig. 100: View of ‘Island Retreat’ created by a group of participants during the design experiments conducted in Minecraft

CONCLUSION

We shall try to comprehend the design potential of Minecraft by an swering the questions proposed at the beginning of this thesis. Mine craft has several advantages as well as disadvantages when used as a design tool. These pros and cons of Minecraft have been addressed in this chapter.

Based on all factors that make a design tool effective as discussed in the last chapter, certain inferences have been made. These inferences have been made based on two different types of experiments.

1. Minecraft as a design tool for architecture

This section focuses on the capability of Minecraft in terms of objects and materials available. In a design process, creating conceptual models help architects understand the basic structure and massing of the design, rendered models are crucial for client interaction and de tailed models are used during construction. We try to verify the possi bilities and intricacies of using Minecraft at different stages of design.

2. Minecraft as a participatory tool for collaborative design and archi tecture.

This section focuses on the collaborative aspect of Minecraft. How the process needs to be organized for Minecraft to help collect data and information regarding the design as well as bring the ideas of the pub lic participants to life are important aspects that a participatory design tool must have for it to function effectively in real life design processes.

6.1 MINECRAFT AS A DESIGN TOOL

As Miguel Sicart describes in his book Play Matters, “To play is to be in the world. Playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and who we are, and a way of engaging with others. Play is a mode of being human.”(Sicart, 2014) In today’s world activities in any form are broad ly classified as either work or play. While work is crucial for living a life of fulfillment and suf ficiency, playing helps people to channel their imagination, creativity, problem solving as well as emotional well being. People who are able to bring in an aspect of playing or playful thinking in their work tend to have a more balanced and healthy life.

Games can be described as tools of play that enables people to participate in a playing pro cess often deriving pleasure, joy and certain other emotions. This generates the concept of gamification where games are being used for non gaming purposes to enable people to channel their creativity and productivity in fields such as design and architecture. The most effective use of gamification is in partici patory processes that allow participants to play games and derive design data or ideas from them. Currently, there are several games that are being used for participation but every game has certain flaws that results in slower process.

For participatory design processes in the fu ture, teenagers and youngsters today would be responsible for developing new tools and ap plications for more sophisticated and smoother participation in design. However, constructing a system would not only take a lot of time and resources, but a significant amount of effort would be required for educating the public and

teaching them about the features of the new application.

The number of players who play Minecraft cur rently is enormous and keeps increasing ev eryday. This implies that when the current gen eration of teenagers and youngsters become adults, a large majority of the population would have a prior experience of playing in Minecraft. This solves two of these major problems. First ly, the system of Minecraft already exists and modifying the game would take lesser time than creating a design system from scratch and secondly, when majority of the participants have prior knowledge of a tool, the process be comes very efficient.

Barring a few limitations, Minecraft as a design tool, has many benefits as has been pointed out in the previous chapters. Being an open source game, even these limitations can be re solved by modifying with the game and devel oping versions intended towards design and architecture.

There are several firms that are already using Minecraft for participatory design and have taken on several research projects such as recreating architecture from the past or design ing public spaces by extracting public opinion form economically challenged people in third world countries through Minecraft. However, these projects are one of a kind and lack prop er infrastructure that can be followed by future generations. By making designers aware of the potential of Minecraft as a design tool, this ef fective yet unconventional process can gain the support it needs to become a design phe nomenon.

6.2 MINECRAFT AS A PARTICIPATORY TOOL

Computers have the ability to process tremen dous amounts of data simultaneously. Technol ogy has advanced to such a stage that analog inputs such as clapping hands or flicking can achieve complicated outputs such switching off lights or turning on different appliances. Digital games such as Minecraft convert ana log inputs such as typing and clicking into ac tions or activities within the game. For example in Minecraft, left clicking breaks a block and right clicking destroys a block. Simpler input methods mean simpler actions required to achieve desirable outcomes within a game. However, over simplifying removes the aspect of challenges or competition and can demoti vate people from playing the game. Minecraft has simple controls but the game elements which makes the game function requires ef fort. In other words, it requires people to utilize the simpler controls with proper techniques to move forward or create something. Along with the input methods, the game requires partici pants to think and create simultaneously creat ing challenges in several situations which pre vents them from getting demotivated or losing interest.

Minecraft was designed for creating and mak ing structures without the effort to think about complicated mechanisms behind actual func tioning of the structure itself. Thus, the game inherently serves the purpose of educating ay person who plays about concepts of architec ture and design without complicating the pro cess. This very feature of Minecraft lef to the development of the Minecraft Education ver sion for teaching students and children about how buildings or structures are constructed, in

stigating them to be a part of the creation rather than just being an observer. This feature can be used as participatory tool as well where it not only inspires the general public to be a part of the design process but also educates them about design interventions that may affect their lives.

For a design tool to function as a participatory tool, it must have a feature that allows collab oration between multiple participants. Multiplayer mode of Minecraft brings in the feature of collaboration among participants where peo ple can create a model together without any di rect interaction with the designer or agencies involved. This helps to remove the aspect of social anxiety and participants do not feel the pressure of the designer’s demands and are more focused on the playing the game itself.

In terms of accessibility, although Minecraft is a paid game and is not easily accessible to economically weaker sections of society, it has developed cheaper and easier versions for mo bile phones. In today’s world, a majority of the population own a mobile phone. People can play on their phones from the comfort of their homes making the participatory process less cumbersome. Focused Group discussions are important for extracting design opinions but it is possible that the more comfortable partici pants are, the more likely it will be for them to participate and contribute to the design.

To conclude, despite several limitations within the game, Minecraft has tremendous potential to become a mainstream participatory design tool for future participatory processes.

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