This "Minecraft" Community Is Saving The Lives Of Children With Autism - BuzzFeed News
Beautiful story from Charlie Warzel about AutCraft, a Minecraft community developed specifically from children, and parents of children, with Autism:
Autcraft is one of hundreds of thousands of active Minecraft servers, but one of only a few that caters exclusively to children, young adults, and parents of children with autism and Asperger’s. Painstakingly moderated by a team of dutiful (and intensely vetted) volunteers, Autcraft is a safe haven to 5,000 players from all over the world and arguably one of the best communities on the internet.
Autcraft’s founder and cult hero (according to one parent, “He’s like Elvis in there!”) is Stuart Duncan, a web developer from Timmons, Canada, who goes by the handle AutismFather. In 2013, Duncan, who has Asperger’s syndrome and is the father of children with autism, had been keeping a blog about raising children with autism when he noticed that a number of parents of autistic children in his various networks were struggling to find a safe place for their kids to play Minecraft. Parents were complaining that most Minecraft servers subjected their children to bullies, trolls, foul language, and other emotionally disturbing behavior. Duncan, who had already been playing the game with his kids, bought a $2.50 starter server that he named Autcraft and invited 400 people from his blog’s Facebook page, expecting few responses.
The response was incredible, and so to are the efforts to keep it going. You can donate or buy merchandise through Autcraft’s website.
via NextDraft