Nathan News

Christopher Slayton spent two months exploring black holes, identifying the colors of Saturn’s rings and observing his home planet from space.

Mr Slayton, 18, did not have to leave his office to do so. He set out to build the entire observable universe, block by block, in Minecraft, a video game where users build and explore worlds.

At the end, he felt like he had traveled to the four corners of the universe.

“Everyone is freaking out about the power and the expanse of the universe, which I never really understood,” he said. But after working for a month and 15 days to build it and another two weeks to create a YouTube video unveiling it, “I realized even more how beautiful it is.”

Mr Slayton, known as ChrisDaCow on his Minecraft-focused YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok accounts, has been playing the game for nearly a decade, and he doesn’t use any other games, he said. declared. He started posting videos of his “builds”, which are landscapes he creates inside the game, on YouTube in 2019. This channel became his top priority since graduating from high school this spring.

The university may be on his radar, but now is not the time, Mr Slayton said. He will soon start a job as a lifeguard, while continuing to grow his YouTube content to reach more subscribers.

With nearly 25,000 subscribers on YouTube, Mr Slayton said the response to this video motivated him to keep pursuing ambitious ideas.

Its intention is to make the videos more interesting than just narrations paired with videos of a player using the interface, he said. Mr Slayton, who lives in San Diego with his mother, stepfather and brother, said he aims to tell stories through Minecraft.

For the universe-building quest video, he started by skydiving to see the planet from a different perspective before working on creating his version of the universe. “The only way to truly appreciate the beauty of our planet is to jump out of a plane,” he said in the video.

He consulted photos for every detail of the Minecraft universe and re-learned math concepts to build his creation to scale, making sure angles and proportions were as accurate as possible. In his first attempt to make Africa, the result was far too small, for example.

Mr. Slayton keeps a notebook and sketchbook handy to organize his videos, jot down ideas and take notes on the subject he is studying. In the videos, he demonstrates his artistic skills on a whiteboard, such as when he talks about planet rings while explaining the concept he created in Minecraft.

“It’s really satisfying to be able to fly through certain galaxies or look at a black hole, not just through the movie Interstellar or something like that,” he said.

To his knowledge, Mr. Slayton is not the first to attempt to create the universe in Minecraft, but he said he made an effort to be precise and meticulous. Xbox UK’s Twitter page praised Slayton’s work, and users on various social media platforms posted comments to express their admiration.

“I want to tell a really entertaining story, unlike anyone else in the Minecraft community or just the gaming community,” Slayton said. “I kind of want to raise the standards a bit.”

Mr. Slayton’s last build was a rendition of Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. He said he hoped to explore themes such as the fourth dimension, the multiverse, and the metaverse in future releases and videos.

Minecraft, which was originally released in 2009, with a fuller release in 2011, is more than a hobby for many; for B. Reeja Jayan, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, it’s how she teaches a materials science class at Carnegie Mellon University.

Since 2017, Professor Jayan’s students have been using Minecraft to connect their engineering learning to concepts that interest them. A student created an aquatic world, where water had a different property than in real life, and he could control what floated and flowed.

“It gives each person the ability to learn, to visualize,” she said. “And I think they learn in an inclusive way. For many people or for a wide range of learners, it is difficult to learn more about the universe, to learn new advances. »

She said it’s easier to understand three-dimensional concepts in Minecraft than reading textbook chapters.

“In my opinion, learning should be fun,” she said. “And one of the great things about using a game like Minecraft is that it’s so flexible. It’s so easy for a little kid to learn to play the game, but at the same time it’s been adapted to teach advanced scientific concepts.

Exploring and learning concepts through Minecraft can be considered generational change, said Ken Thompson, assistant professor of digital game design at the University of Connecticut.

About two-thirds of Americans play video games, according to a 2022 industry report. Prof Thompson said young people, like Mr Slayton, can apply problem solving and critical thinking skills when they s attack projects such as the creation of the universe.

“There are very serious applications,” he said, adding, “and then there’s also this wonderful scientific side where we’re experimenting with systems that are otherwise very difficult to conceptualize.”

In 2022, some students at his university hosted a Minecraft launch event, hosted by the gaming club, after the in-person event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. They created the campus and avatars representing the students and even the professors to organize the virtual gathering.

For Mr. Slayton, there was some relief after finishing the Minecraft universe: he said he hadn’t slept enough in those two months, felt scattered as he finished the video, and found with a cold during a stressful time.

He hopes to move production from his bedroom to a studio very soon to continue creating his builds.

Despite the response, Mr Slayton said he would not be satisfied until he gained a more permanent YouTube following. “I’m a little uncomfortable until I can do it consistently.”