SkidRome: The Minecraft Project

This project is something that is entirely apart from all of the other projects I have put into this portfolio. You see, this project was an entire class effort. A 26-person group project if you will. Through the domain of Minecraft, we created a fictional Roman Town and enacted daily life activities through assigned personas which we all had to research heavily in order to complete. I was assigned the role of town doctor.

As a group project, aspects of the project were unsuccessful. The course was a wonderful concept, beautifully crafted and well researched. However, considering that there were no pre-requisites to be a Classics Major in order to enroll, there was a mix of personalities within the class. This is not to say that the diversity was bad, rather it created a challenge in creative differences. There definitely was a divide between the students who loved classics and the students who loved Minecraft, however there were many people, such as myself, who loved both equally. It was those students who made the class successful because they encouraged those on each side of the divide to play to their strengths, thus minimizing the effect of the divide.

This class really made it clear to me how accessible the discipline of classics can be. The implementation of Minecraft into the course structure was so creative and it revealed how the academic setting does not always have to stifle ingenuity. This class shored up the idea that there is something in classics for everyone. Whether it is history, politics, language, or culture everyone can find a passion.

I can confidently say that I would not change anything about this project because the differences between students are what made it successful in the end, despite the early challenges they introduced. Included below are some of the submissions I had for assignments in the class along with some images of the work I did during the Minecraft portion of the course.