Written by Helen Strickland
This past winter break and into the spring semester, students in Theta men’s social club created a Minecraft server to play together. Servers are platforms in the mobile game Minecraft that allow people to play the game together while they are far apart.
The Minecraft server began with only a few players. At its peak, however, the Minecraft server saw 30 players, including both Theta members and the club’s belles.
Junior James Heiman began the server, and he described its beginnings.
“I was bored one day over Christmas break, so I decided to set up a server and invite all of Theta to join,” Heiman said.
Katie Shanks, a belle for Theta, said that the idea originated with past Theta members who had also created a Minecraft server together a few years before.
Shanks said that on many nights –especially during winter break six to seven people would be playing on the server at once. She and others were especially active during winter break thanks to their extra free time.
She said that during Christmas break, she was “bored at home,” so she joined the game on her iPad and played Minecraft almost every night.
Minecraft is a building and survival-based game. Those playing on this server built multiple structures: smaller ones such as homes and larger ones such as the Statue of Liberty, a castle (built by Russell Dimmock), and a cookie monster-shaped cookie factory (built by Aiden Wright).
Heiman spoke of other creative details within the server.
“The server had been split into two different towns,” Heiman said. “The town I spent my time in was built in a valley between two mountains. We built the town center in a medieval cottage style.”
Junior Tucker Allen spoke of the community offered by this activity, describing the server as “getting together and hanging out and kind of having communion whenever we are away from school.”
Shanks echoed Allen’s sentiments, telling of the new friendships she forged through the game.
“A lot of [Theta] freshmen would play,” Shanks said. “That was good because it was freshmen that I hadn’t gotten to know yet.”
Sophomore Zach Bath played on the Minecraft server often, and he connected with fellow Theta members.
“Playing the server over break ended up connecting me to some members of Theta I was not close to beforehand,” Bath said. “The server had a lot of unexpected memories and laughs — some of my favorite memories since joining Theta.”
Heiman also said the server brought people together.
“The Minecraft server was a great way to bring so many people together over Christmas break even though some live far apart,” Heiman said. “For me personally, it was a great way for me to get to know many of the freshmen in Theta that joined earlier this year.”
