An open-world game overcomes press censorship
In the fight against censorship, the NGO Reporters Without Borders has created a Minecraft library that makes censored articles freely available anywhere in the world.
In collaboration with the company Blockworks, the NGO has opened the gates to the Minecraft digital library for the World Day against Internet Censorship. In the library, journalists can publish and distribute censored articles in their home countries. At the moment, the library holds 200 books, but more are to be added steadily.
In addition to an entrance hall with information on press freedom, the building includes five other rooms, each dedicated to a country. In Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Vietnam, censorship is still a major problem. This makes it particularly difficult for the younger generations to form their own opinions. The in-game library is supposed to make that possible now, since Minecraft is mainly played by younger generations.
24 Minecrafters from around the world completed the library, which consists of more than one and a half million building blocks, in just over three months. Among them is an art director from the DDB Berlin agency, which is responsible for the idea and concept.
Responsible at Reporters without BordersChristian Mihr (Managing Director); Kristin Bässe (Media and Public Relations Officer). Responsible at DDB Berlin: Dennis May (CCO); Jan Harbeck, David Mously (Managing Director); Patrik Lenhart (Creative Director); Marko Lemcke (Senior Art Director); Tpnoas Natterer (Senior Copywriter); Sandro Heierli (Art Director); Sirena Grace Martinelli (Junior Art Director). Responsible at BlockworksJames Delaney (Founder and Managing Director). Responsible at Mediamonks: Robert-Jan Blonk (Senior Media Producer); Javier Sancho Rodriguez (Senior Project Manager); Jamie Moodley (Senior Creative); Jeroen Hol (UX Designer); Rene Drieënhuizen (Frontend Developer Lead); Johan Holwerd (Technical 3D Developer); Reinder Nijhoff (R&D Developer). Responsible at The HumblebragJessica Hartley (Managing Partner).
