Cairngorms recreated in video game Minecraft
26 February 2021
The Cairngorms' landscape was recreated in Minecraft to help young people learn how a national parks works.
The virtual world allows players to build anything using blocks. It covers 1,700 sq mi (4,402 km) of the park which also includes parts of Highland, Moray and Aberdeenshire.
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The settlements have been removed and the Cairngorms youth action team is being asked to build new communities.
It is designed to get them thinking about how planning decisions are taken.
But it is fair for us to say that the team does not take it all seriously.
Minecraft recreates remote islands
Sixteen-year-old Campbell from Aviemore says he has been constructing a hill fort at the top of Cairn Gorm, one of the UK's tallest mountains.
He said, "It doesn’t get temperature across very well, but it gets landscape.
"We've been up the Cairngorms and seen the corries. It's easy to recognize the Lairig Ghru.
It's as realistic as you can make it. The different types of trees will tell you where you are and whether there are trees.
Ellie Moore, another player, said: "While you're trying to build things or farm there's this constant bombardment of monsters that come out at night."
"So, it has been quite difficult to venture into the world because one is constantly trying to survive, but I'd like to say that where we have been so far was fairly accurate."
Recreating the park was a lockdown project which Dan Harris carried out in his spare time.
He works as the Cairngorms N Park Authority's planner during the day.
He stated that they were "basically dropped onto the map at Aviemore and asked to create a community or neighborhood that meets the goals of the national park."
"They should start to think about how they will protect and enhance nature and how they will sustainably use resources."
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