Autcraft: the Minecraft server for autistic gamers

Stuart Duncan, blogger and father of two autistic children, had the fantastic idea of creating Autcraft – a Minecraft server specifically for children on the spectrum.

If you ask Stuart Duncan, "Minecraft has been found to be highly beneficial to children suffering from autistic disorders, offering an open world free from stress that is imaginative and creative where they can really let loose."

His new server works using exchanges between autistic gamers and their parents, who are invited to also play the game and monitor the chat streams. "Children learn through the game about respecting other people’s property, while observing that everybody respects theirs."

Minecraft was first designed as an open sandbox without any monitoring, where gamers could create and play exactly how they wanted. And though this type of freedom can carry risks of bullying, with all gamers interacting anonymously online, it is actually an encouraging environment for autistic children who have the power to exterminate game monsters and attack others, all in a place that has zero tolerance for bullying.