Notes

Minecraft: Denmark Replica Disrupted by 'cyber Vandals'

Minecraft: Denmark replica disrupted by 'cyber vandals'



7 May 2014



Cyber criminals have destroyed a virtual Denmark that was designed to educate children.



A small portion of it was blown up despite a prohibition by its creators, the Danish Geodata Agency (DGA) on the use "dynamite".



Large US flags were placed in the starting point, as well as blue, white, and red "America" signs.



The state-owned agency believes the "vandalism" was meant to draw attention, and claimed that the damage was repaired.



Images showing the changes were first posted on the fan site minecraftforum.net by an anonymous user who wrote:"I Americanized this place a bit."



Chris Hammeken, chief press officer at the Danish Geodata Agency, told the BBC: "Only a minor area was destroyed.



"The flags actually appeared right at the point where players start, so I think the people who put them there wanted to draw as much attention as possible."



Hidden 'dynamite'



"Minecraft's about building and re-building," stated Mr Hammeken. He said the incident was part of Minecraft's "nature" of playing.



Virtual dynamite was used to destroy buildings. It was banned on the Danish server. Users discovered that it could be hidden in mining carts, and then detonated.



"It was the players who cleaned up the mess and replaced it with grass and flowers the following morning," said Mr Hammeken.



The city was not "hand-built" - the topographic data of Denmark was imported into Minecraft, which is also available for download as a free download on the DGA's website.
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The users who download the data can upload it to their own private Minecraft server and it will create a restored city and keep users free from threats.



Since the beginning of the month the replica has been downloaded more than 220,000 times.



Virtual field trips



The DGA created the replica of Denmark in order to arouse curiosity in spatial data with a particular focus on educating children.



The website states: "There are real addresses in the game, which means it's possible to engage in an exchange of information about place names and their significance."



The agency also suggested that the replica could be used to take students on virtual field trips.



"We've found that children are more engaged when they are able to see something familiar," stated Mr Hammeken. He said that Minecraft has been extensively used in Denmark as an educational tool for a long period.



It is not clear who were the "vandals", or why they targeted Denmark.



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