MUVEs

I, personally have never played any type of MUVE (multi-user virtual environments) outside of the Sims. I have watched several friends or family play the ever popular game, Minecraft. Minecraft is a MUVE where the player becomes an avatar and creates their own world.  In game a player can't create their own avatar (think customization), but they have a few options to choose from depending on what system they are playing with. Minecraft is available for play on PCs, Xbox, and Playstation. Once inside the world, the players have endless options of what to create within their own personal world. My husband states that you can, "literally create anything you want." Players have the freedom to design buildings that replicate that of history, real life, or fiction, such as Harry Potter's Hogwarts or the Empire State Building. Within the game players have the option of raising a farm with animals such as pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens. They even can domesticate animals like wolves or cats. The players avatar can even fly when they are in "Creative Mode." 

Also within the game, Minecraft, there are ways for players to interact with each other. Players who are exploring can find a village and do some trading with the village people for items that they don't necessarily have access to within their own world. Players also have the option of playing with friends online. One player can 'host' another by inviting them into their world. The host can set limitations where friends can only explore their land,  or guests can have complete access to the host's world and add or take away like it's their own. During this time players can interact through in-game chat or through a headset and microphone. 

I can see librarians and/or libraries using Minecraft as a way to encourage teens or adults to get creative. To use the environment to create a fictional world that they've imagined or to teach the patrons about history by having them create worlds that are typical of the 18th or 19th century. Another way libraries can use MUVEs such as Minecraft is to use the game as a connection between another library. Libraries can have a world set up where patrons from two separate libraries can come together to talk and build a unique world. This game or event helps patrons connect with people outside of their community and helps them learn more about other cultures, history, or other fictional worlds that come from books. I personally do not know of any library or librarian who uses Minecraft in their events or areas (like the Teen Department) to be able to provide a real life example, but the aforementioned use of Minecraft is of my own idea of how the game may be used in libraries.