Minecraft Player Spends two Years Creating A Virtual City
Minecraft player spends two years creating a virtual city by Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, BBC News
17 October 2014
A student from Delaware has spent two years creating the virtual world he named Titan City in the video game Minecraft.
Titan City is constructed out of 4.5 million Minecraft building blocks and includes 96 buildings.
Duncan Parcells claims it took the project two years to complete and that he works up to five hours per week on the project.
His first structure was a virtual replica of the World Trade Center. It took 18 months to build.
However , the 19-year-old believes Titan City is not a realistic representation of New York.
"It's inspired by New York," he said to the BBC.
"A majority of people think that it's a game, but it isn't."
He constructed the city using the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft but has now transferred the city to the PC version that offers, he claims, more construction options.
Mr Parcells plans to add an airport and an athletic stadium.
He said, "I suppose it's an outlet to architecture and energy."
"I've always been a fan of architecture. I'm particularly proud of the more traditional buildings, and the more Victorian, art deco designs.
"A lot of people drop in and are looking to explore the area or assist in the construction." Many of them are involved in helping create roads.
While Titan City has received a warm welcome online and offline, Mr. Parcells stated that up to now he has kept his virtual world afloat from his real life.
"I've kept it a secret It's like a second life I'm not able to talk about but people are beginning to find out," he said.
"My parents believe it's cool. I'm guessing they're just happy I don't play it too much."
Microsoft recently agreed to buy Minecraft Studio Mojang for $2.5bn (PS1.5bn).
Markus Persson, aka Notch announced that the game had reached 100 million users in February 2014.
After purchasing the game for the first time, the game Minecraft is free to play, however there are in-game purchases that can be purchased.
The game is played in a virtual space that's made up of cubes crafted from various materials. A majority of these materials can be used to create blocks, and some of them can be transformed into usable raw materials like iron, wood, and diamond.
Playing the game involves surviving by using blocks to construct shelters, and then turning raw materials and their combinations into objects (swords, armour, bows) to defeat the game's many monsters.
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