Press Freedom Group Stores Censored Articles in The Minecraft Library
Minecraft is a hugely well-known video game, having more than 170 million copies sold across the world
A virtual library containing content that is censored from all over the globe has been built within the wildly popular video game Minecraft by press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Minecraft's pixelated graphics enable players to create whole worlds using digital blocks that look like Lego-like.
RSF said it put work by banned, exiled or murdered journalists from five countries -- Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Vietnam -in an open server, making it available to players to access despite local laws on censorship.
The group issued the news that Minecraft is still available to all of these countries, that have blogs, websites and free press in general in an announcement.
"These articles are now available again within Minecraft and are hidden from surveillance technology of the government inside the game's computer. The books can be read by anyone on the server, however their content can't be altered," it said.
In May of this year, Minecraft said 176 million copies of the game have been sold since its release 10 years ago.
The project was announced on Thursday to mark the World Day Against Cyber Censorship The project is known as the "Uncensored Library" and takes the form of a huge neoclassical building in the game.
RSF stated that the library was expanding and that more texts were being added in English as well as their original languages.
Articles written by Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist from Saudi Arabia, as well as Mada Masr, an Egyptian online newspaper, are available in the game. These publications are blocked in North Africa since 2017.