Camfess sets up official Minecraft server to combat isolation blues, and it’s glorious

Compsci Samuel Sully, who studies at Robinson College, has set up an official Camfess Minecraft server for Cambridge students to use whilst the University is closed during Easter term. Inspired by #Camfession10334 (see below), Samuel took up the gauntlet and set up an entire online multiplayer server within a day. And to think it still takes me a solid 5 minutes to figure out how to insert a footnote on Word…

This far into self-isolation, those tears are justified.

Samuel, the hero we never knew we needed, shared his motivation for setting up the server: “We’re all very stressed and bored, social distancing and self-isolation has left us with little to do (except maybe the work we should be doing) so this is a nice way to keep in touch with Cambridge folks from afar.”

Camfess have recently released a flurry of supportive content, aimed at helping Cambridge students at this difficult time. With #quarantinekitties and #quarantinebunnies, on top of mental health advice and links to resources, these guys are definitely looking out for the Cambridge community and keeping our spirits up.

Once again, Camfess Admins providing more services and information than the actual University

The Camfess server IP address is “camfess.samsga.me” and anyone can join. It has a huge map with different biomes and room for 55044 people, a number that rekindles memories from the tax returns of early 2020. Little did we know just what we were leaving behind in 2019.

I tried out the server and there is a real community vibe. Relying heavily on my limited memory of playing Minecraft Hunger Games when I was 13, I attempted to survive the first night. I was nearly shot to death by skeletons with bows and arrows (how do they pull the bowstring when they literally don’t have muscle?), but was miraculously saved by some other Cantabs, who gave me some cooked salmon.

Do you know how hard it is to build ‘The Tab’ in geometric blocks while being shoved by zombies?

The players were so lovely they even agreed to be in my photo shoot. Can we appreciate the range of stellar outfits we have going on here. You don’t see diamond trousers in Cindies.

They provided some insightful comments:

IMissRowing doesn’t beat around the bush

In the last few days, King’s and Queens’ college JCR, and Cambridge Theatre have also set up Minecraft servers. King’s students have been emailed the following: “On top of online lectures, online supervisions, online seminars, you’re now getting online ENTS, because the future is now”.

A Minecraft renaissance bubbles beneath the surface of the scattered Cambridge community. At times like this, the optimism and connectivity offered by this kind of project is just what we need.

(Cover photo credit Max Leadbetter)