Microsoft Has Built Its New Campus In Minecraft To Introduce Employees (cnbc.com) 23
Microsoft is using Minecraft to help employees get acquainted with a refresh of the company's campus in Redmond, Washington. CNBC reports: Earlier this year, Microsoft enlisted Blockworks, a company that uses Minecraft's digital building blocks for designing real-world projects, to create a miniature rendering of the campus facelift, which is scheduled for completion in 2022. They're using graphics that are far more immersive than two-dimensional photos and videos.
While Minecraft was designed for gamers, its immersive nature and the ability to quickly move around and construct edifices makes it easy to see how new buildings will look when inserted into an existing landscape. [James Delaney, a managing director at Blockworks] said Minecraft forces designers to sacrifice some accuracy because structures in real life don't always have the game's squared-off look, but the speed and ease of use more than made up for those deficiencies. It might take just 10 minutes to wrap up a single building, he said. Microsoft employees -- and anyone else with the education edition of Minecraft -- can now take a digital tour of the new campus and see how plans are developing. Outside of Microsoft, that access requires a subscription to Office 365 Education.
While Minecraft was designed for gamers, its immersive nature and the ability to quickly move around and construct edifices makes it easy to see how new buildings will look when inserted into an existing landscape. [James Delaney, a managing director at Blockworks] said Minecraft forces designers to sacrifice some accuracy because structures in real life don't always have the game's squared-off look, but the speed and ease of use more than made up for those deficiencies. It might take just 10 minutes to wrap up a single building, he said. Microsoft employees -- and anyone else with the education edition of Minecraft -- can now take a digital tour of the new campus and see how plans are developing. Outside of Microsoft, that access requires a subscription to Office 365 Education.
Who cares (Score:2, Funny)
These has got to be one of the least interesting things I've seen posted on /. in a while, and that it really saying something.
I'm imagining a guy working at Microsoft right now getting the email telling him about how you can explore the next Microsoft campus in Minecraft, and he's saying "Go fuck yourself" to whoever sent it.
Re: Who cares (Score:1)
It was mildly more interesting than your comment for sure.
Re: (Score:1)
[additional irony]
Still No Linux Support (Score:1)
This won't work for any Microsoft employees using Linux. They never ported the Bedrock/EducationEd. to Linux.
So much for MSFT "loving" Linux, and FOSS.
Screw that (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Heck, why build the campus at all? Just grab the model and buy your people VR glasses to use in their houses.
Games meet life (Score:2)
Letâ(TM)s be honest: who hasnâ(TM)t ever fantasized about stabbing their boss with a diamond sword?
Nothing new. (Score:2)
I built a Quake map of my high school (pre-Columbine) and we would play it all the time.
Hell depending on what the architects used you could probably just export it to Unity these days.
Re: (Score:2)
Excuse ... (Score:4)
Well, after Microsoft had spent $2.5 billion on purchasing Minecraft, they would have had to use it for something.
Re: (Score:1)
But seriously, ewwww!!! Making employees play mine craft so you can anal eyes their game play and monitor them psychologically, I'll be they also want them to play in their time, during work breaks and after work. I'll bet the sick fuckers even get the children of employees to play and monitor and anal eyes that as well, anal retentive freaks. This comment would be a whole lot funnier if it was not closer to the truth that it should be (it should be unimaginable rather than readily imaginable, you just know
Re: (Score:1)
Are you ok? You seem pretty upset about a computer game and obsessed with asses.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, after Microsoft had spent $2.5 billion on purchasing Minecraft, they would have had to use it for something.
Yea my mind went down a bizarre line of reasoning the moment I saw this one.
My initial thought was that Minecraft + Hololens demo back from the 2015 E3 would be an interesting use for this setup.
Then right after thought at that point you might as well go with the original 3d CAD model in Hololens instead.
Then trying to think of any reason for a brief moment to involve Minecraft here, despite having done equally and likely more silly things myself in the game, the only conclusion was being jealous that someo
Yeah Apple tried that too... (Score:2)
...turns out it is WAY harder to mine glass in real life than in Minecraft.