Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

What was it like to be in London during the Great Fire? A museum is using Minecraft to find out

Danny Cowan
By
Great Fire 1666 in Minecraft
The Museum of London has contracted professional Minecraft world-builders Blockworks and Dragnoz to produce a series of maps that digitally re-create the
Recommended Videos
Great Fire of London, giving visitors a new perspective on the 1666 conflagration that destroyed much of medieval London.
Related

The Museum’s upcoming “Fire! Fire!” exhibit will feature a number of interactive installations that walk attendees through the events leading up to the disaster. A collection of free afternoon lectures, workshops, and family activities will offer a glimpse at what life was like in 17th-century London.

The Great Fire of London rapidly swept through the city over the course of four days in 1666, leveling thousands of homes and destroying St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s estimated that 70,000 of the city’s 80,000 citizens were left homeless by the disaster, leading to major social and economic upheaval in the aftermath.

Minecraft is ideal ground to simulate the widespread damage caused by fire, as the game’s fire propagation mechanics have consumed countless custom-built worlds since its initial public release. One especially popular YouTube video recorded during Minecraft‘s alpha stages of development demonstrates how fire spawned from lava can quickly devastate flammable structures.

“Minecraft is an incredible game that captivates and inspires users of all ages around the world,” Fire! Fire! project lead Joshua Blair told Wired. “Its reach and versatility offers museums a fantastic platform to share our knowledge and collections, and create engaging experiences.”

Blair continued: “The Great Fire of London is one of the most popular topics within our learning program, which currently reaches about 130,000 schoolchildren each year, and we hope that Great Fire 1666 will create a fun learning experience that can engage every young person in this fascinating story.”

The Museum of London’s three commissioned Minecraft maps will be showcased at the Fire! Fire! exhibit from July 23, 2016, through April 17, 2017. The first map will be available as a free download from the Museum of London’s website on July 29, and additional map releases are slated for September of 2016, and February of 2017.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Danny Cowan
Danny Cowan
Contributor
Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…
The best skills to buy first in Another Crab’s Treasure
Another Crab's Treasure

If you're looking for a quirky underwater adventure, Another Crab's Treasure has you covered with its kelp forests, unusual sand-dwelling NPCs, and creative gameplay mechanics. However, it's worth noting that it's also a challenging soulslike experience that is certain to leave you facing off against some enemies multiple times before felling them. One way to help this along is to invest in the game's skills, which often grant you some entirely new attacks or passive abilities that drastically change up the way you approach combat.

There are three skill trees, but you can mix and match between them as you see fit. And luckily, thorough explorers shouldn't have a problem unlocking most of the skills by the end of the game. Here are our picks for the best ones to buy first to increase your chances of getting there.
Skewer
Way of the Predator

Read more
What’s free on the Epic Games Store right now?
Robots attacking in Industria.

Checking in on the Epic Games Store is one of the easiest ways to grow your gaming library. Epic gives out a free game or two every week, ranging from darling indies to AAA titles. All you have to do is jump on the Epic Games Store to claim the free games and they'll be added to your library to keep forever.

Keeping track of all the free titles and gaming deals can be a pain, so we're monitoring the Epic Games Store for you. We'll update this article every time a new game is made available!
What's free on the Epic Games Store right now?
These games can be picked up on the Epic Games store right now for free. Scroll down to the Free Games section of the app's Discover tab or find the individual title using the search bar. Just find and select the Get button to claim your free game. You do not have to download or install it right away.

Read more
Is Fallout 76 cross-platform?
fallout 76 nuclear winter cancelled cancel

We've all loved exploring the different regions of the wasteland in the Fallout series alone, but it wasn't until Fallout 76 that we had the chance to do so with friends. While it wasn't quite what people were hoping for at launch, years of support have made this an excellent world to explore and go on quests with friends in. While most games released in recent years support cross-platform play between consoles, Fallout 76 came out before that was the standard. If you've got a group of friends playing on different systems, will you still be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the wasteland together? Here's what you need to know.
Is Fallout 76 cross-platform?
Fallout 76 does not support full cross-platform support. The only two platforms that can play on the same servers are Xbox and PC, but only in the case where PC players are accessing the game through Game Pass. If you are on a PlayStation console or bought the game on Steam, you will only be able to play with others on those respective platforms.

Considering how many years it's been since Fallout 76 launched, it is unlikely that cross-platform support will be added at this point. Should we be proven wrong, we will update this guide to reflect that.

Read more