AFTER QUARANTINE guidelines rendered the Loyola Schools (LS) campus inaccessible to the LS population, Loyola Gaming built LSCampusCraft—a detailed recreation of the college campus that LS community members can virtually roam.
To enter LSCampusCraft, LS students and alumni must use their OBF emails to answer Loyola Gaming’s registration form. Upon receiving a confirmation email with the necessary login details, users can enter the virtual campus free of charge.
Loyola Gaming Chief Communications Officer Lorenzo Bonifacio said that they also admit faculty members on an ad hoc basis. He revealed that they are working on a secondary form that’s accessible to faculty members and “easy-to-maneuver” for less tech savvy members. The form should be out within March.
Bonifacio shared that the virtual campus was built from October to December 2020. This building process was divided into three phases: Construction, administration negotiations, and launch.
During the first phase, 53 student volunteers and alumni aided in the construction of LSCampusCraft.
Afterwards, the organization approached the University administration for the project’s approval, and the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science and the University Marketing and Communications Office offered their endorsement. The Office of Student Activities and the Office of Student Services also implemented rules and regulations to ensure a secure virtual environment.
Upon completing the first two phases, Loyola Gaming officially opened LSCampusCraft sign-ups on January 18. 470 students registered to be included in the server. Loyola Gaming later launched the server on January 22, and there were already 89 active users in the virtual campus the following week.
Bonifacio also said that Loyola Gaming hopes the virtual campus will be used to host traditional events such as the Freshmen Orientation Seminar, the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo Recruitment Week, and graduations.To ensure a comfortable online campus experience, Loyola Gaming regularly updates the server. Additionally, Loyola Gaming invited more LS students to volunteer in improving the server and handling LSCampusCraft social media posts.
