University of East Anglia recreated on Minecraft during lockdown

The four housemates are in their first year and scoured planning documents to make sure they were accurate

Students have recreated their campus virtually in reaction to missing university life during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The University of East Anglia (UEA) fresher Sophie Johnston, 19, scoured planning applications to recreate the grounds, using video game Minecraft.

She was helped by her three housemates Rebecca Bystry, 20, Tom Greensted, 19, and Matthew Wright, 19.

More than 200 students have visited the "campus", which is still being built.

Ms Johnston said: "We all agree that the thing we miss the most is the social aspect of university, meeting and getting to know so many different people from all sorts of backgrounds.

"The server has helped us keep in contact with each other, but also meet people we never would have in real life, which has been good for all of us mentally during lockdown."

The students had unlimited access to the materials the game has to offer

The students have built locations like the Ziggurat accommodation, main square, LCR music venue, UEA(su) and the library of the Norwich-based university.

The four students, who act as admins for the server all have different roles, with Ms Johnston and Ms Bystry, building the structures, Mr Wright answering player questions via text chats and voice calls, with Mr Greensted, who has taught himself coding, being responsible for troubleshooting.

The campus was built in Minecraft's creative mode which means the students had unlimited access to the materials the game has to offer.

They are still working on the interiors of some buildings, with the help of other players.

Ms Johnston said: "Since we're first years and haven't been to some of the buildings, we've had to use the help of other students, staff and alumni who've provided photos to help us- there's been lots of reminiscing!"