The coronavirus has forced the world to a halt. And while today’s technological advancements allow us to continue with our regular lives—working, grocery shopping, getting in touch with people, among other things, from home—it’s no longer a possibility to take part in any public events… or is it?
In light of the viral outbreak, schools in Japan (among many other places) have been closed for the past two weeks and will likely continue to be closed after spring break at the end of March. This means that all school-related events like seminars, concerts, and, most importantly, graduation are also canceled.
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The coronavirus has pretty much forced the entire world to a complete halt
Image credits: backyennew
Well, a handful of elementary school students decided to not let this important occasion pass by without a proper celebration and decided to improvise a workaround. Since they couldn’t have an official graduation ceremony at their school, they made one happen in the digital realm—in Minecraft.
A couple of tweets surfaced online on March 14, 2020 posted by user backyennew. The tweets showed his son participating in a virtual elementary school graduation that he and his friends had put together.
But not these students, who decided to organize their own graduation ceremony in Minecraft
Image credits: backyennew
This was done in response to all schools and their events being cancelled in Japan, including graduations
Image credits: backyennew
The caption read: “What are you doing? We all decided to have a graduation ceremony together! Oh? Awesome. The elementary students gathered to start graduation themselves.”
You read correctly—this wasn’t organized by the school or any of its staff. The students themselves did not want the current pandemic to take away their once-in-a-lifetime chance to graduate from elementary school, and so they did it within the comfort of their homes.
Image credits: Miakun channel
It had a full-blown auditorium with a host, speeches, and the giving of diplomas
Image credits: Miakun channel
The whole ceremony was hosted on Minecraft, a sandbox video game that allows the player to mine, craft, and build virtually anything within the confines of their imagination. The ceremony featured a full-blown auditorium with a host, speeches, congratulations, the giving of diplomas, and everything else that you would expect from a graduation.
The tweets said that the group of kids spent all day online together playing games, laughing, and having fun. The Twitter user also explained that he was surprised by how well the assembly hall was done.
Image credits: Miakun channel
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When it went viral, the tweet explained that this is “bright news that shines in a gloomy social situation”
Image credits: Miakun channel
The story was quickly picked up by the local media and went viral. As of this article, the tweet has garnered over 26,000 retweets with more than 83,000 likes.
Following this online popularity, backyennew explained that this is “[…] bright news that shines in a gloomy social situation. I want everyone to know that. I also hope that a new perspective will open up in the way games are perceived.”
Image credits: Miakun channel
A parent posted about his son participating in the virtual graduation on Twitter and it went viral
There is also a video from the virtual graduation with speeches, diplomas, and even a group picture moment
Image credits: Miakun channel
What are your thoughts on this? Have you been a part of a similar ceremony in an online game? Let us know in the comments below!
All quotes in this article are translated from Japanese.
Here’s how the internet reacted to the virtual graduation
Source: boredpanda.com