A virtual Great Ormond Street Hospital has been created in Minecraft

Virgin Radio

22 Dec 2021, 09:14

Credit: NVIDIA

A novel way of raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity this Christmas has been revealed, as the world-famous hospital has been recreated online.

Technology brand NVIDIA has created a winter wonderland within Minecraft, which includes an accurate version of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The winter wonderland is set across three snowglobes: a winter wonderland, Santa's village, and winter environment. The world spans a virtual space of 38 acres, which is four times the size of the biggest real-world festive event in Austria. It apparently took a specialist artist 300 hours and over 30 million virtual blocks to make the replica.

The winter wonderland is available for anybody to access online and is free. Once there, you can take part in all manner of activities, such as ice skating, interactive rides, and quests, such as helping Santa on his festive mission. There is also a Christmas village, a penguin postal service and a petting zoo tent. Whilst in the wonderland, you might notice scenes from famous Christmas films, including Elf, Polar Express and It’s A Wonderful Life.

Credit: NVIDIA

In amongst the fun and the festivities though, you also have the chance to make a difference. If you pay a virtual visit to Great Ormond Street Hospital, then you’ll be able to make a much-needed, and much-appreciated donation to support the charity's Home for Christmas campaign via a QR code. Donations will help young patients spend the festive season with their families.

Any donation you make will also help fund state-of-the-art medical technology, pioneering research programmes into treatments and cures for rare conditions.

You can download and play the game here, or make a donation to the Home for Christmas campaign here.

And if you want to take your support for Great Ormond Street Hospital further, then the charity is encouraging people to take on their own livestream to raise money, which will help fund vital resources and support in getting seriously ill children one step closer to home.

Whether it's playing Minecraft or doing something else, every stream can help make a difference to seriously ill children at Great Ormond Street Hospital this Christmas.