AutCraft

It's okay. Breathe.

We've seen some concerns out there that Autcraft is "autism parent" centric rather than "autistic self-advocacy" focused. 1. I am an autistic parent of an autistic son. He was 8 years old when I started Autcraft. 2. Most of our admins are autistic parents of autistic children. 3. One of our admins is an autistic adult that does not have children at all. 4. Over the years, our staff has consisted of autistic adults, autistic parents, neurotypical parents of autistic children, autistic aunts, autistic brothers and sisters, as well as neurotypical brothers and sisters. Autcraft works well because of our diversity, because we weigh and measure all suggestions and decisions together, hearing perspectives that are not our own. When we added in visual aids for players, it wasn't because I can not see... it's because some of our players required it. When we choose not to include flashing lights in our events, it's not because I have epilepsy, it's because some of our staff and players do. We have players from all over the world, in all walks of life, all living with very different strengths and weaknesses. No one person has all the answers. It's only as a team, a diverse group of people focusing on a common goal, that something like a community the size of Autcraft could ever function at all.

Normal is not something you are. Normal is something you feel. In the autism community, the discussion about "being normal" comes up a lot and how "normal" isn't real, how nobody is truly "normal", how "normal" is just a setting on a washing machine. To me, "normal" is how you feel when you've found the right people. Your people. People who understand you, who relate to you, who like the things you like, people who support and encourage you. That's how you feel normal. When you like the same strange things, you eat the same strange foods, you have the same strange quirks... all these "strange" things are only strange to the wrong people. To the right people, your people, there's nothing strange about it at all. When you share those "strange things" together... they begin to feel normal. You begin to feel normal. Stop trying to "be normal" for all the wrong people. Stop trying to be more like them and wondering why you feel like you don't belong. If you don't feel normal, you're with the wrong people.

Back in 2013, before Autcraft was a reality, I asked around to those I know for advice, and pretty much everyone I knew said that a community of autistic children just could not work "Autistic people lack empathy" and "Autistic people lack the communication skills" and "Autistic people rage too much" and on, and on, and on.... I was told that Autcraft just could not work. Almost 13 years later, Autcraft is going strong, having passed 20,000 members on the approved list, and it is the subject of countless research articles and scientific papers on how and why Autcraft works so well. If you believe strongly in your goals, and your goals can help others, maybe even save others... take that leap and figure it out. While others may think that you're being unrealistic, you may just be the one to set the example for everyone else to follow.

Starting today, when one player hugs another on Autcraft, both players will see hearts appear over their heads for approximately 5 seconds. This helps to give a visual indicator so that you can more easily find each other but also to help reaffirm the action. Only the 2 players involved in the hug will see the hearts, all other players do not. We've also made it so that you can now hug your pets, or virtually anything else of yours too. Now you can do /hug cow, and the closest cow to you, within range, will display hearts above it. This works with pig, chicken, wolf, cat... even creeper, zombie... just make sure you spell the name of the entity correctly, for example: /hug armor_stand Now players can show their pets some love by giving them a hug and their pets will return that love! Many autistic people love the idea of hugs but can't often handle actual hugs in real life due to sensory processing issues... this can cause a hug to feel uncomfortable or even painful. By being able to hug in game, and visually see that love returned, our autistic players can share in giving and receiving hugs without sacrificing their own comfort in the process... the only thing left, is the love.

Many autistic people can relate with feeling like a burden. This is why we often apologize for even doing anything to catch your notice... like if we have a question, we feel terrible for asking it. Are you neurodivergent? Can you relate to this?

How does a moderated Minecraft server become a lifeline for autistic youth? Our interview with Stuart Duncan of Autcraft digs into community, safety, and impact. Read it: wix.to/I2Ox9NH #Autism #Neurodiversity #Autcraft

"Bullying makes you tougher" in the same way that not everybody dies while not wearing a seatbelt. In other words, anecdotal evidence of the survivors never reflects the ones we lost. It's called survivorship bias and it needs to stop.

Back in 2013, a dad named Stuart Duncan saw his autistic son getting bullied on regular Minecraft servers and decided to fix it. He built Autcraft—a special server just for autistic kids and adults, plus their families. It blew up into a huge, super-safe community where everyone can build, chat, and make friends without any mean stuff. Stuart, who's autistic himself, even quit his day job to run it full-time. Now it's a welcoming spot for thousands to hang out and feel understood.

On Autcraft, in the interest of Love and Kindness, we invited players on the server to write books to other players expressing their appreciation for each other and their friendship. Players could get free books from February 1st until the end of the 14th and deposit them for sorting. From there, the admins took the books and filtered them into shulker boxes and then those shulker boxes were delivered to the players. In total this year, we delivered 4,547 books to 501 different players. It is our hope that everyone feels loved and appreciated, but more so... that everyone learns how to express that appreciation for each other rather than never say it.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone, or as we call it on Autcraft... Love and Kindness Day.

"Duncan saw how tough it was for some players to manage urges or speak clearly. His group understood discipline had to hold steady without turning cold, as tough moments called for calm reactions, not rigid responses. Fear less and care more; that mix carefully carved how Autcraft felt to those inside. It was the kind of belonging that was meant to fix the bunch." scoopwhoop.com/gaming/his-aut…

I'm all for protecting children but unless kids are getting an education on internet safety, recognizing misinformation, identifying scams, etc... all this does is keep them in the dark. 13 year olds will verify themselves into a world they are not prepared for.

Autcraft in Hungarian news metropol.hu/aktualis/2026/…

Someone recently said to me "It's terrible that the only response that works to the terrible things happening in the world today is violence." This is my response: The only response that works is violence? I don't know about that. It's certainly the quickest, but I like to think that I've helped to show at least 20,000 people how to treat people better, how to be helpful instead of hateful, how to be compassionate instead of angry, and how to be respectful instead of rude. I like to think that, while it's not a lot in comparison to the 8 billion people around the world, helping 20,000 young people grow up to be patient and caring adults is a good start. Violence is certainly one effective way of ending a conflict... or starting one, for that matter... but I find that the real solution takes time, and energy, and patience... it's teaching a whole new generation that there's a better way. It's demonstrating to the world that we can exist together, and grow together, and support and encourage each other and all do better along the way. But I am just one man with one server reaching a relatively small portion of a very niche selection of the people. Violence may resolve a conflict one way or another, but until the people change, there'll just keep being more conflicts, and more violence. Heart and soul. Peace and love. These aren't just "hippy" terms, and these are not weaknesses that some macho "I talk with my fists" type tough guys would have you believe. They're what can end, and also what comes after, the violence. More violence is not the answer. The children I talk to, who want nothing more than to just be able to exist in peace, away from the bullies and hate and violence... you mark my words, the children are the answer.

Autcraft is now on Minecraft version 1.21.11! Update your Minecraft launchers to version 1.21.11! If you don't know how, check help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/artic…

Autcraft has officially just added the 20,000th name to the list of approved to players! In January 2025, we reached 18k, then in December, we got to 19k... now, just 2 short months after that, Autcraft is officially at 20,000 names! I still remember, placing those first few blocks, before I ever even told anyone I was doing anything... and thinking to myself... "I'll be lucky to even ever get 100 people onto this thing but if it means they can play without bullies, it'll be worth it." I never imagined it would come this far, and all of the opportunities and challenges that it would bring, and how much of an impact this little idea of mine would have on the entire world. Thank you so much for being a part of this with us, and believing in us, and supporting us, and everything. This has been the most incredible 12 years and we still have so much to look forward to! Thank you so much!!