MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It started as a joke. Now, a virtual replica of the University of Minnesota is taking on new meaning, as young people rely on the internet to tour college campuses.

U of M science and engineering junior Khang Lu started building a scale model of the Twin Cities campus in the fall, along with 10 to 20 other students.  Minecraft is a popular video game where players build structures out of blocks in a 3-D world.

Students already had a lot of campus build when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and classes moved online in March.

"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback [because] a lot of people were sent home to different states or even countries [and] they can't really see the campus," Lu said. "So, being able to walk around in a virtual campus, albeit Minecraft, it makes a lot of people happy."

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