Meet the dad who quit his job to run a Minecraft server for autistic kids
The rules of Autcraft are simple. No bullying, no griefing, no stealing. There's a survival arena and a hide-and-seek minigame module, all under the watchful eyes of a small cabal of moderators. Stuart "AutismFather" Duncan is always a private message away. He used to work as a web developer, but today he runs the server full-time. It's a peaceful place: a private, whitelisted Minecraft community built specifically for autistic children, their families, and their friends. Duncan keeps the gears running, but his primary role is to simply be visible. "For the first two years I was talking to two kids per week who were suicidal," he says. "Eventually my work suffered. I'd be talking to my boss and I'd say ‘hold on a minute, this kid needs me.'" Running Autcraft earns Duncan significantly less money than his former day job, but he takes donations on Paypal, sells cheap in-game perks (like bypassing the teleport cooldown), and hosts 131...