Denmark did this in 2014 and didn't need a pile of LLM puffery to do it:

https://geoboxers.com/denmark-in-minecraft/

> ‘Denmark in Minecraft’ was released in April 2014 by the Danish Geodata Agency. The project was conceived, developed and operated by Simon Lyngby Kokkendorff, Thorbjørn Kjærshøj Nielsen and Nynne Sole Dalå, the founders of GeoBoxers.

> The work was funded and carried out by the Danish Geodata Agency as an initiative following the 2013 “basic data programme”, where a significant amount of public Danish data were made available for free. The purpose was to make geographical and topographical data available through Minecraft, and help disseminate the free data to a broader audience and specifically reach children.

> Denmark in Minecraft was released with an invitation to teachers and schools to use the data in geography, math, science and history lessons, and within the first few months Minecraft-data were downloaded 300.000 times from the Geodata Agency, and around 37.000 unique users logged in to the agency’s Minecraft-servers.

> January 1st, 2016 the Danish Geodata Agency changed into the Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency, and links in English regarding “Denmark in Minecraft” were removed. Since 2020 Denmark in Minecraft can no longer be downloaded.

▲ INTPenis 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm sure if they had a bunch of LLM puffery back in 2014 they would have used it.

Most giant Minecraft map projects are automated as much as possible. It would be a real labor of love on the spectrum otherwise, and who can maintain that?

▲ skrebbel an hour ago | parent | next [-]

The puffery is the webpage copy, not the automation to produce the map.

▲ pluc an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

That feels so weird. Isn't the whole premisce of these things "this is a game where each block must be placed with purpose", and so using anything automated literally takes out most of that sentence and it just becomes "this is a game". I don't get the appeal or the expectation of triumph.

	▲	spicyusername an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Don't overcomplicate it. There is no one true way, for Minecraft or for anything. `I don't get it` Because it looks cool to see the real world in blocks. And if it looks cool, it is cool, as they say.
	▲	YeahThisIsMe 42 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		You're actually allowed to play video games the way you want to.
	▲	INTPenis 34 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		"this is a game where each block must be placed with purpose" You lack the hacker mindset if you think you "must" do anything the way it was designed.

▲ ecto 31 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

How would you feel if someone described your work as LLM puffery?

The world changing - no need to be rude about it.

	▲	jagged-chisel 20 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		“Puffery” is about the article, not the work

▲ stavros 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's interesting to me how people say "someone did this before it was cheap!" as if it's a slight. I mean, yes, it's much more impressive when it was expensive, but it's good that things are cheaper.

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stymaar 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Interestingly enough the “before it was cheap” version was distributed for free when this one is for sale for half the price of the game this is supposed to run on.

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well_ackshually 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Denmark did it 10 years ago with existing open source tools and open data.

This reuses the same open source tools, the same open data, and has the gall to put up a slop website and ask for 15CHF (or worse, 48) to pay for a Claude subscription that's doing it all behind.

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cadamsdotcom 32 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Doing something and charging money for it is how a lot of things that cost money got started.

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stavros 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah but that's different from "LLM puffery".

	▲	hypfer an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think the point that might've been lost here is that Art (and this is Art) is not supposed to be about the destination but about the journey. The whole magic of someone doing this is someone doing this. No one did this. And there is no utility in it either. No one needs a 1:1 scale Minecraft map of Switzerland for anything. So the whole thing is just an empty husk of an idea implemented in a way that shows lack of understanding why this niche of content existed in the first place.
	▲	convict an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The LLM puffery referring to the website and the texts on it, i guess

▲ epihelix an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

To be fair, Denmark is very flat and could probably be represented by a single block :)

Anyway, if "LLM puffery" makes this easier, why is that bad? And given that your quote indicates that the Danish equivalent got pulled, maybe LLMs can easily bring it back. Wouldn't that be a good thing?