Minecraft Mania

Ammarah Siddiqui

Mr. Barrazuol

English 10 Blk B

14 September, 2019

Basic graphics and blocks may have seemed completely simplistic and monotonous before the Summer of 2009, before the creation of Minecraft. Minecraft was originally coded in Java by self taught coder Markus Persson during his search for a better way to add a first person point of view to a personal project he called “Cave Game”. Persson then discovered Infiniminer with its first person view and simplistic block appearance it was the spark that kickstarted the creation of Minecraft.  Borrowing character models from Zombie town, Markus launched Minecraft Alpha under Mojang, with Jakob Porser and Daniel Kaplan, game designer and business developer. After a boost of confidence from a positive public reaction, an army of Swedish coders arrived to help, turning the original Mojang into Mojang AB. The team was further enlarged by Carl Manneh, Markus Toivonen, and coder Jens Bergensten. After a series of updates, modifications, and bug fixes, the popularity of Minecraft was seemingly downloaded overnight. Persson himself knew, however, that without charging for the app it wouldn’t flourish, “I thought, if I don’t charge, I’ll never get paid, if I wait till the game is done, I won’t have the money to sustain development” (Cox 2018). Continuing on a path of improvement, the Minecraft team began coding Minecraft Pocket Edition for smartphones, in C++ code. The sandbox game continued to grow and cater to audiences of all ages, typically recommended for those 8 and above. As the number of installations grew so did the possibilities, “from tiny huts to the Eiffel Tower, fantasy landscapes and giant working computers, players can build anything you can think of as long as they collect enough blocks” (Raven 2014). As small at it had started Minecraft’s demanding growth speed was not compatible with Persson’s personality, “I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.” (Alex 2018). Deciding to take a step back, Perssons let Bergensten take the lead on Minecraft’s development and together they made a decision that would change Minecraft forever. The growing popularity of Minecraft was not only attracting players, but investors and large scale game companies, such as Microsoft. Realizing the chance to return to his old life, Perssons sold Mojang and Minecraft to Microsoft for 2.5 billion dollars in 2014. Since then, Microsoft has been profiting off of Minecraft immensely, keeping the Pocket Edition installation fee of  $9. 99, adding skins for purchase, and an online store filled with Minecraft merchandise, the revenue never stopped its flow. Minecraft was also made compatible with Microsoft’s other devices; Xbox, PS4, Wii U, PlayStation, and even PC. In 2016 Microsoft took the meaning of gaming to the next level when they created Educational Minecraft, special servers where educators and teachers across the globe can design and moderate problem solving figures, landscapes, and games for students. Minecraft Education also provided the platform for an unorthodox yet engaging, learning enhancing experience making it more hands on for learners today and tomorrow. Another recent update created by Telltale and added to Minecraft was story mode, providing a unique storyline and form to the sandbox game. “Minecraft has endless possibilities for your imagination, creating anything from a small mud hut to a giant concrete city landscape”(Raven 2014). Often, however, it is challenging to complete all the steps necessary without any guidance, and with need comes a solution, “you can almost guarantee someone, somewhere has posted a YouTube video tutorial on how to make it” (Raven 2014). Part of this group are the influencers, youtubers by day and expert crafters by night they are tracked by millions of Minecraft fanatics in all the videos they create. Stampylongnose, Joseph Garett, runs a child friendly channel dedicated to posting videos about various buildings, adventures, and tutorials in Minecraft, with more than 9 million subscribers. Another youtuber, PewDiePie also known as Felix Kjellberg is renowned for his 101 million+ subscriber YouTube channel. His videos focus on many aspects on his life, one of which being Minecraft that he plays avidly. CaptainSparklez, Jordan Maron, is yet another Minecraft youtuber although he specializes in creating hilarious and expertly designed parodies of popular songs and creating a “Minecraft version”. All original Minecraft tunes and lyrics he writes and composes himself can be found on his channel with more than 10 million subscribers. Other influencers like DanTDM and SkyDoesEverything film regular tutorials for complex Minecraft projects with simple instructions for all ages and experience levels. Every year Minecraft holds its own convention that finds its name on the pages of world record books time and time again, Minecon. Generally not at a physical location but streamed live online, Minecon is a collection of everything related to Minecraft. From new updates to special announcements millions of people watch the event’s live streaming on the official Minecraft website. Besides creating billions of fans, Minecraft has also built its own language, its own jargon, brick by brick. When mining deep underground or taking a stroll at midnight in Survival mode, a player is bound to discover “mobs”, a large group of creatures that are generally peaceful but can be violent. A “stack” is the total amount of material that can be carried in one slot, these materials can be stolen by “griefers,” players on the same server that kill other players to steal resources. “Cracked” refers to an illegal copy of Minecraft while “vanilla” is used to describe the original Minecraft free from any modifications. “Mods/plugins” are additives to Minecraft, an extra feature or adjustment players can apply to personalize the game. Occasionally, Minecraft jargon may be specific to a certain YouTuber; CaptainSparklez calls all baby slimes “Jerry” and SkyDoesEverything uses the term “butter” for anything containing gold. From its humble beginnings in Stockholm, Sweden to a worldwide phenomena Minecraft has shown remarkable simplicity, perseverance, and a colossal amount of coding can create a video game empire that continues to grow and evolve, one block at a time.

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