Minecraft essay

Minecraft: Introduction

Minecraft was originally created as “Cave game” in 2009 by Markus Notch Persson, a Swedish games designer. It was then fully developed by Mojang and released to the public on 17 May 2009.

The game has infinite terrain and no specific goal so the player can spend as much time as they want creating and editing their own world, which is the main purpose of the game. It is a sandbox game since everything the player creates is a product of their own creativity and imagination. You create things by mining and then using the cubes you acquired to build whatever is required.

Modes of play

The five game modes in Minecraft are Survival, Creative, Adventure, Spectator and Hard-core. The two most popular being Creative and Survival.

Creative mode gained popularity because it gives the player infinite resources to create and there is no health or hunger bar to interrupt the creation process. The player also gains the ability to fly and mobs are passive towards them, which would be appealing to people who want to build and produce.

Survival mode gained popularity because despite Minecraft having no goal in theory, the player is required to expand their shelter, gather resources and add to their capabilities. In this mode you can get trophies and points which would interest players with an interest in Action games

Commercial success

Minecraft’s initial reception wasn’t commercially viable, seen more as a niche product for players with expert knowledge of computers and programming. The game wasn’t really publically advertised and mostly got around through word of mouth and small magazines, however by January 2011, the beta-version of the game had passed over one million purchases in just only a month, and by April 2011 Persson estimated that US$33 million of revenue had been made. In November 2011, prior to the game’s official release, Minecraft had over 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. Because it was released across multiple platforms interactivity was increased and many people enjoyed the fact that they could interact with friends despite not having the same devices.

Influence

Minecraft had a lot of influence over the movement on social media. It allowed players to create walk-throughs and videos showing them playing Minecraft which created a community of people who share the love of Minecraft. Social networks such as Twitch also promoted Minecraft and many influencers jumped on the band wagon of promoting Minecraft. The continued development of fan made media across social media platforms and dedicated fan sites and blogs allowed Minecraft’s influence to widely spread.