It’s safe to say that Minecraft has become one of the best-selling and market-changing games of our generation. From something so small as an indie game looking for those to back Minecraft on paypal to now the cultural phenomenon that has resulted, we’ve seen a drastic change in how people view video games. But, there’s nothing graphically enhanced about this game. There’s nothing brand new that was brought. There’s all these different gaming conventions that can be applied to a lot of games besides Minecraft, but Minecraft put them all together to make a good game. Why do we love Minecraft so much?
Let’s start with it’s base gameplay. In your very first day dropping into Minecraft, you’re stuck around a beautiful landscape with nothing in your inventory. Unless you decide to play with the starter chest, then you receive a couple tools and some food to start. But we’re not going to count that. We’re talking about straight-up Vanilla Minecraft. You have nothing. There are trees, water, ground, and anything you can punch with your right fist to obtain a block. If you’re brand new, you don’t even know how to make tools, sticks, or even a crafting table. You’re stuck wandering around the game, looking for a way to figure out all this cool stuff. Why is this an interesting game?
Well, think about Minecraft as a game that completes a journey. You’re going on an adventure with only the clothes on your back. You’re stuck in a forest and you have to make the tools/shelter for you to survive. You learn by stumbling through the game. Through trial and error, the tools get made and you place down blocks in order to protect yourself from the night.
After watching Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, the developers as well as multiple YouTubers who made the game famous, had always described the night as being one of the biggest challenges of the game. Why? Because as you’re trying to figure out what tools are and the mechanics of the game, night rolls around and everything becomes darker. You can’t see, you haven’t figured out torches. On top of the darkness, there are monsters. Creepers, zombies, skeletons, spiders, and more wanting you dead. If you don’t protect yourself, you’re going to get blown up, shot with arrows, and killed. That’s where you build a shelter in order to protect yourself.
So why is all of this relevant to why everyone loves this game? I mean, surely day one of a survival video game doesn’t teach you anything…right? Of course it’s wrong. Minecraft teaches many that a video game is not going to give you everything right away. It goes back to the idea that you’re playing the game to explore the game, not try to beat the story, get to the end, and then put it back on the shelf. The replay rate is much higher when there isn’t an actual story to follow. All you have to do, is build and survive. There are so many possibilities to what you can do with Minecraft, that it’s hard to say what is and isn’t wrong in the game.
The astonishing fact is, Minecraft is simple. Simplicity is what people like. Not to say that Minecraft is a simple game, there are many complexities that can be implemented. The simple basis of Minecraft is to build and survive. There’s no underlying subplot in Minecraft. There’s only what you as players make Minecraft to be. You can make it complex, or make it really simple. You can even build a ton of houses if you want. Simplicity is extremely important to people, because it allows the creative process to run wild. Endless possibilities equals amazing results from the gaming community.
This is why everyone loves Minecraft. Everyone loves to be able to create their own worlds and not be told what to do. Subconsciously people like to go through a journey as well. You’re immersed in a game that is constantly asking you to think on your toes and to think about the next step. It may be a long shot, but Minecraft is exactly what gaming needs. Not on-screen tutorials of where to go, but the ability to build and create with friends.
This is only my opinion on Minecraft, but I’d love to know yours. What do you think of Minecraft on the larger scale?
If you’d like to contact this author, follow him on twitter at @KurtDoubleU.
