endless possibilities for the digital artisan
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here’s one game that has stood the test of time ever since it was released. One game that has united players to turn their imagination into reality. One man made it all possible; Markus “Notch” Persson. Notch created a little game called Minecraft and released it in 2009. The rest was history. Minecraft is an open world sandbox game where players can unleash their creativity by creating almost anything they desire. Think of it as the digital version of Lego. With next to infinite possibilities, players can do anything they want in the game. The only limitation is their imagination. The basic gameplay is just a survival game where players need to survive as long as they can against multiple types of enemies. They build and craft the necessary homes and tools they need to survive while mining deeper into the world to find ore and upgrade tools. Technically though, the endgame for Minecraft is to defeat the Ender Dragon. However, some players have gone a few steps further in the sandbox mode.
pop culture
player-choice driven game that gives the game some drama. The newest spin-off is Minecraft Dungeons. Imagine the gameplay of Diablo but with quirky blocky Minecraft themes and graphics. Players have even created mods and servers that specifically cater to different types of game types such as the ever popular Battle Royale and MMORPG. Through its ups and downs, Minecraft has been the butt of jokes, developing a love-hate relationship with gamers, and being the number 1 game of the 2010’s, continuing its reign today. It’s safe to say Minecraft has not only made its mark on pop culture, but in history as well.
Ever wanted to explore King’s Landing from Game of Thrones? Well Minecraft players have spent thousands of hours recreating it. Not impressed? Then imagine a working cell phone being built with only the blocks and tools provided in the game. You don’t have to, because players built in from scratch using blocks known as redstone to make it all work. Some have even taken that to a whole other level by recreating Pokemon Red. Not just a picture, but the whole playable game in Minecraft. With the endless possibilities, players have made themselves Minecraft “artisans” of the digital world with the creativity they’ve shown through the game. In 2014, Notch sold the rights to Minecraft for 2.5 billion dollars to Microsoft. As of 2020, Minecraft has sold over 200 million copies and has about 126 million active users. The game is so popular that it spawned multiple spin-offs. Among those spin-offs is the Telltale Games “Minecraft: Story Mode”, a
by Noel Jinguli Images | Various Sources 29
