Topic of Choice: Minecraft

Minecraft is a massive, magnificent multiplayer game in which the only goal is to survive by mining and crafting, as the title implies. The game takes place in a randomly generated world made up of blocks. The game is played by gathering resources to craft tools to enable the gathering of better resources to craft better tools. If that redundant circle ever gets boring, the game also has a building feature which I would consider to be much more fun.

The mining/surviving features of Minecraft are a part of what I would consider the less interesting of the two ways to play. The player starts off in a world of blocks with nothing but his or her fists to punch down trees with. After beating down his or her first tree, the player can use the wood to craft an axe to gather wood faster, or, perhaps, to craft a wooden pickaxe to gather stone and begin his or her mining adventure in the ground.

The building feature in Minecraft is extremely easy to understand and use and can be accurately described as "virtual legos." Whether it's an extravagant hut or a homely palace, it can be built with ease in Minecraft. The player's creation can be anything they can think of! Basically, if it can be thought of, it can be built if time (as well as a little effort) is put into the creation.


 Not only can players all this digging and building alone in singleplayer, but also cooperatively over the internet. They do this by connecting to servers such as StompzCraft which are hosted by a third party. After they connect, the players can then work with (or against) each other to do whatever they wish.

With nearly 10 million copies sold on the PC alone, Minecraft is one of the most well-known video games around. That said, the developers of the game have not spent a single cent in advertising the game. The game has acquired this runaway success through "word of mouth," specifically, the flood of songs and videos that the game has inspired on YouTube.

I first played Minecraft just over two years ago. Since then, I have spent quite a bit of time both digging and building. Probably a little bit too much time. Whether or not I have wasted too much time on this game is irrelevant because I enjoyed every moment spent. I and many others will likely continue to build in our little imaginary worlds for the foreseeable future.

For more information about Minecraft, visit here or here.

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