You find yourself in an empty field, only a few trees and a small pool of water for company. In the distance, you see towering cliffs of grey stone, and a large lake bordered by sandy beaches. You attack the nearby tree with your bare hands and are rewarded with several blocks of wood. After some crafting, you now have planks and sticks, which you combine to create a shovel. While digging in the soil, though, night arrives, and suddenly the world is plunged into darkness. Then a zombie trundles in front of you and explodes in your face.
This is Minecraft, the internet sensation that has turned the gaming community on its ear. Rather than rendering the prettiest graphics or telling the most riveting story, Minecraft entrances players with completely unbridled freedom. Other games may claim to facilitate player choice, but they do not allow, for lack of a better term, “dreams to come true,” as in Minecraft.
For example, had the unfortunate player from the opening paragraph realized that the nighttime monsters cannot spawn where there is light, then that player would have tried digging a little deeper in that dirt for some fuel. After perhaps finding coal, the player would then fashion torches out of wooden sticks and coal, then place those torches within a dirt dwelling. The monsters would be trapped outside, while the player would be safe inside.
That player, now safe, might dig deeper still into the dirt, until he or she hits rock. After fashioning a pickaxe and continuing downward, other materials like iron and gold might be found, and these materials in turn can be made into tools and decorations. The most fun items, though, might be mine carts. After creating and placing iron rails, a player can hop into a mine cart and ride in it, almost like a rollercoaster. In fact, many Youtubers have already posted videos of their own mine cart rollercoaster designs.
Mine carts are just the tip of the iceberg. From a glass-encased path beneath the sea to an evil lair in the lava-filled center of the earth, potential construction is nearly limitless. One special kind of stone can even be used to create electrical circuitry, for the remote detonation of TNT.
But why would one need to remotely detonate TNT? Multiplayer. That’s right, Minecraft supports servers where multiple online players all build their dreams together. Or blow each other’s dreams up. Some servers are thriving communities where everyone works together, but others are all-out warzones where one player’s secluded cave lair might be blown to pieces…with the player still inside. By building sensors and booby traps, though, that player will fight back!
“Online can be constructive if you really try, but it’s mostly just for attacking each other,” admits junior Suraj Sundar.