Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year it?s safe to assume that you?ve heard of Minecraft. It?s become more popular with nerds than a 12 sided die and it?s just getting more popular from here. Like most people who go outside from time to time I was hesitant to pick Minecraft up at first considering that the nerd taint was practically palpable. My first romp thru the game was, I suspect, similar to most people. After appearing on a beach made of blocks I wondered into a forest made of blocks. Upon realizing I could punch things with my fists of furry I showed some dirt who the boss was, than a tree; but the tree just floated in the air as if it were some kind of demon tree, so, in fear, I fled in the opposite direction. It was at this point that I decided to see if I could use my mighty cube fists to punch my way to the center of the earth, and so I did. I punched and punched, and soon I found myself standing in a strange reddish liquid and-OH GOD ITS LAVA!! And so I died and whatever pitiful possessions I was carrying at the time was incinerated along with myself. It was at this point that I gave into temptation and sat thru several hours of walkthroughs and tutorials on YouTube; where I learned of the ridiculously specific recipes required to make anything actually useful in the game. But I eventually got the hang of things and have been loving on it ever since.
I?m not completely convinced that Minecraft is really a game at all, strictly speaking. Yes there are bad guys that you wave your sword at, and yes there is a rather large challenge involved in it all, but there?s really no endgame to speak of. It?s akin to Lego?s in a way, if every ten minutes or so a green penis kicks down your door and blows itself up suicide bomber style, taking your cherished creation with it. At first many of the desired and exciting resources will feel out of reach, but as you play more and more you will slowly become the master of your blocky, farm animal infested, land. At some point thou you may look back at you castle or city or tower or whatever it is that you built and ask yourself ?what now?? You see Minecraft suffers from a very strong and inherent flaw: there is no real goal to speak of. Ya, the creators did manage to patch in an achievement system, but there?s no real reward for completing any of them, excluding the small pop-up window that?s about as exciting as getting the mail or brushing your teeth, and many of them are really just rewards for completing something as exciting as that. The things you create serve no tangible purpose and you?ll often find yourself abandoning projects midway thru in the search of better conquests.
I do feel however that Minecraft is really a social game at heart. If you manage to create yourself a server and sucker just one of your nerd friends into joining you, you will have substantially more fun than you would have had otherwise. With a friend at your side the sky is the limit (within a set height of course!) and the things you create will feel like they have more weight to them. The two of you well sometimes set goals for yourselves that you wouldn?t have when just playing solo. City?s will spring up left and right, a huge monolith will protrude from the horizon, a deep and well memorized cave system will unfold beneath your feet and you?ll have someone to brag at when you complete your two hundred foot stall statue of a creeper that cries lava. Minecraft is undoubtedly better played as a cooperative system; it?s just too bad the setup necessary for starting a server of your very own is about as fun and easy as removing one of your own extremities with a butter knife. As a brain dead, knuckle dragging, mouth breathing console gamer myself, I find computers as complicated and frightening as women are to the average EVE online player. If I can?t get what I want from the press of just a few buttons I don?t usually bother trying at all; so it?s understandable that it took me several days to actually setup a fully functioning server, but what a reward it was!
No one, I feel, can honestly rate Minecraft at this point considering it is still just in the beta phase, but I can whole heartedly recommend trying it to anyone who willing to try crazy, green penis infested new things. Maybe Minecraft can serve as a glimmering example of the potential future of the industry we all love so much. In a sea of gritty, realistic, modern military themed first-person shooters it?s good to know that there are still people out there who have some real vision and talent. It might even be possible that with the death of Bin Laden the industry will start to move away from military themed shooters; and maybe magic squirrels will fly from my rectum and take me to a land of pure ecstasy where I can please Todd Howard in every way he pleases me!
I?m not completely convinced that Minecraft is really a game at all, strictly speaking. Yes there are bad guys that you wave your sword at, and yes there is a rather large challenge involved in it all, but there?s really no endgame to speak of. It?s akin to Lego?s in a way, if every ten minutes or so a green penis kicks down your door and blows itself up suicide bomber style, taking your cherished creation with it. At first many of the desired and exciting resources will feel out of reach, but as you play more and more you will slowly become the master of your blocky, farm animal infested, land. At some point thou you may look back at you castle or city or tower or whatever it is that you built and ask yourself ?what now?? You see Minecraft suffers from a very strong and inherent flaw: there is no real goal to speak of. Ya, the creators did manage to patch in an achievement system, but there?s no real reward for completing any of them, excluding the small pop-up window that?s about as exciting as getting the mail or brushing your teeth, and many of them are really just rewards for completing something as exciting as that. The things you create serve no tangible purpose and you?ll often find yourself abandoning projects midway thru in the search of better conquests.
I do feel however that Minecraft is really a social game at heart. If you manage to create yourself a server and sucker just one of your nerd friends into joining you, you will have substantially more fun than you would have had otherwise. With a friend at your side the sky is the limit (within a set height of course!) and the things you create will feel like they have more weight to them. The two of you well sometimes set goals for yourselves that you wouldn?t have when just playing solo. City?s will spring up left and right, a huge monolith will protrude from the horizon, a deep and well memorized cave system will unfold beneath your feet and you?ll have someone to brag at when you complete your two hundred foot stall statue of a creeper that cries lava. Minecraft is undoubtedly better played as a cooperative system; it?s just too bad the setup necessary for starting a server of your very own is about as fun and easy as removing one of your own extremities with a butter knife. As a brain dead, knuckle dragging, mouth breathing console gamer myself, I find computers as complicated and frightening as women are to the average EVE online player. If I can?t get what I want from the press of just a few buttons I don?t usually bother trying at all; so it?s understandable that it took me several days to actually setup a fully functioning server, but what a reward it was!
No one, I feel, can honestly rate Minecraft at this point considering it is still just in the beta phase, but I can whole heartedly recommend trying it to anyone who willing to try crazy, green penis infested new things. Maybe Minecraft can serve as a glimmering example of the potential future of the industry we all love so much. In a sea of gritty, realistic, modern military themed first-person shooters it?s good to know that there are still people out there who have some real vision and talent. It might even be possible that with the death of Bin Laden the industry will start to move away from military themed shooters; and maybe magic squirrels will fly from my rectum and take me to a land of pure ecstasy where I can please Todd Howard in every way he pleases me!
