Poll: The State of Minecraft

[Phoenix_XIII]

Hey. He tries. He tries hard. Notch puts a lot of work into his creation and if he doesn't update it on time, he either has something going on, something went wrong and he has to fix it, or he thought of something new to add. Personally, Minecraft has left me with hours of enjoyment and so many fun things to do and it's worth every minute you play in it's current state. I personally don't do mods. They for me (Except for the Yogbox) are just frustrating to install. And I'd prefer to not have to update every time a new update comes out. He's getting to things. It's great that he lets the modding community do what they want and create what they want because it's what they want. What they want, not everyone will want so he doesn't implement it. I saw a water mod that made it more realistic that someone loved that I saw completely pointless. Well, they liked it. THEY liked it. Modders create what THEY want and what other people may want, but know not everyone will like it.

Just wait for a bit. Notch is working hard on a HUGE update and is probably quite busy. Give him some time.

 

[lumenadducere]

Wow OP, you have no idea how modding and the mod community works, do you? Nor, apparently, do you know how game development works - but most gamers don't, so I guess that's to be expected.

Modders ALWAYS create things that a game dev has not yet created, and oftentimes they're better than what the devs create. In this case, it's sheer numbers - Mojang is a 6-man team. How many modders are there for Minecraft? How many modders are working on bug fixes, prototyping/creating TWO new games, implementing features like the "adventure update" for 1.8, AND planning future updates as well? How many modders have to worry about making sure their mods work correctly in both single-player AND multi-player?

Answer? None. Modders are lucky because they only have to focus on what their mod does and make it work successfully with the game. That's it. They don't have to look at the game as a whole, don't have to worry about how it's going to work with features in 1.8 or 1.9 or 1.10 or any other subsequent update. They don't have to design and program other games outside the parameters of their own little mod, and they also don't have to deal with anywhere near as much fallout should their mod fail. The most a modder has to do once their mod is released is make sure it works with subsequent patches. Hell, they don't even have to do that - it's completely voluntary.

You're also forgetting that not everyone mods their game. I'd wager that most people who have Minecraft never go on the forums and never bother to keep up with what Mojang is doing. So before saying that Notch adding in pistons is "useless" maybe consider that not everyone is you and doesn't have that particular mod. So for the, oh, over one million people that don't have that mod, pistons are going to be of great use. They're also going to be automatically updated from now on with every subsequent patch so you don't need to worry about the modder fixing his mod every time Minecraft gets an update.

That's one thing many gamers forget - the vast majority of people who play games are not online discussing them. They're not going to bother going to the website beyond getting their game, they're not going to look into modding and mod downloads, and they're not going to keep up-to-date with the product that they're playing. They're just going to play the game and check it out occasionally when it gets a new update. That' it.

Goodness, it's things like this that's made me absolutely fed up with the Minecraft community. Throughout all the sites I've seen them on (various gaming forums, Minecraft forums, and especially YouTube) I don't know if I've ever seen a more petulant and whiny crowd.

And really? Dismissing everyone who disagrees with you and saying they're just "pooh-poohing" a good point? Huh. I guess it never occurred to you that your opinion is subjective, did it? Nor did it occur to you that making a post that's a game dev is not going to make people inclined to agree with you. Well, good luck with that. If you're getting laughs from some of the posts, then good for you, because I suspect that's all that this thread is going to be good for.

 

[Katana314]

I wouldn't mind if his errors were in not updating fast enough. I DO mind, because his errors are in updating too fast and breaking everyone's game, plus introducing features in a way everyone wants.

Plus, he made Creepers. I know there are commonly jokes about them, and the game wouldn't have its survival feel without dangerous enemies, but guess what? A lot of us didn't come to Minecraft for the Alien vs Predator supreme experience, and to have all our awesome shit wrecked by a monster that is more annoying than it is deep. Who has ever said to themselves "You know what? I REALLY LIKE FIGHTING CREEPERS."

Plus, the many Minecraft knockoffs are starting to do better than he is.

He has the right to make the game any way he wants. I have the right to stop playing it.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Notch isn't very good at updating the game, I agree. Sometimes it seems like it just ends up breaking things and creates really obvious bugs. And honestly, in comparison to some games like Terraria, the updates just don't seem to add a whole lot to the game. =\

I stopped playing Minecraft long ago, it's a fun game but without a goal it just gets boring after awhile.

 

[Aprilgold]

-snipped meself-

Maybe it'd be nice if they told us more instead of wanting to keep things a surprise, but I have to say, I'm not particularly fond of the idea of MORE and SMALLER updates. Let's face it, there's no way he's going to implement ALL the mods EFFECTIVELY in ONE update, and every time he updates, he has to release a new mod kit too, which means you're playing an older version of Minecraft with your beloved mods, or you're dumb and playing the newest one without them for torturous weeks.

Thats not what I meant, what I meant is that he tell us MORE about it throughout the wait time, kinda like what TF2 just did with the Uber Update, for 5 weeks leading up to it, new things were introduced, leading up to the big thing. All things released at the very end of the week at the same time with the big thing. Thats what I said minecraft should do, but in less detail... Did you read it fast by any chance?

 

[The Epicosity]

-snip-

Yes, definitely this. Modders have it A LOT easier than Notch does, and a lot of people don't seem to realize it.

Also, TONS of people play vanilla. Tons more than the amount with mods, some because they might be too lazy/afraid to mess with their .jar, even though that might change with the API, the game never would've died out without mods, and maybe have lost half a million or so sales, most people don't really know about the modding compatibility when the buy it in the first place.

 

[BigTortoise]

Frankly i think he should hire some people to help him. he must be rolling in cash with all the sales hes gotten.

Exactly. So why give that cash up?

 

[Harbinger_]

It's his game, not yours. If he wants to take his time with updates, then so be it. We DECIDED to pay for the game as it was.

The only way Notch could actually break his contract with us is if he never finishes the game, which I think he will.

100% in agreement with you on this. Alot of people like to claim that they can do better. He's a busy man and he's also got other projects on the table.

 

[BigTortoise]

And hey dude, you paid 15 euros for a game worth so much more than that at this point. He could be charging money for these updates if he wanted. But he doesn't.

Stop acting like you deserve more than what you paid for. Don't call Notch a fatass because he isn't handing out updates like candy.

 

[Doc Theta Sigma]

This reminds me ever so much of the World of Warcraft forums after major patch releases. A self entitled person saying a game sucks because it doesn't live up to their personal standards. People that complain this much seem to be forgetting something... They can stop playing.

 

[kidd25]

It's his game, not yours. If he wants to take his time with updates, then so be it. We DECIDED to pay for the game as it was.

The only way Notch could actually break his contract with us is if he never finishes the game, which I think he will.

100% in agreement with you on this. Alot of people like to claim that they can do better. He's a busy man and he's also got other projects on the table.

I Know Notch knows about the modding community and how much people are loving it, and yeah i think he is making a personal type of minecraft, because we have has mod that make super maps all the way to round edges! so i think he is try to make that people who aren't modders will enjoy and play on their spare time. remember this is our generation of legos, love it and you will expand it.

 

[baddude1337]

I think he is doing great, and basically what everyone else has said who is defending him. And hey, at least it's better than Cortex Command. The guy who develops that took 2 years to release a patch that added hardly anything.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Oh no! The game I spent $10 on isn't being developed quickly enough! #firstworldproblems

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Oh look, another 'Minecraft is being developed too slow' thread. These are new and original. Do you really have nothing else to do with your life and no other games to play that you can't go 'oh well, Minecraft is running a bit dry right now for me. I'll take a break and come back when they add some more features'?

 

[Thundero13]

Notch is the creator of MineCraft, you can't just 'get somepony else to finish it' that's not how this works, besides the mods can do extra things if you really want it

 

[Prosis]

At first glance, it may seem that the modding community is better than Notch. However, here are a few things to consider.

1) Mods are glitchy and fickle. There are very few mods that work perfectly. From sound errors to item losses to things misbehaving to game crashes, adding any sort of mod to your game has some risks.
So, any sort of update Notch makes ususally adds new stuff, and corrects a ton of the old errors (look at the minecraft wiki Update List, it has a list of bug corrections). Invariably, the new stuff creates new errors, which then have to be fixed in a later update. Two steps forward, one step back.

2) Mods don't like each other. Many mods are incompatible. Notch doesn't have this flexibility. EVERYTHING in the game must work with EVERYTHING ELSE. No exceptions.

3) There are more modders than Mojang employees. This game isn't rocket science. With a good understanding of Java, and a lot of time on your hands, you can make a mod. Because of this, there's a lot of modders. More Modders = more mods.

4)Game goal. Notch has some sort of idea of a finished product. Minecraft is praised for being a great sandbox game. However, if they add quests and goals and monsters and treasure and npcs and objectives and etc, this sandbox will be lost.
Imagine Oblivion. Imagine Oblivion with lightsabers. Cool? Yeah. Should it be part of the game? No.
With the addition of any new thing, Mojang must consider how it changes the game.

5)Why doesn't Notch just incorporate people's mods into the game? Copyright. If he starts pulling in every good mod he sees into the game (along with their bugs, glitches, and irrelevence) it's quite possible Mojang will wind up with a lawsuit.

6)Why does it matter? If you like the mods, download the mods. Notch built the game. Just because someone else may do a "better" job doesn't mean you can take it. End of story

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

You're kidding, right? Right? No... Well Shit.

Let me set the record straight here:
It's Notch's game. He invented it, and he's put a shitton of effort into it.
No sense of whiny entitlement from you is going to change that.

Corrections: He copied the idea from Infiniminer and added his own twist to it. And it's a pretty well known fact that Notch spends an awful lot of time [http://i53.tinypic.com/r73yps.png] on vacation. So do excuse me if I chuckle when you say he's put a "shitton of effort" into Minecraft.

That said, Minecraft has kind of lost me, after you complete your first major project it quickly becomes less appealing and more of a tedium as you have to go and harvest more resources and manage your inventory as it'll either overflow or empty out, and then there's tools that need replacing. Sure there's mods that render all these things void, but hey, it should be fun without mods as well if you ask me.

 

[Mute52]

Well a lot of these mods don't really fit into the style of Minecraft.

keeping the game simple and also deeply complex is very hard to do.

They update the game quite frequently, and i'm satisfied with it

 

[DasDestroyer]

First of all, as some people have said, Notch could just abandon the game and go buy himself an island in Hawaii.
Secondly, that's just the way mods work. If a game is moddable, modders will add things the developer didn't. And if the developer start going around adding all of the good mods, the game would quickly become unrecognizable, and there will STILL be more mods with amazing things the game doesn't have.
Finally, to the people saying that the updates are to few and far in between, as a modder I have to update my mod every single time Minecraft updates. Frankly, it's a pain in the ass, and my mod isn't even nearly as large or complicated as some of the mods available. I can only pity the people who must have pages upon pages of code to update, and Notch knows this. Perhaps if the modding community were smaller or non-existent, he could release updates every few days with constant minor updates. But if he were to do that with the modding community as big as it is, he might lose their support, and since mods are unquestionably one of the reasons the game is so popular, it wouldn't be the smartest move possible. So rather than do that, he releases more significant updates, but less frequently.

 

[shticks]

This is the beauty of minecraft.... sure right now its a game that is in beta and we have to wait for updates. But couple years down the road I see it being more of a platform than a game.

notch created minecraft and deserves to profit.... but to be sure.. the only developer minecraft needs is one to distribute it and fix bugs.

Minecraft will grow as long as it has a community behind it.