Minecraft

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This page is strongly dedicated to the well-known Minecraft YouTuber Technoblade (June 1, 1999 – June 2022), who died of Metastatic sarcoma. May he rest in peace.

Minecraft
"Minin' away, I don't know what to mine I'll mine this anyway in this Minecraft day So beautiful, mine further down What's that I found?" — Mine Diamonds by Minecraft Awesome Parodys
Protagonist(s): Steve Alex Genre(s): Sandbox Survival Platform(s): Linux, MacOS, Microsoft Windows Android iOS Xbox 360 Raspberry Pi PlayStation 3 Fire OS Playstation 4 Xbox One PlayStation Vita Windows Phone Wii U tvOS Nintendo Switch New Nintendo 3DS Release: November 18, 2011 Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows WW: November 18, 2011 Android WW: October 7, 2011 iOS WW: November 17, 2011 Xbox 360 WW: May 9, 2012 Raspberry Pi WW: February 11, 2013 PlayStation 3 NA: December 17, 2013 EU: December 18, 2013 Fire OS WW: April 2, 2014 PlayStation 4 WW: September 4, 2014 Xbox One WW: September 5, 2014 PlayStation Vita NA: October 14, 2014 EU: October 15, 2014 Windows Phone WW: December 10, 2014 Windows 10/11 (Microsoft Store) WW: July 29, 2015 Wii U WW: December 17, 2015 tvOS WW: December 19, 2016 Nintendo Switch NA: May 11, 2017 PAL: May 12, 2017 New Nintendo 3DS WW: September 13, 2017 EU: September 20, 2018 Engine: LWJGL (Java Edition) Developer(s): Mojang Studios 4J Studios (consoles) Other Ocean Interactive (3DS) Publisher(s): Mojang Studios Microsoft Studios Sony Computer Entertainment Country: Sweden United Kingdom Canada Series: Minecraft Successor: Minecraft: Story Mode

Minecraft is a sandbox game developed and published by Mojang Studios initially for personal computers. Years later, the game was ported to various platforms. It was created by Swedish game designer Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language initially in 2009, as an early build, beginning from alpha to beta versions, until Jens Peder "Jeb" Bergensten took over the development in 2011, in the year when Minecraft was released as a full game. Minecraft is considered as one of the best games of all time, as well as the first best-selling game in history.

Why It Deserves Some Diamonds And Netherite

1. This game was revolutionary for its randomly generated maps (seeds) with a billion different combinations such as different village or dungeon layouts along with diverse biomes in a world that has no borders (that can only be encountered if reached through tens of millions of blocks) compared to most other open world games which have a preset map, indestructible props, predetermined starting area, restricted size and fixed landmarks. And most of all, because of the sandbox environment everything in the world can be modified to your liking, everything in this world can be interacted with which is what makes Minecraft worlds so immersive. Because of the worlds being different, expect to see unique land features or oddities.
2. The world generation is great with the biomes being mostly beautiful and with a fairly diverse amount of them. There are plenty of unique biomes to explore such as Mushroom biomes, Dark forests, Ice spikes, Badlands to Bamboo Jungles.
   • With the latest update as of 2021 'Caves and Cliffs Part II', this update has overhauled the world generation for much higher build limits, deeper and bigger caves, and more importantly, improved mountains and hill generation. The new terrain generation is gorgeous compared to the previous updates with much more realistic-looking environments.
   • You also have the option to choose what your world generation type will be before playing it for example, start in an entirely ocean world, a very flat world, or have an amplified world with extreme generation (recommended for PCs with high specs however).
3. The biggest point of gameplay is the crafting system. It allows you to make armor, weapons, tools, defenses, and materials for constructing houses and buildings like mansions.
4. Another huge highlight for the game is their massive inventory of block types ranging from simply decorative, useful utilities to redstone mechanisms.
   • The amount of decorative blocks is more than enough to fulfill a creative player's dream of making epic builds. Stuff like diverse wood types, different stone types, and concrete or wool colors are examples of this. Other blocks like stairs, fences, or even campfires can be used outside of their intended purpose as more detail in creations.
   • There are many useful utility blocks in the game: Slime blocks that bounce entities and stick blocks together when they move, Obsidian that is explosion proof, Cobwebs that slow movement of monsters except spiders, or the Beacon that grants powers like speed, quick health regeneration and faster mining speed.
   • Redstone is another major component in this category, this includes the main redstone dust which is essential in powering components like pistons, doors, lamps, and rails. While initially simplistic to set up, Redstone is quite deeper than it seems as there are numerous other technical stuff that can be done with it which the community has accomplished far more like making automated farms, custom doors, and even computers with it!
5. Two major game styles; Creative and Survival. Survival makes the character mortal and requires the player to gain resources before nightfall to defend themselves from dangerous creatures. The creative mode makes the player immortal and grants them unlimited resources to do anything they please.
   • Three additional modes are all fun in their ways: Adventure Mode is perfect for creating challenging survival-oriented maps because you can't break blocks. Hardcore Mode adds a good deal of difficulty to the game and decreases the life counter to one, perfect for players who love a challenge. Spectator Mode allows you to sift through blocks and see through the eyes of mobs; some mobs (such as Creepers) have unique shaders in effect when seeing through their eyes.
6. After obtaining 10 or 14 blocks of obsidian you can build a portal to the Nether, which is a dimension where lava is all over the place, treacherous terrain and more demonic creatures spawn but with much valuable loot to find.
   • With the second latest update overhauling the Nether, the dimension has now improved and received new additions such as Piglins that are hostile to those not wearing gold but can trade with ones who wear them, Striders which are creatures that walk on lava, and can be mounted with saddles, the Netherite ore, and new biomes!
   • The Nether can also be used to fast travel to the main world as a block in the Nether is equal to 8 blocks in the main world.
7. Once defeating Endermen and going to the Nether you can find a stronghold and place Eyes of Ender on a portal to go into the End, where you can fight an Ender Dragon and even after defeating her, you can still spawn the boss again entirely from Survival mode! Defeating the Ender Dragon gives you access to the End Islands which have high-tier loot including Elytra wings that enable flight.
8. You can build farms to grow renewable resources such as potatoes, sugar cane, and cacti, which is a good thing. Additionally, you can also hoard cows, sheep, pigs, and other animals in a pen and breed and harvest them for resources such as wool, beef, and leather. But that is not all, the harvesting can be automated thanks to the creative block choices you have to build such contraptions.
   • Not only that but you can also create monster farms of any size that can be automated. It's possible to do those in survival worlds but these can take planning and resources to make.
9. They added VR support for consoles for free.
10. The game gets updated frequently to keep it up to date and add new features, blocks, and mobs.
    • And speaking of features, some of the features originally from Bedrock Edition get ported into Java Edition, such as grass paths and beetroots.
11. The Java Edition of the game has a huge amount of mods, which range from adding additional biomes, adding machines that run on electricity, automation of farms, more monsters, more food types, additional dimensions, going to other planets in the galaxy, a mini-map, and computers which run .lua scripts.
12. Nice and relaxing soundtrack composed by C418. Lena Raine (composer of Celeste) also composed new music for the Nether Update.
13. Spawned many merchandising, such as action figures, items, themes, and even a Lego theme.
    • They also even made Steve and Alex in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as the second Challenger Pack in Fighters Pass Volume 2!
14. Awesome and iconic creature designs such as Creepers, Endermen, Villagers, Iron Golems, and many more! Many of these monsters also have unique behaviors.
    • Creeper, an explosive threat that sneaks upon unsuspecting players and takes them down with a suicide explosion. Its infamy has been a big identity seal for this game.
    • The Endermen, another famous creature that teleports and picks up blocks. They are tall and passive but if provoked by staring directly into their eyes or attacking them, they will be hostile to you and are frighteningly fast, able to dodge projectiles in which they can kill unprepared players but thankfully weak to water.
      • Killing this enemy will drop its Ender pearls which can be used for teleportation for the price of health, but another major use is that it is an ingredient of the Eye of Ender which locates the strongholds for access to the End dimension.
    • Villagers can trade with the player for emeralds or an item they want. Every villager has a different profession and the trade items will vary from them. Are afraid of Zombies and will transform into them if caught.
    • Iron golems, strong robot-like guardians that protect villagers and players from monsters. While they are naturally found in villages, they can be built personally by players as well.
15. The game's success influenced the creation of spin-offs such as Minecraft: Story Mode, Minecraft Earth (which was shut down on July 1, 2021) and Minecraft Dungeons. There is even a Feature Movie in production.
16. Unlike Bedrock Edition, whose sole PC version is on Windows 10 and 11 through the Microsoft Store, Java Edition is playable on macOS, Linux, and Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10, and 11. Also, while Bedrock Edition is always updated to the latest version, it is possible to play and run servers for older versions of Java Edition, although some features are not available in earlier versions of the game, such as Realms and certain blocks/mobs.
17. You can customize and wear mob skin, mostly Villager, Zombie, Enderman, and Creeper.
    • On the topic of Zombie and Enderman, these skins are also included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
18. It supports mods (through Forge/Fabric) the modding community is so huge that you can find mods of all types, from new creatures and blocks to brand-new dimensions and biomes. Some of the best examples of great mods for Minecraft are the OptiFine, Sodium (arguably one of the optimization mods, that included shaders support, which adds better lighting), and Mo' Creatures (a mod that adds more than 100 species of animals and monsters).
    • Not only mods but texture packs (now called resource packs) that can change sounds, music, and textures which the game is very supportive of and makes it easy to install and switch them in a few clicks. On Bedrock there are also interesting mash-up packs such as Halo and Super Mario.
19. The Bedrock Edition is for the most part faithful to the original Java Edition and contains most of the features that the original has with some differences, while also runs much better than Java Edition when it comes to low-end/older PCs.
20. When for the first time you defeat the ender dragon and go to the portal, it gives you not only the credits but a reflective poem about life and an important moral: "If you managed to get far here...You can also do it in real life."
21. Java Edition is very developer-friendly and therefore many third-party mods are available. Mods can include fanmade items and shaders for fancier graphics.
22. Anyone with knowledge of server hosting can host their own Minecraft server.

Hostile/Hardcore Qualities

1. While the crafting and exploration are great, the combat is severely lacking in comparison, especially in the Bedrock Edition.
2. The Java Edition of the game requires Java installed to run, which is notorious for being unsecured and noticeably slow to the point it's starting to stutter (mostly for older/low-end PCs), often bringing even the most powerful PCs to their knees despite the graphics looking like they can run on the original Pentium.
   • Certain versions of Java Edition of the game (such as newer versions), or if running on some PCs, without any mods or with just OptiFine installed (no shaders used), the game used (possibly allocated) 1GB/2GB of RAM even when no maps were loaded, while the Bedrock Edition (on PC) usually use between 200-600MB while maps were loaded and with 8 or 12 chunks rendered. Also the newer version can be less optimized for older/low-end devices and may stuttering a lot (even when using OptiFine), or even worse, for some reasons on some PCs, there are even more stuttering if using optimization mods + Fabric for older/low-end devices.
   • Newer versions of the Minecraft: Java Edition launcher have added a specific version of Java optimized for that edition of the game so it can run faster and also optionally allow you to uninstall Java from the computer.
     • It can give you an error message while updating the native launcher.
3. There are only three bosses you can defeat (The Ender Dragon, The Elder Guardian, and The Wither).
4. Most Redstone creations got affected by new updates, causing them to break and become unusable.
5. Over time, they have removed a few features loved by the community, including the rose being replaced by the poppy in the 1.7.2 release.
   • And worse, Mojang was going to change the off-hand so that players would no longer be able to attack or place blocks with it. Fortunately, they later retracted this idea due to how much the community hated this change but it affected the Bedrock Edition and the Legacy Console Edition.
6. Java Edition is not cross-compatible with Bedrock Edition platforms (unless the server you're playing on has the plug-in GeyserMC).
   • Minecraft for Windows (formerly Windows 10 Edition) is the Bedrock Edition (for PC) and was available for free if you already had Minecraft: Java Edition, however, this offer previously ended on Oct 19, 2018.
     • This has been changed since June 7, all users now have access to both Java and Bedrock Editions.
   • There is no Bedrock Edition on Mac and Linux.
7. The Bedrock edition is arguably the worst version of Minecraft as it has many issues such as:
   • has too many paid features, and better skins can be looked up online, and even better, for free!
   • Bedrock Edition has many bugs and glitches, while some versions of Minecraft or any game are bound to have that but for a version of Minecraft with many paid features and cost a good amount of money it has way too many bugs and glitches and features that are downright missing from the console port.
     • There's a glitch where... this happens...
     • There's a glitch where sometimes you take random fall damage.
8. Controversial updates like the Beta 1.8 Adventure Update, 1.9 Combat Update, and the Java 1.19.1 update (which was a patch for the 1.19 Wild Update).
   • The 1.8 Beta update (also known as the Adventure update), was an update that was divisive due to the hunger mechanic introduced that replaced instant healing with food to eating to start slowly regaining health. Players found it to be slow and bothersome to constantly eat and stop during combat and to maintain hunger otherwise they won't get health regeneration, not to mention it drained occasionally, and that 18 out of 20 shanks are enough to stop regeneration. Another thing that gained enormous controversy was the world generation being adjusted from hilly to flat to be realistic, the mountains being less extreme than were before in alpha which some have considered the older generation much more unique. The oceans were additionally shrunk to be small sized comparable to a lake, whereas in pre-beta they would be tremendously expansive spanning one hundred thousand blocks giving the illusions of continents or huge islands, which people argued made exploration less mundane but on the other side did not feel realistic or mysterious with the limited size and that lands no longer felt continental.
   • The 1.9 Combat Update is a very controversial update with its effects still dividing the community. It overhauled combat to a simpler but slower pace in which it penalized attacking/clicking rapidly and rewarded combatants who waited for their cooldown and that swords also gained a sweep attack which damaged groups of mobs. Some players embraced the change as Minecraft combats was boring with spamming clicks pre 1.9 especially if users had auto-clickers, while others didn't enjoy the slow-paced nature of the new system having to stop every second. However, despite this, there were beneficial changes such as Axes retooled as viable in combat and rivaling swords for higher damage in trade for slow cooldown (was undone in 1.19), shields to reliably block damage, dual wielding, a way to summon the Ender Dragon again and overhauled the End dimension for more content particularly, the Elytra.
   • The 1.19.1 update for the Java version of The Wild Update is very controversial for its chat moderation update (only on Realms and multiplayer), as it can get you permanently banned from Minecraft, meaning you won't be able to access anything in your account, including your singleplayer worlds. In other words, this pretty much forces you to make a new account to play Minecraft.
9. Mob Votes are the worst here, they exist despite Mojang having 600 employees.

Tips

• Using a Shulker Box to carry more stuff is good and all, but that can't be crafted until you reach the End Cities. Another way to increase your storage capacity is to carry an Ender Chest and a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment to break the Ender Chest (an Ender Chest is only dropped upon breaking with a pickaxe with a Silk Touch enchantment, pickaxes without the Silk Touch enchantment breaks it and causes it to only drop Obsidian). Opening an Ender Chest will access a separate inventory associated with your player, not with the block itself, meaning you can access the same inventory from a different Ender Chest. When your inventory is full or you want to dump stuff out of your inventory place the Ender Chest, then open it, then break it with the pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment when you're done. Using this trick can allow you to carry 25 more slots of inventory.

Reception

Ratings

Aggregate scores

• Metacritic
  • Switch - 86/100
  • Wii U - 77/100
  • 3DS - 62/100
  • Xbox 360 - 82/100
  • Xbox One - 88/100
  • PC - 93/100
  • PlayStation Vita - 84/100
  • PlayStation 3 - 86/100
  • PlayStation 4 - 89/100
  • Mobile - 53/100
• Opencritic - 90/100

Publication

• IMDb - 8.5/10

Critical response

Minecraft received critical acclaim, praising the creative freedom it grants players in-game, as well as the ease of enabling emergent gameplay. Critics have praised Minecraft's complex crafting system, commenting that it is an important aspect of the game's open-ended gameplay. Most publications were impressed by the game's "blocky" graphics, with IGN describing them as "instantly memorable". Reviewers also liked the game's adventure elements, noting that the game creates a good balance between exploring and building. The game's multiplayer feature has been generally received favorably, with IGN commenting that "adventuring is always better with friends". Jaz McDougall of PC Gamer said Minecraft is "intuitively interesting and contagiously fun, with an unparalleled scope for creativity and memorable experiences". It has been regarded as having introduced millions of children to the digital world, insofar as its basic game mechanics are logically analogous to computer commands.

Minecraft: Pocket Edition initially received mixed reviews from critics. Although reviewers appreciated the game's intuitive controls, they were disappointed by the lack of content. The inability to collect resources and craft items, as well as the limited types of blocks and lack of hostile mobs, were especially criticized. After updates added more content, Pocket Edition started receiving more positive reviews. Reviewers complimented the controls and the graphics but still noted a lack of content.

Sales

Minecraft surpassed over a million purchases less than a month after entering its beta phase in early 2011. At the same time, the game had no publisher backing and has never been commercially advertised except through word of mouth, and various unpaid references in popular media such as the Penny Arcade webcomic. By April 2011, Persson estimated that Minecraft had made €23 million (US$33 million) in revenue, with 800,000 sales of the alpha version of the game, and over 1 million sales of the beta version. In November 2011, before the game's full release, Minecraft beta surpassed 16 million registered users and 4 million purchases. By March 2012, Minecraft had become the 6th best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014, the game has sold 17 million copies on PC, becoming the best-selling PC game of all time. As of 10 October 2014, the game has sold approximately 60 million copies across all platforms, making it the best-selling video game of all time. On 25 February 2014, the game reached 100 million registered users. By May 2019, 180 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the single best-selling video game of all time. The free-to-play Minecraft China version had over 300 million players by November 2019. By April 2021, Minecraft sold more than 238 million copies worldwide.

The Xbox 360 version of Minecraft became profitable within the first day of the game's release in 2012, when the game broke the Xbox Live sales records with 400,000 players online. Within a week of being on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Minecraft sold upwards of a million copies. GameSpot announced in December 2012 that Minecraft sold over 4.48 million copies since the game debuted on Xbox Live Arcade in May 2012. In 2012, Minecraft was the most purchased title on Xbox Live Arcade; it was also the fourth most played title on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day. As of 4 April 2014, the Xbox 360 version has sold 12 million copies. In addition, Minecraft: Pocket Edition has reached a figure of 21 million in sales. The PlayStation 3 version sold one million copies in five weeks. The release of the game's PlayStation Vita version boosted Minecraft sales by 79%, outselling both PS3 and PS4 debut releases and becoming the largest Minecraft launch on a PlayStation console. The PS Vita version sold 100,000 digital copies in Japan within the first two months of release, according to an announcement by SCE Japan Asia. By January 2015, 500,000 digital copies of Minecraft were sold in Japan across all PlayStation platforms, with a surge in primary school children purchasing the PS Vita version. Minecraft helped improve Microsoft's total first-party revenue by $63 million for the 2015 second quarter.

The game, including all of its versions, had over 112 million monthly active players by September 2019. On its 11th anniversary in May 2020, the company announced that Minecraft had reached over 200 million copies sold across platforms with over 126 million monthly active players. By April 2021, the number of active monthly users had climbed to 140 million.

Awards

In July 2010, PC Gamer listed Minecraft as the fourth-best game to play at work. In December of that year, Good Game selected Minecraft as their choice for Best Downloadable Game of 2010, Gamasutra named it the eighth best game of the year, as well as the eighth best indie game of the year, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun, named it the "game of the year". Indie DB awarded the game the 2010 Indie of the Year award as chosen by voters, in addition to two out of five Editor's Choice awards for Most Innovative and Best Singleplayer Indie. It was also awarded Game of the Year by PC Gamer UK. The game was nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design awards at the March 2011 Independent Games Festival and won the Grand Prize and the community-voted Audience Award. At the Game Developers Choice Awards 2011, Minecraft won awards in the categories of Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, and Innovation Award, winning every award for which it was nominated. It also won GameCity's video game arts award. On 5 May 2011, Minecraft was selected as one of the 80 games that would be displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of The Art of Video Games exhibit that opened on 16 March 2012. At the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, Minecraft won the award for Best Independent Game and was nominated in the Best PC Game category. In 2012, at the British Academy Video Games Awards, Minecraft was nominated in the GAME Award of 2011 category and Persson received The Special Award. In 2012, Minecraft XBLA was awarded a Golden Joystick Award in the Best Downloadable Game category, and a TIGA Games Industry Award in the Best Arcade Game category. In 2013 it was nominated as the family game of the year at the British Academy Video Games Awards. Minecraft Console Edition won the award for TIGA Game Of The Year in 2014. In 2015, the game placed 6th on USgamer's The 15 Best Games Since 2000 list. In 2016, Minecraft placed 6th on Time's The 50 Best Video Games of All Time list.

Minecraft was nominated for the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite App, but lost to Temple Run. It was nominated for the 2014 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Video Game, but lost to Just Dance 2014. The game later won the award for the Most Addicting Game at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In addition, the Java Edition was nominated for "Favorite Video Game" at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, while the game itself won the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, as well as the "Favorite Video Game" award at the 2020 Kids' Choice Awards. Minecraft also won "Stream Game of the Year" at the inaugural Streamer Awards in 2022.

Trivia

• When a new world is created, it only generates a limited amount of area, known as chunks. As players explore, new chunks are generated. If a world was created before an update, exploring unexplored chunks will load new chunks with the update in effect. However, there is no native method of determining what version of Minecraft a chunk was generated in.
• This game is currently the best-selling video game of all time, having sold 238,000,00 copies since its release in November 2011, breaking the record previously held by Tetris.
• Infinite world is actually limited to 60,000,000 by 60,000,000 blocks area. If each block is 1 meter wide, the world size would be seven times bigger than Earth's surface, at 60,000,000 blocks or meters wide and long, and 256 blocks tall. It is so large you cannot save the entire world on a hard disk, and it will take approximately 80 days to walk to the border. The legacy console editions have a much more limited world size due to file-saving size restrictions set by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, and range from 864x254x864 to 5172x254x5172 with the maximum size depending on the console and the actual size of the world chosen by the player. This excludes the new edition of Minecraft on Xbox One, called Minecraft: Bedrock Edition and simply referred to as Minecraft, which is the same edition as the one on iOS, Android, and Windows 10, which has a full world size of 30,000,000 blocks wide and long and 254 blocks tall, or 256 blocks wide and long and 127 blocks tall if selected.
• Steve, along with Alex, Zombie and Enderman, have joined Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• The PlayStation 4 version of Minecraft has a record for having the most trophies, reaching 134 as of December 2021
  • Due to the huge amount of trophies the game has, the trophy list was split into 2 parts, the first part consists of the platinum trophy along with 126 other trophies, while the second set has 7 trophies and is going to continue from there, the second PlayStation game to ever do so.
    • The first game is Hitman 2, due to inheriting the missions from Hitman (2016).
• The infamously unsettling cave sounds became an internet meme.
• Currently, it is the most recent game to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, a hall of fame that, as the name suggests, honors “games that have made an impact to the world”.
• The game costs money, but Notch stated that he won't care if you pirate it. Also, he is a member of the Swedish Pirate Party.
• Mojang added a crown to the pig mob featured in the launcher of Minecraft's Java edition in July 2022 to honor Technoblade, who had passed away from cancer days beforehand.

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