Wednesday, June 8, 2011

World of Minecraft



I have never found myself attracted to the idea of paying monthly to play a game such as Warcraft.  Fundamentally I just cannot justify the total expenditure these kinds of games entail; both in time and in cold hard cash.  The quests and story lines always seemed too paper thin to bridge the gap between my love of gaming, and my love of role-playing. I played Dungeons and Dragon's 2nd and 3rd editions every weekend for 10 years, I also had the privileged of playing with some of the best while under the best Dungeon Master's one could hope to play. The stories were imaginative, well thought out and considered, the characters were unique, and the adventures were in a word; Epic.  So the "thinness" of Wow has always kind of disgusted me, and made me wonder; What on earth is making them so profitable, what is it that brings people paying hard earned cash monthly?



Minecraft seems to be the latest craze in games that offer no story, and manages to entertain with sheer busy work.  Digging, crafting, defending from creepers.  While customization, and creating things is most definitely an enjoyable part of a games I just cannot find myself entertained by that alone, they are great features to add to  a game, but in themselves. I'd rather not try to be entertained by droll busy work of what is to be a game. The obsession among it's fans borders on rabid fandom. It has become nearly impossible to view any kind of gaming news online without seeing 15 articles about Minecraft.


Humor image boards as well as Twitter, and Facebook, all abound with conversation of Minecraft. A Game I have Zero interest in. Perhaps it's time I find a game no one else is interested in and talk about it non stop in as much detail as I possibly can muster. Topspin perhaps?  Or maybe I could go into  great detail of a game of Mahjong, or there was that time I was surrounded by Ghosts in Pacman, and barely managed to escape their evil clutches.

Some games just seem to have an "it" factor, some ineffable quality that makes them popular beyond reason.  Perhaps their success lies within their vast communities and the kinship therein; or maybe the players of these games use a lot of imagination to see them as far more than they are, but rather what they wish them to be.

25 comments:

  1. Havent't played itr yet but interested...

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  2. What interests you? is it just the building aspect?

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  3. Looks like Sim City, totally lame. What part of this drone busy-work game is appealing?

    My wife plays Diner Dash, I will never get that. She does that same thing at work!!

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  4. This article has inspired me to play some minecraft.

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  5. @evil haha that's too funny! And Chad ah well play you some Minecraft :P I just don't get it.

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  6. Minecraft is so fun :D

    followed!

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  7. What amazes me about Minecraft is that up until recently, they never did anything publicity wise. It was spread totally word of mouth and it's huge.

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  8. Awesome game, play on my own server with my friends

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  9. Heh I dunno.. I for one like WoW =)

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  10. Haha what a coincidence! I'm addicted to both of these games!

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  11. I dig minecraft... it's wierd that there are so many blogs about it!

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  12. i love minecraft. so simple but so addicting

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  13. words can't describe my love for this game :)

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  14. I think our next server reset, we are going to limit the world to 500 blocks from spawn and build up until we're ready to become explorers. Our city will be massive.

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  15. Lol, maybe I'll check out the demo, You guys are just so crazy passionate about minecraft

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  16. D&D is the better game by far. Have you ever looked into play by post? Maybe it will quench your game thirst without being too lame.

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  17. It took me a while to get into Minecraft, as I started playing it, I was slowly becoming addicted. And now I can't stop playing it! ><

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  18. Minecraft is a good game because you challenge yourself to make something awesome

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  19. minecraft is great for a bit of fun! i just wish i was a bit better at making cool stuff :P

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  20. Minecraft is so full of quality despite of it being an indie game. This is just a huge middle finger to those giant companies that don't make much quality games. ehem... :D

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  21. I've always wanted to try Minecraft, but I never had the time and motivation, strangely enough

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  22. Well, you just have to make your own time for games I guess :)

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