Book of the Week: Minecraft
02 Mar 2014
Since the Masters of Doom was a good read, I decided to read Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus “Notch” Persson and the Game that Changed Everything. If you haven’t heard of Minecraft, it is a lot like playing with LEGOs in a virtual world. This game is played by millions of people around the world making its creator a millionaire. This book tells how it all came to be.
Creative Freedom
One thing that was repeated in Masters of Doom and Minecraft is that you have to be independent in order to have creative freedom. You can’t create something innovative unless you set off on your own. Businesses are not built to take risks. They adopt cookie cutter approaches and continue milking the cow.
Influences
After reading the list of games that influenced Markus, I could see how they impacted Minecraft. Things aren’t created in a vacuum. The creative process needs input, so you need to go out there and experience the world. Then you can synthesize things and create something new. I learned that Minecraft was heavily based off of Infiniminer, which was more multiplayer oriented.
Business
he released updates, in accordance with a Swedish saying “often rather than good” (meaning someone who prefers spontaneity over perfection)
Minecraft challenged the commonly held beliefs in the gaming industry. Markus crossed the chasm by starting with early adopters from his independent gaming community who were willing to pay for a game that crashes. He let people download and play the game before the game was finished. Knowledge of the game grew organically by word of mouth and social media.
For years Markus has been engaged in a constant dialogue with his players about the future of Minecraft
Markus took the lean startup and customer discovery approach as he built Minecraft. Get the game out there prematurely and iterate by interacting with the customer until you have something awesome.
Only companies that don’t have a community hire a community manager - Carl, CEO of Mojang
The community that surrounds Minecraft is strong because of the inherent desire for people to share their creations with other people.
Mojang’s figures show that 75 percent of those who paid for Minecraft in the last two years are still active players.
Amazing things happen when you give people tools and tell them to go wild.
Legacy
His first attempt at the game had gone so-so. He’c connected to an unmoderated game server and found himself in a world full of gigantic penis constructions and smashed castles. You couldn’t even begin building before someone turned up and destroyed what you’d started or swiftly refashioned your creation into an impressive male organ of dirt and stone.
People have been making penises out of dirt and stone since ancient times. I know, because I see them in museums. I wonder what an anthropologist from the future will conclude from old Minecraft files? A fertility symbol created by ancient peoples at the dawn of the computer age?
Minecraft exemplifies what is meant by a game having its own universe, with its own laws and logic. It has nothing to do with reality, but everything to do with a coherent, consistent set of rules.
Minecraft has taken a life of its own with people sharing their creations online. I see as many young girls as I see young boys playing minecraft. These kids will be the builders of the future. Imagination is powerful. Now that Minecraft has taken a life of its own, Markus has moved on to create a new game.
Now that I’ve read what Markus built, I wonder what will I build.