Minecraft - The Pixel Game Nobody Knew Could Be So Addictive
Gamers are no strangers to Minecraft these days - But how could a not so state-of-the-art graphics game became a global phenomenon that lasted for years? Let's find out.
Ian Ng
5/5/20242 min read
A Game Could Not Be Much Simpler Than This
When Minecraft first came out, it was not actually popular amongst the gaming world.
Just a simple, open-world game where you are free to build/harvest things with mining tools. Built with simple blocks of pixels.
And you are playing all this in first-person view.
That was how Minecraft was in 2009.
The Next Wave of Updates
All of a sudden, mining isn't the only activity that you could do in the game.
Adding in Creepers is just a smart move from the original developers. Minecraft not being peaceful might be just what gamers want. The unpredictability when a creeper starts spawning plus the thrill of killing one just hits different.
It became an adventure game, with pixelated graphics its main differentiation from competitors.
Even though there is no storyline that is not a problem for the game.
Ramping Up The Location Updates
Minecraft began to gain more traction for its uniqueness and its gameplay after the important update.
What comes next is more exciting.
We get more locations and things like dungeons, spooky underworld and minecarts in addition to the normal surface you see on Minecraft.
The expansion spawned many more environment-related character creations over the years, which attracted more and more players.
Real-World Expansion
The potential of Minecraft hitting it big is further magnified by its marketability.
With no visible gore elements at all, it attracted a wide base of new customers - kids.
Toys and branded merchandise came onto shelves and further strengthen the game's sales.
And over the years, the updates kept on coming.
Microsoft Taking Over, But Nothing Changed
Minecraft was later sold to Microsoft by Mojang in late 2014. One of the original developers remain, and continued to oversee Minecraft's continued development through the years.
The dev team give each of their major updates fun names - partly also to explain what are the main changes to gameplay each time.
Gameplay Is Pure Content Mine
There is no set way for you to play Minecraft - just let your imagination run free. That is also how certain YouTube creators made their name - by playing Minecraft for years, building, adventuring and pillaging in every single way possible.
There are tons of Minecraft videos on YouTube too.