Sep 29, 2020
Critical Play of Minecraft
Minecraft:
Creator: Markus “Notch” Persson
Developer: Mojang Studios
Platforms: Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, iOS, Android, Windows 10
Game Mode: Creative Mode
Target Audience
The targeted audience for this game is anyone who is 7 years old and up; however, when I played the game I had a wide range of payers. This game is especially designed for those who like to build large structures and explore.
Formal elements
Objective
In creative mode, all of the restrictions in survival mode are removed and players are able to do whatever they want in the world. Players are invincible, can fly, have no health or no hunger, and have an infinite inventory of supplies. There is nothing that ends the game other than boredom. The objective is simple: build and explore. A player can invite others to the game to help them build their massive mansion. In fact, my online friends and I built a huge mansion when I was in middle school. On the other hand, a player can download someone else’s map to explore. When I was younger, I remember I would download cities and massive mansions just for the sake of exploring them.
Players
A single Minecraft game can have up to 30 players which is a good number of players. This is important to note because all 30 players can be working together, can be in their own section of the world, or a combination of both. The type of interactions a player can have when playing the game is completely up to them. The freedom of being able to pick what kind of interaction pattern you want at any given moment is something unique to games like Minecraft.
Rules, Procedure, and Conflicts
There are no explicit rules, procedure, or conflicts in creative mode. The lack of these formal elements is purposeful, as the removal of the rules, procedure, and conflicts allows players to genuinely focus on what is important: the objective to build and explore. How could one possibility build massive structures and explore a seemingly endless world if there are rules, procedure, or conflicts in their way?
Resources
Players are given an infinite amount of resources when playing in a creative mode world. This reason for this is similar to the reason why we have no rules, procedures, or conflicts; players are able to focus on the objective. For instance, an infinite amount of inventory allows players to build whatever they want without worry about finding materials. Additionally, players can fly in creative mode, so they have an infinite amount of travel resources. Players can quickly go from one side of the map to the other, can easily fly to the top of a skyscraper, or even just float to build the roof of a building.
Outcome
So, players have finished building their world and they are happy with their accomplishments. Now what? Well, the world can now be shared with their friends. Players can invite friends to show off their new mansion or city by giving them a tour. In addition, players can upload their world online to allow people to freely explore it. The social aspect of this game is not to be forgotten.
Type of fun
Expression: Game as self-discovery. Games that allow for self-expression from the player through gameplay.
The main, most evident type of fun in Minecraft creative mode is expression. Players find pleasure in exploring their creative side and can freely express themselves. As talked about earlier, this game purposefully lacks rules, procedure, and conflicts and has an infinite amount of resources just so players can focus on the objective to build, explore, and be creativity.
To a lesser extent, another type of fun in Minecraft creative mode is fantasy. Players are able to do things that they cannot commonly do in real life such as building a mansion, flying, and mining to the center of the earth.
My experince
Moments of Success or Epic Failure
Overall, the game was successful for me especially when I played when I was younger. I particularly like working with others to help build massive structures because it feels rewarding. However, an epic failure occurred when I got bored of the game which is the reason why I ultimately stopped playing the game. I got to the point that my brain was casting about for new information. Granted, this took me years to get to this point, but I got over the pleasure that comes with being able to build and explore.
Things I Would Change
It is hard to find something that I would change about this game as I have been a fan for years. If I had to change one thing, it would be to add some additional motivation to keep playing the game. Once I got bored of the game, I did not have a good reason to turn back to it. I am not sure what additional motivation would look like as additions might steer the game away from its objective.
