Minecraft

Jan 26, 2012

My son is what you might call a dedicated gamer; he will spend countless hours on his Xbox or PS3,
usually engaged in some WWII mission or quest to find some magical chalice. Imagine my surprise then
when, on a recent weekend stay at my place, he completely avoided the PS3 that normally dominates
my TV for 3 days in favor of the PC. This strange behavior made me want to investigate further, and
when I peeked in over his shoulder, I was more than just a little surprised at what I saw.

There on the monitor was a heavily pixelated game that looked like something I used to play on my
Commodore 64 many, many years ago. He was so engrossed in that strangely archaic looking world that
he visibly jumped when I spoke to him. He quickly, very quickly, explained that the games was called
Minecraft and that he was in the process of harvesting material to build additions to his fortress, which
to me looked like a Lego lover’s dream come true.

I was surprised that he was so taken by a game that appeared so basic in nature, but the more I learned
about Minecraft, much of which was presented to me by my son via YouTube videos, I began to see the
attraction. While most modern video games have a story arc that is neatly followed by pushing the right
buttons, and making the right decisions, this was a game that seemingly had zero storyline to speak of,
which in turn allowed the user carte blanche when it came to gameplay.

The average user could basically use the game to entertain them in whatever way they saw fit, and for
my son, that meant harvesting those resources to create a huge world of his own imagination. I wasn’t
entirely surprised then when it was announced that Minecraft would be showing up on Xbox Live, and
with Kinect compatibility to boot. That is going to be a dream come true for my boy, as he loves nothing
more than strapping on the headset and getting into the heart of games with his buddies up the street.

By all accounts, the Xbox version of the game sticks to basic principles that made it such a success
online, although on a much grander crafting scale. I may never see my son again when this hits, and I am
pretty sure I will have to drag him, kicking and screaming, from in front of his Xbox so that he can come
and spend some time with his old man, or at least some time with my computer. He keeps trying to lure
me into that strange, blocky looking world, and so far I have been able to resist. I can’t deny the appeal
though, as it really does bring back memories of my childhood years, when those simple games seemed
like a little bit of magic in my board game world….maybe it’s time to go do some creating.

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