On May 17, 2009, a ground-breaking game was released to the PC world: Minecraft. Minecraft quickly gathered steam through its infancy, from Indev to Infdev, and then to the official Alpha release. At this time, the game ran for roughly $14 USD, and was gaining a larger following every single day. Today, Minecraft costs $16.95 USD, a much higher amount than the alpha release.
However, has Minecraft run its course? It has made its mark on pop culture, but does that popularity still hold up after almost 10 years since its conception? We seek to answer this question, as well as give you information on the state of the game as it is today.
Minecraft has come a long way since release
The aggressive green of Alpha days is one that few people miss.
Since its conception in 2009, and the very basic structure that it was in alpha development, Minecraft has been very steadily updating every month - sometimes even more than once a month. From bug fixes to new features, Minecraft has added something new to the game fairly consistently.
The months of alpha and pre-release beta were certainly nothing to look at; It took years of development before there was even another tree type, but the game had all of the very simple controls and blocks there to play with. You could craft your tools, and build your first dirt house to completion, but you didn’t have hunger, or all the bugs that came with it. It wasn’t much, but veterans of Minecraft remember the first hours of Minecraft fondly.
It wasn’t until the game gathered some steam, and updated past alpha into pre-beta and then past post-official release that the game gathered enough of a playerbase to really appreciate the changes that had taken place since early 2009. There were more blocks, more crafting recipes, and more to do in general.
By the time of the official 1.8 release on September 2nd, 2014, Minecraft had gained somewhat of a cult following with a combined total of 12 million sales for the Java release. Professional and amateur Youtubers covered the game and snapshots, as well as an ever increasing number of “Let’s Play: Minecraft” videos.
Updates are adding new content all the time
Since the 1.8 release, Minecraft has been consistently updating its features; Minecraft Realms, for example, was an addition that allowed players to host a server for a small monthly fee of $7.99 per month. Additionally, Minecraft: Story Mode by TellTale Games became available for those looking for a more immersive (and goal oriented) Minecraft experience.
With each subsequent update, more features get addedand more gets added, increasing the draw of this open-world game. Minecraft veterans , and those that are passionate about the game, will often release articles, videos, or blog posts about the upcoming snapshots to share with the community these new up and coming features.
Recently, on July 18, 2018, Minecraft released its newest update “Update Aquatic”, which added new biomes, entities, and blocks.
The community is still active
Servers come together to make fantastical creations.
Along with the game itself being updated, the community is constantly busy putting out mods for each new update. Mods, texture packs, and resource packs are a great way to breathe new life into the game; add blocks, update textures, or simply introduce a new mechanic.
While many mods fall by the wayside when there’s a new update, there are still plenty of modders on sites like CurseForge that update their mods (or release new ones). Unfortunately, mods really only apply to the Java version of the game, as Windows 10 and other versions are far more difficult to make mods for.
If you are looking to join a community of Minecraft players, there is still a healthy selection of servers that you can join. Simply looking up “Minecraft Servers” will yield pages of results, with each page giving you a great choice of casual and hardcore servers to look into. Want to build? There are building servers. Want to survive instead? Survival and adventure servers are in abundance. Most servers tend towards the more traditional gameplay, with each person mining, crafting, and generally surviving on their own.
Minecraft has an ever-increasing player base
Friends and strangers alike love to play, talk about, and collaborate on Minecraft today
By the end of 2017, Minecraft was reported to have a record-breaking 74 million monthly players. Since Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang in September 2014, Minecraft has become incredibly accessible across most platforms. Java remains the most easily customizable with mods, but versions for Windows 10, PS Vita, and even most mobile platforms exist today.
This means that Minecraft is far from being a stagnant game; while it has left the public eye for the most part, it is still a culturally relevant game that has made its mark not only on pop culture, but also in classrooms!
Is Minecraft a dying game?
Swim with the fish in the 1.13 Update Aquatic.
Far from it. With new updates, new mods being created, and an overall increase on things to do and tools to play with, Minecraft is not dying or dead. In fact, the player base is more active than ever. Servers are updated to the most recent version, and mods are updated to include new blocks, mobs, and entities.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the game for the sole reason of exploration. With the addition of new mobs and blocks, I can make my small fishing hut to near perfection. While I’m not one to seek out servers or communities, I can guarantee there are plenty of active servers alive and well, and, if you’re savvy with setting up your own server, playing with friends is a great way to spend a few hours.
If you have played Minecraft in the past, and are looking for reasons to get back into the game, Update Aquatic adds more fish types, more crafting recipes, and even more blocks to build your epic bases in. Personally, if you needed a reason to get back into the game again, you can now swim with tropical fish, dolphins, and even turtles.
However, Minecraft is best experienced first hand, so if you haven’t bought it yet, or haven’t loaded up the game in a while, it might very well be worth checking out again!
