What game is full of blocks, sold more copies than Grand Theft Auto and somehow managed to remain as popular (if not more) as it was upon release? If you thought Tetris, you’d be on the right track, but I’m talking about Minecraft. 
Now if you haven’t heard of Minecraft in this day and age, what kind of rock have you been hiding under for the past decade? The game’s sold about 144 million freaking copies as of this year! Not to mention that YouTube has been invaded by torrents of videos ranging from Minecraft Let’s Play videos to Minecraft tutorial videos. It’s borderline impossible to avoid Minecraft. (Pictured right: The classic icon for Minecraft, the Grassy Dirt block, which looks a lot like a pixelated chocolate cake coated in green icing.) Between the two gameplay modes that I frequent, Survival Mode and Creative Mode, Minecraft never seems to get old, which may come as a surprise for a game that looks like it came out of the 90s. But hey, so what if Minecraft’s graphics don’t exactly look half as gorgeous as something like the recent Assassin’s Creed or Halo games? Pac-Man used to be nothing but a yellow circle with a mouth floating through a black maze of blue lines chasing after square ‘dots’; low graphics didn’t stop him, it hasn’t stopped Minecraft. Minecraft was a phenomenal success from its launch date, but from then to today there are some complaints people had about it. So I will use my extensive knowledge and such-and-such years worth of gaming experience to judge whether or not Minecraft has improved. Complaint No#1: “The lack of tutorials or instructions make it very hard for beginning players to learn how to play.” Matt’s Ruling of Complaint No#1: Ah yes, I remember those days, the days where I’d have to pause the game, go onto Minecraft Wiki and search for instructions on how to build something like a fence or a door. I’ll admit, this was a very valid and really annoying thing in Minecraft for a long time. But worry no more new players, Minecraft now has another very valid and really annoying thing to compensate; all the instructions you could possibly need are now in-game and accessible every time you access the crafting table…and that means every time I put a block of wood on the crafting table, I’m reminded that I have enough blocks of wood to make a wooden button (Just one block of wood in any space of the 3x3 grid, for those of you who were curious). Complaint No#2: “The troublesome steps needed to set up multiplayer servers were a hassle.” Matt’s Ruling of Complaint No#2: I imagine it probably was and maybe it still is, but I don’t play multiplayer Minecraft; I stick to single player. I can’t give much of a verdict to something I do not use. Complaint No#3: “Visual glitches occur periodically.” Matt’s Ruling of Complaint No#3: Okay…err…this may sound stupid, but I haven’t seen any visual glitches, let alone periodically occurring ones. Maybe my computer is just very good, maybe my gameplay doesn’t meet the specific conditions to witness any glitches, but I cannot remember seeing any glitches in Minecraft. Okay, no more complaints. I have been playing Minecraft for so long now, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t play it! I can’t even remember when I first got so into it! Whether I’m farming food and battling monsters in Survival Mode, or building literally anything I can imagine in Creative Mode, I cannot help but have nothing but adoration for Minecraft. Next year, Minecraft will be 10 years old. A whole decade has gone past, yet the game still feels and plays as fresh as it did when Markus Persson (Also known as ‘Notch’) released it in 2009. Where will Minecraft go from here? Goodness knows! The thing with Minecraft is it can add a plethora of new things and features every year with each update. It’s already explored enough landscapes to mimic Earth’s actual environments and holds enough content to keep you busy in both Survival or Creative Mode. Last I heard, the newest update will improve the oceans of Minecraft; introducing underwater plants, different kinds of seas (from tropical to arctic), coral reefs, shipwrecks, schools of fish, dolphins and turtles…all in just ONE update this summer! I haven’t got the foggiest clue where Minecraft will go next, but I’m on-board for whatever it brings next. Oh, one thing I can say will NEVER be in Minecraft; the mythical Herobrine, he never did and never will according to Mojang (Seriously, every update they tell us they ‘Removed Herobrine’, but at this point Herobrine has ceased existing in Minecraft at least a hundred different times). I can easily see Minecraft being something that will still be around way into the future. As Mojang have made it clear: so long as people play and enjoy it, they will continue to improve and add to it. Minecraft really is ageless, and its possibilities truly are endless.
