Let’s talk Minecraft Eco Systems
First a bit about me. You can skip this nostalgia part.
I was a little late to the Minecraft party. I resisted it for almost 2 years. I knew I could no longer resist when I saw the amazing stories people started weaving within the game. Â I finally acquired an account in April of 2011.
It was a time of myths and legends.Â
I will never forget those first hours of total confusion. The first time I lost a large part of my house to a creeper. The first time I heard zombies but could not see them.Â
To this day, I still get goosebumps whenever I hear the sound of a Skeleton moving.
It took me another year before I was confident enough to break away from my YouTube Cake Decoration channel (yes seriously) and make my first attempt at a Minecraft Video.
.... and that day my world and life changed.
During the last 5 years I have seen pretty much all there is to see. The best of the community, the absolute worst of the community. I have seen YouTubers rise and fall. Build teams exploding onto the scene and fading into obscurity.
OK... nostalgia over... lets get on with it.
In it’s own way Minecraft has become a fragile eco system. Personally I believe it's because of this ecosystem that it has become such a powerhouse.
So what is an ecosystem? Wikipedia (of course, where else will I go, I don’t know everything.), states: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment interacting as a system.  <Link>
The living organisms being the community, the non living components being the game and the system being the continued success of Minecraft.
It further states “.. and “Ecosystems are dynamic entities—invariably, they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance”
Now unless you were born under a rock, which there is nothing wrong with I might add... some of my best friends were born under rocks. You will know what these “Periodic Disturbances” are. Just look at ANY ranting, moaning, angry, emotional outburst on YouTube or Social Media when any part of the system is changed or tweaked.Â
If everything is kept in balance the system is healthy and thrives.Â
Now when we look at the “Organisms” or the visible community (Members who have an active presence) we can break them down into their own separate parts:
You will notice I ordered them in a very specific way. From my experience this is roughly how the hierarchy is set up. Â This hierarchy is the basis of the system that is the successful game called Minecraft.
People can fall in many of these categories at the same time
I placed teachers at the bottom as they are late comers to the party and often have smaller online audiences / impact. BUT they are now being embraced and Microsoft is doing their best to help them. This I love!
To this day I find it amazing how we can interact with Mojang developers and management on open forums and platforms. I am yet to experience any other gaming company that is so close to their community. Â We ask for features. If it fits with the general direction of the game, it gets added. Within months. come on... Who does that?
Let’s look at how this eco system interacts (this is a generalisation of the current state):
For the game to be played you need a kick ass game idea and developers.
To make players aware of the game, you need all kinds of marketing campaigns. However, due to things like YouTube, YouTube Fame and various other social platforms. “Famous people” / YouTubers now do most of the marketing grunt work without actually being paid by the game being “advertised”. They make their money from ad revenue and sponsorships
To keep their revenue rolling in, they need to generate a lot of content. They do this by building their own worlds, roleplaying, playing community maps, being sponsored to play maps. Showcasing concepts makers contraptions etc etc. In other words they often feed off community created content.
The audience watch the YouTuber’s videos and a very small portion goes on to purchase the game.Â
The audience then becomes players and content creators.
Some then go on to create mechanisms, maps, models, mods etc.
A portion of the players move on to become YouTubers themselves. Because come on, who does not want the fame and fortune of your favourite stars?
Suddenly all the kids are either playing or watching Minecraft, it becomes a language and environment they understand. Even it they are not actively playing it. Which then gives Teachers amazing opportunities to engage and talk to kids in their own worlds.Â
Now effect changes to any one of these part and the system is thrown out of balance until it can auto correct the imbalance. Throw it out too much and in time the system goes into decline.
Next time on: Let’s talk about stuff we talk about stuff... well when I say we I mean me. Ok the stuff will probably be “Let’s talk about Map Making” or not. Or Let’s talk new EULA but only if we have a bit more clarification.Â
