Minecraft: The End
With the 1.9 update Minecraft will be getting an ending. It's a long conversation between two extraterrestrials that... well, it's pretty stupid actually. It sounds like something you'd find in a series or movie that was trying to be psychologically deep or have an 'amazing' twist ending that pulls everything together but just comes off as ridiculous. A lot like the 2006 film Silent Hill. You can see the full ending with commentary here.
Even if the ending wasn't goofy that there is an ending at all seems just bizarre, like it goes against what's at the core of what drives people to play Minecraft at all, and that is creation.
Starting a new world you have nothing – you harvest your own materials with your bare hands, create the most rudimentary wooden tools and use them to collect more materials, create better tools and build whatever you see fit. And this is Minecraft's first important strength, that this happens cyclically. You can practically always harvest more materials to build better items and structures and terraform the land as you see fit. There are such a variety of items, some extraordinarily rare like Golden Apples, that you could find yourself dozens of hours in and not have everything. But the compulsion to find them and 'catch 'em all' can be a really strong sensation, and one that will drive you to go searching for another stronghold to raid, or gorge to mine the mats out of. And this leads to more exploration, more places to create.
And this is Minecraft's second important strength. You can make anything. Want an epic sculpture of Dustin Hoffman? You can do it. A giant model of a solid gold pinball machine? You can do it. A steampunk mad scientist lair? Grab a texture pack and you're on your way. And these things, these meticulously hand-crafted things that we've collected, designed and built towards, are important to us. We're so invested in the things that we create that when a creeper blows a gaping hole in it it can be genuinely painful just because we're so emotionally invested in it, even if it has no practical value.
But now Minecraft has an end. The goal presented to you isn't a self-imposed one to mine and craft, but one that has you do these things to reach 'The End'. And it's a shame. Minecraft was a game about creating your own tools, furnishings, armour, buildings, wang statues and goals. But now that it's given you one to shoot for it takes a lot of the joy out of creating something and knowing that it just by doing it you were fulfilling your goals. Now it's just a stepping stone.
Image by seanprodi
I don't want to sound overly critical of Minecraft because it's a fantastic game, but along the way to release I thought the game might turn out to be a commentary on human impact on a landscape, or about getting up and dusting yourself off after being spidered to death to keep going, but not once did I think that the already convoluted (if I were Steve there's no way I'd bother with dying my bed spread) fantasy world of Minecraft was going to be muddied with gossipy aliens.
- Shaun
