intro - what it is, outline of its history, explain why it has been a commercial and critical success.
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox game that was created by a Swedish game developer called Markus Persson (also known as Notch) and later it was developed by Mojang. The game initially released o 17th May 2009. A sandbox game is when there is a virtual world which the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear gameplay. Therefore, Minecraft is a sandbox game as it is a virtual land where users/players can create their own worlds and experiences freely using building blocks and other resources discovered on the game. The game is only limited by the player's imagination. You can play the game in two different modes: survival and creative. Creative mode is when you are free to use any blocks/resources even if you don't have them, meaning that the resources are unlimited. However, survival mode is when you begin with absolutely nothing and you have to get it all yourself. When you begin survival mode, the typical thing to do is chop down a tree and get a crafting table etc. You have to fight off mobs in the dark (these include the spawning of zombies, skeletons, spiders etc.) in order to continue surviving. You have to be careful not to drown and also, make sure that you feed yourself otherwise you will die of hunger. There are many different servers that you can access and also there are a lot of competitive games/parkour games that have been created for anyone to access.
There are six main reasons as to why Minecraft is so popular. For one, the game is a sandbox game with infinite replayability and so it is only limited by the imagination of the player. The game has a very strong community and due to this, the player's creations are Minecraft's own marketing campaign. Minecraft is platform agnostic. This means that it can be played on everything including things like PC, laptop, tablet, phone and many more. Children have co-opted the game due to how large the fan base has become. It is not limited by genre and it also fulfils our human instinct to bring order to chaotic wilderness. This means that anyone who plays it can make/tailor everything to how they want and so they can make it (in a sense) their own 'utopian' world full of adventure and mystery.
Minecraft is playable on Windows, Mac and Linux at a cost of £20. Minecraft can also be described as 'cross platform play' which is a term used to describe the ability of a video game across different platforms such as computer/PC, XBOX, Nintendo and mobile phone. All of these platforms increase target audience and therefore increase sales and revenue, which can be reinvested back into the game in order to improve it. Overall, this benefits the producers as well as the audience.
Due to the increase in Minecraft users, Minecraft decided to add in-game currency for players to be able to use skins in game. Skins are certain looks for your character to have in order to make your account and worlds more personalised to you. These skins are both fan made and company made. Originally, there was a skin referred to as a 'Steve' skin. Many people over the years have used this skin however, many more have been made.
Twitch is a streaming service that allows people to stream and/or watch videos of people playing their favourite video games. For example, Ali-A has used this service. The Minecraft twitch channel has got 34,803 followers with a total 2,372,538 views. It is a very successful service and it is also free online and as an app on the AppStore.
Minecraft merchandise helps significantly with targeting a younger audience. By advertising merchandise like t-shirts, bags and books etc., younger children will ask their parents to buy them these things and so the Minecraft fan base will
