Minecraft - Essay

Create a 1000 word essay discussing the evolution of Mincraft.  As part of the essay you will address

·      How the ownership of Minecraft has affected the games evolution

·      How Minecraft is marketed to a variety of audiences

·      How users interact with the game including how they create their own content

The ownership of Minecraft has affected the game's evolution, mainly due to the fact that it is now programmed and coded differently. Markus (Notch) Perssons developed the game in 2009 (a grassroots game) as part of the small company Mojang, which only had about 12 other people working on the game, and then sold it for £2.5 billion to Microsoft in 2013 once it had made massive profits and become a popular game. In 2010 Minecraft was developed as a multiplayer game using JAVA code, which meant that Gamers were able to contribute to the development of the program eliminating bugs and facilitating multiplayer capability, which was likely a key reason for its success. The interaction means that the creators can take on board improvements and therefore are consistently making the players happy. With Microsoft, Minecraft is now developed using more complex coding with C++ which has made it possible to have better graphics, something that makes the game much more visually appealing than previously, and also helps the game to run better as it is less prone to glitches or bugs. It has also enabled multi platform access and therefore invites all players from all consoles to play, and not feeling left out. Ownership has also affected elements of convergence as Microsoft also own Xbox, and therefore they are able to promote their console as part of Minecraft if they choose to. It also means that profits from Minecraft can be invested in improving the Xbox and therefore they benefit economically. Also, Microsoft have launched newer more traditional programs such as Minecraft Story mode which has been successful in reaching a wider audience, particularly due to the different style which allows people who could be bored of sandbox to try a new branch of Minecraft. Similar to this, in November 2014 of that year, plans to work on a virtual reality version of Minecraft in Partnership with Oculus. Virtual Reality is a greatly successful advancement and therefore Minecraft's partnership was interesting, allowing people to get even more deeply invested into the world they are playing in. Oculus is a new and exciting advancement and therefore people are always drawn to games which have this partnership and Virtual Reality feature. 

Minecraft is marketed to a wide range of audiences due to its flexible nature, which allows for a variety of interpretations from different social groups as they play the game. 43.7% of Minecraft players were 15-21, based on a survey, which is fairly young but not as young as typically stereotyped. In society there are a lot of preconceptions about the game and that it is 'easy' and therefore it should only be played or enjoyed by a younger audience, however this is not the case in reality as the difficulty can be adjusted before playing, as well as a range of different versions of the game (realms, mods, story mode, survival or creative) which allows freedom for all types of gamers to enjoy. Minecraft therefore try to reach a wide range of audiences through their marketing and are clearly successful despite criticism it may get. Firstly, young people are reached with marketing with certain techniques such as the link to Lego. Minecrafts relation to Lego is important, as it is a form of media convergence. Lego fans may play Minecraft and vice versa, creating a bigger fan base which is typically young for Lego (though not always). Lego also created their own game similar to Minecraft, which they believed would be greatly beneficial to them despite taking profits off of a similar idea because it will direct players towards the original game, adding another element of convergence. As well as this, the Minecraft short movie was aimed at children, which is another way that they can become invested in the game and become bigger fans of it, buying more products and merchandise if they like the film. Minecraft's education edition helps to market the game towards students as well as teachers as it is a fun learning resource for a variety of subjects and programming, which can be used in lessons, but also promotes the game's other modes if the players become interested. Adults and teenagers can also be targeted by elements such as Minecraft Realms, which allows them to interact with other players and create their own servers. 

Users are able to interact with Minecraft by voting on polls about certain updates and features in the game. For example, which mob makes it in to ‘Minecon’, and requires voting and elimination. This can create a sense of competition and excitement in the community. As well as this, YouTube, Facebook and online fan communities has enabled Minecraft’s audience to have an active voice through detailed feedback and commentary on modifications and beta tests. As well as social media, there are also several forums in which fans of the game can talk about anything they want about it, and builds a further sense of interaction and loyalty among fans. It can also help people to build friendships and fulfil their 'personal relationships needs' (Bulmer and Katz) as they have a mutual interest in the game. Many YouTubers that play Minecraft are adults which can be very beneficial for Minecraft as it allows viewers to see what the game is like and understand that it is not just aimed at young people. Some of these YouTubers include 'CaptainSparklez', who created highly-produced parodies and music videos from Minecraft animation, which very often went viral and achieved over 100million views. Not only does this make the game look fun, but could even cause someone to want to become a Minecraft YouTuber for the fortune, and therefore may promote the game in order to fulfil their survival needs of earning money as well as entertainment (Hierarchy of needs, Maslow). As well as this, Youtubers such as The Yogcast or Pewdiepie (old videos) make content suitable for adults while Stampy or Sky does Minecraft may be more suited to children. This wide range of social media content benefits Minecraft because it encourages people to support the game. 

Media Industries and Audiences: Minecraft

•Digitally convergent media: Video games consoles are an excellent example of a digitally convergent device, you can not only play games but access social media, surf the internet, stream films and TV content and upload content into cloud based servers. Cross-media content helps maximise profits and also improve reach to new customers.

•Production: This refers to all phases of designing, developing and making the media product;.

•Distribution: This refers to all processes linked to delivering the media product to audiences both through tangible (disc) and digital (Cloud based) media.

•Consumption: Explores the way in which the media text is used by audiences for pleasure but also explores the rise of user generated content across several platforms.

'CaptainSparklez' is a channel with 10 million subscribers, which has created various different Minecraft parodies that have gone viral. One example is '"Revenge" - A Minecraft Parody of Usher's DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (Music Video)' which has achieved 173 million views. 

•Minecraft is the second most successful video game of all time behind Tetris.

•It was created and designed by Markus Persson,
a game programmer, who also developed and published the game through his company Mojang. A full version of the game went on release in November 2011.

•To date, well over 121 million copies have been sold across all platforms, including over 27 million PC copies, making it the biggest selling PC game of all time. 

The success of the games market.

–The UK’s   US$4 billion;

–China,   US$24.4 billion

–America’s   US$23.6 billion

•A recent report by the UKIE1 suggests that the global games market is now worth in excess of US$100 billion.    

•In comparison to traditional media like film, radio, print and television, video games are much younger, exponentially growing since the 1970s.

•Minecraft’s Swedish creator, Markus “Notch” Persson started creating the game in May of 2009 having been inspired by similar games such as Dwarf Fortress, a single- player construction and management game; his goal was to produce a Role Playing Game variation.

•Minecraft’s initial reception wasn’t commercially viable, seen more as a niche product for players with expert knowledge of computers and programming. 

Maintaining audiences

LEGO AND MINECRAFT

Lego Worlds is available now, at £11.99, via the Steam gaming platform. Its final release, featuring classic and modern playsets and popular mini-figures, is expected in 2016. Speaking last year, David Gram, Lego's marketing director, said: "Minecraft is digital Lego. We only wish we had invented it."

Lego likely created this after seeing Minecraft's success due to the similarity between the products. A box of physical lego is more expensive than the game they have released, therefore it is like a marketing stategy to appeal to a new audience who like to play video games. 

The game is given to the education sector for free. 

GENRE

Action -- e.g. call of duty 

Arcade -- e.g. streetfighter or pacman

Adventure -- e.g. minecraft or the walking dead

Fighting -- e.g. mortal combat 

Racing -- e.g. f1 challenge

Shooter -- e.g. FPS (Half Life) or TPS (GTA)

RPG -- e.g. Elder Scrolls

MMORPG -- e.g. world of warcraft

Minecraft storymode has also been developed. 

In terms of production: 2010 Minecraft was developed as a multiplayer game using JAVA code.. 

Gamers were able to contribute to the development of the program eliminating bugs and facilitating multiplayer capability

In September of 2013, Microsoft bought all rights to Minecraft from Mojang for $2.5 billion dollars.

Due to the original nature of the game, most players simply logged in to play Minecraft and didn’t need a physical copy of the game. 

When the Xbox and PlayStation versions were created there was often a chance to offer digital versions of the same game across the Windows 10 operating system 

Users were often encouraged to download the game through the cloud servers rather than a physical copy of the game which would incur more of a cost for the institution. 

Physical copies of the game were released 6 months after the cloud versions t encourage online purchase and reduce the risk of piracy

•Why Microsoft purchased – Minecraft for 2.5£Bn?

–Given the nature of the parent company and the loyal fan base of PC gamers, it was in the company’s interest to invest US$2.5 billion to purchase Mojang for long term revenue.
–Microsoft have since developed the product using more complex coding C++
–This has enabled multi platform access (mentioned previously)
–They have launched newer more traditional programs such as Miecraft Story board
–Minecraft in November 2014 of that year, plans to work on a virtual reality version of Minecraft in Partnership with Oculus
--Also vertical integration as Microsoft own Xbox and this can help to promote them. 

•Minecrafts commercial success

–Budgets for games vary and Minecraft is a good example of a game that was made and developed using readily available open source software within the gaming community; creating the original Minecraft using Java gave it the advantage of being cross-platform: it will run on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
–other mainstream games that require entire teams of programmers, artists and engineers to make video games that have budgets equal or exceeding that of mainstream films.  AN example of this includes CALL OF DUTY

•Minecraft’s not for profit funding of projects

–Minecraft has also been linked to non-profit projects such as the UNs Block by Block project, which encourages communities around the world to redesign their neighbourhoods using Minecraft.

–An educational version has also been developed, MinecraftEdu (2012), which has several applications to help teach subject and develop a culture of computer programming amongst digital natives. 

Audiences

•Minecraft has universal appeal. It is useful to explore how such a game can appeal to different ages, genders and audiences from different social and cultural backgrounds.

•The variety of different modes is certainly a contributing factor to the game’s success, but also the way in which audiences can control and shape their own worlds and create new identities through mods and altering textures, maps and craft kits.

The content is suited to the wide age demographic due to the different modes and forms of playing which accommodate a large amount of people unlike other games. There is also choice of difficulty mode which can help younger people to begin playing, as well as older people who like the challenge. Story mode can also be a good way to invite younger children into the game if they do not understand the sandbox style, though this is also another reason it is so fitting for a wide age group - the freedom of what to build and how to play. 

The introduction of Minecraft Realms (2013) has tried to give the producers more control over the distribution and circulation of the game since some pro-am consumers were creating their own virtual spaces and hacks across illegitimate servers, such as https://www.wizardhax.com/ play/ as one example.

Realms is intended for use by small  groups of friends or as a family server

The interrelationship between media technologies and patterns of consumption and response

•YouTube, Facebook and online fan communities has enabled Minecraft’s audience to have an active voice in its ongoing production through detailed feedback and commentary on modifications and beta tests. There are several niche forums that should also be investigated across the internet.