Stephen - Blog Post #6

    Minecraft is an indie sandbox game. It was originally created by Swedish programmer Markus Persson (AKA Notch) and was later published by Mojang. Minecraft is currently available on PC and Xbox 360, as well as having mobile versions for Android and iOS. Versions are being developed for the PS3 and the upcoming PS4 the Xbox One. All of the versions receive periodic updates to add features and fix bugs.

   Minecraft is a creative building game, which allows players to build out of cube shaped blocks (it is often referred to as virtual Legos). The game has three modes. The first, survival, allows the player to build structures out of blocks that they must gather. The player explores the world and gathers the blocks, which they can then craft into different blocks and materials. There is also combat; players can create weapons and fight off enemies, called mobs. In creative mode, players already have access to all materials, and are able to build huge structures without exploration, gathering, or combat. The third, hardcore, is similar to survival. It is the hardest difficulty and players only have one life.

   Minecraft has become extremely popular, with millions of players worldwide, extensive merchandise, multiple awards, and even the yearly convention MineCon. Their PC stats can be seen on this site: https://minecraft.net/stats. As of October 23, 2013, the game has sold over 12.5 million copies on PC, and over 33 million copies across all platforms.

   This site is a digital curation of web-based Minecraft creations, explained through the theories of Lev Manovich, a professor in Computer Science at City University of New York and a new media theorist. In his book, The Language of New Media, he details five principles of new media, which will be used throughout this site. They are: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding.