A Tribute to Minecraft

“Ay!” “Yeah, whats up?” “I found a… I found a disk.” “Well put it in the… put it in the thing then.” “No.” “Let’s go.” “PUT IT IN THE THING!” “ok” The last time you clicked on a Minecraft video was probably like, five years ago.

Don’t worry, I’m in that camp, too — I’d rather watch paint dry than another Hunger Games let’s play. My name is Schlatt, and today we’re gonna talk a bit about how a stupidly simplistic sandbox became my favorite game, where I think it took a turn in the wrong direction, and

Why even after all the new changes, even after how god-awful the community’s become, and even after… Minecoins? There’s still a soft spot for it in my heart. “Why did you do that?” “It’s not a good song.” “Alright well, put something else in. Put something else in.” “Yeah?” “He puts Stal in.

He puts f*ckin Stal in the jukebox are you f*cking kidding me–” *Bickering* C418 – Stal 000 “Oh my god STAL!? Minecraft came out for the Xbox 360 on May 9, 2012. Coincidentally that was the day 12 year old Schlatt found his new favorite game. Remember Bionicles?

Yeah, I had more than you did, so naturally, a game where you could build whatever you wanted was right up my alley. The 360 release of Minecraft was a barebones version of an already-barebones game. It was charmingly simple, dropping you into a world with no real instructions or goals.

There wasn’t much to do, but the things you could do, the game nailed. Combat was straightforward and fun, especially with a group of friends, building stuff was almost therapeutic… and the quiet time spent mining in preparation for… “Dog this song f*ckin sucks I’m sorry.” “Ey what the f*ck do you mean!” *More yelling*

And the quiet time spent mining in preparation for what was to come. That space to organize your thoughts and plan out your next move, all the while being serenaded by those faint piano melodies in the background… That was the icing on the cake. I was in love with this game.

It let me be creative, adventurous. You could do with everything around you what you pleased. And some of my fondest gaming memories have come from open-world games like that – DayZ, GTA 4, Sakura Beach, w… wait.

Every day after school I’d hop off the bus, throw myself on the couch, and log back in. There was only oneworld I played on — I wanted it to be the only one my friends played on, too, so I crammed as much cool shit in there as I could.

I built minecarts, mob traps, I exploited this duplication glitch and built a house out of diamond blocks, listen I was a perfectionist. And this world had to be perfect, or else all I would have been doing was wasting away in front of a TV every day.

But even after the countless hours I pumped into Minecraft, I was still pretty ass at building. So I started watching other people play to figure out what I could do or build to make my world a little better. And as a result, I found an entirely new avenue of the game.

“Oh my God dude.” “Hey.” “What?” “…You wanna make a let’s play?” I was never a huge fan of Let’s Plays. My introduction to the genre was, well, loud. Even back then it was a screaming contest, and even though I was twelve, that kinda stuff just didn’t sit well with me.

I found myself gravitating to more reserved and laid back YouTubers, like Monkeyfarm, who, in the Let’s Play space, was a breath of fresh air. He took a very methodical approach to building, and his videos were more about that process rather than about him.

And as I watched more videos, I eventually found my way into modded Minecraft through these two guys, Sips and Sjin. They were the quieter side of the Yogscast, and even though both of them sucked at the game, it was hilariously fun to watch them dick around and try to figure things out.

These boys were the perfect let’s play combo, and their Sipsco Let’s series, where they automate the process of dirt collection, is singlehandedly responsible for my foray into Tekkit. Tekkit was a different beast altogether. A collection of technology-oriented mods that looked like Minecraft, but offered an entirely new way to play the game.

If you didn’t like mining, you didn’t have to do it. You could build one of these things and it’d dig for you. If you didn’t like building, well, guess what. Anything you wanted to do could be done with the right machines, and it led to some pretty incredible stuff.

Tekkit’s charm wore off quickly, though. After the Sipsco series ended, I found myself getting bored with mods, and gradually, I made my way back to vanilla. But the charm was gone here, too. I tried to put my feelings into words on the Minecraft forum, and I left an extremely controversial post.

I feel like Minecraft is becoming too complicated, I liked it the old way better. Now there’s weighted pressure plates and these sun things. I still don’t know how to use anything from that redstone update. Why is everything becoming more complex?

I thought Minecraft was popular for its sipmlicity (or at least that’s why I liked it). I think I summed it up pretty well. I had stopped playing mods because I preferred that simplicity — and with each new update

And each round of new items and gameplay mechanics added to the base game, I felt like Minecraft wasn’t Minecraft anymore. So that begs the question… what is Minecraft? For me… Minecraft is not knowing how to play Minecraft. It’s generating that first world and thinking to yourself, what next?

It’s standing in awe at the foot of a massive ravine. Minecraft is that dirt hut you built on the first night. The memories I cherish the most from this game are from when I had no idea what I was doing. They’re from when the game was simple.

And from when my life was simple, too. Because back then, there was nothing to worry about. School was a joke, I didn’t have to study to do well, I didn’t have any commitments… Pretty much all of my free time was spent playing video games. And, it was enjoyable.

I didn’t have a future to worry about. I was only just beginning to realize that I liked to make videos, and that was only because of an uncle in the field who continued to encourage me. Looking back, I suppose the simplicity of my seventh grade life coincided pretty well

With the simplicity of Minecraft. And as I got older, and as I gradually figured myself out, what I enjoyed doing, what my hobbies were, what I wanted to do later in life, Minecraft got older, too. At the end of the day, I don’t know if it was my maturation or Minecraft’s maturation

That started pushing me away, but ever since 2013, the game just hasn’t felt the same. Until in a moment of reflection, and tranquility, that soft piano starts fading in. And the warm melodies I’ve come to know all too well over the years invite me back into a world I’ve missed for so long.

C418’s Minecraft: Volume Alpha. I know nothing about music theory and I’m not gonna pretend like I do, but there’s something about it. Maybe it’s the simple piano of Dry Hands, maybe it’s the quirkiness of Subwoofer Lullaby… Or maybe it’s not actually the music at all.

Because when I heard these songs for the first time, they didn’t blow me away. I didn’t instantly fall in love with the soundtrack. But the soundtrack is the only thing that hasn’t changed since I loaded up the game for the first time. For me, these songs are timeless.

And when they start playing, just for a moment, I feel like I’m 12 again, playing on that same world I always used to. The music is what brings back all those memories. It brings back Minecraft. Today, the Xbox 360 sits quietly on my dresser.

To its right, a hacked Wii with the Homebrew Channel on it. Before I got into Minecraft I used to spam infinite items at people in Mario Kart and just make the race a living hell for everyone in it and yes, that is actually me playing

The game, recording the analog TV with a camera on a tripod. I know, it was bad. But I had to start somewhere, and that was it. To its left, a Mac Pro that weighs more than I do. A parting gift from my uncle, who lost his fight to cancer in 2013.

He was the one who got me into making videos in the first place, and God knows where I’d be without him. They’re all dusty, but they’re all still plugged in, hooked up to a TV that hasn’t been on for a while. And that world is still there, too.

So I decided to go back in. For the first time in half a decade, I turned on the Xbox. I spawned in my wooden house, the first thing I ever built in Minecraft.

I made my way past the dozen or so dogs I had bred, and I went outside, and saw the first mob trap I ever tried building. I don’t think I ever got that one working. Next door, the house of an old friend I haven’t spoken to since middle school.

Above it, a “floating island” I spent days trying to make. A little up the hill, the second attempt at a mob trap, which I think I got working at some point — and the entrance to a minecart rail that went on for miles. Underground, into caves, over the water, it was insane.

The magnum opus of the entire world. And slowly but surely, Sweden faded in. And I just started crying. They weren’t sad tears, they weren’t tears of joy, I wasn’t overwhelmed, I… I don’t know. I knew that all this world is, all this game is, is just a cleverly constructed sequence

Of 1s and 0s but i knew that in a way it’s a part of me. This world is something that I will always hold dear to my heart. It’s a window into the past, a reflection of the kid I was.

It’s been waiting here, unchanged since 2013, when I logged off the 360 for the last time. Unchanged since I started to become the man I am today. Minecraft, the game, is changing. Minecraft’s audience, changed a long time ago. The only thing that’s really stayed static about it, has been the music.

You can put me in some random world I’ve never explored. You can add weird new items I’ll never learn how to use. But to me, it’s not Minecraft until that music starts fading in, and I’m pulled back into a world when nothing really mattered, when everything was easy, and when, well,

I was happy.