The secret of Minecraft (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#51

Post by Medox » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 7:57 PM UTC

vbezhenar wrote: post #9

cedws wrote: post #2

Call me a hater but I think Microsoft ruined Minecraft. The "secret knowledge" that the author describes is no longer a thing. The game shows you all the recipes. There are way too many blocks now so there's not as much need for creativity in building. Simplicity made Minecraft a true sandbox. There was no real objective, just blocks and ways to arrange them. Now there's always an objective to get the next magic/powe…

I never understood the appeal of having game knowledge on a separate websites. I can understand this situation happening because of lack of development resources. Like - yeah, it's easier to just let the community to write the documentation and concentrate on the game, if you're small company. But why would it appeal to the actual players? It's not really secret knowledge, there are wiki websites with all the recipes…

How else would you find the knowledge if not through separate websites, when using the Web Displays Mod [1] in game? /s

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK-m2dH4LEw

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#52

Post by rootforce » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:02 PM UTC

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #40

rootforce wrote: post #23

I’ve been playing Minecraft off and on since beta, and I’ve been able to introduce each of my kids as they’ve gotten old enough to play. It is pretty amazing, they all started in creative running around punching random things and now each one has their own way they like to play. One loves to build, another mini games, survival, parkour, mods etc. we are currently watching MCC live and it’s like the Super Bowl. They a…

Never played. No idea. We're big lego fans. Where should I start? Anything to avoid?

Start at the beginning, survival. Try not looking anything up till you get stuck or bored.

Avoid mods at first.

Family friendly streamers are:

- [Jax and Wild](https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCiJmKXWW7dOAVOrnHFviqhw)

- [Grian](https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU2851hDb3SEesCjVCmseu6...)

- [Mumbo](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VMK_u3Hsd4U)

-[Stinarose](https://m.youtube.com/@StinaRose)

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#53

Post by awelxtr » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:09 PM UTC

ethbr1 wrote: post #13

opan wrote: post #11

For other "wiki games", I would recommend Terraria and Stardew Valley. Both have very rich wikis you can read for hours that will give you a much better understanding of game mechanics. I've also gotten into the habit of keeping a txt file for a game open in vim with notes on what I'm working on or what to work on next time I play. For Stardew it's stuff like "Kent's birthday is coming up, give him x item", or "catch…

Not to ick anyone's yum, but when games begin to approach the same parts of my brain that I use for work, I question why I'm not just using them to make more money instead. But said as an ex-EVE player, so color comment to taste.

With games there less negative repercussions if you fail. Like none.

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#54

Post by opan » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:11 PM UTC

runeblaze wrote: post #37

opan wrote: post #11

For other "wiki games", I would recommend Terraria and Stardew Valley. Both have very rich wikis you can read for hours that will give you a much better understanding of game mechanics. I've also gotten into the habit of keeping a txt file for a game open in vim with notes on what I'm working on or what to work on next time I play. For Stardew it's stuff like "Kent's birthday is coming up, give him x item", or "catch…

Since we are onto game recommendations I recommend Pokemon without any irony. The wiki is vast. Honestly I don't know how people are supposed to learn about all the deeper game mechanics without a wiki, and RNG manipulation can be quite fun.

I almost added on Pokemon to my comment! Agreed. Though I will say it's depressing to see the party you spent the whole game with is genetically inferior (low IVs) and you have to breed a whole new set to play competitively (or cheat, or use Pokemon Showdown instead of a real game), and that the breeding process has a lot of luck involved and takes ages. I think they improved this in more recent games with ways to raise your IVs, but it made me burn out on the series and stop playing at least once. I haven't played the Switch ones yet. When I was last playing through a Pokemon game, I think it was Sun, I planned out my final party and movesets for them in advance so I knew what TMs I had to find and which 'mons to catch on which routes.

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#55

Post by Kye » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:23 PM UTC

jbmny wrote: post #35

Auracle wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, for younger kids I can see the appeal. They might not have a device they can easily use to go on the internet, so you’d be able to do things your friends can’t and vice versa. I’ve long mulled on the idea of some kind of game where large aspects of it are randomized/generated so that no two installations would have the same stuff, recipes, whatever. I think that’d be neat and get rid of the website issue.

Reminds me of the fatalities in Mortal Kombat growing up. All the regular moves were in the manual, but IIRC the fatalities were not. It was a form of secret knowledge, and it was really cool if you knew one. Granted, this was right before the Internet-connected home computer became ubiquitous.

GameFAQs very quickly democratized game knowledge the way Wikipedia did for general knowledge a handful of years later. I learned the infinite 1up stair trick in Mario[0] from a sibling before that, but had the most fun with stuff I could look up.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQCSEcyGQH4

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#56

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:43 PM UTC

jasonjayr wrote: post #45

hoten wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardly anyone interacted with the crafting system via "discovery mode". Almost everyone consulted a wiki, or I guess had a friend tell you what to do. Stumbling upon how to make an axe without looking it up has got to be the least enjoyable part of Minecraft (note: not saying it's NOT enjoyable, it's just not high up on the list for most).

In the early days of NES (8-bit console) a lot of discovery about the games came from community, looking things up in various magazines, or just talking with your peers. There is value ot be had in sticking to that stance: It encourages social interaction, but more importantly for the bottom line, people are talking about your game. That Minecraft is now a multi-generation thing, there's a lot of people to talk to ab…

[deleted]

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#57

Post by kenmorechalfant » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:48 PM UTC

Version467 wrote: post #21

cedws wrote: post #2

Call me a hater but I think Microsoft ruined Minecraft. The "secret knowledge" that the author describes is no longer a thing. The game shows you all the recipes. There are way too many blocks now so there's not as much need for creativity in building. Simplicity made Minecraft a true sandbox. There was no real objective, just blocks and ways to arrange them. Now there's always an objective to get the next magic/powe…

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I thought they were out of their mind paying that much money for something that I didn't think had many opportunities left to grow. But now I think it was the perfect time for Persson and his team to give it to someone with the resources and the reach to make those opportunities. Yes, Microsoft changed some things about Minecraft the game, but overall they didn't…

Minecraft STILL doesn't have a lot of stuff Notch was planning on adding. Instead of becoming an actual living breathing world you want to explore more they focus on premium skins and an occasional update with mostly bewildering content. Usually big projects like movies and games have a director(s) with a grand vision. Notch had a vision but he gave up on it for money. Microsoft's only vision for Minecraft has ever been sponsorship deals and merch. Honestly, I feel more betrayed by Notch than by Microsoft.

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#58

Post by kenmorechalfant » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 8:50 PM UTC

fbdab103 wrote: post #29

Version467 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I thought they were out of their mind paying that much money for something that I didn't think had many opportunities left to grow. But now I think it was the perfect time for Persson and his team to give it to someone with the resources and the reach to make those opportunities. Yes, Microsoft changed some things about Minecraft the game, but overall they didn't…

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I am still peeved that my lifetime license "mysteriously" broke during Microsoft's account transitions. Trillion dollar company lacks the manpower and technical capability to handle it? Or someone cannot be arsed to maintain "freeloader" customers.

Oh man, I guess I was so angry about that at some point I blocked it out. My dumb ass actually bought a 2nd account because I couldn't convince my friends to play with me until it was free. After MSFT purchased Minecraft I could never recover either of those accounts!

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#59

Post by Version467 » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 9:10 PM UTC

fbdab103 wrote: post #29

Version467 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I thought they were out of their mind paying that much money for something that I didn't think had many opportunities left to grow. But now I think it was the perfect time for Persson and his team to give it to someone with the resources and the reach to make those opportunities. Yes, Microsoft changed some things about Minecraft the game, but overall they didn't…

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I am still peeved that my lifetime license "mysteriously" broke during Microsoft's account transitions. Trillion dollar company lacks the manpower and technical capability to handle it? Or someone cannot be arsed to maintain "freeloader" customers.

Yeah, that's fair. That was just a shitty thing to do. I was more focusing on the creative development that Minecraft saw under Microsoft.

Fandoms are often extremely nervous when a large corporation buys the rights to a beloved media ip, largely because this has gone wrong so many times, with poor adaptions or obvious cashgrabs milking a property until the fanbase turns away.

This really hasn't happened to Minecraft. It grew further in popularity, even though it was already massively popular at the time and it did it mostly without driving away the existing fans. That in itself is quite unusual (I think) and definitely not what I would have expected. At the time I really thought that the sale would mark the beginning of Minecraft's slow descent into irrelevancy and I definitely remember that being a fairly common sentiment.

But I fully understand people being mad at the license issues you mention. They should be. Might not have been illegal, but that was essentially theft.

Re: The secret of Minecraft (2014)

#60

Post by Version467 » Sat, Jul 27, 2024, 9:34 PM UTC

kenmorechalfant wrote: post #57

Version467 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. Microsoft did a great job handling Minecraft imo. I thought they were out of their mind paying that much money for something that I didn't think had many opportunities left to grow. But now I think it was the perfect time for Persson and his team to give it to someone with the resources and the reach to make those opportunities. Yes, Microsoft changed some things about Minecraft the game, but overall they didn't…

Minecraft STILL doesn't have a lot of stuff Notch was planning on adding. Instead of becoming an actual living breathing world you want to explore more they focus on premium skins and an occasional update with mostly bewildering content. Usually big projects like movies and games have a director(s) with a grand vision. Notch had a vision but he gave up on it for money. Microsoft's only vision for Minecraft has ever b…

> Notch had a vision but he gave up on it for money.

That's certainly one way to see it, but I don't think Notch was ever really in a position to turn some of his more grand ideas for the game into a reality. Not because he couldn't afford it, but because he didn't have the skill (or interest) in leading a Studio that's much bigger than ~20 people. From everything I've read about him it seems like he never liked any of the additional responsibilities that came with Minecrafts growing success and there are some accounts from some early members of the team that seem to corroborate this.

So I really don't think he sold out. I think he realized that he couldn't be the person to manage Minecrafts generational success and that he'd rather have 2 billion dollars in exchange for giving another company a shot at that, versus not having that money and then seeing himself fail to bring his ideas to fruition.

In the end that's of course just speculation. It could just as well be that he never had any of those thoughts and just fucked off, laughing all the way to the bank and then to the biggest hollywood mansion that money can buy. In that case I'm still glad that he got the bag from Microsoft, because I can imagine much worse ways that this could've gone.