Notes

Minecraft shouldn't ever Feel Clingy, Mojang Says

Mojang is paying close attention to the other survival games making right.
Kd76


Right before the most recent Minecraft 1.19 (opens in a new tab) update was launched I asked Mojang what the future of Minecraft will look like. Game director Agnes Larsson and developer Nir "Ulraf" Vaknin weren't willing to discuss specific features for the next major update. It's not a surprise, they'll probably save that for the next Minecraft Live showcase. Instead, we discussed how they're still learning from other crafting competitors and how they want to "keep the magic of Minecraft" for another 10 years or more.



When Minecraft's alpha launched in 2010, it placed crafting and survival on the map. A thousand other crafting games later-many also made from voxels-Minecraft remains the gold standard in sandbox creativity. It's easy to Mojang to become smug after wearing the crown for many years, I can imagine that it would become insular and source ideas only from its own developers and players.



Both Larsson and Vaknin insisted that they wouldn't consider Minecraft as any more superior than the rest of the players. (I would, though. I do not want to be a smug naive, but it doesn't hurt. But they do say that knowing what makes Minecraft distinct is a way to keep it up to date.



Larsson called it intrinsic motivation. "We should encourage and empower players to be imaginative in their own unique way," she said, "but never dictate, never force anything."



Vaknin acknowledged that requiring players to be self-motivated is where Minecraft excels: "A lot of games aren't doing that because a lot of players really desire to be more oriented and that's fine."



Over the years, I have played many survival-based crafting games. The most recent one was the viking crafting experience in Valheim which enticed me for a few months, session-based survival in Icarus for a few weeks and crafting with vampires in V Rising for a couple days. Even Valheim that I was consumed by for more than 100 hours and helped to lobby for as our game of the year (opens in a new tab) in 2021 I haven't been able to keep from returning in the same way that Minecraft has.



Vaknin said that he's been keeping up with competition. He was also interested in how food and hunger in Valheim work. It made me think about how I treated food. In Minecraft, for example, I was not allowed to avoid food systems or treat all food equally. "I am always thinking about it and thinking if we can take lessons from that," he says.



"V Rising has an interesting goal and boss tracking system," Vaknin also said in reference to the way you must track a boss across the map to locate them. "It reminded me of how you find the End stronghold in Minecraft through the eyes of the ender."



Vaknin hopes Minecraft will not chase its players, even though it learns from Minecraft.



"Minecraft is really not clingy," is how he put it later in our chat and compared it to a friend who will be there for you even when you decide to leave and come back months later.



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Vaknin shared a common experience within the Minecraft community: playing heavily for a time many years ago, then returning to the game on a regular basis when the mood strikes. This is how I've dealt with for a long time, and I'm glad it's a pattern that Mojang is confident in developing.



"So many other games you play and feel that they're trying to pull you too far, and then once you've had enough, you don't want to go back. It's amazing that Minecraft doesn’t do that. It's very important to me to maintain that."



Larsson said, "One thing we recently added to our guiding principles is that you play Minecraft because it's what you want to do, not because you feel you have to," Larsson added.



As I am looking forward to Minecraft version 1.20 I am glad to know that those in charge are confident enough to keep up to date with all the latest crafting and survival trends without having to follow them.


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