Notes

Minecraft and Microsoft: what Now?

Minecraft and Microsoft What's next? By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News



If you want to understand the reason why Minecraft maker Mojang is being acquired by Microsoft simply play the game.



The single-player game is about an individual who has to survive in a harsh world with only their ingenuity to stay safe. Their survival depends on their ability to build a home and fight monsters using only the tools and weapons that they build with their hands.



If computer games were subjected to the same kind of analysis as novels it would be easy to interpret this as an analogy for the life of Markus "Notch" Persson, the game's creator. He's spoken in the past about growing to be "relatively poor", about making his own entertainment, and about whether he'll need to conquer the same "demons" that troubled his father.



The success of Notch in the harsh world was made possible by his family, friends, and the popularity of the products he made with his hands. However, his success has also brought other challenges. These are even more difficult to overcome.



Just what had changed was evident at Minecon in 2012 when it was now impossible for Notch to walk more than one or two feet before being snatched by yet another fan keen to shake his hand, pat him on the back, take pictures or ask him to sign their foam sword.



People control



This transformation from humble programmer responsible only for his own code to leader of an entire movement was one which he was never content with. The reason he gave for the reason he's going to leave Mojang"it's about my sanity "it's about my sanity" - underscores that.



He is aware that Minecraft is now more about managing a community than it is about maintaining and creating a codebase.



And that's the main issue for Microsoft.



It has a long history of managing massive computer infrastructures that support millions of users. This is evident in Xbox Live and other cloud services. It will be essential when it is able to run the behind-the-scenes systems that keep Minecraft running.



Microsoft could alienate this community in the event that they don't understand how personal the game is, not only for Notch but for many others who use it. It's where they make new friends, make new people, and where they can be their individuality.



I've seen this with my own children who play it in very different ways. One is a big fan of modified versions that involve arena battles or capture-the-flag-type competitions. The other spends hours creating intricate houses around swooping minecart tracks. Sometimes, he constructs treehouses that extend across forests. They also regularly go adventuring with their friends in search of treasure, avoiding creepers, and battling spiders, zombies and Skeletons.



This is possible because Minecraft allows for freedom and openness. Millions of people who like them can play it. The malleability of the game allows players to modify it according to their preferences. This is because it gives people access to a level of control that Microsoft has never granted in its business software. This is the reason Microsoft has not been able to satisfy the millions of Minecraft players. The players do not want Microsoft to limit their ability to design and alter the game in any way they want. Rabbitfest They have a deep-rooted sense of ownership about the things they create in the game.



Microsoft will have to do a difficult task, given the importance of this community.



It will need to be extremely hard to defeat the feared enemies of every online gamer such as lag and downtime (aka delay). It is possible that any issue that arises with the game's performance in the future will be blamed on Microsoft - whether it is the company's fault or not.



Making more radical modifications to the operation of the game like limiting the ways that people can modify it, charging them for things that are currently free or restricting how they can tell the world about what they have done, might be handled badly, and turn a big chunk of that community against Microsoft.



That would be bad since a lot of its players are now children who will grow up to become the gamers of the future. Microsoft is trying to impress them with its Minecraft management. If it gets it wrong, it could end up being one of the monsters that people would like to battle and defeat.


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