Notes

Minecraft and Microsoft: what Now?

Minecraft and Microsoft: What now? Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News



You can play Minecraft-maker Mojang to discover the reasons Microsoft purchased it.



The single-player version revolves around an individual who has to survive in a harsh and dangerous world using only their ingenuity to ensure their safety. Their survival is contingent on them building a home and battling off monsters with only the tools and weapons they create with their hands.



It would be easy to see this as a metaphor about Markus "Notch" who was the game's creator in the event that computer games were subjected to the same kind of analysis as novels. He's talked in the past about growing to be "relatively poor" and also about creating his own entertainment, and whether he will have to conquer the same "demons" that plagued his father.



Family, friends and the popularity of the things Notch created by hand helped him prosper in this tough world, but this success has brought other challenges. These are even more difficult to overcome.
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At Minecon 2012, Notch was unable to walk more than just a few steps before being seized again by another fan eager to shake his hand and take a photo of him or write their name on their foam sword.



People are the ones who hold power



He was never content with his transformation from a simple programmer who was responsible for his own code to an entrepreneur of a global movement. The reason he gave for the reason he's going to leave Mojang "it's about my sanity" - underscores the importance of sanity.



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



Microsoft might face a problem here.



With Xbox Live and its other cloud services , there's no doubt that it has solid experience running a massive computer infrastructure that is serving millions of paying customers. This will be crucial when it starts running the systems behind the scenes that keep Minecraft running.



But Microsoft is likely to alienate this community if it doesn't realize how personal the game is, not only for Notch, but for many of the players who use it. It's where they get to meet their friends and create new ones and show their personality in a way, show off their creative and technical skills, where they find themselves.



I have witnessed this with my kids who play it in 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 homes in the minecart's swooping tracks. Sometimes, he constructs treehouses that span forests. They also regularly go adventuring with their pals 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 like them are able to play it. They can change the game to suit their needs due to its flexibility. This is possible because it gives people access to the level of control Microsoft has never granted in its business software. This is the reason Microsoft has not been able to satisfy the millions of Minecraft players. These fans do not want Microsoft to limit their ability to modify and create the game in any way they want. They have a deep belief in the things they create in the game.



Microsoft will have to complete a difficult job, given the importance of this community.



It will have to fight the two main enemies of online gamers the two main enemies of online gamers - downtime (aka delay) and lag. It is likely that any issue with the game's availability in the near future will be blamed on Microsoft - whether it is the company's fault or not.



Making more radical changes to the way in which they play the game such as limiting how people can modify it and charging them for items that are free, or imposing restrictions on what they can share with the world about what they have done, could be handled badly, and turn a big chunk of that community against Microsoft.



This is a problem since a lot of its players are youngsters who will grow up to be the gamers of the future. Microsoft is trying to impress them with its Minecraft management. If it fails to do so, it could end up being one of the monsters people are eager to take on and slay.


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